Meeting Time: February 24, 2021 at 4:00pm PST
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Agenda Item

R.-1 21-0013 Decision Hearing by the Board of Education - Adopting Resolution No. 2021-0042 - Denial of Material Revision to the Current Aspire ERES Academy Petition (Request to Raise Enrollment Cap from 250 to 600, for Grades TK-8 - July 1, 2019 - June 30, 2024), pursuant to Education Code Section 47605.

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    Jason Stack about 3 years ago

    The community of ERES PUBLIC charter school has provided a family oriented, student centered, neighborhood driven education under great leadership and strong teachers for many years. Please approve this revision to allow this community to continue to thrive and serve students. A community of people should not have to fight this hard to continue to thrive and provide a high quality education to our youth. Please make this about the current kids, their well being, futures, and dreams and approve this revision to use your power to allow children and a community to thrive.

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    MH BR about 3 years ago

    Students at other schools will be hurt by the expansion of ERES. Increasing enrollment at Aspire ERES would mean decreasing enrollment in our neighborhood community schools. A drop in enrollment means a reduction in funding, which would threaten the livelihood of our schools and the existence of the special programs our schools offer our students and families. This includes supports for newcomer students, social emotional programming, and reading and math intervention. This reduction in funding may ultimately lead to school closures, as well.

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    Nicole McCormack about 3 years ago

    ERES is a high quality public school option in Oakland and deserves the opportunity to continue providing a high-quality education for scholars in Oakland. Kids deserve safe places to learn and families deserve access to high-quality school options in their communities. OUSD is accountable for serving all students and providing quality public school options in every neighborhood in Oakland. I strongly urge you to approve the material revision requested so that ERES can continue to serve the students and families of Oakland.

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    Kayne Langston about 3 years ago

    ERES pours a ton of love and support into the community that it serves! They should be allowed to expand to continue serving scholars and families. Families have grown immensely attached to ERES and its staff with a level of trust that is unmatched. Please consider keeping ERES open so that these families do not reap the consequences of a closure.

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    Victoria EdsellOzket about 3 years ago

    I support the expansion of ERES. I think closing this school will leave an hole in the community and education of hundreds of children living in Oakland. Our children deserve an excellent education. Surrounding public schools and classrooms are under serving our students. Don’t let politics block our hearts and close our mind to what is important. Our children.

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    Miguel Garcia about 3 years ago

    I support ERES - family choice always! And what's up with all the Union party line in here! Jeez! It's like every OTA bumper sticker I ever got came to life in these comment threads. Fact 1) charter schools are public schools. Fact 2) the money follows the kids. ADA funding goes where the students are enrolled - period. act 3) OUSD schools don't pay rent to OUSD, charters, leasing their schools from OUSD do - some as high as $20,000 per month (several teacher's monthly salary), so charters actually do more with less getting the same ADA. Fact 4) charter schools outperform OUSD schools in Oakland, even more so with low income students and students of color. Fact 5) Eres looks the same as its neighboring school in Fruitvale and does represent the community at large demographically. Fact 6) Charter schools produce more high school graduates than OUSD that have fulfilled A-G by almost double when looking at students of color. How can OUSD pretend that this isn't a quality option?

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    Lisa W about 3 years ago

    Oakland students DESERVE high quality schools and ERES is one. It is completely unjust to deny ERES the ability to continue serving students in the Fruitvale. Students are more important than politics. The OUSD board should start acting like it and do the right thing.

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    Lisa Delmar about 3 years ago

    The teachers, staff, and administration of Aspire ERES care deeply about and work tirelessly for the Oakland community--they deserve to not only be allowed to continue to do that but to have a facility that can support more scholars. OUSD is accountable for serving all students and providing quality public school options in every neighborhood in Oakland, including the Fruitvale community which Aspire ERES is proud to be a part of. Aspire ERES deserves to be able to continue to be a high-quality public school option for students in Oakland.

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    rachel tabar about 3 years ago

    We, the families and educators of District 5, are calling on our School Board and School District to reject the expansion of Aspire ERES Charter School by 350 students. This expansion would undoubtedly have negative long term consequences for the Fruitvale and Melrose communities, and the students, families, and educators of the 12 schools in these neighborhoods

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    Erin Cox about 3 years ago

    I appreciate the complex realities that exist in the Oakland educational systems. I support ERES as an strong choice for families. Families deserve choice. This decision should not become a charter versus ousd. Let’s instead stand together for families.

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    Victor Ponce about 3 years ago

    Until board members are willing to send their own children & extended family of school age to the WORST performing school in their districts we shouldn't hear peep from them about restricting school choice, charter or not. Our directors have NO SKIN IN THE GAME! They take away my choice as a parent, making it harder for parents to give our kids a fighting chance to make it out and have a better life than we had. OUSD needs to admit that our city schools are segregated! The darker your complexion the worse your school options are. In comes a charter school like ERES that gives those kids and opportunity that their neighborhood school doesn't and OUSD wants to close it - stand between it and our kids success. It tells families of color that even when we play the game by the rules, and give our kids the best opportunity, that big brother OUSD can take it away from us anytime. OUSD is upholding white supremacy! Stop taking away opportunities from our black/brown students!

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    Judith Mendez about 3 years ago

    Cómo madre de 2 estudiantes en el area de Fruitvale .No estoy de acuerdo en esta expansión de ERES en un area donde hay suficientes escuelas, todos los estudiantes tienen derecho a la mejor educación y para eso necesitamos la mejor administración de presupuestos en las que ya existen y no crear más desabasto y peor rendimiento para todos,gracias !!

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    Morgan Kirschbaum about 3 years ago

    Since research shows that charter schools compare on average to public schools, then there is no benefit to expanding charter schools since they undermine democratic control in a country currently struggling with democracy and take away money from public schools currently serving the highest need students.

    Please oppose charter schools. Protect democracy and protect funding for our students who need the most.

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    Mary ChaCaswell about 3 years ago

    Aspire ERES Academy is a high quality school option for our children in Oakland. ERES has a long standing track record for supporting scholars, their academic success and overall well being. ERES is committed to our families and scholars. Our families are committed to ERES. OUSD and the Board of Education is accountable for ensuring all Oakland children have access to a great education. Do not negatively impact their future. Support this material revision to enable ERES to continue to provide for our children, now and in their future. Our children and families are depending on you to do the right thing.

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    AJ Solina about 3 years ago

    It is unfortunate that the OUSD Board of Trustees and the Superintendent's staff would make a recommendation to deny the relocation of a successful school because of politics and special interests. ERES is serving students well, especially in the pandemic, ERES families are happy and the district has already authorized this school. To deny is to disgrace the very charge of this body, to ensure free,quality public education. To even suggest the request to increase enrollment is false. The original charter authorization should be the guiding factor in determining enrollment authorization and any claims of fiscal impact should also be measured based on authorized enrollment not the current enrollment. OUSD should have already budgeted and prepared for the full authorized enrollment of ERES when the school was first approved. Make this right! Put kids before Politics!

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    Maha Nusrat about 3 years ago

    As a parent and OUSD educator as well as a teacher at UFSA, one of the campuses that would be impacted by the expansions of the Aspire Eres expansion, I have to express the need for us invest in our public education system and therefore our public schools and not to expand the Aspire Eres campus. When charter schools come into our communities they divert necessary resources away from our public school campuses. We want to see strong OUSD schools across the district where students receive strong academic supports, interventions and a wide range of electives in the arts, sciences and tech fields. Expanding the Eres campus will cause other schools to suffer and many of these offerings to no longer be possible. When we are having conversations about student success and models that work, I want to push us to ask the question what do our campuses need CONSISTENTLY in order to succeed? Losing students and resources WON'T help that.

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    Aron Michalski about 3 years ago

    On behalf of the California Charter Schools Association, I strongly urge the OUSD board of directors to APPROVE the material revision requested by Aspire ERES. This charter has been a staple in the Fruitvale community for over a decade, continues to be in high demand by parents, outperforms more than 2/3 of public schools across the city all while serving over 90% socioeconomically-disadvantaged students. ERES is a Quality Community School where every student thrives and exactly the school this District should be supporting. Reject the call to make this about money, and instead vote to approve this material revision because it's the right decision for students.

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    Allison Grill about 3 years ago

    The expansion of ERES charter school would have severe consequences for the OUSD public schools in the surrounding communities. Please invest in our neighborhood schools, rather than almost doubling the enrollment of ERES charter school.

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    Joey Notaro about 3 years ago

    We, the families and educators of District 5, are calling on our School Board and School District to reject the expansion of Aspire ERES Charter School by 350 students. This expansion would undoubtedly have negative long term consequences for the Fruitvale and Melrose communities, and the students, families, and educators of the 12 schools in these neighborhoods.

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    Carrie Anderson about 3 years ago

    Please reject the expansion of Aspire ERES school. Expanding this charter school will negatively impact the public schools that surround it. We need to invest in our public schools, not charter schools. Thank you.