Search Results: James Harris
Tensions ran high during an OUSD board meeting focused on teacher raises and charter schools renewals.
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.
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…
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.
Sury Martín and Paw Sei are part of a rapidly growing number of district parents who don’t natively speak English. According to OUSD’s fast facts website, during the 2014-2015 school year, 49.5 percent of students in the Oakland school district used a language other than English at home. Fifty native languages are spoken throughout the district.
The Oakland Unified School District called a special meeting on Wednesday, voting to approve charter renewals for Vincent Academy and American Indian Charter Schools.
Wednesday night’s Oakland school board meeting started off sparsely populated; board president James Harris joked that it would be a short meeting. But within two and a half hours, it was standing room only, as parents filed in to attend a special meeting on charter schools’ performance measures and two charter renewals. The meeting began with a joint presentation made by representatives from the groups Latino Men and Boys (LMB) and African-American Female and African-American Male Achievement (AAMA). As part…
Early this morning, from East Oakland to West, students climbed into AC Transit buses, fares or passes in hand, and commuted to schools in other neighborhoods. In 2004, the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) rolled out a new enrollment policy, an “options process” which allowed parents to send children to schools outside of their neighborhoods. Parents wanted equal access to opportunities at schools throughout Oakland, and some specialty programs were only offered at one or two schools. Since the district does not operate its own bus service, most students commute using public transit.
On Wednesday, district officials presented a plan for improvements to the student enrollment system, Lance Jackson updated the board on the Central Kitchen Project, and the Oakland Athletic League (OAL) presented a progress report from the athletic department.
The board also approved the establishment of Lodestar Charter School and a resolution that would continue collaborative efforts to end the sexual exploitation of children.
Oakland’s superintendent of schools Antwan Wilson has been at the helm for six months. The midwest-raised leader credits his mother, a passion for civil rights, and growing up poor for molding him into the leader he is today.
Oakland Unified School District welcomes three unofficial new school board directors.
The Oakland Unified School District Board of Education approved two charter school petitions Wednesday night: Castlemont Junior Academy and the Conservatory of Vocal and Instrumental Arts (COVA) High School.
Oakland’s new city council members, who were inaugurated at a ceremony at City Hall Monday, set the stage for the elected body’s biggest policy focus of the next four years—public safety. While it’s no secret that crime is Oakland’s number one problem, with the city’s homicide rate reaching 131 on the last day of 2012, councilmembers old and new declared Monday that the council should formally proclaim that combating crime the city’s first priority. That means more than just acknowledging…
After months of fundraising, campaigning and speeches all around the city, five new faces will join the Oakland City Council and the city’s school board. Some of them have never held public office before; others have previously held other roles in local government.
After several rounds of ranked choice balloting, Oakland and Alameda County election returns are in. In the Oakland at-large contest, after five rounds of balloting, incumbent Rebecca Kaplan secured a victory with 60.74 percent of the vote, while current District 5 representative Ignacio De La Fuente took second with 39.26 percent. Speaking late Tuesday night, Kaplan’s spokesperson Jason Overman called her win “a very decisive victory.” “The voters of Oakland have spoken to move Oakland forward. They chose a record of…