OUSD has a long history of school closures, and opponents argue theyve disproportionately targeted Black and brown students. Grass Valley Elementary. The reporters and editors on The Oaklandside are dedicated to sharing the mic, reporting on systems, not symptoms, and providing you with the information you need to be an informed resident of our city. The district didnt officially notify families whose schools could be closed or merged until last week. Carl B. Munck Elementary. Its an ongoing crisis and thats the fiscal crisis that we face, said District 1 Director Davis. Since Oakland Unified is still under state receivership, the state trustee can overturn the board's vote to rescind school closures. It feels like comfort. It vows to stay in Florida, Exclusive: Kroger and Albertsons CEOs give details on controversial $25 billion merger, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. According to Boardmember Mike Hutchinson, the following schools are being targeted for closure this year: Prescott, Brookfield Village Elementary, Carl B. Munck Elementary, Parker K-8, Grass Valley Elementary, La Escuelita Elementary, Westlake Middle, Ralph J. Bunche Academy, Rudsdale, Community Day, Hillcrest Elementary, and Street Academy High. If not, its very, very damaging for them, Pezold said, his voice breaking with emotion. With the resolution, parents wanted the district to use a grant to keep Parker Elementary, Community Day School and the upper grades of La Escuelita open. While the school was closed last month, a group of parents and community activists staged a sit-in at the school, which is still going on. The schools that remain open are Brookfield Elementary, Carl B. Munck Elementary, Grass Valley Elementary, Horace Mann Elementary, and Korematsu Discovery Academy, and Hillcrest K-8, will maintain its middle school. Director Clifford Thompson abstained, and the two student directors Samantha Pal and Natalie Gallegos, whose votes are symbolic, were also against the closures and consolidations. "These kids were out of school for a year and a half due to the pandemic. Mallory Moench is a San Francisco City Hall reporter. Facing massive opposition from these school communities, last night a majority of the board scaled back the closure and merger plans. According to the district, students whose schools are closing or who will be left out of those being converted to elementary schools will be eligible for opportunity tickets. With those tickets, theyll be given priority to attend the schools of their choice after students with siblings already enrolled get in first. All Access Digital offer for just 99 cents! There has not been due diligence to understand the fiscal impacts of past and current closures.. District and state education officials, along with some school board members, have said the move is necessary to right-size the budget after years of shifting money around and tapping one-time funds to reduce deficits. Carl Pezold speaks of the need of his special needs son, Max, 8, as teacher Sheila Deputy holds him at Prescott Elementary on Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022, in Oakland, Calif. Oakland students, families, and activists gathered at the school to voice against the closure of OUSD schools. If you value what you get from The Oaklandside, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can continue doing the local reporting that matters to you. She knows she's a long-shot, but says her activism and involvement with OUSD has just begun. At the very beginning of the board meeting, District 5 Director Hutchinson made a motion to postpone a vote on school closures until January 2023, so that the public would have a chance to vote in the November school board election and reveal whether or not there is support for the directors who are in favor of closures and mergers. They were joined by students and teachers from La Escuelita. Can the city of Oakland do anything to prevent the school closures? The district's chief business officer, Lisa Grant-Dawson, said in December Oakland Unified has to be disciplined with its spending to stay healthy. The proposed plan would close Brookfield Elementary, Carl B. Munck Elementary, Community Day School, Grass Valley Elementary, Prescott Elementary, and Parker K-8, this year. Were journalists for Oakland. La . She previously covered immigration and local news for the Albany Times Union and the Alabama state legislature for the Associated Press. The rallies started at 8 a.m. and took place at . Sign up for NBC Bay Areas Housing Deconstructed newsletter. Bye bird, hello X: Crews start to remove Twitter sign at company's SF headquarters. Officials and a third-party group of accountants previously said the district is projected to reach deficits of $12.3 million in 2022-23 and $7.1 million by the 2023-24 fiscal year. Her son, Jordan, attends transitional kindergarten at Carl B. Munck Elementary, which was set to close in June. McCluskey, G., Fry, D., Hamilton, S., King, A., Laurie, M., McAra, L., & Stewart, T. M. (2021). Average progress with low test scores means students are starting at a low point but are progressing at about the same rate as their peers at other schools in the state. Ashley McBride writes about education equity for The Oaklandside. Some saw this move as an underhanded way to justify closing schools that enroll higher rates of Black students. . The district has recommended the following school closures: Brookfield Elementary (by 2023) Carl Munck Elementary (by 2023) Grass Valley Elementary (by 2023) Horace Mann Elementary (by 2024) Opponents also noted that the closures will disproportionately impact Black and brown students, and they questioned why OUSD did not give the community more time to deliberate. In my opinion, this process is 20 years overdue. The Oaklandside relies on reader support to remain free for everyone in our community. These families should never have to beg for you all to care about them the way you all promised you would. Anger and tensions flared during a special meeting of the Oakland school board Monday in which district officials presented a plan to close and merge more than a dozen schools, prompting some. The new board with a progressive majority voted on Wednesday in a special meeting to rescind the closures. The agenda and Zoom link for the 6 p.m. meeting is here. In a separate issue, the OUSD board will announce the appointment of a new director at a public zoom meeting this afternoon. San Jose Unified also has 41 schools serving about 30,000 students. Davis, who represents District 1, said he felt compelled to take Prescott off the list of closures because there isnt enough space for students at Martin Luther King Jr. Around the year 2000, the board started to approve charter schools and they had no plan for how they were going to reconcile the impact that that was going to have on the districts enrollment and the districts financial health. Where will the teachers of closed schools go? OAKLAND -- The Oakland Unified School District announced on Friday it is officially notifying parents and students that five schools previously slated for closure at the end of the year will now stay open. Before joining The Oaklandside in 2020, Ashley was a reporter for the San Antonio Express-News and the San Francisco Chronicle as a Hearst Journalism Fellow, and has held positions at the Poynter Institute and the Palm Beach Post. Page Navigation. In 2019, Roots International Academy was closed, and in 2020 Kaiser Elementary School was closed and merged with Sankofa Academy. La Escuelita, which currently serves kindergarten to 8th grade, will become an elementary school this year, and Hillcrest K-8 will become an elementary school next year, both changes that were part of the original plan. Hillcrest K-8 will also become an elementary school, after the 2022-23 academic year. Dear Abby: I'm leaving, and I don't want to hear their phony farewells, Ask Amy: My boyfriend's 'business' brings scary people to our house, Ask Amy: I said something I shouldn't have, and now the cousins are feuding, Five hikes to catch the last of the Bay Area's glorious winter waterfalls. The reporters and editors on The Oaklandside are dedicated to sharing the mic, reporting on systems, not symptoms, and providing you with the information you need to be an informed resident of our city. The Oaklandside relies on reader support to remain free for everyone in our community. 5/10. Elementary, which would have been one of two remaining OUSD elementary schools in West Oakland. All Access Digital offer for just 99 cents! A regular visit with your doctor is quickly becoming a thing of the past, How CU Buffs football coach Deion Sanders is changing Boulder, one menu at a time: The guy is unapologetically himself., State Farm Florida is now the states second-largest home insurer. We rely on our local leaders to make decisions for the community, said an official in the governors office who refused to be identified by name. Built-in software death dates are sending thousands of schools Chromebooks to the recycling bin, Paradise superintendent says construction helps show towns rebound, Willow Glen Highs Class of 1953 holds 70thand lastreunion, VP Harris: Florida rules on Black history pushed by Gov. More recently, OUSDs financial outlook has been more stable. (Beth LaBerge/KQED) In a vote late Wednesday night, Oakland's school board scrapped a previously approved plan to close or merge multiple schools in the district. Malaga the Beautiful, as the city is known, stands at the centre of the basin of the same name, between the mountains, the River Guadalhorce and the coastal strip which leads to the Axarquia region. Oakland school closures, mergers, and expansions: heres how OUSD will decide, School closures and mergers show mixed results for Oakland Unified, Oakland school board votes to close seven schools over the next two years, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. And so, this is why we are able to move forward in these sorts of ways," said Hutchinson. Bay Area mother creates line of Asian-American dolls, Antioch police warn residents as 22 cars are reported stolen over the weekend, Electric scooter rider hit and killed in San Jose, Questions remain as crews clean up mess left by bizarre crash near Dolores Park. The school board is set to meet with the trustee next week. Email: . Oakland Unified school board votes to close,, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Oakland Unified school board votes to close, merge or shrink 11 schools in the next two years. In 2012, OUSD closed four elementary schools. How are you going to accommodate our families who are living under multiple stresses? The state has made about $10 million available to Oakland Unified on the condition it closes schools and submits an audit and financial plan. Oakland Diocese considers gender identity policy| Oakland mayor salary raise | Where to watch the Womens World Cup. I really look forward to working with my board colleagues to create a new culture in our city, to turn the corner on whats happening over the last 20 years, and most importantly, for us to be able to leave [state] receivership this year and finally regain full local control of our school district, Hutchinson said. Education | Study: Wealthy kids are more likely to attend elite schools, Built-in software death dates are sending thousands of schools Chromebooks to the recycling bin, Report shows widening gap between Latino and White students who graduate college, Short film competition explores Power of Community in Cupertino, Ask Amy: The bride's wedding plan violates my personal standards. Five schools that were slated for closure this year will remain open, after the newly formed OUSD board voted to change course. Next year, the district plans to close Carl Munck Elementary, Brookfield Elementary, Grass Valley Elementary, Horace Mann Elementary, and Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy. RISE Community School and New Highland Academy will merge for the start of the 2022-23 school year. Carl B. Munck Elementary School; Denise J. Burroughs; Meet Our Principal. You're in luck. They are protesting the plan as anti-Black since it affects mostly schools of color with low enrollment. Hours before Tuesdays meeting, directors Davis and Eng released their revisions that would take several schools off the closure or merger list. None of you have had to comfort crying families who are ripped away from their home, said Hutchinson, who has campaigned against school closures for years. First published on January 13, 2023 / 8:01 PM. We do have to acknowledge that our students deserve better, that they do deserve more resources at their schools. According to the union, the district has closed 16 majority-Black schools in the past 15 years. Her work covers Oaklands public district and charter schools.