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"title": "What's a Black School Worth in Oakland? Grass Valley Elementary Community Braces for 2nd Closure in a Decade",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Craig Colbert mingles with parents picking up their kids outside Grass Valley Elementary’s front doors. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As the school’s community adviser, it’s his job to know students’ families. It helps that he grew up with some of them in this hilly green section of East Oakland, that his own son graduated from the school and that he’s worked here for a decade.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He saunters up to idling cars to chat with moms through open windows and offers dads standing on the sidewalk handshakes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“What’s up, baby boy,” he says, gripping Steffen Scott Sr.’s hand. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They both played basketball on the Grass Valley outdoor courts as kids. Now, Scott’s fifth grader is in his first year here. At his last school in Union City, there were hardly any Black students in his class, Scott explains, “so he couldn’t really identify with anything.” \u003c/span>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Francis Pearman, education professor, Stanford University\"]‘If these school closures are promoting the further dispossession of communities of color, making them even less likely to retain their historic profile of being Black communities, then there’s broader conversations that need to be had about what these closures mean for the lifeblood of Black neighborhoods.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“They’re a lot friendlier here,” Steffen Jr. chimes in. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At Grass Valley, Steffen Jr. is surrounded by students who look like him. The comfort of familiarity has translated into greater confidence, Scott says, and he sees the difference in his son’s schoolwork. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Seeing the joy when he walks out that door, it’s everything to me,” Scott says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Grass Valley, off Golf Links Road near Skyline Boulevard, enrolls the highest share of Black students — 65% — among Oakland Unified School District elementary schools. In February, the school board voted to close it next year as part of a broader downsizing plan that will shutter seven campuses. Black families will be disproportionately affected. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The decision comes less than a year after the board made a remarkable pledge to its Black students by adopting a community proposal that organizers named \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://reparationsforblackstudents.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Reparations for Black Students\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The plan seeks to address practices, like school closures, that have helped cut the number of Black students in the district from \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://dashboards.ousd.org/views/Enrollment/Snapshot?:embed=y&:showAppBanner=false&:display_count=n&:showVizHome=n&:origin=viz_share_link\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">25,400 in 2000-01 \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/dqcensus/EnrCharterEth.aspx?cds=0161259&agglevel=district&year=2021-22\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">7,400 this year\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. In the past two decades, Oakland Unified has closed 16 majority-Black schools. That’s left few elementary schools like Grass Valley.\u003c/span>[aside label=\"Reparations in California\" link1=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations,Explore why California launched the first-in-the-nation task force to study reparations for Black people\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/2022/02/RiCLandingPageGraphic-1020x574.png\"]\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When the board passed the Reparations for Black Students resolution in March 2021, it excluded one of the campaign’s central demands: that no majority-Black schools be considered for closure. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Under pressure to address a stubborn structural deficit, the size of which nobody seems to agree on, the board forged ahead. It did so despite the pleas of students, parents and teachers — and despite protest marches, rallies and a weeks-long hunger strike by two teachers. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“For those that don’t know the power of the word ‘reparations,’ the first part of the definition is a commitment to not cause harm again,” says Pecolia Manigo Awobodu, who chairs the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ousd.org/reparations\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Black Students and Families Thriving Task Force\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which is charged with implementing the reparations work. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The story of this campaign is not an easy one to tell,” she continues. “It’s a story of, how do you really get a system to address its lack of commitment to the education of Black students? And how do you do it in such a way that even when there is resistance, you’re still capable of making some levels of progress?” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">— \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Grass Valley Elementary opened in 1953 as a set of portable classrooms with 100 students before a permanent school was built for the rapidly growing area. Throughout the 1960s, newspaper ads for nearby housing developments enticed buyers with references to the “outstanding” and “wonderful” neighborhood school. \u003c/span>[aside postID=\"news_11904278,news_11906636,news_11911675\" label=\"Related Posts\"]\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Today, teachers have taped up crayon signs in the classroom windows that say “save our school” and “Black Lives Matter.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Before Colbert came to Grass Valley, he worked at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School, just down the hill, until the district \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandnorth.net/2011/10/27/ousd-board-votes-to-close-five-elementary-schools-at-a-contentious-meeting/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">closed it a decade ago\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Mostly Black students enrolled at Marshall, and the reasons district leaders gave for closing it echo those for closing Grass Valley: under-enrollment and poor test scores.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When he was packing up Thurgood Marshall’s archives, Colbert, 49, came across photos of himself as a student there in the ’80s. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I thought about the community, I thought about the kids that went there and how much they loved the school,” he says. “It was a tough deal.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As a kid, he’d hitchhike up Golf Links Road after school to play basketball on the school’s courts. Many of the children he grew up with went to school there. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Back then, the neighborhoods close to the school were home to a mix of Black and white middle- and upper-middle-class families. Incomes dropped as you went down the hill, as did the share of white residents. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are more Latino and Asian people now, and fewer Black families. Between 2010 and 2020, the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://belonging.gis-cdn.net/us_segregation_map/?year=2010&bounds=37.83%2C-121.98%2C37.65%2C-122.27&geoid=06001410000&geo=tract\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">share of Black residents\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the neighborhood surrounding the school dropped from nearly 50% to 37%, according to research from UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Having a school site where Black kids feel really valued and can be themselves is important,” says Paula Mitchell, another Marshall transplant who now runs Grass Valley’s project-based learning program. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11912882\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11912882\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Kids play outside at school.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students play during recess at Grass Valley Elementary School in Oakland on April 28, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I purposely chose to be in a place where I could teach students that look like me because I didn’t have any Black teachers when I was growing up,” she continues, “and I just know how it would have made me feel differently in my belief in all the things I could do in the world.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">About half of Grass Valley’s teachers are Black, compared to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ousddata.org/announcements/fast-facts-2020-21\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">20% district-wide\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, according to school-district data. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I think families feel really comfortable sending their children here knowing that we get it,” Mitchell says. “We understand what’s out there in the world and we’re doing our best to hold their kids close.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In a recent study, Stanford education professor Francis Pearman \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://cepa.stanford.edu/content/school-closures-and-gentrification-black-metropolis\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">found that school closures increased gentrification in Black neighborhoods\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“In an age where school districts are writing statements and promising policy in ‘defense of Black lives,’ stakeholders must consider how educational policies are contributing to the further perpetuation of the disintegration of Black communities,” Pearman writes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In his research, Pearman has identified a cyclical relationship between school closures and neighborhood change. Closing schools increases the likelihood that Black neighborhoods will gentrify. In turn, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042085919884342\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">gentrification leads to lower enrollment\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> as families are displaced and new residents opt out of the neighborhood school or don’t have kids to enroll. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If these school closures are promoting the further dispossession of communities of color, making them even less likely to retain their historic profile of being Black communities, then there’s broader conversations that need to be had about what these closures mean for the lifeblood of Black neighborhoods,” Pearman says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On April 11, the ACLU asked Attorney General Rob Bonta to investigate Oakland’s closure plan, saying it is discriminatory and violates the rights of of Black students. On April 29, Oakland Unified teachers, including those at Grass Valley, held a one-day strike to protest the closures. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Colbert leaves his two-story, four-bedroom home in Stockton at 6:30 a.m. to get to Grass Valley’s tree-ringed campus in time for work. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I wanted to own my own house,” he says. “But I come here every day, so Oakland is still in my heart.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">About 10 Grass Valley families live outside the city, according to principal Casey Beckner, but most people leave the school behind when they move. They often leave for the Central Valley. Like Colbert, they’re relocating to become homeowners or looking for cheaper rent.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The pandemic has accelerated the exodus as parents put their kids in independent study or homeschool them. Public school \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2022/california-k-12-enrollment-plunges-again-falls-below-6-million/670111#:~:text=The%201.8%25%20enrollment%20decline%2C%20on,Covid%20struck%20in%20spring%202020.\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">enrollment plummeted\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> across the state during the pandemic. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11912883\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55655_029_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11912883\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55655_029_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A man and child walk past a multicolored mural of students, a bridge and an eagle.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55655_029_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55655_029_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55655_029_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55655_029_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55655_029_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Craig Colbert watches students during recess at Grass Valley Elementary School in Oakland on April 28, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But Grass Valley staff blame the Thurgood Marshall closure for driving families away, too. As they tell it, transplanting the Marshall community to Grass Valley created a chain reaction of instability. The principal got burned out and left, then some teachers started chafing at the new administrator’s approach. As teachers left, more families followed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Once you start a cycle of people leaving, then you have an open door,” Colbert says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Enrollment has declined at Grass Valley four years in a row, leaving the school with 198 students. District staff say that’s too small to make the school financially sustainable. For the past 15 years, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/DQ/EnrTimeRptSch.aspx?cYear=2012-13&Level=School&cName=Grass+Valley+Elementary&cCode=6001879&dCode=0161259\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">state records\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> show the school’s enrollment has hovered around 250 students, dipping as low as 177 and rising to 285 at its peak. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If one school doesn’t have enough students to generate the money to cover its costs, it hurts the whole system, says school board director Clifford Thompson, whose district includes Grass Valley. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We have to use the money that [a bigger] school has generated in order to keep this other school afloat,” he says. “It’s a hard decision, but how long can you do that? It’s been done for several years, and now it’s time to really bite the bullet.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">District staff have pointed out that Oakland Unified operates more schools than many larger districts in the state. They say having more teachers per student than these other districts hasn’t translated into academic gains for students.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thompson sees an upside to larger schools. He’d like to see Oakland’s elementary schools enroll about 400 students each. The former principal, who returned to teaching in Richmond a few years ago, says having multiple teachers for each grade allows educators to learn from each other, grow and innovate. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Many of Grass Valley’s teachers and staff who came from Marshall are wary of the district’s vision of a system improved through economization. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11912881\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55644_018_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11912881\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55644_018_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A woman wearing a face mask sits in a classroom with two children using multicolored blocks.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55644_018_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55644_018_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55644_018_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55644_018_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55644_018_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teacher Tammy Coleman works with students on an activity at Grass Valley Elementary School in Oakland on April 28, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Tammy Coleman’s classroom, the small numbers are a blessing. Typically, she’s had 25 or 26 students, and as many as 30. This year, she has only 18 in her combined first and second grade class, the fewest she’s ever had. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She’s grateful to be able to give students more individualized support as they get readjusted to the classroom after more than a year of distance learning. She says some second graders, who didn’t know the alphabet when they started the year, are now flourishing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s just a beautiful thing and it’s less stress,” she says. “You can delve into what they need more.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Late one morning, after reading instruction, she makes her way around the classroom, checking in with students who are bent over their notebooks clutching crayons and pencils. The class is studying birds and the students are responding to prompts in their new research journals. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hey, William,” Coleman says, leaning down to get a closer look at her student’s work. “What do you wonder about birds?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How birds fly, period. And how they lay eggs,” Williams says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a lot of research to do!” Coleman says before moving to another student.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Grass Valley’s closure would be her third. All three schools were majority Black. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She spent a decade at Cole Middle School, on 10th Street in West Oakland’s Cypress Village neighborhood, before the district closed it. She then moved to Thurgood Marshall. Based on her 28 years in the classroom, she says what matters most is individualized support. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The kids come in needing so much and it’s hard for one person to give them all that they need,” Coleman says. “Are you going to close the achievement gap by shoving them into a larger school with larger class sizes, teachers they don’t know?” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When a group of local Black organizers began gathering community input to shape an agenda for improving Black students’ experiences in schools, stopping closures quickly became a priority. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“One of the reasons why it rang so true for us to name the campaign Reparations for Black Students is because we saw a trend in this district that majority-Black schools were always targeted for school closures, which meant that the bulk of the pain of that practice lived in Black communities,” Awobodu, an OUSD parent and lead organizer of the reparations project, says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The evidence backs her up, says UC Berkeley professor of education and African American studies Janelle Scott, who’s studying school closures. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We know that Black and Latinx students are much more likely to be targeted by school closures,” she says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When Chicago closed dozens of schools a decade ago, for instance, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/09/19/heres-one-reason-rahm-emanuel-wont-run-for-reelection-as-chicagos-mayor/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">88%\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of the students affected were Black. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“So it’s not a subtle point of evidence,” Scott says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Other research finds that school closures are associated with charter school expansion, which can further destabilize district enrollment. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Research suggests academic prospects for students whose schools close vary depending on many factors, including the quality of the new school. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Grass Valley’s general education students will be sent to Oakland Academy of Knowledge and Burckhalter Elementary School under Oakland Unified’s plan. The schools are three and four miles away and their academic, racial and socioeconomic profiles are similar to Grass Valley’s.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Scott finds that claims about declining enrollment and cost savings are often used to justify closures, but that the evidence doesn’t actually support the strategy as a cost-savings measure. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It sounds kind of persuasive and simple, but the reality is not quite so simple,” she says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s because the costs that can come with shuttering campuses, like facilities improvements needed to accommodate displaced students at receiving schools, can offset potential savings. Closing schools also can contribute to revenue decline by pushing more students out of the district. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“When you disrupt communities with school closures, however well-intentioned, many families do look for other options, so you see a relationship between school closures and even further enrollment declines,” Scott says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Scott met with three Oakland Unified school board members in an effort to better understand their reasoning. They didn’t produce the evidence to persuade her. The takeaway, she says, was, “‘We don’t know what else to do. We know we need to do something.’”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In slating the closure, the district may have sealed Grass Valley’s fate: Families don’t want to sign up for a school that may not be around after next year, and some parents plan to pull their kids out preemptively. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ericka Njemanze used to be an active Grass Valley parent. She was president of the PTA and a member of the School Site Council. Her second grader and fourth grade twins have been at the school since kindergarten.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11912889\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55649_023_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11912889\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55649_023_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A child holds up a drawing of a person.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55649_023_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55649_023_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55649_023_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55649_023_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55649_023_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student in Tammy Coleman’s class draws a picture that says ‘Girl Power’ at Grass Valley Elementary School in Oakland on April 28, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I picked Grass Valley because it had a history,” she says. “I heard really good things about the school.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The family doesn’t live far from Grass Valley, but it’s not their neighborhood school. At first Njemanze thought she’d made a good choice, but her feelings have changed. Her kids fell behind during the pandemic, and the fifth grade teachers she was looking forward to for her kids retired. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the harsh light of the closure, the things that bothered her became intolerable. She judged the test scores and wondered where the other professional Black parents were. Why wasn’t there more PTA involvement? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I don’t see the fifth grade teachers taking my kids where they need to be,” says Njemanze, who plans to send her kids to Laurel Elementary next year. “I guess I want to beat the wave. If my kids can transition a little faster, I think that will help my household.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Colbert stands at the end of a long lunch table in the schoolyard. On a neon green sheet of poster board, he’s mapped out the fourth grade and fifth grade girls’ arm-wrestling tournament brackets. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last week he held a tournament for the boys, and the girls demanded their own.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“This contest isn’t about strength, it’s about stamina and your will to win,” he tells the girls crowded around the table. “If you want to win, you will fix yourself to win. It doesn’t matter how big or small the other person is on the other side.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The girls pair up and lock arms. Their biceps tense as they strain and grit their teeth. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Don’t give up,” Colbert says. “Don’t give up.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Teachers and parents grapple with OUSD's decision to close Grass Valley Elementary and the disproportionate impact it will have on Black students.",
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"title": "What's a Black School Worth in Oakland? Grass Valley Elementary Community Braces for 2nd Closure in a Decade | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Craig Colbert mingles with parents picking up their kids outside Grass Valley Elementary’s front doors. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As the school’s community adviser, it’s his job to know students’ families. It helps that he grew up with some of them in this hilly green section of East Oakland, that his own son graduated from the school and that he’s worked here for a decade.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He saunters up to idling cars to chat with moms through open windows and offers dads standing on the sidewalk handshakes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“What’s up, baby boy,” he says, gripping Steffen Scott Sr.’s hand. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They both played basketball on the Grass Valley outdoor courts as kids. Now, Scott’s fifth grader is in his first year here. At his last school in Union City, there were hardly any Black students in his class, Scott explains, “so he couldn’t really identify with anything.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘If these school closures are promoting the further dispossession of communities of color, making them even less likely to retain their historic profile of being Black communities, then there’s broader conversations that need to be had about what these closures mean for the lifeblood of Black neighborhoods.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“They’re a lot friendlier here,” Steffen Jr. chimes in. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At Grass Valley, Steffen Jr. is surrounded by students who look like him. The comfort of familiarity has translated into greater confidence, Scott says, and he sees the difference in his son’s schoolwork. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Seeing the joy when he walks out that door, it’s everything to me,” Scott says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Grass Valley, off Golf Links Road near Skyline Boulevard, enrolls the highest share of Black students — 65% — among Oakland Unified School District elementary schools. In February, the school board voted to close it next year as part of a broader downsizing plan that will shutter seven campuses. Black families will be disproportionately affected. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The decision comes less than a year after the board made a remarkable pledge to its Black students by adopting a community proposal that organizers named \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://reparationsforblackstudents.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Reparations for Black Students\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The plan seeks to address practices, like school closures, that have helped cut the number of Black students in the district from \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://dashboards.ousd.org/views/Enrollment/Snapshot?:embed=y&:showAppBanner=false&:display_count=n&:showVizHome=n&:origin=viz_share_link\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">25,400 in 2000-01 \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/dqcensus/EnrCharterEth.aspx?cds=0161259&agglevel=district&year=2021-22\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">7,400 this year\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. In the past two decades, Oakland Unified has closed 16 majority-Black schools. That’s left few elementary schools like Grass Valley.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When the board passed the Reparations for Black Students resolution in March 2021, it excluded one of the campaign’s central demands: that no majority-Black schools be considered for closure. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Under pressure to address a stubborn structural deficit, the size of which nobody seems to agree on, the board forged ahead. It did so despite the pleas of students, parents and teachers — and despite protest marches, rallies and a weeks-long hunger strike by two teachers. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“For those that don’t know the power of the word ‘reparations,’ the first part of the definition is a commitment to not cause harm again,” says Pecolia Manigo Awobodu, who chairs the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ousd.org/reparations\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Black Students and Families Thriving Task Force\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which is charged with implementing the reparations work. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The story of this campaign is not an easy one to tell,” she continues. “It’s a story of, how do you really get a system to address its lack of commitment to the education of Black students? And how do you do it in such a way that even when there is resistance, you’re still capable of making some levels of progress?” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">— \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Grass Valley Elementary opened in 1953 as a set of portable classrooms with 100 students before a permanent school was built for the rapidly growing area. Throughout the 1960s, newspaper ads for nearby housing developments enticed buyers with references to the “outstanding” and “wonderful” neighborhood school. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Today, teachers have taped up crayon signs in the classroom windows that say “save our school” and “Black Lives Matter.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Before Colbert came to Grass Valley, he worked at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School, just down the hill, until the district \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandnorth.net/2011/10/27/ousd-board-votes-to-close-five-elementary-schools-at-a-contentious-meeting/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">closed it a decade ago\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Mostly Black students enrolled at Marshall, and the reasons district leaders gave for closing it echo those for closing Grass Valley: under-enrollment and poor test scores.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When he was packing up Thurgood Marshall’s archives, Colbert, 49, came across photos of himself as a student there in the ’80s. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I thought about the community, I thought about the kids that went there and how much they loved the school,” he says. “It was a tough deal.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As a kid, he’d hitchhike up Golf Links Road after school to play basketball on the school’s courts. Many of the children he grew up with went to school there. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Back then, the neighborhoods close to the school were home to a mix of Black and white middle- and upper-middle-class families. Incomes dropped as you went down the hill, as did the share of white residents. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are more Latino and Asian people now, and fewer Black families. Between 2010 and 2020, the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://belonging.gis-cdn.net/us_segregation_map/?year=2010&bounds=37.83%2C-121.98%2C37.65%2C-122.27&geoid=06001410000&geo=tract\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">share of Black residents\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the neighborhood surrounding the school dropped from nearly 50% to 37%, according to research from UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Having a school site where Black kids feel really valued and can be themselves is important,” says Paula Mitchell, another Marshall transplant who now runs Grass Valley’s project-based learning program. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11912882\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11912882\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Kids play outside at school.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students play during recess at Grass Valley Elementary School in Oakland on April 28, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I purposely chose to be in a place where I could teach students that look like me because I didn’t have any Black teachers when I was growing up,” she continues, “and I just know how it would have made me feel differently in my belief in all the things I could do in the world.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">About half of Grass Valley’s teachers are Black, compared to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ousddata.org/announcements/fast-facts-2020-21\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">20% district-wide\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, according to school-district data. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I think families feel really comfortable sending their children here knowing that we get it,” Mitchell says. “We understand what’s out there in the world and we’re doing our best to hold their kids close.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In a recent study, Stanford education professor Francis Pearman \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://cepa.stanford.edu/content/school-closures-and-gentrification-black-metropolis\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">found that school closures increased gentrification in Black neighborhoods\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“In an age where school districts are writing statements and promising policy in ‘defense of Black lives,’ stakeholders must consider how educational policies are contributing to the further perpetuation of the disintegration of Black communities,” Pearman writes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In his research, Pearman has identified a cyclical relationship between school closures and neighborhood change. Closing schools increases the likelihood that Black neighborhoods will gentrify. In turn, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042085919884342\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">gentrification leads to lower enrollment\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> as families are displaced and new residents opt out of the neighborhood school or don’t have kids to enroll. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If these school closures are promoting the further dispossession of communities of color, making them even less likely to retain their historic profile of being Black communities, then there’s broader conversations that need to be had about what these closures mean for the lifeblood of Black neighborhoods,” Pearman says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On April 11, the ACLU asked Attorney General Rob Bonta to investigate Oakland’s closure plan, saying it is discriminatory and violates the rights of of Black students. On April 29, Oakland Unified teachers, including those at Grass Valley, held a one-day strike to protest the closures. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Colbert leaves his two-story, four-bedroom home in Stockton at 6:30 a.m. to get to Grass Valley’s tree-ringed campus in time for work. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I wanted to own my own house,” he says. “But I come here every day, so Oakland is still in my heart.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">About 10 Grass Valley families live outside the city, according to principal Casey Beckner, but most people leave the school behind when they move. They often leave for the Central Valley. Like Colbert, they’re relocating to become homeowners or looking for cheaper rent.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The pandemic has accelerated the exodus as parents put their kids in independent study or homeschool them. Public school \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2022/california-k-12-enrollment-plunges-again-falls-below-6-million/670111#:~:text=The%201.8%25%20enrollment%20decline%2C%20on,Covid%20struck%20in%20spring%202020.\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">enrollment plummeted\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> across the state during the pandemic. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11912883\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55655_029_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11912883\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55655_029_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A man and child walk past a multicolored mural of students, a bridge and an eagle.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55655_029_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55655_029_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55655_029_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55655_029_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55655_029_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Craig Colbert watches students during recess at Grass Valley Elementary School in Oakland on April 28, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But Grass Valley staff blame the Thurgood Marshall closure for driving families away, too. As they tell it, transplanting the Marshall community to Grass Valley created a chain reaction of instability. The principal got burned out and left, then some teachers started chafing at the new administrator’s approach. As teachers left, more families followed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Once you start a cycle of people leaving, then you have an open door,” Colbert says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Enrollment has declined at Grass Valley four years in a row, leaving the school with 198 students. District staff say that’s too small to make the school financially sustainable. For the past 15 years, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/DQ/EnrTimeRptSch.aspx?cYear=2012-13&Level=School&cName=Grass+Valley+Elementary&cCode=6001879&dCode=0161259\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">state records\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> show the school’s enrollment has hovered around 250 students, dipping as low as 177 and rising to 285 at its peak. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If one school doesn’t have enough students to generate the money to cover its costs, it hurts the whole system, says school board director Clifford Thompson, whose district includes Grass Valley. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We have to use the money that [a bigger] school has generated in order to keep this other school afloat,” he says. “It’s a hard decision, but how long can you do that? It’s been done for several years, and now it’s time to really bite the bullet.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">District staff have pointed out that Oakland Unified operates more schools than many larger districts in the state. They say having more teachers per student than these other districts hasn’t translated into academic gains for students.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thompson sees an upside to larger schools. He’d like to see Oakland’s elementary schools enroll about 400 students each. The former principal, who returned to teaching in Richmond a few years ago, says having multiple teachers for each grade allows educators to learn from each other, grow and innovate. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Many of Grass Valley’s teachers and staff who came from Marshall are wary of the district’s vision of a system improved through economization. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11912881\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55644_018_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11912881\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55644_018_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A woman wearing a face mask sits in a classroom with two children using multicolored blocks.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55644_018_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55644_018_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55644_018_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55644_018_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55644_018_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teacher Tammy Coleman works with students on an activity at Grass Valley Elementary School in Oakland on April 28, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Tammy Coleman’s classroom, the small numbers are a blessing. Typically, she’s had 25 or 26 students, and as many as 30. This year, she has only 18 in her combined first and second grade class, the fewest she’s ever had. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She’s grateful to be able to give students more individualized support as they get readjusted to the classroom after more than a year of distance learning. She says some second graders, who didn’t know the alphabet when they started the year, are now flourishing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s just a beautiful thing and it’s less stress,” she says. “You can delve into what they need more.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Late one morning, after reading instruction, she makes her way around the classroom, checking in with students who are bent over their notebooks clutching crayons and pencils. The class is studying birds and the students are responding to prompts in their new research journals. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hey, William,” Coleman says, leaning down to get a closer look at her student’s work. “What do you wonder about birds?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How birds fly, period. And how they lay eggs,” Williams says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a lot of research to do!” Coleman says before moving to another student.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Grass Valley’s closure would be her third. All three schools were majority Black. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She spent a decade at Cole Middle School, on 10th Street in West Oakland’s Cypress Village neighborhood, before the district closed it. She then moved to Thurgood Marshall. Based on her 28 years in the classroom, she says what matters most is individualized support. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The kids come in needing so much and it’s hard for one person to give them all that they need,” Coleman says. “Are you going to close the achievement gap by shoving them into a larger school with larger class sizes, teachers they don’t know?” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When a group of local Black organizers began gathering community input to shape an agenda for improving Black students’ experiences in schools, stopping closures quickly became a priority. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“One of the reasons why it rang so true for us to name the campaign Reparations for Black Students is because we saw a trend in this district that majority-Black schools were always targeted for school closures, which meant that the bulk of the pain of that practice lived in Black communities,” Awobodu, an OUSD parent and lead organizer of the reparations project, says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The evidence backs her up, says UC Berkeley professor of education and African American studies Janelle Scott, who’s studying school closures. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We know that Black and Latinx students are much more likely to be targeted by school closures,” she says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When Chicago closed dozens of schools a decade ago, for instance, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/09/19/heres-one-reason-rahm-emanuel-wont-run-for-reelection-as-chicagos-mayor/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">88%\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of the students affected were Black. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“So it’s not a subtle point of evidence,” Scott says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Other research finds that school closures are associated with charter school expansion, which can further destabilize district enrollment. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Research suggests academic prospects for students whose schools close vary depending on many factors, including the quality of the new school. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Grass Valley’s general education students will be sent to Oakland Academy of Knowledge and Burckhalter Elementary School under Oakland Unified’s plan. The schools are three and four miles away and their academic, racial and socioeconomic profiles are similar to Grass Valley’s.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Scott finds that claims about declining enrollment and cost savings are often used to justify closures, but that the evidence doesn’t actually support the strategy as a cost-savings measure. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It sounds kind of persuasive and simple, but the reality is not quite so simple,” she says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s because the costs that can come with shuttering campuses, like facilities improvements needed to accommodate displaced students at receiving schools, can offset potential savings. Closing schools also can contribute to revenue decline by pushing more students out of the district. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“When you disrupt communities with school closures, however well-intentioned, many families do look for other options, so you see a relationship between school closures and even further enrollment declines,” Scott says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Scott met with three Oakland Unified school board members in an effort to better understand their reasoning. They didn’t produce the evidence to persuade her. The takeaway, she says, was, “‘We don’t know what else to do. We know we need to do something.’”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In slating the closure, the district may have sealed Grass Valley’s fate: Families don’t want to sign up for a school that may not be around after next year, and some parents plan to pull their kids out preemptively. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ericka Njemanze used to be an active Grass Valley parent. She was president of the PTA and a member of the School Site Council. Her second grader and fourth grade twins have been at the school since kindergarten.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11912889\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55649_023_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11912889\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55649_023_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A child holds up a drawing of a person.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55649_023_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55649_023_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55649_023_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55649_023_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55649_023_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student in Tammy Coleman’s class draws a picture that says ‘Girl Power’ at Grass Valley Elementary School in Oakland on April 28, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I picked Grass Valley because it had a history,” she says. “I heard really good things about the school.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The family doesn’t live far from Grass Valley, but it’s not their neighborhood school. At first Njemanze thought she’d made a good choice, but her feelings have changed. Her kids fell behind during the pandemic, and the fifth grade teachers she was looking forward to for her kids retired. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the harsh light of the closure, the things that bothered her became intolerable. She judged the test scores and wondered where the other professional Black parents were. Why wasn’t there more PTA involvement? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I don’t see the fifth grade teachers taking my kids where they need to be,” says Njemanze, who plans to send her kids to Laurel Elementary next year. “I guess I want to beat the wave. If my kids can transition a little faster, I think that will help my household.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Colbert stands at the end of a long lunch table in the schoolyard. On a neon green sheet of poster board, he’s mapped out the fourth grade and fifth grade girls’ arm-wrestling tournament brackets. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last week he held a tournament for the boys, and the girls demanded their own.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“This contest isn’t about strength, it’s about stamina and your will to win,” he tells the girls crowded around the table. “If you want to win, you will fix yourself to win. It doesn’t matter how big or small the other person is on the other side.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The girls pair up and lock arms. Their biceps tense as they strain and grit their teeth. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Don’t give up,” Colbert says. “Don’t give up.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "'We're Doing This for Our Students': Oakland Teachers Go on 1-Day Strike Over District's Plan to Close Schools",
"title": "'We're Doing This for Our Students': Oakland Teachers Go on 1-Day Strike Over District's Plan to Close Schools",
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"content": "\u003cp>Chanting \"Save our schools! No cuts, no closures,\" scores of Oakland teachers, parents and students hit the picket lines Friday morning in a one-day strike protesting the district’s controversial plan to shutter some of its schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though most schools in the Oakland Unified School District remained open on Friday, the district said it didn't have enough substitutes and other staff to safely hold classes, and asked families to keep their children home for the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Friday's labor action — the second teachers' strike in just three years — comes in response to the district's decision to close seven of its small schools and merge or shrink four others over the next two years as part of a cost-savings measure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district says the cuts are necessary to address declining enrollment and major budget shortfalls projected for the coming years, and pledged to redirect some of the savings to its larger neighborhood schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many teachers and families say the district moved forward with its plan without the requisite community input, and argue that the closures will disproportionately affect students of color, particularly Black students and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11911675/they-see-us-as-expendable-oakland-families-of-children-with-disabilities-call-school-closure-plan-discriminatory\">students of color with disabilities\u003c/a>. Hundreds of parents and community members spoke out forcefully against the plan during a series of marathon school board meetings, and two teachers went on an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11905982/how-dare-you-oakland-school-closure-decision-inspires-new-opposition-efforts\">18-day hunger strike\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/juliamcevoy1/status/1520052294833741824\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We find ourselves facing a majority school board that has gone back on its written promise to us educators and that promise was to never again ambush a school with a last-minute closure,\" Keith Brown, president of the Oakland Education Association, told the roughly 25 teachers on the picket line Friday morning outside Parker Elementary School in East Oakland — one of the schools on the chopping block. \"They told us that there isn't any money to keep our community schools open and that we have no choice. But there is always a choice.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown, who led a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11727551/oakland-teachers-go-on-strike-in-fight-for-higher-pay-more-resources\">weeklong teachers' strike\u003c/a> in 2019 over a new contract, said the district's plan will directly harm its most vulnerable students and families, without actually recouping that much money. The consolidation is estimated to save anywhere between $4.1 million and $14.7 million, according to the school board's projections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They are choosing to destabilize communities and take away critical resources from our children at a time when they need resources the most,\" Brown said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Educators approved Friday's walkout by a 3-to-1 margin — a move affirming their right to bargain over school-closure decisions. After picketing at individual school sites, teachers and their supporters marched from Lake Merritt to Oakland City Hall, where a rally was held in partnership with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 10. That union, which opposes the city's effort to move the Oakland A's ballpark to Howard Terminal at the Port of Oakland, has joined forces with OEA in a campaign against privatization efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>H. Matthew Seawright, a first-year early literacy tutor at Carl B. Munck Elementary School in the Oakland hills, handed out donuts to his colleagues picketing in front of the school Friday morning. An ordained minister originally from Washington, D.C., Seawright said he's been inspired by the outpouring of community support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11912785\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-18-1.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-11912785 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-18-1.jpg\" alt=\"A young girl speaks into a microphone in front of a large banner.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-18-1.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-18-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-18-1-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-18-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-18-1-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Demi Johnson, 8, daughter of Moms 4 Housing co-founder Misty Cross, speaks at a rally on April 29, 2022, protesting school closures in the district. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\"Usually when things like this happen, it's already decided,\" he said. \"But then to see the students come together, to see the staff come together, to see the area come together and say, 'We are not taking this. We are not just going to accept it. We're going to do something about it,' that has been so powerful for me.\"[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"ousd\"]Under a plan the school board approved in February, the district is slated to close Community Day School and Parker Elementary at the end of this year, and five more schools — Brookfield Elementary, Carl Munck Elementary, Grass Valley Elementary, Korematsu Discovery Academy and Horace Mann Elementary — next summer. It also plans to merge RISE Community with New Highland Academy Elementary and eliminate grades 6-8 at La Escuelita Elementary and Hillcrest Elementary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ousd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5399120&GUID=4B4E68C0-F8F3-4276-A10E-FB32F71B35C6&Options=&Search=\">The vast majority of students \u003c/a>at the targeted schools — some 93% — are considered either lower-income, English learners or foster youth. Black students also are overrepresented, accounting for more than 40% of the student body at the schools, almost double the district-wide average.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That disparity prompted the ACLU this month to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/article/The-ACLU-just-got-involved-in-the-Oakland-school-17073265.php\">urge California's attorney general\u003c/a> to investigate the district's closure plan, alleging it violates the rights of Black students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vilma Serrano, a kindergarten teacher at Melrose Leadership Academy, who also serves on OEA's executive board, said Friday's strike was about fighting for the rights of all students in the district, not just those who will be immediately affected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Of course any day lost of school is significant. But we also know this is part of a larger message, and this could be any school,\" she said. \"All of the schools on that [closure] list had different metrics that didn’t make sense. And so I want parents to really understand that we are doing this for our students.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a last-minute bid to thwart the one-day walkout, the district on Thursday filed for an injunction with the state’s Public Employment Relations Board — which governs collective bargaining — arguing that the action violated labor agreements. But the state board ultimately denied the appeal, a decision the district said it was \"disappointed\" with. In a statement, it pledged to \"continue to put the needs of kids first and do what it thinks is best for them.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/sharkfinney/status/1520143721433501696\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has long argued it operates too many schools for the declining number of students it serves. An estimated 35% of district schools are enrolled at \"below sustainable\" levels, according to officials, who attribute that drop to factors such as lower birth rates, pandemic-related moves, and a lack of affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fewer students means less funding, leaving the district to shoulder an estimated deficit of $12.3 million for the coming school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Debra Washington, who lives near Parker Elementary, said closing more schools isn't the answer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The closure of this school would impact the community as far as the children having to go far away to other schools and other neighborhoods that they are probably not used to,\" she said. \"They’re used to this school, and some of the families, they live in this neighborhood.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some parents, however, have come out strongly against the walkout, accusing the teachers union of prioritizing politics over the well-being of kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students have already missed too much school and many have fallen far behind over the last two years during the pandemic, said Lakisha Young, who runs a parent-empowerment organization called The Oakland REACH.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"So whose kids and whose parents is this supposed to be doing good for?\" she said, stressing that every school day is critical to getting kids back up to speed. \"We are supposed to be educating people and kids so they can have the lives they want to have ... It's just being made harder and harder by the decisions by adults.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11912786\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1815px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-19.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11912786\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-19.jpg\" alt=\"People march down a street, holding a banner that says 'Stop Privatizing Our Schools, Our Port"\" width=\"1815\" height=\"1112\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-19.jpg 1815w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-19-800x490.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-19-1020x625.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-19-160x98.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-19-1536x941.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1815px) 100vw, 1815px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland teachers and members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 10, march from Lake Merritt to Oakland City Hall on April 29, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Josh Connor, an OUSD parent, said it was important to support teachers and give them the benefit of the doubt, despite the inconvenience of not being able to send kids to school for the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Teachers are the people we trust with our kids every day,\" he said. \"I trust their judgment. Honestly, I think the school district rushed through the process of closing schools.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emmett Grout, 17, a student at Oakland Tech, said he and many of his classmates also are supporting their teachers in their fight to keep schools open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I think that it's important that we're at least trying to do something about the school closures,\" he said. \"I mean, it feels like sometimes the protest energy will die and go away. So I think it's good that the teachers are stepping up to do something.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked how missing the day would affect him personally, Grout just shrugged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Well, I have a math test,\" he said. \"So I'm getting rescheduled, so I'm actually kind of grateful.\"\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Chanting \"Save our schools! No cuts, no closures,\" scores of Oakland teachers, parents and students hit the picket lines Friday morning in a one-day strike protesting the district’s controversial plan to shutter some of its schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though most schools in the Oakland Unified School District remained open on Friday, the district said it didn't have enough substitutes and other staff to safely hold classes, and asked families to keep their children home for the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Friday's labor action — the second teachers' strike in just three years — comes in response to the district's decision to close seven of its small schools and merge or shrink four others over the next two years as part of a cost-savings measure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district says the cuts are necessary to address declining enrollment and major budget shortfalls projected for the coming years, and pledged to redirect some of the savings to its larger neighborhood schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many teachers and families say the district moved forward with its plan without the requisite community input, and argue that the closures will disproportionately affect students of color, particularly Black students and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11911675/they-see-us-as-expendable-oakland-families-of-children-with-disabilities-call-school-closure-plan-discriminatory\">students of color with disabilities\u003c/a>. Hundreds of parents and community members spoke out forcefully against the plan during a series of marathon school board meetings, and two teachers went on an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11905982/how-dare-you-oakland-school-closure-decision-inspires-new-opposition-efforts\">18-day hunger strike\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\"We find ourselves facing a majority school board that has gone back on its written promise to us educators and that promise was to never again ambush a school with a last-minute closure,\" Keith Brown, president of the Oakland Education Association, told the roughly 25 teachers on the picket line Friday morning outside Parker Elementary School in East Oakland — one of the schools on the chopping block. \"They told us that there isn't any money to keep our community schools open and that we have no choice. But there is always a choice.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown, who led a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11727551/oakland-teachers-go-on-strike-in-fight-for-higher-pay-more-resources\">weeklong teachers' strike\u003c/a> in 2019 over a new contract, said the district's plan will directly harm its most vulnerable students and families, without actually recouping that much money. The consolidation is estimated to save anywhere between $4.1 million and $14.7 million, according to the school board's projections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"They are choosing to destabilize communities and take away critical resources from our children at a time when they need resources the most,\" Brown said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Educators approved Friday's walkout by a 3-to-1 margin — a move affirming their right to bargain over school-closure decisions. After picketing at individual school sites, teachers and their supporters marched from Lake Merritt to Oakland City Hall, where a rally was held in partnership with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 10. That union, which opposes the city's effort to move the Oakland A's ballpark to Howard Terminal at the Port of Oakland, has joined forces with OEA in a campaign against privatization efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>H. Matthew Seawright, a first-year early literacy tutor at Carl B. Munck Elementary School in the Oakland hills, handed out donuts to his colleagues picketing in front of the school Friday morning. An ordained minister originally from Washington, D.C., Seawright said he's been inspired by the outpouring of community support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11912785\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-18-1.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-11912785 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-18-1.jpg\" alt=\"A young girl speaks into a microphone in front of a large banner.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-18-1.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-18-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-18-1-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-18-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-18-1-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Demi Johnson, 8, daughter of Moms 4 Housing co-founder Misty Cross, speaks at a rally on April 29, 2022, protesting school closures in the district. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\"Usually when things like this happen, it's already decided,\" he said. \"But then to see the students come together, to see the staff come together, to see the area come together and say, 'We are not taking this. We are not just going to accept it. We're going to do something about it,' that has been so powerful for me.\"\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Under a plan the school board approved in February, the district is slated to close Community Day School and Parker Elementary at the end of this year, and five more schools — Brookfield Elementary, Carl Munck Elementary, Grass Valley Elementary, Korematsu Discovery Academy and Horace Mann Elementary — next summer. It also plans to merge RISE Community with New Highland Academy Elementary and eliminate grades 6-8 at La Escuelita Elementary and Hillcrest Elementary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ousd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5399120&GUID=4B4E68C0-F8F3-4276-A10E-FB32F71B35C6&Options=&Search=\">The vast majority of students \u003c/a>at the targeted schools — some 93% — are considered either lower-income, English learners or foster youth. Black students also are overrepresented, accounting for more than 40% of the student body at the schools, almost double the district-wide average.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That disparity prompted the ACLU this month to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/article/The-ACLU-just-got-involved-in-the-Oakland-school-17073265.php\">urge California's attorney general\u003c/a> to investigate the district's closure plan, alleging it violates the rights of Black students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vilma Serrano, a kindergarten teacher at Melrose Leadership Academy, who also serves on OEA's executive board, said Friday's strike was about fighting for the rights of all students in the district, not just those who will be immediately affected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Of course any day lost of school is significant. But we also know this is part of a larger message, and this could be any school,\" she said. \"All of the schools on that [closure] list had different metrics that didn’t make sense. And so I want parents to really understand that we are doing this for our students.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a last-minute bid to thwart the one-day walkout, the district on Thursday filed for an injunction with the state’s Public Employment Relations Board — which governs collective bargaining — arguing that the action violated labor agreements. But the state board ultimately denied the appeal, a decision the district said it was \"disappointed\" with. In a statement, it pledged to \"continue to put the needs of kids first and do what it thinks is best for them.\"\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>The district has long argued it operates too many schools for the declining number of students it serves. An estimated 35% of district schools are enrolled at \"below sustainable\" levels, according to officials, who attribute that drop to factors such as lower birth rates, pandemic-related moves, and a lack of affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fewer students means less funding, leaving the district to shoulder an estimated deficit of $12.3 million for the coming school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Debra Washington, who lives near Parker Elementary, said closing more schools isn't the answer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The closure of this school would impact the community as far as the children having to go far away to other schools and other neighborhoods that they are probably not used to,\" she said. \"They’re used to this school, and some of the families, they live in this neighborhood.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some parents, however, have come out strongly against the walkout, accusing the teachers union of prioritizing politics over the well-being of kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students have already missed too much school and many have fallen far behind over the last two years during the pandemic, said Lakisha Young, who runs a parent-empowerment organization called The Oakland REACH.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"So whose kids and whose parents is this supposed to be doing good for?\" she said, stressing that every school day is critical to getting kids back up to speed. \"We are supposed to be educating people and kids so they can have the lives they want to have ... It's just being made harder and harder by the decisions by adults.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11912786\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1815px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-19.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11912786\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-19.jpg\" alt=\"People march down a street, holding a banner that says 'Stop Privatizing Our Schools, Our Port"\" width=\"1815\" height=\"1112\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-19.jpg 1815w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-19-800x490.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-19-1020x625.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-19-160x98.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Image-from-iOS-19-1536x941.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1815px) 100vw, 1815px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland teachers and members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 10, march from Lake Merritt to Oakland City Hall on April 29, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Josh Connor, an OUSD parent, said it was important to support teachers and give them the benefit of the doubt, despite the inconvenience of not being able to send kids to school for the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Teachers are the people we trust with our kids every day,\" he said. \"I trust their judgment. Honestly, I think the school district rushed through the process of closing schools.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emmett Grout, 17, a student at Oakland Tech, said he and many of his classmates also are supporting their teachers in their fight to keep schools open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I think that it's important that we're at least trying to do something about the school closures,\" he said. \"I mean, it feels like sometimes the protest energy will die and go away. So I think it's good that the teachers are stepping up to do something.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked how missing the day would affect him personally, Grout just shrugged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Well, I have a math test,\" he said. \"So I'm getting rescheduled, so I'm actually kind of grateful.\"\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Thousands of Oakland public school students are being asked to stay home on Friday because their teachers are planning a walkout to protest the Oakland Unified School District's \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11904618/oakland-moves-to-close-seven-schools-despite-fierce-community-opposition\">plan to close seven schools and merge or shrink four others\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district, though, says it doesn't have enough substitute teachers on hand to keep most classes running, and is accusing the teachers union of violating labor agreements. On Thursday, it filed for an injunction with the state’s Public Employment Relations Board to try to block the action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This comes just three years after Oakland teachers participated in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11727551/oakland-teachers-go-on-strike-in-fight-for-higher-pay-more-resources\">a week-long walkout\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED's education editor Julia McEvoy and Morning Edition host Brian Watt spoke on Thursday about the increasingly volatile situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The following is edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BRIAN WATT: This is a pretty radical move by teachers. How did it come to this?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"ousd\"]\u003cstrong>JULIA MCEVOY:\u003c/strong> Teachers say this strike is about sending a message. They claim the district’s most recent move — approved in February — to close schools without community input is an unfair labor practice, and that means they can strike. They say they want the district to understand they have a right to bargain over the issue of school closures. Seventy-five percent of teachers voted for the strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We expect teachers to be out in front of schools with picket lines, and then there is a rally and march later in the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BRIAN WATT: Despite OUSD's move to seek an injunction and block the strike, the district has so far told families to keep their kids home tomorrow.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>JULIA MCEVOY: \u003c/strong>Yes. The district says it can’t find enough substitutes and other staff to fill all the vacancies in classrooms. So keep kids home and the absences will be counted as excused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The teachers know this is not going to be easy on families. Here is Vilma Serrano, who is a full-time classroom teacher and on the OEA's [Oakland Education Association] executive board:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>VILMA SERRANO: \u003c/strong>Of course any day lost of school is significant. But we also know this is part of a larger message, and this could be any school. All of the schools on that [closure] list had different metrics that didn’t make sense. ... And so I want parents to really understand that we are doing this for our students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BRIAN WATT: I can imagine not all families are excited about this situation.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>JULIA MCEVOY: \u003c/strong>Yeah, I will say there are some parents who are coming out strongly against this one-day strike. One of them is Lakisha Young, who runs a parent empowerment organization called The Oakland Reach. That organization has been working with OUSD this year to train parents to be literacy tutors at Sojourner Truth, the district’s virtual school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s very angry about the planned strike, and says politics are getting in the way of kids being able to learn — especially kids who have already missed too much school and fallen behind during the pandemic. She says every day matters, and asked me: \"So whose kids and whose parents is this supposed to be doing good for?\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young says, at least right now, her tutors are still planning to work with students tomorrow.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Thousands of Oakland public school students are being asked to stay home on Friday because their teachers are planning a walkout to protest the Oakland Unified School District's plan to close seven schools.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Thousands of Oakland public school students are being asked to stay home on Friday because their teachers are planning a walkout to protest the Oakland Unified School District's \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11904618/oakland-moves-to-close-seven-schools-despite-fierce-community-opposition\">plan to close seven schools and merge or shrink four others\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district, though, says it doesn't have enough substitute teachers on hand to keep most classes running, and is accusing the teachers union of violating labor agreements. On Thursday, it filed for an injunction with the state’s Public Employment Relations Board to try to block the action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This comes just three years after Oakland teachers participated in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11727551/oakland-teachers-go-on-strike-in-fight-for-higher-pay-more-resources\">a week-long walkout\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED's education editor Julia McEvoy and Morning Edition host Brian Watt spoke on Thursday about the increasingly volatile situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The following is edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BRIAN WATT: This is a pretty radical move by teachers. How did it come to this?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cstrong>JULIA MCEVOY:\u003c/strong> Teachers say this strike is about sending a message. They claim the district’s most recent move — approved in February — to close schools without community input is an unfair labor practice, and that means they can strike. They say they want the district to understand they have a right to bargain over the issue of school closures. Seventy-five percent of teachers voted for the strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We expect teachers to be out in front of schools with picket lines, and then there is a rally and march later in the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BRIAN WATT: Despite OUSD's move to seek an injunction and block the strike, the district has so far told families to keep their kids home tomorrow.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>JULIA MCEVOY: \u003c/strong>Yes. The district says it can’t find enough substitutes and other staff to fill all the vacancies in classrooms. So keep kids home and the absences will be counted as excused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The teachers know this is not going to be easy on families. Here is Vilma Serrano, who is a full-time classroom teacher and on the OEA's [Oakland Education Association] executive board:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>VILMA SERRANO: \u003c/strong>Of course any day lost of school is significant. But we also know this is part of a larger message, and this could be any school. All of the schools on that [closure] list had different metrics that didn’t make sense. ... And so I want parents to really understand that we are doing this for our students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BRIAN WATT: I can imagine not all families are excited about this situation.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>JULIA MCEVOY: \u003c/strong>Yeah, I will say there are some parents who are coming out strongly against this one-day strike. One of them is Lakisha Young, who runs a parent empowerment organization called The Oakland Reach. That organization has been working with OUSD this year to train parents to be literacy tutors at Sojourner Truth, the district’s virtual school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s very angry about the planned strike, and says politics are getting in the way of kids being able to learn — especially kids who have already missed too much school and fallen behind during the pandemic. She says every day matters, and asked me: \"So whose kids and whose parents is this supposed to be doing good for?\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young says, at least right now, her tutors are still planning to work with students tomorrow.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "'They See Us As Expendable': Oakland Families of Children With Disabilities Call School Closure Plan Discriminatory",
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"content": "\u003cp>Eight-year-old Max Pezold has bounced around Oakland public schools since preschool, a fairly typical path in this district for students with special education needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diagnosed with autism and profound learning delays when he was 2 years old, Max began his formal education at a preschool program for children with autism at Montclair Elementary School. He then was mistakenly placed in a special kindergarten language program at Edison Elementary — which didn’t work out, because he is nonverbal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a short, challenging stint in what his parents described as a disastrously run classroom at Piedmont Elementary, Max finally landed at Carl B. Munck Elementary, a small school in the Oakland hills near Merritt College with a culture of inclusiveness, where nearly 18% of the students have disabilities. The school has been so welcoming that Max’s dad says he gets emotional describing it.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Carl Pezold, parent\"]'It seems like the deck is stacked against you. You have a hard enough time trying to raise a kid with disabilities and then they throw this at you.'[/pullquote]“You know, my son, he's a lovely boy, but he doesn't talk, he doesn't look at people in the eye,” Carl Pezold said. “But the other … kids, they greet him, they know his name. They say, ‘Hi, Max!,’ you know, [even though] he’ll just kind of barrel past them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike in some other schools, where students with disabilities can be isolated from the rest of the school in portable classrooms, Max and his classmates are in centrally located rooms. They share hallways and other facilities with general education students, and join conventional classes twice a week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When children in general education classes empathize with and accept kids like Max, it can be a profound experience for everyone involved, but one that’s all too rare in Oakland Unified, Pezold says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You know, in the special education community or in the disabled community, what we want is to be seen. That's what they can do in this small school environment,” Pezold said of Munck, where half the students are Black and the vast majority come from other parts of the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that’s why Pezold and other parents here were stunned to learn in February that the district was planning to shut down the school at the end of the 2022-23 academic year. That means families must enroll in a new school for the following year by this coming fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11911750\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Max.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11911750\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Max.jpg\" alt=\"A young boy wearing a swim shirt and swim suit sits in folding chair on a beach.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1632\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Max.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Max-800x680.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Max-1020x867.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Max-160x136.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Max-1536x1306.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Max Pezold, 8, who has autism, attended several OUSD elementary schools before coming to Carl B. Munck Elementary, where his family says he is thriving. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Carl Pezold)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Munck is one of the five small schools slated for closure next year, part of the district’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11904618/oakland-moves-to-close-seven-schools-despite-fierce-community-opposition\">larger school-consolidation plan\u003c/a> to address declining enrollments and ongoing budget concerns. The schools on the chopping block, which include Grass Valley and Brookfield Elementary, collectively serve 224 students with special education requirements — like Max — about half of whom have moderate to severe disabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the families affected say the district is targeting its most vulnerable students, noting that the closures will disproportionately affect students of color with disabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the district maintains it is currently “overinvesting” in small, under-enrolled schools like Munck, which has just 227 students. The district says it wants to create cost-saving efficiencies by consolidating many of its schools that have fewer than 400 students and reinvesting in neighborhood schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because less than 6% of Munck’s families come from the immediate area — with most, like Max’s family, driving from elsewhere in the city — it is not considered a neighborhood school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when Munck closes, Max’s world will get turned upside down — again\u003cem>, \u003c/em>Pezold says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The strides that he's making are going to be reversed, whether it be on toileting, whether it be on his language or some of his behavior. It's a shame, when he's doing so well,” he said. “It seems like the deck is stacked against you. You have a hard enough time trying to raise a kid with disabilities and then they throw this at you. You feel [the district] sees you as expendable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The special day classes for students like Max usually have no more than 10 children, less than half the size of a conventional elementary school classroom in the district, and require extra support staff — all of which can greatly increase a school’s operational costs. Students with significant support needs also tend to be absent more often, which lowers the per-pupil funding a school receives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11911748\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/IMG_7478-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11911748\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/IMG_7478-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A small group of children sitting in a classroom, looking at a screen with an animated video on it.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1598\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/IMG_7478-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/IMG_7478-800x499.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/IMG_7478-1020x637.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/IMG_7478-160x100.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/IMG_7478-1536x959.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/IMG_7478-2048x1278.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/IMG_7478-1920x1199.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jolanda Murphy says her daughter, Dalaine, pictured here in a pink shirt on April 7, 2022, has been thriving in a small special day class at Carl B. Munck Elementary in Oakland for children with moderate to severe education needs. \u003ccite>(Julia McEvoy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Despite those factors, Munck’s principal, Denise Burroughs, has made it a policy to welcome these students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once they come across the threshold, they know we're going to take care of them and we're going to interact with them, speak to them,” said Burroughs, who has led the school for nearly 20 years. “My moderate-to-severe children, many of them are nonverbal, but I'm seeing some of them react because we react with them.”[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"ousd\"]Jennifer Blake, OUSD’s executive director of special education, agrees that Munck is a good example of how schools can better integrate students with disabilities into the general school culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the district says it simply doesn’t have the dollars to sustain Munck’s small-school model, and has cited “over-investment” in its small schools as part of its justification for shuttering many of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we're talking about my dream-world scenario, we would have adequate base funding and adequate special-education funding at both the federal and state level to be able to ensure that we are able to build and foster schools that are small and highly specialized by design,” Blake said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She acknowledges the optics of the current closure plans and the pain it’s inflicting on families, but says the closures will ultimately strengthen programs in larger, neighborhood schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know there was no intention to be able to target students with disabilities exclusively,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blake says she wants to create more inclusive programs like the one at Munck, with TK-5 programs available at more schools throughout the district, so kids like Max don't have to bounce around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Jolanda Murphy, whose 9-year-old daughter, Dalaine, also attends Munck, says the district’s decision to close this school seems outwardly discriminatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You're basically telling parents that do have kids with special needs that we don't care. We’d rather put the focus and the time and energy into something else,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dalaine, who is in a special day class at the school, has cerebral palsy, and is prone to seizures. When she was diagnosed as an infant, hospital staff said she would never walk or talk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11911747\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Denise-Burroughs.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11911747\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Denise-Burroughs.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged woman with glasses.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1364\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Denise-Burroughs.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Denise-Burroughs-800x568.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Denise-Burroughs-1020x725.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Denise-Burroughs-160x114.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Denise-Burroughs-1536x1091.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carl B. Munck Principal Denise Burroughs, in her office on April 7, 2022. She says her small school is under-enrolled in part because some white families in the Oakland hills are reluctant to send their children to a majority Black school. \u003ccite>(Julia McEvoy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“But I told them that I serve a God who is going to do bigger and better things for her,” Murphy said. By 16 months Dalaine was crawling, and by age 4 she walked into preschool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"And her teacher cried, because she knew how much I wanted Dalaine to walk,\" Murphy recalled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like Max, Dalaine is nonverbal but very expressive. Murphy says she has seen her make real progress at Munck, where she uses touch screens and flash cards to learn to count and identify letters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her effort to stop the closure of her daughter’s school, Murphy recently joined the district’s Community Advisory Committee for Special Education, which sent letters to the school board, the county, the state superintendent and the governor accusing OUSD of negligent treatment of disabled students — particularly Black students, who make up 27% of students with disabilities in the district.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Jolanda Murphy, parent\"]'You're basically telling parents that do have kids with special needs that we don't care. We’d rather put the focus and the time and energy into something else.'[/pullquote]The ACLU also has asked California’s attorney general to investigate whether the district took racial equity into account in its closure plans, as it is required to do under the district's Reparations for Black Students resolution that the school board passed last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland Unified, by its own admission, has a history of chronically underfunding historically Black schools, says Linnea Nelson, a senior staff attorney in the ACLU of Northern California’s Racial and Economic Justice Program. “It now has created the very conditions that it is now citing to justify disrupting tight-knit school communities and displacing literally hundreds of Black students,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For its part, the district has said it remains focused on improving outcomes for underserved populations, particularly Black students, and that its closure plans are part of a broader strategy to redirect resources toward larger neighborhood schools that serve a greater number of kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Murphy believes the district is specifically targeting Munck, in part, because it wants to repurpose the property the school sits on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is prime real estate,” Murphy pointed out. “If they close the school completely, they're going to tear it down and build houses. Period. Point blank.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California law makes it hard for districts to sell off school properties, but those plots can more easily be declared surplus and leased out to private schools and charter schools, or used for teacher housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Carl B. Munck has a beautiful view of Oakland,” she said. “If you go up there, you can sit up there and just lose yourself because of the view of our beautiful city. You can see San Francisco, San Mateo just from their view of the school. It's such a beautiful campus.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Munck’s serene location, largely devoid of sirens or traffic sounds, is particularly ideal for students with special education needs, Murphy notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11911749\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Jolanda-Murphy-and-Dalaine-Whaley.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11911749\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Jolanda-Murphy-and-Dalaine-Whaley.jpg\" alt=\"A mother puts her hands on the hips of her daughter, who stands in front of her.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Jolanda-Murphy-and-Dalaine-Whaley.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Jolanda-Murphy-and-Dalaine-Whaley-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Jolanda-Murphy-and-Dalaine-Whaley-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Jolanda-Murphy-and-Dalaine-Whaley-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Jolanda-Murphy-and-Dalaine-Whaley-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jolanda Murphy with her daughter, Dalaine, 9, who has cerebral palsy, at their home in Oakland on April 7, 2022, during a 'sensory day,' when Dalaine is allowed to rip up paper, put things on the ground and be more 'loose' and less regulated, to calm her down after a stressful experience. Murphy says Carl B. Munck Elementary, which Dalaine currently attends, is the best place for her. Murphy is fighting the school's closure. \u003ccite>(Julia McEvoy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the predominantly white Oakland hills also is an area where discriminatory housing policies have, for nearly a century, largely denied Black families the opportunity to buy homes and attend schools here. And both Murphy and Burroughs, Munck’s principal, believe that racism remains a factor in the district’s decision-making.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately, over the years, I’ve actually had people say things like, ‘Well, I like the school, but I just feel like my child would be in a minority here,’ because there were so many children of African descent and color here. I’ve actually had people say that, judge the school that way,” said Burroughs, who is Black and has lived much of her life in Oakland. “It feels like you want to erase these kids from being here. That’s what it feels like to me. Because truly, if it’s just about under-enrollment, the goal would have been, ‘Let’s figure out how to increase enrollment,’ right?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for Murphy, she says she and other parents are not giving up in their fight to keep the school open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just feel that for my daughter, she needs to have the best,” she said. “And right now, the best is Carl Munck.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Carl B. Munck Elementary School in the Oakland hills is among the five small OUSD schools slated for closure next year. Those schools collectively serve 224 students with special education requirements.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Eight-year-old Max Pezold has bounced around Oakland public schools since preschool, a fairly typical path in this district for students with special education needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diagnosed with autism and profound learning delays when he was 2 years old, Max began his formal education at a preschool program for children with autism at Montclair Elementary School. He then was mistakenly placed in a special kindergarten language program at Edison Elementary — which didn’t work out, because he is nonverbal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a short, challenging stint in what his parents described as a disastrously run classroom at Piedmont Elementary, Max finally landed at Carl B. Munck Elementary, a small school in the Oakland hills near Merritt College with a culture of inclusiveness, where nearly 18% of the students have disabilities. The school has been so welcoming that Max’s dad says he gets emotional describing it.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“You know, my son, he's a lovely boy, but he doesn't talk, he doesn't look at people in the eye,” Carl Pezold said. “But the other … kids, they greet him, they know his name. They say, ‘Hi, Max!,’ you know, [even though] he’ll just kind of barrel past them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike in some other schools, where students with disabilities can be isolated from the rest of the school in portable classrooms, Max and his classmates are in centrally located rooms. They share hallways and other facilities with general education students, and join conventional classes twice a week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When children in general education classes empathize with and accept kids like Max, it can be a profound experience for everyone involved, but one that’s all too rare in Oakland Unified, Pezold says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You know, in the special education community or in the disabled community, what we want is to be seen. That's what they can do in this small school environment,” Pezold said of Munck, where half the students are Black and the vast majority come from other parts of the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that’s why Pezold and other parents here were stunned to learn in February that the district was planning to shut down the school at the end of the 2022-23 academic year. That means families must enroll in a new school for the following year by this coming fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11911750\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Max.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11911750\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Max.jpg\" alt=\"A young boy wearing a swim shirt and swim suit sits in folding chair on a beach.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1632\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Max.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Max-800x680.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Max-1020x867.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Max-160x136.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Max-1536x1306.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Max Pezold, 8, who has autism, attended several OUSD elementary schools before coming to Carl B. Munck Elementary, where his family says he is thriving. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Carl Pezold)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Munck is one of the five small schools slated for closure next year, part of the district’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11904618/oakland-moves-to-close-seven-schools-despite-fierce-community-opposition\">larger school-consolidation plan\u003c/a> to address declining enrollments and ongoing budget concerns. The schools on the chopping block, which include Grass Valley and Brookfield Elementary, collectively serve 224 students with special education requirements — like Max — about half of whom have moderate to severe disabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the families affected say the district is targeting its most vulnerable students, noting that the closures will disproportionately affect students of color with disabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the district maintains it is currently “overinvesting” in small, under-enrolled schools like Munck, which has just 227 students. The district says it wants to create cost-saving efficiencies by consolidating many of its schools that have fewer than 400 students and reinvesting in neighborhood schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because less than 6% of Munck’s families come from the immediate area — with most, like Max’s family, driving from elsewhere in the city — it is not considered a neighborhood school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when Munck closes, Max’s world will get turned upside down — again\u003cem>, \u003c/em>Pezold says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The strides that he's making are going to be reversed, whether it be on toileting, whether it be on his language or some of his behavior. It's a shame, when he's doing so well,” he said. “It seems like the deck is stacked against you. You have a hard enough time trying to raise a kid with disabilities and then they throw this at you. You feel [the district] sees you as expendable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The special day classes for students like Max usually have no more than 10 children, less than half the size of a conventional elementary school classroom in the district, and require extra support staff — all of which can greatly increase a school’s operational costs. Students with significant support needs also tend to be absent more often, which lowers the per-pupil funding a school receives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11911748\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/IMG_7478-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11911748\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/IMG_7478-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A small group of children sitting in a classroom, looking at a screen with an animated video on it.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1598\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/IMG_7478-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/IMG_7478-800x499.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/IMG_7478-1020x637.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/IMG_7478-160x100.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/IMG_7478-1536x959.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/IMG_7478-2048x1278.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/IMG_7478-1920x1199.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jolanda Murphy says her daughter, Dalaine, pictured here in a pink shirt on April 7, 2022, has been thriving in a small special day class at Carl B. Munck Elementary in Oakland for children with moderate to severe education needs. \u003ccite>(Julia McEvoy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Despite those factors, Munck’s principal, Denise Burroughs, has made it a policy to welcome these students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once they come across the threshold, they know we're going to take care of them and we're going to interact with them, speak to them,” said Burroughs, who has led the school for nearly 20 years. “My moderate-to-severe children, many of them are nonverbal, but I'm seeing some of them react because we react with them.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Jennifer Blake, OUSD’s executive director of special education, agrees that Munck is a good example of how schools can better integrate students with disabilities into the general school culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the district says it simply doesn’t have the dollars to sustain Munck’s small-school model, and has cited “over-investment” in its small schools as part of its justification for shuttering many of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we're talking about my dream-world scenario, we would have adequate base funding and adequate special-education funding at both the federal and state level to be able to ensure that we are able to build and foster schools that are small and highly specialized by design,” Blake said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She acknowledges the optics of the current closure plans and the pain it’s inflicting on families, but says the closures will ultimately strengthen programs in larger, neighborhood schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know there was no intention to be able to target students with disabilities exclusively,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blake says she wants to create more inclusive programs like the one at Munck, with TK-5 programs available at more schools throughout the district, so kids like Max don't have to bounce around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Jolanda Murphy, whose 9-year-old daughter, Dalaine, also attends Munck, says the district’s decision to close this school seems outwardly discriminatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You're basically telling parents that do have kids with special needs that we don't care. We’d rather put the focus and the time and energy into something else,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dalaine, who is in a special day class at the school, has cerebral palsy, and is prone to seizures. When she was diagnosed as an infant, hospital staff said she would never walk or talk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11911747\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Denise-Burroughs.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11911747\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Denise-Burroughs.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged woman with glasses.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1364\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Denise-Burroughs.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Denise-Burroughs-800x568.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Denise-Burroughs-1020x725.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Denise-Burroughs-160x114.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Denise-Burroughs-1536x1091.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carl B. Munck Principal Denise Burroughs, in her office on April 7, 2022. She says her small school is under-enrolled in part because some white families in the Oakland hills are reluctant to send their children to a majority Black school. \u003ccite>(Julia McEvoy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“But I told them that I serve a God who is going to do bigger and better things for her,” Murphy said. By 16 months Dalaine was crawling, and by age 4 she walked into preschool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"And her teacher cried, because she knew how much I wanted Dalaine to walk,\" Murphy recalled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like Max, Dalaine is nonverbal but very expressive. Murphy says she has seen her make real progress at Munck, where she uses touch screens and flash cards to learn to count and identify letters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her effort to stop the closure of her daughter’s school, Murphy recently joined the district’s Community Advisory Committee for Special Education, which sent letters to the school board, the county, the state superintendent and the governor accusing OUSD of negligent treatment of disabled students — particularly Black students, who make up 27% of students with disabilities in the district.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The ACLU also has asked California’s attorney general to investigate whether the district took racial equity into account in its closure plans, as it is required to do under the district's Reparations for Black Students resolution that the school board passed last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland Unified, by its own admission, has a history of chronically underfunding historically Black schools, says Linnea Nelson, a senior staff attorney in the ACLU of Northern California’s Racial and Economic Justice Program. “It now has created the very conditions that it is now citing to justify disrupting tight-knit school communities and displacing literally hundreds of Black students,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For its part, the district has said it remains focused on improving outcomes for underserved populations, particularly Black students, and that its closure plans are part of a broader strategy to redirect resources toward larger neighborhood schools that serve a greater number of kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Murphy believes the district is specifically targeting Munck, in part, because it wants to repurpose the property the school sits on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is prime real estate,” Murphy pointed out. “If they close the school completely, they're going to tear it down and build houses. Period. Point blank.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California law makes it hard for districts to sell off school properties, but those plots can more easily be declared surplus and leased out to private schools and charter schools, or used for teacher housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Carl B. Munck has a beautiful view of Oakland,” she said. “If you go up there, you can sit up there and just lose yourself because of the view of our beautiful city. You can see San Francisco, San Mateo just from their view of the school. It's such a beautiful campus.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Munck’s serene location, largely devoid of sirens or traffic sounds, is particularly ideal for students with special education needs, Murphy notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11911749\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Jolanda-Murphy-and-Dalaine-Whaley.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11911749\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Jolanda-Murphy-and-Dalaine-Whaley.jpg\" alt=\"A mother puts her hands on the hips of her daughter, who stands in front of her.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Jolanda-Murphy-and-Dalaine-Whaley.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Jolanda-Murphy-and-Dalaine-Whaley-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Jolanda-Murphy-and-Dalaine-Whaley-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Jolanda-Murphy-and-Dalaine-Whaley-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/Jolanda-Murphy-and-Dalaine-Whaley-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jolanda Murphy with her daughter, Dalaine, 9, who has cerebral palsy, at their home in Oakland on April 7, 2022, during a 'sensory day,' when Dalaine is allowed to rip up paper, put things on the ground and be more 'loose' and less regulated, to calm her down after a stressful experience. Murphy says Carl B. Munck Elementary, which Dalaine currently attends, is the best place for her. Murphy is fighting the school's closure. \u003ccite>(Julia McEvoy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the predominantly white Oakland hills also is an area where discriminatory housing policies have, for nearly a century, largely denied Black families the opportunity to buy homes and attend schools here. And both Murphy and Burroughs, Munck’s principal, believe that racism remains a factor in the district’s decision-making.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately, over the years, I’ve actually had people say things like, ‘Well, I like the school, but I just feel like my child would be in a minority here,’ because there were so many children of African descent and color here. I’ve actually had people say that, judge the school that way,” said Burroughs, who is Black and has lived much of her life in Oakland. “It feels like you want to erase these kids from being here. That’s what it feels like to me. Because truly, if it’s just about under-enrollment, the goal would have been, ‘Let’s figure out how to increase enrollment,’ right?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for Murphy, she says she and other parents are not giving up in their fight to keep the school open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just feel that for my daughter, she needs to have the best,” she said. “And right now, the best is Carl Munck.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Newsom Says He Won't Intervene to Stop Oakland Schools From Permanently Closing",
"title": "Newsom Says He Won't Intervene to Stop Oakland Schools From Permanently Closing",
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"content": "\u003cp>In an interview with KQED, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state should not get involved in the Oakland school board's recent controversial decision to close, merge or shrink 11 schools over the next two years — a decision that's been met with fury from local families and educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board said they needed to take the action because they have too many schools for a dwindling number of students, citing a need for cost-cutting measures to help solve a structural deficit. OUSD is still paying $30 million in debt to the state from a loan given decades ago to head off bankruptcy. [aside postID=\"news_11905982\" label=\"More on the Oakland school closure fight\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two Oakland educators, Moses Omolade and Maurice André San-Chez, went on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11905982/how-dare-you-oakland-school-closure-decision-inspires-new-opposition-efforts\">hunger strikes\u003c/a> to protest the decision. They said one of the conditions of ending their strike was that Newsom meet with them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his talk with KQED, Newsom disclosed that his chief of staff met with the hunger strikers last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Omolade and San-Chez agreed to end their hunger strike in mid-February after the district called a special board meeting, where it ultimately decided to move forward with the closures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor visited Redwood City on Wednesday\u003ca href=\"https://www.grants.ca.gov/grants/encampment-resolution-funding-program/\"> to bring attention to his Encampment Resolution Funding Program\u003c/a>, which is doling out $50 million to counties that have plans to eliminate specific encampments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While getting his hands dirty cleaning up a roadside encampment, Newsom previewed his upcoming conservatorship proposal, talked about his view on the Oakland school closures, and more, in this interview with KQED's Kate Wolffe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On the Oakland hunger strikers, who were protesting the closure and merging of 11 schools in the district\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I so appreciate their advocacy, and compassion for the community, and their advocacy on behalf of the school system and the communities the school system serves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These local decisions are local decisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I remember in San Francisco when I was mayor, I think when I was supervisor, even prior, there were some schools that had to close. They’re deeply emotional, difficult decisions. I don't deny that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But if the state is going to get involved in deciding that, then we should be running all the school systems, and that's not something you want, I don't think anyone wants. We've got to provide that local accountability, local framework. That's why school boards are essential and critical and public engagement, parental engagement, is critical and essential as well. But I deeply understand how emotional it is. I don't know the details of the decision. I just don't.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a mayor in the past, I understand those local decisions need to be made and stay local. But at the state level, I know what we are doing, which is providing unprecedented support for our schools and record-breaking per-pupil investments that should provide more flexibility to Oakland [Unified] School District than they've ever had in their history to address some of their financial challenges.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On efforts to resolve encampments in the state\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The last two years, we all know what happened. We didn't just have a pandemic, but we had stasis. And the CDC had specific, very explicit guidelines that said don't touch the encampments because of COVID.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11906665\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-11906665 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6076-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6076-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6076-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6076-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6076-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6076-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6076-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Newsom helps to clean up an encampment in Redwood City on Feb. 23, 2022. \u003ccite>(Kate Wolffe, KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So the entire year 2020, I think there were two dozen encampments cleaned up the entire year by the state of California. We've done 431 just in the last few months. So we've got all this residual stress that has exacerbated conditions on the street more visible than it's ever been. And I recognize that. And now there's no excuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On the importance of addressing homeless encampments locally\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you're a local elected official, you step up. If this is the crisis that it is and you have identified as such, then get out here — act like it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I'm serious. We're doing our part. Now you can come out and follow up, do your part. If you need help, identify specifically, what specific help do you need?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[When I was mayor,] the state of California was nowhere to be found on homelessness. Nowhere. When I was mayor, we didn't get a dollar. There was no strategy plan, no accountability. No one, ever. I mean, the last thing I ever thought about was calling Arnold Schwarzenegger or Gray Davis. It's completely, radically changed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I got here there was no plan. There was no accountability and there was no playbook. And there was half a billion dollars that the last administration threw out at the last minute. Now we have $14 billion. We have a plan, we have strategies, we actually have accountability plans, including this Encampment Resolution grant.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On the challenges of resolving encampments\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>(\u003cem>Note: At the particular encampment that Newsom was cleaning in Redwood City, Caltrans said no residents accepted a shelter bed.\u003c/em>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’re going to have to keep meeting people where they are. You don't give up. I mean, of course, that's the case. What I think, look, I mean, this is not my first encampment, this is not my first effort. I reject the fatalism that, well, because \"in this circumstance, that circumstance, we weren't successful in encouraging people to get the support and services they need\" that we give up. That just means keep working at it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11906668\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11906668\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6082-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6082-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6082-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6082-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6082-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6082-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6082-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An encampment in Redwood City. \u003ccite>(Kate Wolffe, KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One thing I can guarantee: Continue to do what you've done, you get what you've got. And there's a status quo anti-ism in all of this. If you don't create, as we say in psychology, a \"pattern interrupt\" — and this is a pattern interrupt for every single one of them — then you're not going to enliven someone to the opportunity to turn their lives around. They're just quite literally going to die.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On his upcoming conservatorship proposal\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Laws on conservatorship are outdated and they're very controversial. It's very emotional and people have very strong opinions, and we've been fighting these fights for decades and nothing gets done. People say “too strong,” “too hard,” “too weak.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So we are looking at a third way, a new conservatorship strategy, where we are going to provide a pathway for individuals to help with their own plan, but to have stepped-up strategies where we can get people the support they desperately need, even if they're absolutely convinced they don't need it, even though they may be out naked on the streets and sidewalks, talking to themselves and defecating and urinating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that's not humane, and we can't excuse that, and it should break all of our hearts. I feel for those folks. But I also feel for the mom in the stroller trying to go down the streets and the sidewalks being accosted and can’t get to the playground as well. And what's that balance? And so we're trying to strike that balance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, the status quo hasn't worked at all. And look at what's happened in my beloved city of San Francisco, in the last five or six years. It's just not acceptable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lot of the conservatorship arguments have been done in the absence of resources. So we're saying, well, you need treatment and you're like, \"Where's the treatment? There's no treatment.\" You know, like \"get people off the streets!\" And like, where do they go? And that's the paradigm shift in the last few years: unprecedented money [and], building out an infrastructure with the support of the cities and counties over the last two years.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The Oakland Unified School District Board of Education recently voted to close, merge or shrink 11 schools over the next two years, which has met with condemnation from parents. Two Oakland educators went on hunger strikes to protest the decision, and asked for Gov. Gavin Newsom's intervention.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In an interview with KQED, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state should not get involved in the Oakland school board's recent controversial decision to close, merge or shrink 11 schools over the next two years — a decision that's been met with fury from local families and educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board said they needed to take the action because they have too many schools for a dwindling number of students, citing a need for cost-cutting measures to help solve a structural deficit. OUSD is still paying $30 million in debt to the state from a loan given decades ago to head off bankruptcy. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two Oakland educators, Moses Omolade and Maurice André San-Chez, went on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11905982/how-dare-you-oakland-school-closure-decision-inspires-new-opposition-efforts\">hunger strikes\u003c/a> to protest the decision. They said one of the conditions of ending their strike was that Newsom meet with them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his talk with KQED, Newsom disclosed that his chief of staff met with the hunger strikers last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Omolade and San-Chez agreed to end their hunger strike in mid-February after the district called a special board meeting, where it ultimately decided to move forward with the closures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor visited Redwood City on Wednesday\u003ca href=\"https://www.grants.ca.gov/grants/encampment-resolution-funding-program/\"> to bring attention to his Encampment Resolution Funding Program\u003c/a>, which is doling out $50 million to counties that have plans to eliminate specific encampments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While getting his hands dirty cleaning up a roadside encampment, Newsom previewed his upcoming conservatorship proposal, talked about his view on the Oakland school closures, and more, in this interview with KQED's Kate Wolffe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On the Oakland hunger strikers, who were protesting the closure and merging of 11 schools in the district\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I so appreciate their advocacy, and compassion for the community, and their advocacy on behalf of the school system and the communities the school system serves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These local decisions are local decisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I remember in San Francisco when I was mayor, I think when I was supervisor, even prior, there were some schools that had to close. They’re deeply emotional, difficult decisions. I don't deny that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But if the state is going to get involved in deciding that, then we should be running all the school systems, and that's not something you want, I don't think anyone wants. We've got to provide that local accountability, local framework. That's why school boards are essential and critical and public engagement, parental engagement, is critical and essential as well. But I deeply understand how emotional it is. I don't know the details of the decision. I just don't.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a mayor in the past, I understand those local decisions need to be made and stay local. But at the state level, I know what we are doing, which is providing unprecedented support for our schools and record-breaking per-pupil investments that should provide more flexibility to Oakland [Unified] School District than they've ever had in their history to address some of their financial challenges.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On efforts to resolve encampments in the state\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The last two years, we all know what happened. We didn't just have a pandemic, but we had stasis. And the CDC had specific, very explicit guidelines that said don't touch the encampments because of COVID.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11906665\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-11906665 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6076-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6076-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6076-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6076-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6076-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6076-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6076-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Newsom helps to clean up an encampment in Redwood City on Feb. 23, 2022. \u003ccite>(Kate Wolffe, KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So the entire year 2020, I think there were two dozen encampments cleaned up the entire year by the state of California. We've done 431 just in the last few months. So we've got all this residual stress that has exacerbated conditions on the street more visible than it's ever been. And I recognize that. And now there's no excuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On the importance of addressing homeless encampments locally\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you're a local elected official, you step up. If this is the crisis that it is and you have identified as such, then get out here — act like it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I'm serious. We're doing our part. Now you can come out and follow up, do your part. If you need help, identify specifically, what specific help do you need?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[When I was mayor,] the state of California was nowhere to be found on homelessness. Nowhere. When I was mayor, we didn't get a dollar. There was no strategy plan, no accountability. No one, ever. I mean, the last thing I ever thought about was calling Arnold Schwarzenegger or Gray Davis. It's completely, radically changed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I got here there was no plan. There was no accountability and there was no playbook. And there was half a billion dollars that the last administration threw out at the last minute. Now we have $14 billion. We have a plan, we have strategies, we actually have accountability plans, including this Encampment Resolution grant.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On the challenges of resolving encampments\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>(\u003cem>Note: At the particular encampment that Newsom was cleaning in Redwood City, Caltrans said no residents accepted a shelter bed.\u003c/em>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’re going to have to keep meeting people where they are. You don't give up. I mean, of course, that's the case. What I think, look, I mean, this is not my first encampment, this is not my first effort. I reject the fatalism that, well, because \"in this circumstance, that circumstance, we weren't successful in encouraging people to get the support and services they need\" that we give up. That just means keep working at it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11906668\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11906668\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6082-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6082-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6082-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6082-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6082-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6082-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_6082-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An encampment in Redwood City. \u003ccite>(Kate Wolffe, KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One thing I can guarantee: Continue to do what you've done, you get what you've got. And there's a status quo anti-ism in all of this. If you don't create, as we say in psychology, a \"pattern interrupt\" — and this is a pattern interrupt for every single one of them — then you're not going to enliven someone to the opportunity to turn their lives around. They're just quite literally going to die.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On his upcoming conservatorship proposal\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Laws on conservatorship are outdated and they're very controversial. It's very emotional and people have very strong opinions, and we've been fighting these fights for decades and nothing gets done. People say “too strong,” “too hard,” “too weak.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So we are looking at a third way, a new conservatorship strategy, where we are going to provide a pathway for individuals to help with their own plan, but to have stepped-up strategies where we can get people the support they desperately need, even if they're absolutely convinced they don't need it, even though they may be out naked on the streets and sidewalks, talking to themselves and defecating and urinating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that's not humane, and we can't excuse that, and it should break all of our hearts. I feel for those folks. But I also feel for the mom in the stroller trying to go down the streets and the sidewalks being accosted and can’t get to the playground as well. And what's that balance? And so we're trying to strike that balance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, the status quo hasn't worked at all. And look at what's happened in my beloved city of San Francisco, in the last five or six years. It's just not acceptable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lot of the conservatorship arguments have been done in the absence of resources. So we're saying, well, you need treatment and you're like, \"Where's the treatment? There's no treatment.\" You know, like \"get people off the streets!\" And like, where do they go? And that's the paradigm shift in the last few years: unprecedented money [and], building out an infrastructure with the support of the cities and counties over the last two years.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "'How Dare You': Oakland School Closure Decision Inspires New Opposition Efforts",
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"content": "\u003cp>On Saturday afternoon, Oakland Unified School District employee Timothy Killings stood in front of a crowd of parents, teachers and community members scattered across the lawn at Markham Elementary School in East Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The point of this town hall is to bring the sites under the most immediate threat together, so we could get some plans of actions going,” he said. “Truth be told, we should have been in the streets, like, yesterday.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group had assembled to plan protests of the district's planned school consolidations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sitting in clusters together in the grass, looking like students at recess, participants debated whether or not teachers should strike, school board members should be recalled, and other solutions, like lobbying state lawmakers in Sacramento to send funding to stave off the district’s budget woes. One idea floated would even see opponents of school closures partner with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union workers at Oakland’s port, since both say they are fighting privatization — of the port and of schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When not organizing resistance, Killings is a case manager at Oakland Unified School District’s Westlake Middle School. But on Saturday, his day off, he helped organize Oakland residents to push back against the district's proposed school closures, mergers and grade truncations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11905987\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11905987\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7909-1.jpg\" alt=\"A few dozen people sit in the grass, many cross-legged, facing a speaker that is off-camera. A baskteball court and the street can be seen in the background.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7909-1.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7909-1-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7909-1-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7909-1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7909-1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People gathered on a lawn at Markham Elementary School Saturday to plan protests of OUSD’s planned school consolidations. \u003ccite>(Annelise Finney/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The latest version of the district’s plan would close two schools — Parker K-8 and Community Day — this year. Five other schools—Korematsu, Horace Mann, Brookfield, Carl B. Munck and Grass Valley — would be shuttered at the end of the 2022-2023 school year. Lastly, two additional schools — Rise Community Elementary and New Highland Academy — would be merged this year, and another two — Hillcrest and La Escuelita — would see the number of grades they teach decrease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11904618/oakland-moves-to-close-seven-schools-despite-fierce-community-opposition\">As KQED reported earlier this month\u003c/a>, an estimated 93% of students at the schools affected by the plan are considered either lower-income, English learners or foster youth, compared to the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ed-data.org/district/Alameda/Oakland-Unified\">district-wide average of about 80%\u003c/a>. Black students are also disproportionately affected – about 43% of students at the eight sites on the original school closure list are Black, almost twice the proportion of Black students in the entire district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district's plan for school closures was originally announced at the end of January, and attributed to\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2021/12/17/oakland-unified-budget-deficit-enrollment-attendance/\"> a roughly $40 million budget deficit and declining enrollment\u003c/a>. The plan was amended, decreasing the number of schools affected, on February 8.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Friday, February 18, the school board held an emergency meeting to consider further changes to the plan but, at the end of the night, voted to move forward with the plan they had already approved that would see schools shutter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district’s plan faced opposition from the start, and after the emergency meeting that resistance is blossoming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Timothy Killings, organizer and Oakland educator\"]'Truth be told, we should have been in the streets, like, yesterday.'[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Saturday, parents and alumni of Parker K-8 rallied on MacArthur Boulevard in Oakland’s Eastmont neighborhood. Around 20 frustrated parents, alumni and people living in the neighborhood waved signs and drummed up enthusiasm, in the form of honks, from passing cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of those fed-up parents rallying was Rochelle Jenkins, who worries for the education of her three OUSD students. Jenkins spoke to passing cars through a speaker. She directed her words to board members through a loudspeaker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How dare you guys come down and try to take the thing that is needed in each and every last community,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jenkins says she plans to protest until the school board calls off the closure of Parker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two OUSD employees began a hunger strike in protest of the plans at the start of the month. One of those employees ended their strike at the emergency meeting Friday; the other, Maurice André San-Chez, a teacher at Westlake Middle School, announced the end of their hunger strike in an Instagram post on Sunday, February 20.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Time to recover and gain strength to continue this battle,” they wrote on Instagram. “The torch is in your hands.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.instagram.com/p/CaOMXP9Fcoe/\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the emergency meeting, others said they would join the hunger strike if the board voted in favor of the current plan — and that’s exactly how the board voted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the anger at the school closures may have manifested in vandalism. Oakland Board of Education President Dr. Gary Yee encountered people disgruntled by the closures at his home over the weekend and later found\u003ca href=\"https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2022/02/21/oakland-school-board-presidents-home-vandalized/\"> his front window broken\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least one person who said they would join the strikers Friday night has since decided not to.[aside label=\"More OUSD Coverage\" link1=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11904618/oakland-moves-to-close-seven-schools-despite-fierce-community-opposition,Oakland Moves to Close 7 Schools Despite Fierce Community Opposition\"]High school senior and Oakland Youth Advisory Commission co-chair Aniyah Story says her mom convinced her to consider alternatives, something she says a group of community members discussed at a virtual meeting Sunday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like even though money is a big issue, there's well-being, community, our future … it's way bigger than that,” she told KQED Sunday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Oakland Unified School District says it understands that many people in Oakland are upset with the decision to consolidate and it supports means of protest that do not jeopardize the health of those involved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story includes reporting from KQED's Sara Hossaini and Vanessa Rancaño.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On Saturday afternoon, Oakland Unified School District employee Timothy Killings stood in front of a crowd of parents, teachers and community members scattered across the lawn at Markham Elementary School in East Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The point of this town hall is to bring the sites under the most immediate threat together, so we could get some plans of actions going,” he said. “Truth be told, we should have been in the streets, like, yesterday.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group had assembled to plan protests of the district's planned school consolidations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sitting in clusters together in the grass, looking like students at recess, participants debated whether or not teachers should strike, school board members should be recalled, and other solutions, like lobbying state lawmakers in Sacramento to send funding to stave off the district’s budget woes. One idea floated would even see opponents of school closures partner with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union workers at Oakland’s port, since both say they are fighting privatization — of the port and of schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When not organizing resistance, Killings is a case manager at Oakland Unified School District’s Westlake Middle School. But on Saturday, his day off, he helped organize Oakland residents to push back against the district's proposed school closures, mergers and grade truncations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11905987\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-11905987\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7909-1.jpg\" alt=\"A few dozen people sit in the grass, many cross-legged, facing a speaker that is off-camera. A baskteball court and the street can be seen in the background.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7909-1.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7909-1-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7909-1-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7909-1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7909-1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People gathered on a lawn at Markham Elementary School Saturday to plan protests of OUSD’s planned school consolidations. \u003ccite>(Annelise Finney/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The latest version of the district’s plan would close two schools — Parker K-8 and Community Day — this year. Five other schools—Korematsu, Horace Mann, Brookfield, Carl B. Munck and Grass Valley — would be shuttered at the end of the 2022-2023 school year. Lastly, two additional schools — Rise Community Elementary and New Highland Academy — would be merged this year, and another two — Hillcrest and La Escuelita — would see the number of grades they teach decrease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11904618/oakland-moves-to-close-seven-schools-despite-fierce-community-opposition\">As KQED reported earlier this month\u003c/a>, an estimated 93% of students at the schools affected by the plan are considered either lower-income, English learners or foster youth, compared to the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ed-data.org/district/Alameda/Oakland-Unified\">district-wide average of about 80%\u003c/a>. Black students are also disproportionately affected – about 43% of students at the eight sites on the original school closure list are Black, almost twice the proportion of Black students in the entire district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district's plan for school closures was originally announced at the end of January, and attributed to\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2021/12/17/oakland-unified-budget-deficit-enrollment-attendance/\"> a roughly $40 million budget deficit and declining enrollment\u003c/a>. The plan was amended, decreasing the number of schools affected, on February 8.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Friday, February 18, the school board held an emergency meeting to consider further changes to the plan but, at the end of the night, voted to move forward with the plan they had already approved that would see schools shutter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district’s plan faced opposition from the start, and after the emergency meeting that resistance is blossoming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Saturday, parents and alumni of Parker K-8 rallied on MacArthur Boulevard in Oakland’s Eastmont neighborhood. Around 20 frustrated parents, alumni and people living in the neighborhood waved signs and drummed up enthusiasm, in the form of honks, from passing cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of those fed-up parents rallying was Rochelle Jenkins, who worries for the education of her three OUSD students. Jenkins spoke to passing cars through a speaker. She directed her words to board members through a loudspeaker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How dare you guys come down and try to take the thing that is needed in each and every last community,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jenkins says she plans to protest until the school board calls off the closure of Parker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two OUSD employees began a hunger strike in protest of the plans at the start of the month. One of those employees ended their strike at the emergency meeting Friday; the other, Maurice André San-Chez, a teacher at Westlake Middle School, announced the end of their hunger strike in an Instagram post on Sunday, February 20.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Time to recover and gain strength to continue this battle,” they wrote on Instagram. “The torch is in your hands.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>At the emergency meeting, others said they would join the hunger strike if the board voted in favor of the current plan — and that’s exactly how the board voted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the anger at the school closures may have manifested in vandalism. Oakland Board of Education President Dr. Gary Yee encountered people disgruntled by the closures at his home over the weekend and later found\u003ca href=\"https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2022/02/21/oakland-school-board-presidents-home-vandalized/\"> his front window broken\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least one person who said they would join the strikers Friday night has since decided not to.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"link1": "https://www.kqed.org/news/11904618/oakland-moves-to-close-seven-schools-despite-fierce-community-opposition,Oakland Moves to Close 7 Schools Despite Fierce Community Opposition"
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>High school senior and Oakland Youth Advisory Commission co-chair Aniyah Story says her mom convinced her to consider alternatives, something she says a group of community members discussed at a virtual meeting Sunday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like even though money is a big issue, there's well-being, community, our future … it's way bigger than that,” she told KQED Sunday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Oakland Unified School District says it understands that many people in Oakland are upset with the decision to consolidate and it supports means of protest that do not jeopardize the health of those involved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story includes reporting from KQED's Sara Hossaini and Vanessa Rancaño.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>After almost eight hours of heated public comment and debate, Oakland school board members narrowly approved an amended plan early Wednesday morning to close seven schools over the next two years and merge two others, amid declining enrollments and ongoing budget concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland Board of Education's decision, voted on just before 1 a.m., is a slightly less severe version of the \u003ca href=\"https://ousd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5399120&GUID=4B4E68C0-F8F3-4276-A10E-FB32F71B35C6&Options=&Search=\">original proposal\u003c/a> — which would have affected 16 schools — and comes after more than a week of protests by students, teachers and parents, including a hunger strike led by two educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the amended plan, seven of the eight schools on the initial closure list will still shut down, but on a delayed timeline: Community Day School and Parker K-8 will still close at the end of this school year, but the closures of Brookfield Elementary, Carl Munck Elementary and Grass Valley Elementary will be pushed to the end of the 2022-23 school year. Korematsu Discovery Academy and Horace Mann Elementary will also close in 2023, as called for in the original plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prescott Elementary in West Oakland, however, which was initially on the chopping block, will be spared under the revised plan, after the board reasoned there would be too few remaining district-run elementary schools in that part of the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the district will merge only two of the six schools it had originally considered consolidating: RISE Community will merge into New Highland Academy Elementary at the start of the 2022-23 school year, while La Escuelita Elementary and Hillcrest Elementary will eliminate grades 6-8.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board also dropped plans to merge Manzanita Community School and Fruitvale Elementary, Westlake Middle School and West Oakland Middle School, and Dewey Academy and Ralph Bunche Continuation High School.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday evening, ahead of the vote, students, teachers and parents pleaded with the board, via Zoom, for more than 3.5 hours, many arguing that the closures wouldn’t save enough money to justify the heartache.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need our education just like how everybody else had their education,” Jelani Smith, a Parker seventh grader, told the board. “It’s not right for our school to get closed down while you’re keeping all the other schools.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many commenters expressed outrage at the disproportionate impact the closures would have on lower-income students of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not fair. Why would you close the schools on low-income families?” asked one parent, who didn’t give her name. “Why don’t you just close the ones where they have money so they can move on? Why do they always take it out on us, the low-income families?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the schools affected by the plan, \u003ca href=\"https://ousd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5399120&GUID=4B4E68C0-F8F3-4276-A10E-FB32F71B35C6&Options=&Search=\">an estimated 93% of students\u003c/a>, on average, are considered either lower-income, English learners or foster youth — compared to the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ed-data.org/district/Alameda/Oakland-Unified\">district-wide average of about 80%\u003c/a>. Black and Latino students are also overrepresented: About 43% of students at the eight sites on the original closure list are Black, almost twice the proportion of Black students in the entire district.[aside label=\"Related Coverage\" tag=\"ousd\"]“I’m just really disgusted and really hurt over just the blatant attack on our communities of color,” Renia Webb, a parent of four, told the board. “We all know that these schools slated for closure will have a devastating and lasting impact on Black and Brown families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board member Aimee Eng said she and vice president Sam Davis drafted the amended proposal as an effort to balance the district’s fiscal needs with the desire to give families and staff more time to adjust to the changes. The amendment passed 4-2, with additional support from Board President Gary Yee and board member Shanthi Gonzales. Board members Mike Hutchinson and VanCedric Williams opposed the plan, while Clifford Thompson abstained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To me it’s a choice about whether people are comfortable just persisting in the status quo that we know is not working for students and it’s not working for staff, or we can actually do something,” Gonzales said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board also approved a second amendment put forward by Davis to provide academic and social-emotional learning supports for students affected by the closures, with funding from a special state allotment. \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1840\">Assembly Bill 1840\u003c/a>, passed in 2018, makes OUSD eligible for infusions of cash from the state if it meets certain benchmarks that demonstrate it is working toward financial stability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District leaders who support the closure plan argue the district operates too many schools for the declining number of students it serves. An estimated 35% of district schools are enrolled at \"below sustainable\" levels, according to district officials, who attribute the decline to factors such as lower birth rates, pandemic-related moves out of the district and a lack of affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fewer students mean significantly less funding. Last month the board approved some $40 million in budget cuts and savings, but that doesn’t address major shortfalls projected for the coming years, including an estimated deficit of $12.3 million for 2022-23.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The planned school closures and consolidations are \u003ca href=\"https://ousd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5399120&GUID=4B4E68C0-F8F3-4276-A10E-FB32F71B35C6&Options=&Search=\">estimated to save\u003c/a> between $4 million and almost $15 million, according to an analysis commissioned by the board. By spending more on fewer schools, district officials say they can boost teacher pay and offer students stronger academic programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But critics of the plan say the district hasn’t done a thorough enough analysis of past school closures — including those in 2019 and 2012 — to determine whether they resulted in better academic outcomes for kids and whether the closures actually saved money in the long run, given the number of students who left the district as a result.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The lid’s about to come off this city,” said Hutchinson, an outspoken critic of the plan who expressed his displeasure throughout the board meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hutchinson, who attended Oakland schools, \u003ca href=\"https://mikehutchinsonforschoolboard.wordpress.com/platform/\">campaigned on stopping school closures \u003c/a>when he ran for school board in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You just declared war on us,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>After almost eight hours of heated public comment and debate, Oakland school board members narrowly approved an amended plan early Wednesday morning to close seven schools over the next two years and merge two others, amid declining enrollments and ongoing budget concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland Board of Education's decision, voted on just before 1 a.m., is a slightly less severe version of the \u003ca href=\"https://ousd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5399120&GUID=4B4E68C0-F8F3-4276-A10E-FB32F71B35C6&Options=&Search=\">original proposal\u003c/a> — which would have affected 16 schools — and comes after more than a week of protests by students, teachers and parents, including a hunger strike led by two educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the amended plan, seven of the eight schools on the initial closure list will still shut down, but on a delayed timeline: Community Day School and Parker K-8 will still close at the end of this school year, but the closures of Brookfield Elementary, Carl Munck Elementary and Grass Valley Elementary will be pushed to the end of the 2022-23 school year. Korematsu Discovery Academy and Horace Mann Elementary will also close in 2023, as called for in the original plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prescott Elementary in West Oakland, however, which was initially on the chopping block, will be spared under the revised plan, after the board reasoned there would be too few remaining district-run elementary schools in that part of the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the district will merge only two of the six schools it had originally considered consolidating: RISE Community will merge into New Highland Academy Elementary at the start of the 2022-23 school year, while La Escuelita Elementary and Hillcrest Elementary will eliminate grades 6-8.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board also dropped plans to merge Manzanita Community School and Fruitvale Elementary, Westlake Middle School and West Oakland Middle School, and Dewey Academy and Ralph Bunche Continuation High School.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday evening, ahead of the vote, students, teachers and parents pleaded with the board, via Zoom, for more than 3.5 hours, many arguing that the closures wouldn’t save enough money to justify the heartache.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need our education just like how everybody else had their education,” Jelani Smith, a Parker seventh grader, told the board. “It’s not right for our school to get closed down while you’re keeping all the other schools.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many commenters expressed outrage at the disproportionate impact the closures would have on lower-income students of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not fair. Why would you close the schools on low-income families?” asked one parent, who didn’t give her name. “Why don’t you just close the ones where they have money so they can move on? Why do they always take it out on us, the low-income families?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the schools affected by the plan, \u003ca href=\"https://ousd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5399120&GUID=4B4E68C0-F8F3-4276-A10E-FB32F71B35C6&Options=&Search=\">an estimated 93% of students\u003c/a>, on average, are considered either lower-income, English learners or foster youth — compared to the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ed-data.org/district/Alameda/Oakland-Unified\">district-wide average of about 80%\u003c/a>. Black and Latino students are also overrepresented: About 43% of students at the eight sites on the original closure list are Black, almost twice the proportion of Black students in the entire district.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“I’m just really disgusted and really hurt over just the blatant attack on our communities of color,” Renia Webb, a parent of four, told the board. “We all know that these schools slated for closure will have a devastating and lasting impact on Black and Brown families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board member Aimee Eng said she and vice president Sam Davis drafted the amended proposal as an effort to balance the district’s fiscal needs with the desire to give families and staff more time to adjust to the changes. The amendment passed 4-2, with additional support from Board President Gary Yee and board member Shanthi Gonzales. Board members Mike Hutchinson and VanCedric Williams opposed the plan, while Clifford Thompson abstained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To me it’s a choice about whether people are comfortable just persisting in the status quo that we know is not working for students and it’s not working for staff, or we can actually do something,” Gonzales said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board also approved a second amendment put forward by Davis to provide academic and social-emotional learning supports for students affected by the closures, with funding from a special state allotment. \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1840\">Assembly Bill 1840\u003c/a>, passed in 2018, makes OUSD eligible for infusions of cash from the state if it meets certain benchmarks that demonstrate it is working toward financial stability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District leaders who support the closure plan argue the district operates too many schools for the declining number of students it serves. An estimated 35% of district schools are enrolled at \"below sustainable\" levels, according to district officials, who attribute the decline to factors such as lower birth rates, pandemic-related moves out of the district and a lack of affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fewer students mean significantly less funding. Last month the board approved some $40 million in budget cuts and savings, but that doesn’t address major shortfalls projected for the coming years, including an estimated deficit of $12.3 million for 2022-23.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The planned school closures and consolidations are \u003ca href=\"https://ousd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5399120&GUID=4B4E68C0-F8F3-4276-A10E-FB32F71B35C6&Options=&Search=\">estimated to save\u003c/a> between $4 million and almost $15 million, according to an analysis commissioned by the board. By spending more on fewer schools, district officials say they can boost teacher pay and offer students stronger academic programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But critics of the plan say the district hasn’t done a thorough enough analysis of past school closures — including those in 2019 and 2012 — to determine whether they resulted in better academic outcomes for kids and whether the closures actually saved money in the long run, given the number of students who left the district as a result.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The lid’s about to come off this city,” said Hutchinson, an outspoken critic of the plan who expressed his displeasure throughout the board meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hutchinson, who attended Oakland schools, \u003ca href=\"https://mikehutchinsonforschoolboard.wordpress.com/platform/\">campaigned on stopping school closures \u003c/a>when he ran for school board in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You just declared war on us,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/tuesday_020822_final.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11904516\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/tuesday_020822_final.png\" alt=\"Cartoon: one panel is titled #BlackHistoryMonth and features Ida Louise Jackson, Oakland's first teacher who taught at Prescott School in West Oakland. The second panel is titled, "#Tuesday" and shows a missing piece with no Jackson or school, the caption says, "Oakland's school board votes on closing Prescott..."\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1369\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/tuesday_020822_final.png 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/tuesday_020822_final-800x570.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/tuesday_020822_final-1020x727.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/tuesday_020822_final-160x114.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/tuesday_020822_final-1536x1095.png 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prescott School, an elementary school in West Oakland, was founded in 1869.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday evening, \u003ca href=\"https://bit.ly/fioreousdprescott\">the Oakland Unified School District board will vote on whether to close it\u003c/a> and seven other schools, and consolidate six more schools in the district over the next two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prescott has a lot of history: \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/ousdnews/posts/in-1926-ida-louise-jackson-became-oaklands-first-black-teacher-she-remained-the-/2763247253721624/\">The amazing Ida Louise Jackson, Oakland’s first Black teacher\u003c/a>, taught there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Prescott School, an elementary in West Oakland, was founded in 1869. On Tuesday night the Oakland Unified School District will vote on whether to close it, along with seven other schools.",
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"title": "Will Scores of Schools in Oakland Be History? | KQED",
"description": "Prescott School, an elementary in West Oakland, was founded in 1869. On Tuesday night the Oakland Unified School District will vote on whether to close it, along with seven other schools.",
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"headline": "Will Scores of Schools in Oakland Be History?",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/tuesday_020822_final.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11904516\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/tuesday_020822_final.png\" alt=\"Cartoon: one panel is titled #BlackHistoryMonth and features Ida Louise Jackson, Oakland's first teacher who taught at Prescott School in West Oakland. The second panel is titled, "#Tuesday" and shows a missing piece with no Jackson or school, the caption says, "Oakland's school board votes on closing Prescott..."\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1369\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/tuesday_020822_final.png 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/tuesday_020822_final-800x570.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/tuesday_020822_final-1020x727.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/tuesday_020822_final-160x114.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/tuesday_020822_final-1536x1095.png 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prescott School, an elementary school in West Oakland, was founded in 1869.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday evening, \u003ca href=\"https://bit.ly/fioreousdprescott\">the Oakland Unified School District board will vote on whether to close it\u003c/a> and seven other schools, and consolidate six more schools in the district over the next two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prescott has a lot of history: \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/ousdnews/posts/in-1926-ida-louise-jackson-became-oaklands-first-black-teacher-she-remained-the-/2763247253721624/\">The amazing Ida Louise Jackson, Oakland’s first Black teacher\u003c/a>, taught there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "teachers-and-families-rally-ahead-of-upcoming-vote-on-oakland-school-closures",
"title": "Teachers and Families Rally Ahead of Upcoming Vote on Oakland School Closures",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rachel Mann, a fourth grade teacher at Allendale Elementary, sat on the concrete steps of the amphitheater in front of Oakland’s City Hall on Friday, among the roughly 200 people gathered to protest the city’s recently announced school closure plans. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We are a school district,” Mann said. “We should be keeping schools open and cutting everything else we could possibly cut.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At the end of January, the Oakland Unified School District announced its controversial \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pWL0ZdDNCWBGV4OgE3oyQ0nNgHi4F-Nj/view?usp=sharing\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">plan to close eight schools and merge six others over the next two years\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. If approved, the move would disproportionately affect Black students, who make up only 22% of the district’s enrollees, but about 43% of students at the eight schools slated for closure. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2021/01/12/how-to-watch-and-participate-in-oakland-school-board-meetings/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAgP6PBhDmARIsAPWMq6l80j09E4PPDprx-M-slG7l7Ah3rqM0OtHxTiE_6wHP_MVq0izmCHAaAlsTEALw_wcB\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">school board\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> will vote on the plan on Tuesday at 5 p.m. in a meeting open to the public virtually via \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ousd.org/boewatch\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Zoom\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11904280\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11904280\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53505_20220204-IMG_2199-2-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53505_20220204-IMG_2199-2-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53505_20220204-IMG_2199-2-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53505_20220204-IMG_2199-2-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53505_20220204-IMG_2199-2-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53505_20220204-IMG_2199-2-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keith Brown, Oakland Education Association President, speaks to the crowd during a citywide rally at Oakland City Hall on Feb. 4, 2022. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since the announcement, families and teachers opposing the proposal have demonstrated on school campuses, \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2022/02/03/protesters-caravan-to-denounce-ousd-school-closures/\">in car caravans and outside the homes of school board members\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Mike Hutchinson, OUSD school board director\"]‘We forget the real services that our public schools provide, everything from a community meeting space to educating generations of kids, to the anchor and the source of pride for a lot of communities.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mann said she’d rather see cuts come from the salaries of district administrators or from the money OUSD pays to lease and operate its downtown headquarters. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I think those things should be cut first before actual humans are made to change their whole entire lives and go to a new school or have no school in their neighborhood,” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Standing nearby was Audrey Darnis, a teacher at Manzanita Community School, which serves students in Fruitvale and East Oakland. The district’s proposal would merge her school with Fruitvale Elementary, starting in the 2023-2024 school year.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Many of the students live right in the neighborhood, right? So they walk to school. A majority of my students’ families do not have cars,” Darnis said, noting that Fruitvale Elementary is about a mile away from Manzanita. “If their school shuts down, it’s going to be very hard for them to get to another school.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11904281\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11904281\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53509_20220204-IMG_2284-2-qut-800x550.jpg\" alt='Three young people stand with their signs. One in a purple jacket, one in a red jacket and one person in a jean jacket with a sign saying \"Hands off our schools.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"550\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53509_20220204-IMG_2284-2-qut-800x550.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53509_20220204-IMG_2284-2-qut-1020x701.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53509_20220204-IMG_2284-2-qut-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53509_20220204-IMG_2284-2-qut-1536x1056.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53509_20220204-IMG_2284-2-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Malou, a Melrose Leadership Academy student, listens to speeches with two friends during a rally at Oakland City Hall on Feb. 4, 2022. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf says she understands the district’s proposal is hard on students and teachers, especially given Oakland’s history of school closures over the last two decades — many of them campuses where the majority of students were Black. \u003c/span>[aside postID=\"forum_2010101887739,news_11900752\" label=\"Related Posts\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We have been through so much trauma and they have every right to feel distrustful and fearful about this decision,” she said in an interview with KQED on Friday.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Enrollment in OUSD has declined by nearly 20,000 students over the last two decades, from over 52,000 in 2002 to just under 35,500 now, according to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://dashboards.ousd.org/views/Enrollment/Historic?%3Aembed=y&%3AshowShareOptions=true&%3Adisplay_count=no&%3AshowVizHome=no&%3Arender=false#7\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">district data\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. And because state funding for public schools is tied to attendance, as students left the district, so did a lot of money. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Schaaf says consolidating schools is necessary to fix structural problems in the district’s budget. “When you look at districts like Stockton, Fremont, San Jose, they serve roughly the same number of students — about 33,000,” she said. “But they do it in almost half the campuses — between 41 and 48 campuses — in those three districts, whereas Oakland has 80 campuses.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to Schaaf, the consolidation would allow the district to redirect more funds from building upkeep and redundant administrative costs to student services. “This is an opportunity to do better for our students, our educators, and our families,” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11904283\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11904283\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53515_20220204-IMG_2539-2-qut-800x559.jpg\" alt=\"Several red and white signs shown from a distance with many people standing in front of City Hall in Oakland\" width=\"800\" height=\"559\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53515_20220204-IMG_2539-2-qut-800x559.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53515_20220204-IMG_2539-2-qut-1020x713.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53515_20220204-IMG_2539-2-qut-160x112.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53515_20220204-IMG_2539-2-qut-1536x1074.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53515_20220204-IMG_2539-2-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Educators, parents and youth gather in protest during a citywide rally at Oakland City Hall on Feb. 4, 2022. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">School board member Mike Hutchinson, who is opposed to the consolidation plan, said it breaks promises the district made to the community. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In March 2021, the school board passed the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1knTRaGliW06LnPCATRmaILnwrgViLgsC/view\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Reparations for Black Students Resolution\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a response to longtime efforts by community activists to call attention to the displacement of Black students and the disproportionate impact school closures in the district have had on them. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As part of the resolution, the board promised, among other things, to work with the newly created Black Students and Families Thriving Task Force to develop an equity impact analysis before announcing additional school closures. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But on January 12, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/19DPEJIKPw_pyiS_6ZTzya59OpvIAYtPC/view\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the board instructed the superintendent\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to move forward on a consolidation plan, in spite of its commitments made in the Reparations for Black Students resolution. They also instructed the district to do so without consideration for previous resolutions designed to improve community engagement ahead of school closures. Instead, the board asked for a plan as soon as possible, that could be put into action in the next school year and the year after. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11904318\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11904318\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7844-2-800x589.jpeg\" alt=\"A bald man in a light blue hoodie stands for a portrait. Behind him a scattered crowd stands on blacktop at Prescott School. \" width=\"800\" height=\"589\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7844-2-800x589.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7844-2-1020x751.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7844-2-160x118.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7844-2-1536x1131.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7844-2-2048x1508.jpeg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7844-2-1920x1413.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mike Hutchinson, school board director for District 5, stands on the blacktop of Prescott School in West Oakland during a rally there on Feb. 5, 2022. \u003ccite>(Annelise Finney/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hutchinson says the rush is eroding community trust in the board. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We forget the real services that our public schools provide, everything from a community meeting space to educating generations of kids, to the anchor and the source of pride for a lot of communities,” Hutchinson said at a rally on Saturday. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Prescott, an elementary school in West Oakland, is a prime example. The school, which has served Oakland students for more than a century, is where Ida Louise Jackson, Oakland’s first Black teacher, began teaching in the 1920s. Now it’s on the chopping block.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lavena Brown, who attended a rally at Prescott on Saturday morning, says she lives near the school and was once a student there. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There’s a lot of memories here,” she said of Prescott, the only elementary school in the Lower Bottoms neighborhood of West Oakland. “All my family, my parents went to this school. I went to this school in the ’70s, my parents way before me.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Under the district’s plan, Prescott students would go to either Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary — about a mile away — or Hoover Elementary — about two miles away — starting next school year.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11904314\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11904314 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7838-800x600.jpeg\" alt=\"A woman wearing a black head scarf and a black hoodie with images from Mario Kart poses for a portrait the a young child wearing glasses. The child is holding a sign that reads, "Don't cut our kids." Stick into the frame above them is the top of a basketball hoop. Behind them are two cream and blue portable classrooms. \" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7838-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7838-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7838-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7838-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7838-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7838-1920x1440.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Erica Wade and her son Samuel pose for a portrait during a rally at Prescott School on Feb. 5, 2022. Wade is a graduate of Prescott and Samuel is a student at OUSD’s Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School. \u003ccite>(Annelise Finney/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hutchinson says keeping neighborhood schools open is a basic issue of fairness. “Every community pays taxes. Every community deserves the same access to resources,” he says. “If our anchor public elementary schools close, that leaves that community, that neighborhood, without access to public resources.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Across town, two OUSD staff members have turned to more drastic methods to protest the closure plan: Moses Omolade, OUSD’s program director for community schools, and Maurice André San-Chez, a choir and dance teacher at Westlake Middle School, have been on a hunger strike since last Monday. The two are camped out on the front lawn of the school, which, under the district’s proposal, would be merged with West Oakland Middle School, roughly two miles away. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11904317\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11904317 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7847-800x600.jpeg\" alt='Two tents, one gray and one red stand on a lawn above a small retaining wall. A sign next to the tents reads, \"Westlake Middle School, Westlake convocation hunger strike day 5.\" In front of the tents a line of protest signs lines the edge of the retaining wall. Two read, \"No cuts, no closures.\" Behind the tents and one story white and green school building is visible. ' width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7847-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7847-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7847-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7847-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7847-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7847-1920x1440.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The OUSD staff members engaged in a hunger strike have set up a camp on the front lawn of Westlake Middle School. \u003ccite>(Annelise Finney/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Omolade says the short timeline for the approval of the plan and the lack of community engagement in the process has backed the families and teachers into a corner. When the plan was announced, he says, his world was turned upside down. “The community was struck. Kids freaking out, parents freaking out, staff freaking out,” he said. “Prescott, 150 years! At the stroke of a pen and a Zoom call, you think you’re about to take Prescott?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In thinking about how to protest, Omolade said he reflected on how his body has always been politicized. “I’m in a really large Black body — 6’8”, 210, and dark as night. And it’s a beautiful thing, but that hasn’t always been the messaging.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11904316\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11904316 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7846-2-800x600.jpeg\" alt=\"A waist-up photo of a man wearing a maroon beanie and a gray Westlake Middle School t-shirt. He's sitting in a green armchair. He has two nose piercings and septum piercing. He has beaded necklaces around his neck and his arms are spread out over the arms of the armchair. \" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7846-2-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7846-2-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7846-2-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7846-2-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7846-2-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7846-2-1920x1440.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Moses Omolade, OUSD program director of community schools, sits in an armchair outside Westlake Middle School. Omolade is one of two OUSD staff members on a hunger strike. \u003ccite>(Annelise Finney/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He says his decision to go on hunger strike is a way to show the board how much these closures will affect the community. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“This is what it looks like when you continue to make choices that create harm that you are so far removed from,” he said. “You don’t get to see those children and those families hurt and cry and travel across Oakland, lose hubs, community hubs, that produced their ancestors. So now this is what it looks like. I want you to see my body.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The Oakland Unified School District announced its controversial plan to close eight schools and merge six others over the next two years. If approved, the move would disproportionately affect Black students, who make up only 22% of the district's enrollees, but about 43% of students at the eight schools slated for closure. ",
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"title": "Teachers and Families Rally Ahead of Upcoming Vote on Oakland School Closures | KQED",
"description": "The Oakland Unified School District announced its controversial plan to close eight schools and merge six others over the next two years. If approved, the move would disproportionately affect Black students, who make up only 22% of the district's enrollees, but about 43% of students at the eight schools slated for closure. ",
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"headline": "Teachers and Families Rally Ahead of Upcoming Vote on Oakland School Closures",
"datePublished": "2022-02-08T09:00:27-08:00",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rachel Mann, a fourth grade teacher at Allendale Elementary, sat on the concrete steps of the amphitheater in front of Oakland’s City Hall on Friday, among the roughly 200 people gathered to protest the city’s recently announced school closure plans. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We are a school district,” Mann said. “We should be keeping schools open and cutting everything else we could possibly cut.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At the end of January, the Oakland Unified School District announced its controversial \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pWL0ZdDNCWBGV4OgE3oyQ0nNgHi4F-Nj/view?usp=sharing\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">plan to close eight schools and merge six others over the next two years\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. If approved, the move would disproportionately affect Black students, who make up only 22% of the district’s enrollees, but about 43% of students at the eight schools slated for closure. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2021/01/12/how-to-watch-and-participate-in-oakland-school-board-meetings/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAgP6PBhDmARIsAPWMq6l80j09E4PPDprx-M-slG7l7Ah3rqM0OtHxTiE_6wHP_MVq0izmCHAaAlsTEALw_wcB\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">school board\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> will vote on the plan on Tuesday at 5 p.m. in a meeting open to the public virtually via \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ousd.org/boewatch\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Zoom\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11904280\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11904280\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53505_20220204-IMG_2199-2-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53505_20220204-IMG_2199-2-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53505_20220204-IMG_2199-2-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53505_20220204-IMG_2199-2-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53505_20220204-IMG_2199-2-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53505_20220204-IMG_2199-2-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keith Brown, Oakland Education Association President, speaks to the crowd during a citywide rally at Oakland City Hall on Feb. 4, 2022. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since the announcement, families and teachers opposing the proposal have demonstrated on school campuses, \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2022/02/03/protesters-caravan-to-denounce-ousd-school-closures/\">in car caravans and outside the homes of school board members\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘We forget the real services that our public schools provide, everything from a community meeting space to educating generations of kids, to the anchor and the source of pride for a lot of communities.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mann said she’d rather see cuts come from the salaries of district administrators or from the money OUSD pays to lease and operate its downtown headquarters. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I think those things should be cut first before actual humans are made to change their whole entire lives and go to a new school or have no school in their neighborhood,” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Standing nearby was Audrey Darnis, a teacher at Manzanita Community School, which serves students in Fruitvale and East Oakland. The district’s proposal would merge her school with Fruitvale Elementary, starting in the 2023-2024 school year.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Many of the students live right in the neighborhood, right? So they walk to school. A majority of my students’ families do not have cars,” Darnis said, noting that Fruitvale Elementary is about a mile away from Manzanita. “If their school shuts down, it’s going to be very hard for them to get to another school.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11904281\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11904281\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53509_20220204-IMG_2284-2-qut-800x550.jpg\" alt='Three young people stand with their signs. One in a purple jacket, one in a red jacket and one person in a jean jacket with a sign saying \"Hands off our schools.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"550\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53509_20220204-IMG_2284-2-qut-800x550.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53509_20220204-IMG_2284-2-qut-1020x701.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53509_20220204-IMG_2284-2-qut-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53509_20220204-IMG_2284-2-qut-1536x1056.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53509_20220204-IMG_2284-2-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Malou, a Melrose Leadership Academy student, listens to speeches with two friends during a rally at Oakland City Hall on Feb. 4, 2022. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf says she understands the district’s proposal is hard on students and teachers, especially given Oakland’s history of school closures over the last two decades — many of them campuses where the majority of students were Black. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We have been through so much trauma and they have every right to feel distrustful and fearful about this decision,” she said in an interview with KQED on Friday.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Enrollment in OUSD has declined by nearly 20,000 students over the last two decades, from over 52,000 in 2002 to just under 35,500 now, according to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://dashboards.ousd.org/views/Enrollment/Historic?%3Aembed=y&%3AshowShareOptions=true&%3Adisplay_count=no&%3AshowVizHome=no&%3Arender=false#7\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">district data\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. And because state funding for public schools is tied to attendance, as students left the district, so did a lot of money. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Schaaf says consolidating schools is necessary to fix structural problems in the district’s budget. “When you look at districts like Stockton, Fremont, San Jose, they serve roughly the same number of students — about 33,000,” she said. “But they do it in almost half the campuses — between 41 and 48 campuses — in those three districts, whereas Oakland has 80 campuses.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to Schaaf, the consolidation would allow the district to redirect more funds from building upkeep and redundant administrative costs to student services. “This is an opportunity to do better for our students, our educators, and our families,” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11904283\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11904283\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53515_20220204-IMG_2539-2-qut-800x559.jpg\" alt=\"Several red and white signs shown from a distance with many people standing in front of City Hall in Oakland\" width=\"800\" height=\"559\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53515_20220204-IMG_2539-2-qut-800x559.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53515_20220204-IMG_2539-2-qut-1020x713.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53515_20220204-IMG_2539-2-qut-160x112.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53515_20220204-IMG_2539-2-qut-1536x1074.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/RS53515_20220204-IMG_2539-2-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Educators, parents and youth gather in protest during a citywide rally at Oakland City Hall on Feb. 4, 2022. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">School board member Mike Hutchinson, who is opposed to the consolidation plan, said it breaks promises the district made to the community. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In March 2021, the school board passed the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1knTRaGliW06LnPCATRmaILnwrgViLgsC/view\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Reparations for Black Students Resolution\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a response to longtime efforts by community activists to call attention to the displacement of Black students and the disproportionate impact school closures in the district have had on them. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As part of the resolution, the board promised, among other things, to work with the newly created Black Students and Families Thriving Task Force to develop an equity impact analysis before announcing additional school closures. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But on January 12, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/19DPEJIKPw_pyiS_6ZTzya59OpvIAYtPC/view\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the board instructed the superintendent\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to move forward on a consolidation plan, in spite of its commitments made in the Reparations for Black Students resolution. They also instructed the district to do so without consideration for previous resolutions designed to improve community engagement ahead of school closures. Instead, the board asked for a plan as soon as possible, that could be put into action in the next school year and the year after. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11904318\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11904318\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7844-2-800x589.jpeg\" alt=\"A bald man in a light blue hoodie stands for a portrait. Behind him a scattered crowd stands on blacktop at Prescott School. \" width=\"800\" height=\"589\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7844-2-800x589.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7844-2-1020x751.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7844-2-160x118.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7844-2-1536x1131.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7844-2-2048x1508.jpeg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7844-2-1920x1413.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mike Hutchinson, school board director for District 5, stands on the blacktop of Prescott School in West Oakland during a rally there on Feb. 5, 2022. \u003ccite>(Annelise Finney/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hutchinson says the rush is eroding community trust in the board. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We forget the real services that our public schools provide, everything from a community meeting space to educating generations of kids, to the anchor and the source of pride for a lot of communities,” Hutchinson said at a rally on Saturday. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Prescott, an elementary school in West Oakland, is a prime example. The school, which has served Oakland students for more than a century, is where Ida Louise Jackson, Oakland’s first Black teacher, began teaching in the 1920s. Now it’s on the chopping block.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lavena Brown, who attended a rally at Prescott on Saturday morning, says she lives near the school and was once a student there. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There’s a lot of memories here,” she said of Prescott, the only elementary school in the Lower Bottoms neighborhood of West Oakland. “All my family, my parents went to this school. I went to this school in the ’70s, my parents way before me.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Under the district’s plan, Prescott students would go to either Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary — about a mile away — or Hoover Elementary — about two miles away — starting next school year.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11904314\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11904314 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7838-800x600.jpeg\" alt=\"A woman wearing a black head scarf and a black hoodie with images from Mario Kart poses for a portrait the a young child wearing glasses. The child is holding a sign that reads, "Don't cut our kids." Stick into the frame above them is the top of a basketball hoop. Behind them are two cream and blue portable classrooms. \" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7838-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7838-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7838-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7838-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7838-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7838-1920x1440.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Erica Wade and her son Samuel pose for a portrait during a rally at Prescott School on Feb. 5, 2022. Wade is a graduate of Prescott and Samuel is a student at OUSD’s Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School. \u003ccite>(Annelise Finney/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hutchinson says keeping neighborhood schools open is a basic issue of fairness. “Every community pays taxes. Every community deserves the same access to resources,” he says. “If our anchor public elementary schools close, that leaves that community, that neighborhood, without access to public resources.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Across town, two OUSD staff members have turned to more drastic methods to protest the closure plan: Moses Omolade, OUSD’s program director for community schools, and Maurice André San-Chez, a choir and dance teacher at Westlake Middle School, have been on a hunger strike since last Monday. The two are camped out on the front lawn of the school, which, under the district’s proposal, would be merged with West Oakland Middle School, roughly two miles away. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11904317\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11904317 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7847-800x600.jpeg\" alt='Two tents, one gray and one red stand on a lawn above a small retaining wall. A sign next to the tents reads, \"Westlake Middle School, Westlake convocation hunger strike day 5.\" In front of the tents a line of protest signs lines the edge of the retaining wall. Two read, \"No cuts, no closures.\" Behind the tents and one story white and green school building is visible. ' width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7847-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7847-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7847-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7847-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7847-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7847-1920x1440.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The OUSD staff members engaged in a hunger strike have set up a camp on the front lawn of Westlake Middle School. \u003ccite>(Annelise Finney/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Omolade says the short timeline for the approval of the plan and the lack of community engagement in the process has backed the families and teachers into a corner. When the plan was announced, he says, his world was turned upside down. “The community was struck. Kids freaking out, parents freaking out, staff freaking out,” he said. “Prescott, 150 years! At the stroke of a pen and a Zoom call, you think you’re about to take Prescott?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In thinking about how to protest, Omolade said he reflected on how his body has always been politicized. “I’m in a really large Black body — 6’8”, 210, and dark as night. And it’s a beautiful thing, but that hasn’t always been the messaging.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11904316\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11904316 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7846-2-800x600.jpeg\" alt=\"A waist-up photo of a man wearing a maroon beanie and a gray Westlake Middle School t-shirt. He's sitting in a green armchair. He has two nose piercings and septum piercing. He has beaded necklaces around his neck and his arms are spread out over the arms of the armchair. \" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7846-2-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7846-2-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7846-2-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7846-2-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7846-2-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/02/IMG_7846-2-1920x1440.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Moses Omolade, OUSD program director of community schools, sits in an armchair outside Westlake Middle School. Omolade is one of two OUSD staff members on a hunger strike. \u003ccite>(Annelise Finney/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He says his decision to go on hunger strike is a way to show the board how much these closures will affect the community. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“This is what it looks like when you continue to make choices that create harm that you are so far removed from,” he said. “You don’t get to see those children and those families hurt and cry and travel across Oakland, lose hubs, community hubs, that produced their ancestors. So now this is what it looks like. I want you to see my body.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "Testing Shortages at Oakland Schools Leave Students and Teachers Frustrated",
"title": "Testing Shortages at Oakland Schools Leave Students and Teachers Frustrated",
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"content": "\u003cp>Teachers at Oakland’s Reach Academy were fed up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The elementary school on the eastern edge of the city has been overwhelmed by positive COVID cases since returning from winter break — the Oakland Unified School District’s dashboard tallies nearly 80 cases there in the first three weeks back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teachers were desperate to stop more students and coworkers from turning up positive, but while some of their colleagues around the district planned sick-outs, Reach Academy staff hatched a plan to catch cases before kids entered the building.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Megan Bumpus, fifth grade teacher, Reach Academy\"]'We made it so that we literally stayed outside until we were sure that each child in our class tested negative.'[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We decided, we're the teachers, we know how this works. Let's just see if our families will do this,” said fifth grade teacher Megan Bumpus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She and her colleagues knew a district testing team would be on campus Tuesday, after the MLK holiday, until midday. But they wanted to ensure kids got swabbed before sitting down in a classroom, or eating breakfast in the cafeteria, where positive students would have a chance to infect others while unmasked. So, without approval from administrators, they designed a staggered arrival schedule. “We said to the principal, ‘This is what we're doing. We are already sending these messages,’” Bumpus said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11902563\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_4488-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11902563\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_4488-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A woman wearing a mask sits down in a classroom.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_4488-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_4488-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_4488-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_4488-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_4488-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_4488-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Megan Bumpus, a fifth grade teacher at Oakland's Reach Academy, goes over a math lesson in a classroom. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Megan Bumpus)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Teachers alerted parents in advance, and gave those who couldn’t manage it the option to drop kids off early. “We made it so that we literally stayed outside until we were sure that each child in our class tested negative,” she said. She credits the district for sending extra staff to support the effort, though it wasn’t condoned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For the first time ever, we literally had — at least according to the rapid tests — only kids and adults in school who had tested negative,” she said. “The peace of mind that we felt on Tuesday was amazing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether Reach Academy’s unsanctioned testing strategy curbs new cases remains to be seen. \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/transmission_k_12_schools.html\">Transmission rates have generally been low in schools\u003c/a> when mitigation protocols are followed, with most spread taking place in less controlled community contexts. But the action speaks to a broader need for a sense of safety and stability. It came amid a second week of student and staff protests in the district, with some students striking in an effort to force the district to improve safety measures, while teachers at some sites held sick-outs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pressure has seen some success: The district and teachers union worked out a plan to reinstate paid COVID sick leave, something teachers had been demanding, and it emboldened the Oakland Education Association to flex some muscle in negotiations for a new safety agreement with the district. OEA President Keith Brown now has approval from union leadership to call a strike vote if he deems it necessary, and nearly three-quarters of members told the union they’d support the action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OUSD has distributed N95 or KN95 masks for students and staff, something both the union and student organizers are demanding, and is working to provide covered outdoor eating areas at all sites, efforts officials say were underway before the pressure.[aside postID=\"news_11900220,news_11898251,mindshift_58938\" label=\"Related Posts\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the demand teachers and students say they care most about — increased testing — isn’t getting much traction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Testing is the most important demand of the students and the staff and the wider community,” said Sasha Rockwell, who teaches third and fourth grades at Bridges Academy at Melrose in East Oakland, where staff held a sick-out. Rockwell would like to see a “test to stay” policy along the lines of what Reach Academy teachers pulled off. She argues it’s key to avoiding unnecessary learning loss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Before coronavirus, a child would come to me with an invisible boo-boo and I'd be like, ‘Let me rub it and it's going to be OK. Get back in the school,’ you know?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, she said, everyday ailments trigger pandemic precautions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A child comes to me with a headache, well, that's a symptom of COVID, so they need to go to the isolation tent. A child comes to me with a stomachache, same,” she said. “We don't have a system in place to ensure that kids can stay in school for the maximum amount possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Student organizers are advocating for twice-weekly rapid and PCR tests at all schools; the teachers union is pushing for weekly testing at all sites. But the district has not announced any plans to further ramp up testing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Obviously there are capacity issues at work, but we are doing everything we can to ensure the testing is available at all times,” district spokesperson John Sasaki said. “We are \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/K-12-Guidance-2021-22-School-Year.aspx\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">following the public health experts\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> at both the county, state and federal level and feel that we are moving in the right direction with regard to testing and everything else.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond the issue of limited resources, it’s not clear more aggressive testing would meaningfully improve safety. UCSF professor and infectious disease specialist Peter Chin-Hong said layering strategies is the best approach, and vaccination remains the most important mitigation tool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the end of the day, there is no magic bullet,” he said. “Whether you test once a week, twice a week, I'm not sure if you get a bigger bang for the buck when you add the other components.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11902556\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/004_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11902556\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/004_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with a purple mask and t-shirt holds a piece of paper rolled up in her hand with others in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/004_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/004_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/004_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/004_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/004_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students march to call for COVID-safe and racially just schools in Hayward on Jan. 21, 2022. The group said that racial justice should be a part of the conversation about a safe return to school with COVID. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When there was less of the virus circulating in the community, it made more sense to think of testing as a way to stamp out infection, he said. “In the age of omicron, we've kind of abandoned virus elimination,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, some local public health experts are \u003ca href=\"https://www.change.org/p/gavin-newsom-post-omicron-pivot-for-california-public-schools\">petitioning state officials\u003c/a> to accept that COVID is endemic and “shift our public dialogue toward defining a path for removing all remaining COVID-19 restrictions in public schools.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>What does testing look like in OUSD?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Oakland Unified runs 10 testing hubs at schools around the city. Four of the 10 are open on any given day, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and have been serving over 300 people a day during the surge, according to Sasaki.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For MetWest High School student Ximena Santana, who helped organize the student strike and petition calling for more testing, off-site testing isn’t enough. “Some people don’t have the time to go to a place and do it,” she said. “We need the weekly testing at schools.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bridges Academy teacher Rockwell points out that the hubs are largely open during school hours. “So this means that all OUSD students, teachers and staff do not have access to the testing unless they are at that school,” she said. “And working families who often work late into the evening do not have access to that testing.” For weekend and after-school testing, the district refers families to the \u003ca href=\"https://covid-19.acgov.org/testing.page?#Community\">county’s many free testing sites\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district also runs a \u003ca href=\"https://www.ousd.org/Page/21454\">pilot pool testing program\u003c/a> at 39 elementary schools. Students at these sites are tested at least once a week. Swabs are collected for entire classes and tested together in a single vial. If the pooled PCR test comes up positive, every student in the positive pool is then rapid-tested. Pooled testing can be cost-effective and reduces the burden on labs, according to Chin-Hong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both Bridges Academy and Reach Academy are part of the program, and, while teachers Rockwell and Bumpus are appreciative, they say implementation doesn't always go smoothly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Pool testing has been a positive change for us, but has it been consistent? Absolutely not,” Rockwell said. “Today was a perfect example. My principal did not get a message at all of why the pool testers did not come today. So here we are, left with nothing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The testing is optional and teachers say tracking down consent forms for all students can be tricky, leaving some classes with several students untested.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District officials say they also provide on-site rapid testing at schools with classes in modified quarantine. Theoretically, the more classes are affected, the more testing resources are dispatched. \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/K-12-Guidance-2021-22-School-Year.aspx\">Modified quarantine\u003c/a> applies to unvaccinated students who’ve been in close contact with someone who tests positive. To stay in school, they must get tested regularly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some middle and high school administrators and teachers describe weekly testing programs at their sites; others say they have testers on campus biweekly. Frick United Academy of Language teacher Ella Every-Wortman said her site is small enough to give all students a chance to swab when testers come every other week. “I know that is not the case at other sites,” she wrote in a text. “Another frequent issue is that they run out of tests.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11902519\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/001_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11902519\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/001_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022-800x533.jpg\" alt='Nine people are standing outside with two people wearing purple shirts with their backs turned and facing a sign being held that reads \"safety and racial justice for Oakland schools.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/001_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/001_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/001_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/001_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/001_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Demonstrators rally outside the Alameda County Office of Education during a protest calling for COVID-safe and racially just schools in Hayward on Jan. 21, 2022. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As for getting themselves tested on campus, some teachers say finding coverage to leave class during the narrow testing window in the middle of a severe staffing shortage is nearly impossible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Oakland Technical High School, students say they have access to voluntary on-site testing once a week on Thursdays. “The lines get extremely long and they're not really socially distanced. It's just kind of a cluster and the tests take forever,” said 10th grader Scarlett Welpton. “It's just not set up well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Welpton said she waited in line about an hour last week, and though the test only took a few seconds, it took almost another hour to get results, during which she wasn’t allowed to return to class. “Which means we're missing a lot of school,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fellow Tech 10th grader Jasmina Garfagnoli has opted not to get tested at school. Instead, she uses the nearby testing hub at Oakland International High School, where she said lines are shorter, or she takes at-home tests. “It's so hard to get tested at school and to wait in line for an hour,” she said. “I think it's a very good thing that we have testing, but I just think that it needs to be revised a little bit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district also distributed 41,000 at-home rapid tests for students and staff to use over winter break, but some students say they never saw them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By now, most schools have gone through their supplies of rapid tests to use as needed. OUSD began placing orders for more rapid tests with the California Department of Public Health, Abbott and Office Depot beginning last fall, Sasaki said in an email, “but they were delayed because of the large supply set aside for the federal program to send at-home tests to all households.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district’s existing supply of at-home tests is being reserved for preschools, “where students are entirely unvaccinated and don't have easy access to hubs because of age limits,” according to Sasaki, and for student athletes, who are required to test regularly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, the student leaders behind the safety petition and strike held a virtual forum. For more than an hour, students and staff around the district shared stories of sick family members, empty classrooms, and anxiety as schoolmates tested positive. They expressed solidarity with striking students and thanked them for their work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MetWest High School student Ayleen Serrano, who helped organize the boycott, told students to keep pressuring the district. “Not all the demands have been met. Some schools still do not have access to PCR or rapid testing,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She encouraged her peers to get involved in organizing and plans to hold another Zoom forum Thursday, Jan. 27. She said students will keep at the strike until there are better testing options at all schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "In Oakland's school district, both teachers and students have been frustrated with COVID testing shortages. In an attempt to curb transmission rates in schools, teachers at Reach Academy came up with an unsanctioned strategy to test students before they arrived in classrooms. ",
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"description": "In Oakland's school district, both teachers and students have been frustrated with COVID testing shortages. In an attempt to curb transmission rates in schools, teachers at Reach Academy came up with an unsanctioned strategy to test students before they arrived in classrooms. ",
"title": "Testing Shortages at Oakland Schools Leave Students and Teachers Frustrated | KQED",
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"headline": "Testing Shortages at Oakland Schools Leave Students and Teachers Frustrated",
"datePublished": "2022-01-24T17:05:33-08:00",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Teachers at Oakland’s Reach Academy were fed up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The elementary school on the eastern edge of the city has been overwhelmed by positive COVID cases since returning from winter break — the Oakland Unified School District’s dashboard tallies nearly 80 cases there in the first three weeks back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teachers were desperate to stop more students and coworkers from turning up positive, but while some of their colleagues around the district planned sick-outs, Reach Academy staff hatched a plan to catch cases before kids entered the building.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "'We made it so that we literally stayed outside until we were sure that each child in our class tested negative.'",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We decided, we're the teachers, we know how this works. Let's just see if our families will do this,” said fifth grade teacher Megan Bumpus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She and her colleagues knew a district testing team would be on campus Tuesday, after the MLK holiday, until midday. But they wanted to ensure kids got swabbed before sitting down in a classroom, or eating breakfast in the cafeteria, where positive students would have a chance to infect others while unmasked. So, without approval from administrators, they designed a staggered arrival schedule. “We said to the principal, ‘This is what we're doing. We are already sending these messages,’” Bumpus said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11902563\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_4488-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11902563\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_4488-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A woman wearing a mask sits down in a classroom.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_4488-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_4488-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_4488-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_4488-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_4488-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/IMG_4488-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Megan Bumpus, a fifth grade teacher at Oakland's Reach Academy, goes over a math lesson in a classroom. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Megan Bumpus)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Teachers alerted parents in advance, and gave those who couldn’t manage it the option to drop kids off early. “We made it so that we literally stayed outside until we were sure that each child in our class tested negative,” she said. She credits the district for sending extra staff to support the effort, though it wasn’t condoned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For the first time ever, we literally had — at least according to the rapid tests — only kids and adults in school who had tested negative,” she said. “The peace of mind that we felt on Tuesday was amazing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether Reach Academy’s unsanctioned testing strategy curbs new cases remains to be seen. \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/transmission_k_12_schools.html\">Transmission rates have generally been low in schools\u003c/a> when mitigation protocols are followed, with most spread taking place in less controlled community contexts. But the action speaks to a broader need for a sense of safety and stability. It came amid a second week of student and staff protests in the district, with some students striking in an effort to force the district to improve safety measures, while teachers at some sites held sick-outs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pressure has seen some success: The district and teachers union worked out a plan to reinstate paid COVID sick leave, something teachers had been demanding, and it emboldened the Oakland Education Association to flex some muscle in negotiations for a new safety agreement with the district. OEA President Keith Brown now has approval from union leadership to call a strike vote if he deems it necessary, and nearly three-quarters of members told the union they’d support the action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OUSD has distributed N95 or KN95 masks for students and staff, something both the union and student organizers are demanding, and is working to provide covered outdoor eating areas at all sites, efforts officials say were underway before the pressure.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the demand teachers and students say they care most about — increased testing — isn’t getting much traction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Testing is the most important demand of the students and the staff and the wider community,” said Sasha Rockwell, who teaches third and fourth grades at Bridges Academy at Melrose in East Oakland, where staff held a sick-out. Rockwell would like to see a “test to stay” policy along the lines of what Reach Academy teachers pulled off. She argues it’s key to avoiding unnecessary learning loss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Before coronavirus, a child would come to me with an invisible boo-boo and I'd be like, ‘Let me rub it and it's going to be OK. Get back in the school,’ you know?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, she said, everyday ailments trigger pandemic precautions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A child comes to me with a headache, well, that's a symptom of COVID, so they need to go to the isolation tent. A child comes to me with a stomachache, same,” she said. “We don't have a system in place to ensure that kids can stay in school for the maximum amount possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Student organizers are advocating for twice-weekly rapid and PCR tests at all schools; the teachers union is pushing for weekly testing at all sites. But the district has not announced any plans to further ramp up testing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Obviously there are capacity issues at work, but we are doing everything we can to ensure the testing is available at all times,” district spokesperson John Sasaki said. “We are \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/K-12-Guidance-2021-22-School-Year.aspx\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">following the public health experts\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> at both the county, state and federal level and feel that we are moving in the right direction with regard to testing and everything else.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond the issue of limited resources, it’s not clear more aggressive testing would meaningfully improve safety. UCSF professor and infectious disease specialist Peter Chin-Hong said layering strategies is the best approach, and vaccination remains the most important mitigation tool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the end of the day, there is no magic bullet,” he said. “Whether you test once a week, twice a week, I'm not sure if you get a bigger bang for the buck when you add the other components.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11902556\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/004_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11902556\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/004_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with a purple mask and t-shirt holds a piece of paper rolled up in her hand with others in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/004_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/004_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/004_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/004_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/004_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students march to call for COVID-safe and racially just schools in Hayward on Jan. 21, 2022. The group said that racial justice should be a part of the conversation about a safe return to school with COVID. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When there was less of the virus circulating in the community, it made more sense to think of testing as a way to stamp out infection, he said. “In the age of omicron, we've kind of abandoned virus elimination,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, some local public health experts are \u003ca href=\"https://www.change.org/p/gavin-newsom-post-omicron-pivot-for-california-public-schools\">petitioning state officials\u003c/a> to accept that COVID is endemic and “shift our public dialogue toward defining a path for removing all remaining COVID-19 restrictions in public schools.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>What does testing look like in OUSD?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Oakland Unified runs 10 testing hubs at schools around the city. Four of the 10 are open on any given day, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and have been serving over 300 people a day during the surge, according to Sasaki.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For MetWest High School student Ximena Santana, who helped organize the student strike and petition calling for more testing, off-site testing isn’t enough. “Some people don’t have the time to go to a place and do it,” she said. “We need the weekly testing at schools.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bridges Academy teacher Rockwell points out that the hubs are largely open during school hours. “So this means that all OUSD students, teachers and staff do not have access to the testing unless they are at that school,” she said. “And working families who often work late into the evening do not have access to that testing.” For weekend and after-school testing, the district refers families to the \u003ca href=\"https://covid-19.acgov.org/testing.page?#Community\">county’s many free testing sites\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district also runs a \u003ca href=\"https://www.ousd.org/Page/21454\">pilot pool testing program\u003c/a> at 39 elementary schools. Students at these sites are tested at least once a week. Swabs are collected for entire classes and tested together in a single vial. If the pooled PCR test comes up positive, every student in the positive pool is then rapid-tested. Pooled testing can be cost-effective and reduces the burden on labs, according to Chin-Hong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both Bridges Academy and Reach Academy are part of the program, and, while teachers Rockwell and Bumpus are appreciative, they say implementation doesn't always go smoothly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Pool testing has been a positive change for us, but has it been consistent? Absolutely not,” Rockwell said. “Today was a perfect example. My principal did not get a message at all of why the pool testers did not come today. So here we are, left with nothing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The testing is optional and teachers say tracking down consent forms for all students can be tricky, leaving some classes with several students untested.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District officials say they also provide on-site rapid testing at schools with classes in modified quarantine. Theoretically, the more classes are affected, the more testing resources are dispatched. \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/K-12-Guidance-2021-22-School-Year.aspx\">Modified quarantine\u003c/a> applies to unvaccinated students who’ve been in close contact with someone who tests positive. To stay in school, they must get tested regularly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some middle and high school administrators and teachers describe weekly testing programs at their sites; others say they have testers on campus biweekly. Frick United Academy of Language teacher Ella Every-Wortman said her site is small enough to give all students a chance to swab when testers come every other week. “I know that is not the case at other sites,” she wrote in a text. “Another frequent issue is that they run out of tests.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11902519\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/001_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-11902519\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/001_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022-800x533.jpg\" alt='Nine people are standing outside with two people wearing purple shirts with their backs turned and facing a sign being held that reads \"safety and racial justice for Oakland schools.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/001_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/001_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/001_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/001_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/001_Hayward_OUSDCarCaravan_01212022.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Demonstrators rally outside the Alameda County Office of Education during a protest calling for COVID-safe and racially just schools in Hayward on Jan. 21, 2022. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As for getting themselves tested on campus, some teachers say finding coverage to leave class during the narrow testing window in the middle of a severe staffing shortage is nearly impossible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Oakland Technical High School, students say they have access to voluntary on-site testing once a week on Thursdays. “The lines get extremely long and they're not really socially distanced. It's just kind of a cluster and the tests take forever,” said 10th grader Scarlett Welpton. “It's just not set up well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Welpton said she waited in line about an hour last week, and though the test only took a few seconds, it took almost another hour to get results, during which she wasn’t allowed to return to class. “Which means we're missing a lot of school,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fellow Tech 10th grader Jasmina Garfagnoli has opted not to get tested at school. Instead, she uses the nearby testing hub at Oakland International High School, where she said lines are shorter, or she takes at-home tests. “It's so hard to get tested at school and to wait in line for an hour,” she said. “I think it's a very good thing that we have testing, but I just think that it needs to be revised a little bit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district also distributed 41,000 at-home rapid tests for students and staff to use over winter break, but some students say they never saw them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By now, most schools have gone through their supplies of rapid tests to use as needed. OUSD began placing orders for more rapid tests with the California Department of Public Health, Abbott and Office Depot beginning last fall, Sasaki said in an email, “but they were delayed because of the large supply set aside for the federal program to send at-home tests to all households.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district’s existing supply of at-home tests is being reserved for preschools, “where students are entirely unvaccinated and don't have easy access to hubs because of age limits,” according to Sasaki, and for student athletes, who are required to test regularly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, the student leaders behind the safety petition and strike held a virtual forum. For more than an hour, students and staff around the district shared stories of sick family members, empty classrooms, and anxiety as schoolmates tested positive. They expressed solidarity with striking students and thanked them for their work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MetWest High School student Ayleen Serrano, who helped organize the boycott, told students to keep pressuring the district. “Not all the demands have been met. Some schools still do not have access to PCR or rapid testing,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She encouraged her peers to get involved in organizing and plans to hold another Zoom forum Thursday, Jan. 27. She said students will keep at the strike until there are better testing options at all schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Weeks into the school year, the Oakland Unified School District’s rollout of its remote learning program has been mired in problems, as understaffing, poor communication and a lack of organization have led to confusion and frustration for some parents. Some students still haven’t met their teachers, and the first informational session for families interested in the program was held just four days before the start of the school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a school board meeting held last week\u003cstrong>,\u003c/strong> Faiza Ayesh, a parent with three young kids enrolled in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ousd.org/independentstudy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sojourner Truth Independent Study/Online Learning\u003c/a> program, complained the program was in disarray.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have no teachers, we have no communication from the school about what’s going on,” Ayesh told the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the vast majority of Oakland students returned to campuses in person, 726 students are now enrolled in the independent study program. Hundreds more are on a wait list, and OUSD projects that enrollment will reach 1,112, as parents weigh the risks of sending their kids into classrooms while the highly transmissible coronavirus delta variant drives an elevated case count.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the first two school board meetings of the year, Sojourner Truth parents said they weren’t even sure whether their children were enrolled, with phone calls and emails going unanswered. Some who had managed to get a spot said they never got login information for their kids’ virtual meetings, or that they were given incorrect passwords. Three weeks in, some said their kids were only getting a half hour of Zoom instruction a day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That leaves parents who aren’t comfortable sending their kids back into classrooms feeling abandoned by the district. Meanwhile, as the reality of exposure notifications and classroom quarantines sets in, some who opted for in-person school might like to reconsider, but a good alternative is not yet in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Ayesh, the decision to stick with virtual learning came down to her personal experience with COVID. Her fourth and fifth graders recently got the virus. Neither is old enough to be vaccinated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have six kids and we’ve been through all kinds of flus and viruses,” she said, but COVID left them with “the worst stomach pain ever. My older daughter was literally in the fetal position on the floor for two days.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ayesh and her husband, both vaccinated, got mild breakthrough infections from their kids. And weeks after getting sick, her daughter still had lingering pain. “I just didn’t want to do this again and put my kids at risk for more problems,” Ayesh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family didn’t think of going back to distance learning as a sacrifice — last school year, her kids thrived in Sankofa United Elementary School’s virtual classes, and Ayesh thought she knew what to expect. “I thought everything is going to happen smoothly because we’ve been doing this for the past almost two years,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC8297119966&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, she learned her children would have to leave Sankofa and enroll in a different school — Sojourner Truth Independent Study — and though they’d be able to opt back in to in-person school at any time, their spots at Sankofa weren’t guaranteed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, lawmakers created and schools administered distance learning as an emergency alternative during the pandemic. Ahead of this school year, legislators — concerned about students’ learning loss and mental health, and with pressure from parents demanding that schools reopen — limited distance learning in order to ensure school systems brought students back into classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Traditionally, independent study has offered a way to keep students learning while on extended vacations, or if bullying or a mental health issue created stress at school. But in the face of the continuing pandemic, the programs have had to ramp up to serve more students than ever, while adhering to a more stringent curriculum and class time requirements newly imposed by the state Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pre-pandemic, Oakland Unified’s Sojourner Truth Independent Study program served about 200 students, with fewer than 20 of elementary age, according to the school’s principal, Willie Thompson. This year, Thompson said, about half of the 726 students enrolled are TK-fifth graders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11887213\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11887213 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/RS48265_017_Oakland_SchoolReopening_03302021-qut-800x533.jpeg\" alt=\"A young woman walks down a leafy street holding hands with a schoolchild wearing a large backpack.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/RS48265_017_Oakland_SchoolReopening_03302021-qut-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/RS48265_017_Oakland_SchoolReopening_03302021-qut-1020x680.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/RS48265_017_Oakland_SchoolReopening_03302021-qut-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/RS48265_017_Oakland_SchoolReopening_03302021-qut-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/RS48265_017_Oakland_SchoolReopening_03302021-qut.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Families pick up their children from Montclair Elementary School on the first day back to in-person learning on March 30, 2021. Most of Oakland Unified’s 36,000 students have returned to schools in person this year. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s not like we’re sitting on our hands here,” Thompson said during the first week of school. “We are talking about a radical shift for us.” He said the level of interest caught leadership off guard. “We knew that there would be some parents opting for distance learning, but not at this scale.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the biggest challenges, he said, has been setting a schedule for students and teachers amid changing enrollment. “It’s almost like trying to fly a plane while you build it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Middle school teacher Mark Airgood was assigned to the program after requesting a medical accommodation from the district, allowing him to stay out of the classroom during the pandemic. On the second day of school, he learned he’d be teaching middle school math and science, subjects for which he has the credentials but not the teaching experience. For the last 20 years, he said, he’s been a special education resources teacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just going to have to get rolling on it,” he said of his new assignment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sojourner Truth also faced the challenge of hiring new teachers to meet the increased demand, especially in the elementary grades, a problem complicated by \u003ca href=\"https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/california-covid-19-teacher-workforce-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a statewide teacher shortage exacerbated during the pandemic\u003c/a>. During the first week of school, Thompson said\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>the program was still short about four of the roughly 18 teachers he had estimated the school needed\u003cstrong>, \u003c/strong>not to mention additional staff to meet wait list demand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To fill the gap, staff from the district’s central office stepped in. “We just need all boots on the ground,” Thompson said, noting that many of the reinforcements are former teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Sojourner Truth parents, some of those staffers are still running what limited instruction there is. Jamie Burnell said at the school board meeting last week that her son still hadn’t met his permanent teacher. “I’m frankly shocked that my child is still doing 30-minute lessons almost a month into the school year,” she told the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tamia Green’s seventh grade daughter met her English teacher for the first time at the end of the second week of school, after the teacher she’d initially been assigned had resigned, Green said. Her daughter still hadn’t met her math teacher, and when she wasn’t given a password to log in to her Zoom class, Green found it hard to get answers from the school. “I felt like everybody was passing the baton,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘Plenty of time to prepare’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>OUSD is not alone in facing challenges implementing distance learning through independent study, according to Kevin Gordon, president of the Sacramento-based lobbying firm Capitol Advisors Group, which represents hundreds of school districts around the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawmakers weren’t anticipating the delta variant when they constrained virtual learning options, Gordon said. “Now what happens is there’s a high demand for distance learning and a very, very narrow opportunity in the law to offer it. Schools are trapped in the middle, trying to figure out, ‘How do we abide by the law and serve all our kids?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law has also created hurdles for districts trying to work through how to educate quarantined students. The California Association of Suburban School Districts recently \u003ca href=\"https://calssd.org/school-opening-and-budget-trailer-clean-up-on-independent-study/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sent a letter to lawmakers\u003c/a> urging them to make changes to the law, contending that “challenges are at a critical point” due to “ever increasing numbers of students participating in independent study.” Among the requests for help was a short-term distance learning option for students required to quarantine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assemblymember Phil Ting, who \u003ca href=\"https://a19.asmdc.org/press-releases/20201207-ting-proposal-require-school-reopenings-most-cases-during-pandemic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">championed a return to in-person schooling\u003c/a>, stands by the effort to limit virtual learning. “Districts are getting a record level of funding to hire staff,” he said, “It’s been very clear that this is the direction that we were going unless we got a different directive from our public health doctors, and they’ve had plenty of time to prepare for this. I think that they’re having difficulty adapting to change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s not the money that districts are complaining about — it’s finding the teachers whom they can spend it on. “It’s easy when you’re a Monday morning quarterback,” Principal Thompson said. “I’m in the work, and it’s a logistical nightmare in terms of getting up to scale.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OUSD Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell recently told the school board that 25 new teachers would be allocated to Sojourner Truth: 10 district teachers who’ve elected to move to the program, along with another 15 who will need to be hired. The school also now has a community school manager on site to facilitate communication with families, and Johnson-Trammell said other services, like tutoring and mental health support, would follow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Faiza Ayesh, the parent of three students in the program, is hopeful things will work out. But for now, she said, “I feel like our kids were shortchanged. It’s not fair. We’re just trying to keep our kids safe. We don’t want to be a hardship on the school district, but we’re in a pandemic. It’s not over yet.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "In Oakland, Distance Learners Face Confusion, Teacher Shortage | KQED",
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"subhead": "As demand for virtual learning grows, Oakland Unified grapples with staffing shortages.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Weeks into the school year, the Oakland Unified School District’s rollout of its remote learning program has been mired in problems, as understaffing, poor communication and a lack of organization have led to confusion and frustration for some parents. Some students still haven’t met their teachers, and the first informational session for families interested in the program was held just four days before the start of the school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a school board meeting held last week\u003cstrong>,\u003c/strong> Faiza Ayesh, a parent with three young kids enrolled in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ousd.org/independentstudy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sojourner Truth Independent Study/Online Learning\u003c/a> program, complained the program was in disarray.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have no teachers, we have no communication from the school about what’s going on,” Ayesh told the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the vast majority of Oakland students returned to campuses in person, 726 students are now enrolled in the independent study program. Hundreds more are on a wait list, and OUSD projects that enrollment will reach 1,112, as parents weigh the risks of sending their kids into classrooms while the highly transmissible coronavirus delta variant drives an elevated case count.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the first two school board meetings of the year, Sojourner Truth parents said they weren’t even sure whether their children were enrolled, with phone calls and emails going unanswered. Some who had managed to get a spot said they never got login information for their kids’ virtual meetings, or that they were given incorrect passwords. Three weeks in, some said their kids were only getting a half hour of Zoom instruction a day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That leaves parents who aren’t comfortable sending their kids back into classrooms feeling abandoned by the district. Meanwhile, as the reality of exposure notifications and classroom quarantines sets in, some who opted for in-person school might like to reconsider, but a good alternative is not yet in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Ayesh, the decision to stick with virtual learning came down to her personal experience with COVID. Her fourth and fifth graders recently got the virus. Neither is old enough to be vaccinated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have six kids and we’ve been through all kinds of flus and viruses,” she said, but COVID left them with “the worst stomach pain ever. My older daughter was literally in the fetal position on the floor for two days.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ayesh and her husband, both vaccinated, got mild breakthrough infections from their kids. And weeks after getting sick, her daughter still had lingering pain. “I just didn’t want to do this again and put my kids at risk for more problems,” Ayesh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family didn’t think of going back to distance learning as a sacrifice — last school year, her kids thrived in Sankofa United Elementary School’s virtual classes, and Ayesh thought she knew what to expect. “I thought everything is going to happen smoothly because we’ve been doing this for the past almost two years,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC8297119966&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, she learned her children would have to leave Sankofa and enroll in a different school — Sojourner Truth Independent Study — and though they’d be able to opt back in to in-person school at any time, their spots at Sankofa weren’t guaranteed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, lawmakers created and schools administered distance learning as an emergency alternative during the pandemic. Ahead of this school year, legislators — concerned about students’ learning loss and mental health, and with pressure from parents demanding that schools reopen — limited distance learning in order to ensure school systems brought students back into classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Traditionally, independent study has offered a way to keep students learning while on extended vacations, or if bullying or a mental health issue created stress at school. But in the face of the continuing pandemic, the programs have had to ramp up to serve more students than ever, while adhering to a more stringent curriculum and class time requirements newly imposed by the state Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pre-pandemic, Oakland Unified’s Sojourner Truth Independent Study program served about 200 students, with fewer than 20 of elementary age, according to the school’s principal, Willie Thompson. This year, Thompson said, about half of the 726 students enrolled are TK-fifth graders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11887213\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11887213 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/RS48265_017_Oakland_SchoolReopening_03302021-qut-800x533.jpeg\" alt=\"A young woman walks down a leafy street holding hands with a schoolchild wearing a large backpack.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/RS48265_017_Oakland_SchoolReopening_03302021-qut-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/RS48265_017_Oakland_SchoolReopening_03302021-qut-1020x680.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/RS48265_017_Oakland_SchoolReopening_03302021-qut-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/RS48265_017_Oakland_SchoolReopening_03302021-qut-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/09/RS48265_017_Oakland_SchoolReopening_03302021-qut.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Families pick up their children from Montclair Elementary School on the first day back to in-person learning on March 30, 2021. Most of Oakland Unified’s 36,000 students have returned to schools in person this year. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s not like we’re sitting on our hands here,” Thompson said during the first week of school. “We are talking about a radical shift for us.” He said the level of interest caught leadership off guard. “We knew that there would be some parents opting for distance learning, but not at this scale.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the biggest challenges, he said, has been setting a schedule for students and teachers amid changing enrollment. “It’s almost like trying to fly a plane while you build it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Middle school teacher Mark Airgood was assigned to the program after requesting a medical accommodation from the district, allowing him to stay out of the classroom during the pandemic. On the second day of school, he learned he’d be teaching middle school math and science, subjects for which he has the credentials but not the teaching experience. For the last 20 years, he said, he’s been a special education resources teacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just going to have to get rolling on it,” he said of his new assignment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sojourner Truth also faced the challenge of hiring new teachers to meet the increased demand, especially in the elementary grades, a problem complicated by \u003ca href=\"https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/california-covid-19-teacher-workforce-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a statewide teacher shortage exacerbated during the pandemic\u003c/a>. During the first week of school, Thompson said\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>the program was still short about four of the roughly 18 teachers he had estimated the school needed\u003cstrong>, \u003c/strong>not to mention additional staff to meet wait list demand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To fill the gap, staff from the district’s central office stepped in. “We just need all boots on the ground,” Thompson said, noting that many of the reinforcements are former teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Sojourner Truth parents, some of those staffers are still running what limited instruction there is. Jamie Burnell said at the school board meeting last week that her son still hadn’t met his permanent teacher. “I’m frankly shocked that my child is still doing 30-minute lessons almost a month into the school year,” she told the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tamia Green’s seventh grade daughter met her English teacher for the first time at the end of the second week of school, after the teacher she’d initially been assigned had resigned, Green said. Her daughter still hadn’t met her math teacher, and when she wasn’t given a password to log in to her Zoom class, Green found it hard to get answers from the school. “I felt like everybody was passing the baton,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘Plenty of time to prepare’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>OUSD is not alone in facing challenges implementing distance learning through independent study, according to Kevin Gordon, president of the Sacramento-based lobbying firm Capitol Advisors Group, which represents hundreds of school districts around the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawmakers weren’t anticipating the delta variant when they constrained virtual learning options, Gordon said. “Now what happens is there’s a high demand for distance learning and a very, very narrow opportunity in the law to offer it. Schools are trapped in the middle, trying to figure out, ‘How do we abide by the law and serve all our kids?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law has also created hurdles for districts trying to work through how to educate quarantined students. The California Association of Suburban School Districts recently \u003ca href=\"https://calssd.org/school-opening-and-budget-trailer-clean-up-on-independent-study/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sent a letter to lawmakers\u003c/a> urging them to make changes to the law, contending that “challenges are at a critical point” due to “ever increasing numbers of students participating in independent study.” Among the requests for help was a short-term distance learning option for students required to quarantine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assemblymember Phil Ting, who \u003ca href=\"https://a19.asmdc.org/press-releases/20201207-ting-proposal-require-school-reopenings-most-cases-during-pandemic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">championed a return to in-person schooling\u003c/a>, stands by the effort to limit virtual learning. “Districts are getting a record level of funding to hire staff,” he said, “It’s been very clear that this is the direction that we were going unless we got a different directive from our public health doctors, and they’ve had plenty of time to prepare for this. I think that they’re having difficulty adapting to change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s not the money that districts are complaining about — it’s finding the teachers whom they can spend it on. “It’s easy when you’re a Monday morning quarterback,” Principal Thompson said. “I’m in the work, and it’s a logistical nightmare in terms of getting up to scale.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OUSD Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell recently told the school board that 25 new teachers would be allocated to Sojourner Truth: 10 district teachers who’ve elected to move to the program, along with another 15 who will need to be hired. The school also now has a community school manager on site to facilitate communication with families, and Johnson-Trammell said other services, like tutoring and mental health support, would follow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Faiza Ayesh, the parent of three students in the program, is hopeful things will work out. But for now, she said, “I feel like our kids were shortchanged. It’s not fair. We’re just trying to keep our kids safe. We don’t want to be a hardship on the school district, but we’re in a pandemic. It’s not over yet.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "What If Your Kid Brings COVID-19 Home? Here's How These Families Dealt With It",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story has been updated.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were so careful,” said Alysha Johnson, a resident of Discovery Bay in Contra Costa County. “I’m a germaphobe. When this whole thing happened, we didn’t leave the house for six months.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson was crushed when her toddler, River, caught COVID-19 at a summer play group in late July.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a pretty big deal how sick he got,” said Johnson. “It wasn’t just a little sniffle.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her 2-year-old suffered a sore throat, a cough and a fever of 104 degrees. The bout lasted more than a week and sickened Johnson, her sister and her boyfriend — all of whom were vaccinated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11885701\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11885701\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50667_024_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A parent carries a baby in one hand and a baby bottle in the other. The parent is sitting on a big, brown couch in the living room of their house.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50667_024_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50667_024_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50667_024_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50667_024_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50667_024_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alysha Johnson holds her son River while giving him a bottle in the family’s home in Discovery Bay in Contra Costa County on Aug. 16, 2021. When they and their family tested positive for COVID-19, they quarantined together in the house. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It felt like a really bad sinus cold,” Johnson said. “I felt exhausted. I lost my sense of taste and smell. That was the most bizarre sensation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson is relieved she had her shots protecting her against a more severe case of COVID-19. But the fact that kids are transmitting the coronavirus to family members is unnerving many parents as children head back to school, especially as a coronavirus vaccine for kids under 12 is not yet available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the first week of school, 58 students and 10 staff members tested positive in Oakland Unified School District schools. The tallies are much higher in other parts of the country. Last week, more than 3,000 students and staff had to quarantine in\u003ca href=\"https://www.brevardschools.org/cms/lib/FL02201431/Centricity/Domain/10805/Dashboard%20-%2008.13.21%20to%2008.16.21.pdf\"> Florida’s Brevard Public Schools\u003c/a>. And in Hawaii, many schools are pulling the plug and \u003ca href=\"https://www.civilbeat.org/2021/08/facing-new-covid-cases-waianae-school-returns-to-distance-learning/\">returning to remote learning\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11885705\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11885705\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50653_010_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A parent carries their small child in their arms. Both have their bathing suits on and the child wears inflatable lifesavers as both are in the pool. Both are looking up at the sky. Behind them is a backyard and palm trees.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50653_010_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50653_010_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50653_010_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50653_010_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50653_010_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alysha Johnson holds her son River on Aug. 16, 2021, at their home in Discovery Bay. When River contracted COVID-19 during the summer, his body temperature rose to 104 degrees. “It was a pretty big deal how sick he got,” said Johnson. “It wasn’t just a little sniffle.” \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nationwide about 121,000 children tested positive for the virus from August 5 to 12, \u003ca href=\"https://www.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/children-and-covid-19-state-level-data-report/\">according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association\u003c/a>. That’s a 23% increase over the prior week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Time and time again we’re seeing kids return to school and then come home either after an exposure or sick themselves,” said Dr. Nicole Braxley, an emergency medicine physician at Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael. “The virus sheds for a couple of days before the patient has symptoms. Entire families are suddenly exposed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11885711\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11885711\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50638_014_Alameda_ChildrenCOVID_08172021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50638_014_Alameda_ChildrenCOVID_08172021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50638_014_Alameda_ChildrenCOVID_08172021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50638_014_Alameda_ChildrenCOVID_08172021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50638_014_Alameda_ChildrenCOVID_08172021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50638_014_Alameda_ChildrenCOVID_08172021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stephanie Chenard says goodbye to her son, Desmond, before he goes into his school in Alameda on Aug. 17, 2021. In July, Desmond tested positive for COVID-19. While Desmond’s case was mild and he quickly recovered, this experience has left the family wary of possible infections at school. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>‘The longest few days of my life’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Stephanie Chenard’s 8-year-old son Desmond started third grade in Alameda this Tuesday. That evening after her son returned from his first day of classes, she received an email. The district reported \u003ca href=\"https://www.alameda.k12.ca.us/cvdashboard\">four positive COVID-19 cases\u003c/a> in four different schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s already started,” Chenard texted KQED after receiving the email, including a tearful emoji in her message.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She knows firsthand how much a mild pediatric case can upend family life. About a month ago Desmond started to lose his appetite. He quickly developed a fever. Chenard grimaced when he tested positive for COVID-19. The news devastated her son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He just burst out into tears,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family canceled a long-awaited summer trip to Lake Tahoe. Instead they quarantined at home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Stephanie Chenard, Mother of Desmond, 8\"]‘The exposure felt like a moral failing.’[/pullquote]Chenard, a 49-year-old college administrator, started making calls. She notified her son’s summer camp. They suspended all activity. She alerted the public swimming pool. She fretted about whether to notify the organizers of a summer music festival. The hardest call was to a friend who had just had an organ transplant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The exposure felt like a moral failing,” said Chenard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fortunately Chenard’s son’s case was mild. His fever broke the same day it started.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Desmond was only sick for eight hours, but I spent 45 hours on notifications alone,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family’s quarantine also required both parents to juggle work and child care. Fortunately neither parent caught the virus. Chenard feels grateful she and her husband are vaccinated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some families are not so lucky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jace Garcia caught COVID-19 playing soccer with a friend in Sacramento earlier this month. The virus struck the 11-year-old in the middle of the night. Jace woke up vomiting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He curled up in the bathroom around the toilet. Body aches racked his slim calves, feet, chest and head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything was just squeezing that part of the body towards the bone,” said Jace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11885715\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1238px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11885715\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/ricojace1.png\" alt=\"A parent and a child take a selfie. Both are smiling and wear Oakland A's gear.\" width=\"1238\" height=\"826\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/ricojace1.png 1238w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/ricojace1-800x534.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/ricojace1-1020x681.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/ricojace1-160x107.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1238px) 100vw, 1238px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rico Garcia, left, and Jace Garcia attend an Oakland A’s game before the start of the pandemic. In August of this year, both father and son contracted COVID-19. “As a parent, you feel helpless,” said Garcia. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Rico Garcia)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>His fever spiked around 104 degrees. He shivered under a pile of blankets. Even playing video games did not offer relief.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every time I would click down, I would get a tingling sensation in my hand,” said Jace. He tossed the controllers aside. “I felt dizzy.”\u003cbr>\nThe only advice doctors offered was to try to stay hydrated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a parent, you feel helpless,” said Rico Garcia, Jace’s dad. “It was like the longest few days of my life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He worried he might contract the virus. Each morning he anxiously took a rapid test. He hoped his vaccine would offer protection, but on the fourth morning Rico tested positive. Within 24 hours the symptoms set in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It felt like a terrible head cold,” said Garcia. “My brain was foggy. I couldn’t think straight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11855623\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/02/Vaccination-Prep-1020x680.jpg\"]Then he lost his voice. He called in sick to the radio station where he’s a DJ. Then one morning at breakfast, things got weird.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My first sip of coffee was amazing,” Garcia said. “My ninth and tenth sip tasted like hot water. In the snap of a finger my sense of taste and smell was gone. I went as far as to cut a lime open and bite into it and tasted nothing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually Garcia’s ex-wife also caught the virus from their son. A teacher, she is currently quarantining. Jace is still fighting a lingering cough and congestion. He’s also missing the first 10 days of sixth grade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Epidemiologists say \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/health-departments/breakthrough-cases.html\">breakthrough cases\u003c/a> are on the rise all around the U.S., though estimates vary widely because tallies depend on community masking, testing availability and the level of virus circulating regionally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Symptoms can be absent or so mild in the vaccinated, many dismiss this as a cold or seasonal allergies,” \u003ca href=\"https://profiles.ucsf.edu/peter.chin-hong\">Dr. Peter Chin-Hong\u003c/a>, a UCSF professor and infectious disease specialist explains in an email. “In other words, you don’t know what you don’t know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11883110/the-war-has-changed-a-cdc-document-gives-new-details-on-the-dangers-of-the-delta-variant\">internal presentation\u003c/a> from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention estimates about 35,000 people a week contract a symptomatic breakthrough infection in the U.S. In the week leading up to July 24, about 384,000 people across the country tested positive for COVID-19, which indicates about 9% of new cases were breakthrough infections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chin-Hong says this is likely an underestimate of the true total, but shouldn’t undermine the vaccines’ effectiveness in peoples’ minds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the end of the day, one can say why focus on breakthrough infections, as the vaccines are really meant to prevent people getting serious disease and dying — which they are still spectacular at,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Weighing the risks\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Saun-Toy Trotter, Psychotherapist, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital\"]‘Young people experienced more depression and anxiety because of the level of isolation … One element of their well-being is being with peers, learning, stretching, struggling, growing and connecting.’[/pullquote]Until this summer, doctors said it was unusual for kids to pass the virus to a parent, especially someone who was vaccinated. But that’s changing as the delta variant takes hold. The new strain appears to be twice as contagious as the original.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s still rare for a child to experience a severe case or hospitalization or to die from the coronavirus. In states where \u003ca href=\"https://www.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/children-and-covid-19-state-level-data-report/\">data is available\u003c/a>, fewer than 2% of all pediatric COVID-19 cases required hospitalization and fewer than 0.03% are fatal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet, as schools open and more students test positive, parents and teachers find themselves trying to weigh the risks. Mental health experts learned the lockdown was hard on all of us, especially children — a fact underscored by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6945a3.htm\">spike in emergency room visits\u003c/a> among kids for mental health issues last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Young people experienced more depression and anxiety because of the level of isolation,” said Saun-Toy Trotter, a psychotherapist and a program manager at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland. She stresses screens cannot replace in-person interaction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label ='Related Coverage' tag='coronavirus']“One element of their well-being is being with peers, learning, stretching, struggling, growing and connecting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trotter recommends parents ask doctors and teachers lots of questions to weigh the risks. Schools can mitigate transmission through masks, vaccines and ventilation. Sometimes it’s as easy as opening both a window and a door to create a cross-breeze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before her son started middle school last week, Trotter sent a few emails to school administrators. The responses helped ease her mind. She says in-person learning is the right place for her son, at least for now. She’s watching the data closely.\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story has been updated.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were so careful,” said Alysha Johnson, a resident of Discovery Bay in Contra Costa County. “I’m a germaphobe. When this whole thing happened, we didn’t leave the house for six months.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson was crushed when her toddler, River, caught COVID-19 at a summer play group in late July.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a pretty big deal how sick he got,” said Johnson. “It wasn’t just a little sniffle.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her 2-year-old suffered a sore throat, a cough and a fever of 104 degrees. The bout lasted more than a week and sickened Johnson, her sister and her boyfriend — all of whom were vaccinated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11885701\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11885701\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50667_024_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A parent carries a baby in one hand and a baby bottle in the other. The parent is sitting on a big, brown couch in the living room of their house.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50667_024_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50667_024_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50667_024_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50667_024_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50667_024_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alysha Johnson holds her son River while giving him a bottle in the family’s home in Discovery Bay in Contra Costa County on Aug. 16, 2021. When they and their family tested positive for COVID-19, they quarantined together in the house. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It felt like a really bad sinus cold,” Johnson said. “I felt exhausted. I lost my sense of taste and smell. That was the most bizarre sensation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson is relieved she had her shots protecting her against a more severe case of COVID-19. But the fact that kids are transmitting the coronavirus to family members is unnerving many parents as children head back to school, especially as a coronavirus vaccine for kids under 12 is not yet available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the first week of school, 58 students and 10 staff members tested positive in Oakland Unified School District schools. The tallies are much higher in other parts of the country. Last week, more than 3,000 students and staff had to quarantine in\u003ca href=\"https://www.brevardschools.org/cms/lib/FL02201431/Centricity/Domain/10805/Dashboard%20-%2008.13.21%20to%2008.16.21.pdf\"> Florida’s Brevard Public Schools\u003c/a>. And in Hawaii, many schools are pulling the plug and \u003ca href=\"https://www.civilbeat.org/2021/08/facing-new-covid-cases-waianae-school-returns-to-distance-learning/\">returning to remote learning\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11885705\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11885705\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50653_010_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A parent carries their small child in their arms. Both have their bathing suits on and the child wears inflatable lifesavers as both are in the pool. Both are looking up at the sky. Behind them is a backyard and palm trees.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50653_010_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50653_010_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50653_010_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50653_010_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50653_010_DiscoveryBay_ChildrenCOVID_08162021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alysha Johnson holds her son River on Aug. 16, 2021, at their home in Discovery Bay. When River contracted COVID-19 during the summer, his body temperature rose to 104 degrees. “It was a pretty big deal how sick he got,” said Johnson. “It wasn’t just a little sniffle.” \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nationwide about 121,000 children tested positive for the virus from August 5 to 12, \u003ca href=\"https://www.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/children-and-covid-19-state-level-data-report/\">according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association\u003c/a>. That’s a 23% increase over the prior week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Time and time again we’re seeing kids return to school and then come home either after an exposure or sick themselves,” said Dr. Nicole Braxley, an emergency medicine physician at Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael. “The virus sheds for a couple of days before the patient has symptoms. Entire families are suddenly exposed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11885711\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11885711\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50638_014_Alameda_ChildrenCOVID_08172021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50638_014_Alameda_ChildrenCOVID_08172021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50638_014_Alameda_ChildrenCOVID_08172021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50638_014_Alameda_ChildrenCOVID_08172021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50638_014_Alameda_ChildrenCOVID_08172021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/RS50638_014_Alameda_ChildrenCOVID_08172021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stephanie Chenard says goodbye to her son, Desmond, before he goes into his school in Alameda on Aug. 17, 2021. In July, Desmond tested positive for COVID-19. While Desmond’s case was mild and he quickly recovered, this experience has left the family wary of possible infections at school. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>‘The longest few days of my life’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Stephanie Chenard’s 8-year-old son Desmond started third grade in Alameda this Tuesday. That evening after her son returned from his first day of classes, she received an email. The district reported \u003ca href=\"https://www.alameda.k12.ca.us/cvdashboard\">four positive COVID-19 cases\u003c/a> in four different schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s already started,” Chenard texted KQED after receiving the email, including a tearful emoji in her message.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She knows firsthand how much a mild pediatric case can upend family life. About a month ago Desmond started to lose his appetite. He quickly developed a fever. Chenard grimaced when he tested positive for COVID-19. The news devastated her son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He just burst out into tears,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family canceled a long-awaited summer trip to Lake Tahoe. Instead they quarantined at home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Chenard, a 49-year-old college administrator, started making calls. She notified her son’s summer camp. They suspended all activity. She alerted the public swimming pool. She fretted about whether to notify the organizers of a summer music festival. The hardest call was to a friend who had just had an organ transplant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The exposure felt like a moral failing,” said Chenard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fortunately Chenard’s son’s case was mild. His fever broke the same day it started.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Desmond was only sick for eight hours, but I spent 45 hours on notifications alone,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family’s quarantine also required both parents to juggle work and child care. Fortunately neither parent caught the virus. Chenard feels grateful she and her husband are vaccinated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some families are not so lucky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jace Garcia caught COVID-19 playing soccer with a friend in Sacramento earlier this month. The virus struck the 11-year-old in the middle of the night. Jace woke up vomiting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He curled up in the bathroom around the toilet. Body aches racked his slim calves, feet, chest and head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything was just squeezing that part of the body towards the bone,” said Jace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11885715\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1238px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11885715\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/ricojace1.png\" alt=\"A parent and a child take a selfie. Both are smiling and wear Oakland A's gear.\" width=\"1238\" height=\"826\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/ricojace1.png 1238w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/ricojace1-800x534.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/ricojace1-1020x681.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/08/ricojace1-160x107.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1238px) 100vw, 1238px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rico Garcia, left, and Jace Garcia attend an Oakland A’s game before the start of the pandemic. In August of this year, both father and son contracted COVID-19. “As a parent, you feel helpless,” said Garcia. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Rico Garcia)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>His fever spiked around 104 degrees. He shivered under a pile of blankets. Even playing video games did not offer relief.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every time I would click down, I would get a tingling sensation in my hand,” said Jace. He tossed the controllers aside. “I felt dizzy.”\u003cbr>\nThe only advice doctors offered was to try to stay hydrated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a parent, you feel helpless,” said Rico Garcia, Jace’s dad. “It was like the longest few days of my life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He worried he might contract the virus. Each morning he anxiously took a rapid test. He hoped his vaccine would offer protection, but on the fourth morning Rico tested positive. Within 24 hours the symptoms set in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It felt like a terrible head cold,” said Garcia. “My brain was foggy. I couldn’t think straight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Then he lost his voice. He called in sick to the radio station where he’s a DJ. Then one morning at breakfast, things got weird.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My first sip of coffee was amazing,” Garcia said. “My ninth and tenth sip tasted like hot water. In the snap of a finger my sense of taste and smell was gone. I went as far as to cut a lime open and bite into it and tasted nothing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually Garcia’s ex-wife also caught the virus from their son. A teacher, she is currently quarantining. Jace is still fighting a lingering cough and congestion. He’s also missing the first 10 days of sixth grade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Epidemiologists say \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/health-departments/breakthrough-cases.html\">breakthrough cases\u003c/a> are on the rise all around the U.S., though estimates vary widely because tallies depend on community masking, testing availability and the level of virus circulating regionally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Symptoms can be absent or so mild in the vaccinated, many dismiss this as a cold or seasonal allergies,” \u003ca href=\"https://profiles.ucsf.edu/peter.chin-hong\">Dr. Peter Chin-Hong\u003c/a>, a UCSF professor and infectious disease specialist explains in an email. “In other words, you don’t know what you don’t know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11883110/the-war-has-changed-a-cdc-document-gives-new-details-on-the-dangers-of-the-delta-variant\">internal presentation\u003c/a> from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention estimates about 35,000 people a week contract a symptomatic breakthrough infection in the U.S. In the week leading up to July 24, about 384,000 people across the country tested positive for COVID-19, which indicates about 9% of new cases were breakthrough infections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chin-Hong says this is likely an underestimate of the true total, but shouldn’t undermine the vaccines’ effectiveness in peoples’ minds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the end of the day, one can say why focus on breakthrough infections, as the vaccines are really meant to prevent people getting serious disease and dying — which they are still spectacular at,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Young people experienced more depression and anxiety because of the level of isolation … One element of their well-being is being with peers, learning, stretching, struggling, growing and connecting.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Until this summer, doctors said it was unusual for kids to pass the virus to a parent, especially someone who was vaccinated. But that’s changing as the delta variant takes hold. The new strain appears to be twice as contagious as the original.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s still rare for a child to experience a severe case or hospitalization or to die from the coronavirus. In states where \u003ca href=\"https://www.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/children-and-covid-19-state-level-data-report/\">data is available\u003c/a>, fewer than 2% of all pediatric COVID-19 cases required hospitalization and fewer than 0.03% are fatal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet, as schools open and more students test positive, parents and teachers find themselves trying to weigh the risks. Mental health experts learned the lockdown was hard on all of us, especially children — a fact underscored by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6945a3.htm\">spike in emergency room visits\u003c/a> among kids for mental health issues last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Young people experienced more depression and anxiety because of the level of isolation,” said Saun-Toy Trotter, a psychotherapist and a program manager at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland. She stresses screens cannot replace in-person interaction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“One element of their well-being is being with peers, learning, stretching, struggling, growing and connecting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trotter recommends parents ask doctors and teachers lots of questions to weigh the risks. Schools can mitigate transmission through masks, vaccines and ventilation. Sometimes it’s as easy as opening both a window and a door to create a cross-breeze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before her son started middle school last week, Trotter sent a few emails to school administrators. The responses helped ease her mind. She says in-person learning is the right place for her son, at least for now. She’s watching the data closely.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"order": 9
},
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
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},
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"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510313/podcast.xml"
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
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},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
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},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
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"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
"subscribe": {
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"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
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},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/M4f5",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Planet-Money-p164680/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Political Breakdown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"subscribe": {
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e0c2d153-ad36-4c8d-901d-f1da6a724824/political-breakdown",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/572155894/political-breakdown",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/political-breakdown",
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