Education
17-year old Desiree Davis had spent her childhood excluded and taunted for never quite fitting in. “They gave her a real hard time her whole life,” said her mother, Dru Ann Davis, in an interview at her home this weekend. A Hurricane Katrina survivor, born blind in one eye, Desiree was working to find new strength and identity in Oakland before she was killed last week in a drive-by shooting. Story by S. Howard Bransford/Oakland North.
The Crucible, an industrial and creative arts center in the heart of West Oakland, opened its doors and welcomed the public to its open house demonstrations and workshops Saturday. Starting September 26, the Crucible will offer a wide variety of fall classes, covering everything from glassblowing to blacksmithing. The open house gave the curious a chance to sample the Crucible’s creative and educational offerings, and visit the booths of two dozen community groups, including People’s Grocery, Bay Area Classical Harmonies,…
Oakland teachers speak out about what the recent budget cuts mean for them. For many, it means buying essential classroom supplies with their own money, or not being able to get broken items repaired.
The Crucible, where students do everything from fixing bikes to giving live performances with flaming batons, is having an open house this Saturday, September 12. “We’re best known for the fire,” says Ismael Plasencia, the Crucible’s Youth and Community Program Manager. “Everyone knows about that, but we’re a school too. We’re a school first.” Twenty-four Oakland community outreach organizations will set up information tables in and around the Crucible’s industrial workspace. The open house will be punctuated by live performances,…
On a hot day in West Oakland, children and parents sat at rows of desks in a warehouse classroom. It was dark, the fan hummed and people chattered in low voices. A sense of expectation filled the room. In three hours, every child would get a voucher for a free computer
Fifteen pairs of eyes in Muslimah Mohammed’s class at Santa Fe Elementary School were fixed on the television screen this morning, watching President Obama address the nation’s students. “I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school,” the President began, drawing cautious nods from the attentive third-graders, who had actually started school eight days earlier. “Some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer…
Michelle Mapp and Rachel Carroll, of Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood, took their 8-year-old daughter Lauren to Labor Day lunch yesterday, taking their seats at a white-cloth-covered table in the middle of Berkeley’s Martin Luther King Civic Center Park. The menu, on their plates, at least, was enchiladas, red grapes, and freshly squeezed lemonade. It was a community potluck–with a purpose. The three gathered at the end of one of five long tables lined with bright red apples. As Lauren alternated between…
When students arrived back at Chabot Elementary School last week, the great construction demonstration in their own old play yard had grown to two stories high and was covered in scaffolding. “It’s a great experience for kids to see their school being built,” said Chabot second grade teacher Marybeth Tullis, who’s worked at the school for eleven years. “Last week the kids were able to interview a construction worker about his job.” Chabot’s new multi-purpose building and library are expected…
As tens of thousands of children in North Oakland returned to school this week, local health officials and school districts were already bracing for the upcoming flu season, said Alameda County Public Health Department spokesperson Sherri Willis. “For the first time ever, we have two strains of flu and two vaccines to deal with. That would be a tall order even if one of those wasn’t a pandemic,” Willis said, referring to the swine flu virus, which since the school…