Economy

Oakland teachers protest for raises and smaller class sizes

Oakland educators took to the streets in protest yesterday. At one intersection in North Oakland, one teacher appeared with signs and a neon shirt, then a few others, who brought more signs, as well as snacks. Half an hour later forty teachers and substitutes rallied at Broadway and 51st street.

District demos new Dell laptops for Oakland schools

Taking math class online, designing video games, working with NASA scientists to launch experiments in space—these are things students at the Urban Promise Academy (UPA) can do with the 210 laptops the Oakland Unified School District provided for the school this year.

OUSD’s Board vote paves the way for a new school

In a 5 to 0 vote, the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) Board of Education approved the first “lab” charter school in Oakland on Wednesday night. The school’s site is yet to be determined, but it’s designed to apprentice novice teachers and feed them back into OUSD’s public schools.

Uptown named one of the “Great Places in America”

The American Planning Association recognized Oakland’s Uptown neighborhood as one of the “Great Places in America” in a ceremony yesterday. In the warm afternoon sun, APA Board of Directors member Kurt Christiansen and Hing H. Wong, president-elect of the organization’s California chapter, lauded the neighborhood’s homegrown artistry, entrepreneurialism and diversity. They also praised its revitalizing planning efforts, which have been 15 years in the making. “As a teenager, I lived less than a mile from this location and have seen…