Posts Tagged ‘OUSD’
Residents take OUSD to task for delays on community schools and reparations for Black students
Oakland Unified School District is behind schedule on implementing two important projects, one with over $75 million in state funding. Educators, parents and students voiced their frustration at Wednesday’s board meeting, saying the district has failed on its promise to establish a task force on student equity and a committee to allocate a grant for…
Read MoreDozens of tutors needed to help OUSD kids overcome COVID learning loss
Path2Math director Margena Wade-Green and six high school tutors gathered in a circle to prepare for the day of summer school ahead. Wade-Green led everyone in a deep breath and instructed them to leave everything outside the classroom behind and “prepare to welcome the babies.” When the babies — actually six second grade students —…
Read MoreStrike ends: Oakland teachers return to work with 10% pay raise
Oakland Unified School District teachers will return to work Tuesday, 12 days after striking when the union and district could not come to an agreement on wages and other issues. The three-year tentative deal, retroactive to Nov. 1, 2022, includes a 10% raise and a $5,000 one-time payment, a compensation package that Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell…
Read MoreWith election, OUSD board could have votes needed to overturn school closures
Two of the three newly elected Oakland Unified school board members say they want to reverse this year’s controversial decision to close schools. That means the board could have the majority needed to rescind the motion. Jennifer Brouhard, who was elected in District 2, and Valarie Bachelor, who was elected in District 6, are against…
Read MoreBig enrollment drop: OUSD starts school year with 600 fewer students
For the fifth consecutive school year, enrollment is down in the Oakland Unified School District, the administration told the school board at its meeting Wednesday. Though students are still enrolling, the population is at 33,762, a loss of more than 600 students. As a result, the district will see a decrease in the amount of…
Read MoreOUSD board appoints member of mayor’s staff to fill Gonzales’ seat
The Oakland Unified School District board selected Kyra Mungia, the deputy director of education for the mayor’s office, as the provisional District 6 director Wednesday. Mungia won the seat against eight other applicants in a 4-2 vote during a special board meeting, with directors Mike Hutchinson and VanCedric Willaims voting no. She replaces Shanthi Gonzales,…
Read MoreCommunity to OUSD: ‘You have the opportunity … stop this whole madness’
Chanting “Whose schools? Our schools,” parents, teachers and community members erupted into protest at Wednesday’s Oakland Unified School District Board of Education meeting, prompting the board to recess the meeting and move it online. Protesters approached the dais with signs that read, “Hands off our schools” and “No school closures” after the board failed to…
Read More‘It’s not going to be the same’: For one family, life will get harder when Parker school closes
Azlinah Tambu leaves her studio apartment off 73rd Avenue at 3:50 p.m. With enough time to pick up her younger daughter, Nasira, from after-school care at Parker K-8. She brings a set of keys, her phone and a bag of Cheetos. Before she locks the door, she makes sure she has her keys. Parker is…
Read MoreCan California forgive OUSD’s debt?
For nearly 20 years, the Oakland Unified School District has paid the consequences of relying on the state to bail it out of financial trouble. During that time, it has slashed the budget, cut salaries, laid off staff and closed schools, as it tries to repay a $100 million emergency loan it borrowed in 2003,…
Read MoreOUSD board to appoint Shanthi Gonzales’ replacement
The Oakland Unified School District board announced Wednesday it will appoint a new director for District 6 to replace Shanthi Gonzales, who abruptly resigned last week. The board faces a tight deadline to find a replacement. If board members don’t either appoint someone or hold a special election before July 1, the Alameda County superintendent of schools…
Read MoreOnce a last resort, hunger strikes now used to pressure local officials in Oakland
Hunger striking may be most well known as a political tool used by suffragettes and Irish prisoners, which is why it caught some off-guard recently to see it being used in Oakland to influence a school board decision. Two Oakland Unified School District employees launched a hunger strike in response to proposed school closures in…
Read MoreHundreds rally to pressure OUSD board to reverse vote on school closures
Hundreds of people danced, chanted and marched down International Boulevard on Saturday to protest the Oakland Unified School Board’s decision to close seven schools. Wearing Black Panther Party symbols and shirts that said “Black Joy,” they rallied to the sounds of Bay Area classics like Mac Dre and E-40. Holding signs that read: “No cuts…
Read MoreProtesters rally outside OUSD directors’ homes against plan to close schools
A caravan of vehicles that stretched for blocks paraded through the streets of Oakland Thursday evening, honking in solidarity against the Oakland Unified School District’s plan to close eight schools and merge others. The caravan slowly made its way through the streets, stopping at the home of OUSD Director Sam Davis, where dozens of people, old and…
Read More‘A school library is so important’: Community effort to reopen and staff more OUSD libraries
Every day Samantha Solomon opens the Calvin Simmons Library to students at United Success Academy and Life Academy in Oakland. She greets each child by name as they file in during their lunch breaks to read, play games, do homework or converse with each other. The library serves both schools, which share a building, and…
Read MoreHow are Oakland schools responding to Prop. 16 failing?
California voters have decided not to restore affirmative action in schools. Proposition 16, which failed by a margin of 12 percentage points, would have reversed a 1996 ban on considering race, gender or ethnicity in public education systems and public contracting. State lawmakers—motivated by high-profile racial injustices, such as the police killing of George Floyd—voted…
Read MoreOakland adult literacy students find ways to continue learning during the pandemic
Riley Mitchell loves to cook. When the 55-year-old isn’t bragging about making the “best potato salad this side of the Mississippi,” Mitchell enjoys cozying up with a good book. Since the pandemic, Mitchell started to re-read classics like The Color Purple, mostly for pleasure. But since the library where Mitchell took adult literacy classes closed,…
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