Education

Castlemont players find their voice through football

Someone snapped a photo of the Castlemont team kneeling, and it quickly spread on Instagram and Twitter. At the next game against The King’s Academy in Sunnyvale, Castlemont’s players took their protest one step further: they laid down on the ground as if they were dead and raised their arms in the “don’t shoot” position. This time, there was another body in the end zone: Colin Kaepernick’s.

School board candidates introduce themselves to voters, spar on charter schools

Nine school board candidates took the mic Tuesday night at Lighthouse Community Charter School to introduce themselves to Oakland voters. They are vying for four seats in Districts 1, 3, 5, and 7. Each candidate took turns answering the same three questions, which were printed in the audience’s programs in both English and Spanish. Connie “Mama” Williams, a grandmother of a Lighthouse student, moderated the forum. She was joined by several students and a mother who took turns reading aloud…

OUSD board addresses student protests, safety issues

Student safety and the role of the Oakland School Police Department were at the forefront of Wednesday’s Oakland Unified School Board meeting, as board members, parents and OSPD Chief Jeff Godown spoke emotionally of recent events which they say have damaged the security and wellbeing of Oakland’s young people.

Scam phone callers use “virtual kidnapping” technique on Oakland parents

Just a few weeks after the new school year began, two families in Oakland had terrifying moments when they received threatening calls about their kids, asking for a kidnapping ransom or medical treatment fees. But both calls turned out to be scams. According to John Sasaki, communications director for the Oakland United School District (OUSD), both calls were to families with students at Claremont Middle School. During the week of August 22, two parents got a call from a scammer…