Education

BOSS graduates celebrate changing their own lives

Stay the course. That was the message given to those sitting in the front row of Oakland’s city council chambers Friday night, when friends and supporters gathered to watch 29 men and women graduate from the BOSS Career Training and Employment Center, in a ceremony that acknowledged the significant hurdles they had overcome to gain employment while under the supervision of the Alameda County Probation Department. BOSS, which stands for Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency, is an East Bay non-profit which…

Google to open learning center in Oakland

Internet company Google is opening a new technology education center in Oakland for minority students amid criticism that Silicon Valley is not diverse enough. Claire Shorall, the manager of computer science for the Oakland Unified School District, said that the company had been working with local groups for over a year to pilot the project, and it will open the lab in the Fruitvale, a predominantly Latino neighborhood. The news was first reported by the San Francisco Business Times on…

Mars Experience Bus brings virtual reality to Oakland youth

On September 9, the Mars Experience Bus made its first California stop on its long national tour at the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland to share with children a virtual reality experience of the red planet. The Mars bus stayed on the premises for the weekend, and the Lockheed Martin Center invited the public to enjoy the experience for free. The experience was received with joy by visitors of all ages, as children and parents came down from…

School board meeting attendees plea for Measure G funds for charter schools

The Oakland Unified School Board meeting Wednesday night was packed—and then it wasn’t. Hundreds of parents and children wearing pro-charter school t-shirts and waving roses filled the left hand side of the gym at La Escuelita Learning Center, spilling over onto the right side where union members from the Oakland Education Association sat. Over twenty cards for public comment had been filed on an item that did not appear on the agenda. But as the board opened the floor to…