Posts Tagged ‘school closures’
With 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 MoreOUSD cuts attendance positions, despite nationwide ‘crisis’ in absenteeism
Oakland Unified started the school year this week without its five network attendance liaisons, whose sole job was to keep kids coming to school, even as the district struggles to get a handle on absenteeism. The School Board cut the jobs when it approved the 2022-23 budget on June 29. Weeks earlier, Ilene Fortune, a…
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 MoreOUSD teachers get support for strike: “This is what community looks like!”
What started as a one-day teachers strike against school closures turned into a “Day of Action” Friday, as the community joined educators on a march from the Lake Merritt Amphitheater to Oakland City Hall, on foot, bikes, rollerblades and in strollers. Students held picket signs high and chanted: “This is what democracy looks like! This…
Read MoreAt town hall to keep OUSD schools open, it’s a race against the clock
Around 60 people attended a town hall meeting Monday at Parker K-8 to discuss ways to save that school and six others that the Oakland Unified School District board has decided to close in the next two years. Most of the parents, teachers and students at the meeting were from Parker, which is set to…
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 MoreParents, students, teachers make final push to keep their schools from closing
The Oakland Unified School District board is expected to vote Tuesday night on a controversial proposal to close or merge up to 15 schools in the next two years to help shrink its budget deficit. Over the weekend, parents, students, educators and community leaders rallied at campuses at risk of closure in a last-ditch effort…
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 MoreA tale of two schools—what merging Kaiser and Sankofa says about the state of OUSD
OUSD’s board voted to close Kaiser and merge its student body and teaching staff with those already at Sankofa, to the dismay of Kaiser’s vocal supporters.
Read MorePolice arrest protesters at Oakland school board meeting
For the last three Oakland school board meetings, protesters from the newly-formed Oakland Is Not for Sale Coalition have tried to prevent the meetings from taking place, chanting, raising banners and attempting to take over the stage where board members are seated in order to hold what they call a “people’s board meeting.” The group…
Read MoreAt Oakland school board meeting, debate over school closures and charter schools intensifies
Tensions from the recent Oakland teachers’ strike were still reverberating among attendees during a special meeting for the Board of Education on Wednesday night. Hundreds of people filled the auditorium at La Escuelita Education Complex, holding small green signs that set the theme for the night. One side of the signs read “No new charters.”…
Read MoreTeachers, Oakland school district strike a tentative deal
On Friday afternoon, just as Oakland’s school board meeting was supposed to start, a union representative wearing red–the symbol of the “Red for Ed” movement that has galvanized teachers’ strikes across the nation–stepped in front of the crowd and announced that teachers and school officials had reached a tentative four-year agreement. If ratified, it will…
Read MoreOn the fifth day of their strike, Oakland teachers force cancellation of a school board meeting
On the fifth day of their strike, Oakland teachers shut down a school board meeting. Starting in the early afternoon on Wednesday, teachers and their supporters picketed outside of the La Escuelita Education Complex. By the time the meeting was set to start, thousands of teachers, parents, and students were marching all around the building.…
Read MoreOakland Board of Education votes to close Roots International Academy
At an emotional meeting Monday night, the Oakland Board of Education voted to close Roots International Academy, a middle school in East Oakland, despite Roots students, parents, teachers, and staff imploring them to keep the school open.
Read MoreClarissa Doutherd and Gary Yee face off for open school board seat in District 4
In the race for an open school board seat in District 4, newcomer Clarissa Doutherd and Oakland education veteran Gary Yee face off.
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