Education
Oakland amusement park Children’s Fairyland celebrated its 60th anniversary this weekend with two days of special events and activities. The park, which is geared towards young children, opened on September 2, 1950, and is credited as the first storybook-themed park in the nation.
Delton Edwards, or “Coach D,” as he has affectionately been known over his 15-year career as the head football coach at Oakland Technical High School, has a tough act to follow. It’s his own.
With whooping cough cases pushing record levels, county school and public health officials are promoting vaccination both for children and adults–especially any adults who have contact with babies. Eight infants have died of whooping cough this year in California.
Tech’s improving reputation has made the North Oakland high school many students’ first choice for public school placement this fall–and administrators are now scrambling to find classrooms and teachers for everybody.
Stephanie Benavidez has worked at the Rotary Nature Center for over 35 years, but now thanks to city budget cuts she is its only full time staff member. With only one full-time person on the job, and five part-time employees, it’s harder for the center to keep up with all of its work.
If you want to ride with the scraper bike king, you better wear a helmet. Tyrone “Baybe Champ” Stevenson Jr., known around Oakland as the “king” and creator of the scraper bike movement, announced his new rule of the road Saturday near Oakland City Hall.
Several hundred people gathered on Saturday in Frank Ogawa Plaza, where promises of free back-to-school supplies attracted a wide range of students, from kindergarteners to college freshmen. Many parents arrived hours before the official start time, children in tow, in order to ensure a good place in line for the give-away.
After weeks of threatening the closure of seven Oakland childhood development centers, the Oakland Unified School District announced Friday that five of the seven centers will remain open until at least the end of December.
Despite plans to close eight early childhood development centers Monday, Oakland schools’ Superintendent Tony Smith said Friday that funds had been found to keep six of those centers open. However, North Oakland’s Golden Gate Childhood Development Center is still slated for closure. In response, members the local group By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) began what they called an all-night occupation of the center in the early afternoon. “I believe that the only success is if we keep fighting,” Mark Airgood…