22-0243 Adoption by the Board of Education of Resolution No. 2122-0030 - School Consolidations for Fiscal Years 2022-23 and 2023-24.
· Presentation by the Superintendent of Schools of recommendations for School Consolidations for Fiscal Years 2022-23 and 2023-24
· Public Comments on proposed School Consolidations
· Discussion of the Board by and between Members and/or the Superintendent of Schools and/or designee(s)
· Action by Board on Resolution No. 2122-0030
The way this has been handled is an embarrassment to the entire Bay Area. Mobilizing the community to take action should have been done long before this point. This is clear and intentional racism toward our most vulnerable students. As the parent of a special education child of Native American descent, this may make the difference in his ability to continue to successfully benefit from the public school advantage of being around typical peers and force him into a pure special Ed environment simply to avoid the expected bulling that intensifies with these sorts of traumatic changes to kids and their families when schools close. It’s clear the impact to families was never considered. We need. Strong board that will represent the best interest of the children and communities and will not be inTimidated nor influenced by outside political and monetary agendas.
Directors Yee, Eng, Davis, Gonzalez & Thompson - WHO DO YOU WORK FOR? WHOM ARE YOU ANSWERING TO? CLEARLY not the Oakland communities you claim to support. How DARE you COMPLETELY IGNORE almost 2000 people at the meeting this evening OPPOSED to these racist, classist, unjust & likely illegal school closures & mergers, OVER 700 comments here OPPOSED to these school closures, HUNDREDS of pleading students, parents & community members COMPLETELY OPPOSED to these school closures? How DARE you add to the already extensive trauma the students & families at these schools are going through with the ongoing overwhelming, destabilizing realities of this pandemic & political atmosphere, structural racism & structural violence that YOU are perpetuating?
As a current OUSD parent & D1 resident, I am ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED by your votes to close these beloved schools serving majority Black & Brown families & communities. How dare you claim to support RBSR WHILE DESTROYING their lives & livelihood?
I am against the closure schools which are serving majority black and brown students. I am a product of Oakland publics schools two of which are on the list to be closed, Prescott elementary and Westlake middle school. I am also a parent of an OUSD student and worked with OUSD students for over 16 years. The closure of these schools will negatively affect thousands of families and OUSD as a whole. You are not taking into considerations those affects, you are not seeing our children as humans but pieces on a board game. Do the necessary research and studies needed to make a unjust equitable decision. This is not just or equitable. Stop insulting us.
I am writing to voice my opposition to the plan to close yet more majority Black schools. The decision-making process does not appear to have been inclusive or democratic, and the impacts are likely to be harmful to Black students and families. Please revisit the current plan and find a more equitable option that better supports the Black community’s needs and wants. Thank you, Jonathan
As a mental health consultant working in some of the schools slated for closure, I want to say that you can't throw "extra mental health support" at "Welcoming Schools" and undue the trauma and harm that comes from closing a student's school. It doesn't make it right. I see what it means for families to have middle school and elementary school siblings in the same school at La Escuelita. Taking that away without proper process and public involvement is so unethical. The community will never forget what you are doing.
I am one of many supporters of the Reparations for Black Students Resolution and am opposed to OUSD’s attempt to balance the budget on the backs of our Black students. This board has failed to engage the community tonight's decision will impact nor has the board conducted a necessary equity impact analysis. There are other ways to handle a budget crisis and OUSD’s own history of school closures is a clear indicator that closing schools will not produce the desired district savings. Hands off our schools!
Everyone one in this meeting tonight was either on their phone, picking their nose, or talking over someone else. Yee, Eng, and Davis. Say goodbye to your jobs. Because you’re treating this as a JOB and not a DUTY to these students. The three of you are deplorable. I’ll be sure to send this recording to the ACLU for comments. I’m sure they’d love to see how pathetic our alleged “community legislators” are.
How shameful that during a pandemic, we’re once again forcing vulnerable communities to sacrifice. We should be funding our schools, not closing them. This is a racial justice issue as well. There is no fiscal benefit to closing these schools, while there are real harms to closing them. If these schools got the actual support they deserve and Black and Brown students’ lives were a priority, we wouldn’t be in this position. Please stop this further gentrification, redlining, and segregation of Oakland. Thank you.
Listen to your community - NO to school closures! NO to ripping apart communities! NO to putting this burden once again on the backs of black and brown students and families. NO!!!
I submit this brief comment to ensure the board knows that there is community and staff support to close schools and give OUSD a real opportunity to build quality schools for all students. Stop listening to the sensational politicized commentary from Mike and Williams and the communities they lie to claiming there’s universal opposition. The fact that Mike celebrates himself for being elected on a platform that he won’t close schools. No school board member should uphold any platform with no regard for what’s in the best interest of the community. Mike is violating his fiduciary duty as a board member and he will destroy the district and fail the community he pretends to protect if he continues as he has.
Please keep these schools open. Kids are already traumatized from online learning and the social emotional setbacks it has brought.
You know you can do better. Please make good choices. Drop the buzzwords, fire those consultants, lose some weight at the top.
My kids' school, Kaiser Elementary, was closed in 2020 because the school board claimed it was too expensive to keep open. Never have I seen the board disclose the budgetary impact of that closure (or of other school closures over the years), and never have I seen data about how many students simply leave OUSD for charters, private schools, or other districts when their schools close. Why doesn't the board feel obligated to be transparent? For 3 hours tonight, students and parents and teachers told you loud and clear why you shouldn't close their schools just to pay for OUSD's longtime financial mismanagment. I realize you all know your positions and no public comments could have affected your votes. But how can you disregard everything that's happened in the last two weeks--comments, emails, strikes, walkouts, hunger strikes--without feeling obligated to produce basic evidence that these closures are necessary and will do what you claim? It's a shameful way to treat Oakland families.
I understand all of the problems OUSD is up against, and am against the board’s solution of school closures. There’s a lot to say about how rushed this feels from the outside (even if the board says it’s been in the works for months), or the lack of definition around what “better” looks like for communities that’ll be losing their schools because of this. But the thing that gets me more than anything is just the timing of this from a students point of view - they’re coming off of everything that’s happened in 2020-2022, have to deal with the uncertainty of omicron, and, just as things seem to be coming down, now this. I believe the postponement Mr Williams and Hutchinson were in favor of was reasonable, and it’s a shame other board members did not agree.
I am an Oakland native and I have been a teacher at I.C.S. for 11 years. I am opposed to closing schools. Although you did not create the current challenges in the district, you do have the power to make real change instead of reinforcing the systemic racism and classism that plagues the district. District staff have repeatedly stated that a primary reason for closing schools is to raise teacher salaries in order to recruit and retain teachers. This not only seems to be an effort to pit teachers against families, it also does not acknowledge the real challenge the district has in retaining quality teachers. The district's tactics of perpetual instability exemplified in this school closure proposal are the primary impediment to retaining high quality teachers. Please stop saying that you are closing schools to retain teachers.
I gravely oppose school closure. Closing schools is harmful to the students, teachers, and parents who are served by the closed school. These people did not cause the problems that are now supposed to be the reason for closing their schools. How dare you make the students of the selected schools, the majority of whom are BIPOC, bear all the pain that is the result of the district’s poor planning? Haven’t students and teachers been challenged enough through two years of turmoil due to the covid pandemic which isn’t even over yet?
If the problem stems from low enrollment, what are you doing to keep and/or attract students? Do you think closing schools will help? Not likely. If there is a shortfall of money, the pain should be shared! Go back to the drawing board, vow transparency, be open to all possibilities, and bring in all stake holders, including the business community, and allow those most impacted to make recommendations.
No school closures for Black & Brown students!
Kids need schools, keep them open !
The way this has been handled is an embarrassment to the entire Bay Area. Mobilizing the community to take action should have been done long before this point. This is clear and intentional racism toward our most vulnerable students. As the parent of a special education child of Native American descent, this may make the difference in his ability to continue to successfully benefit from the public school advantage of being around typical peers and force him into a pure special Ed environment simply to avoid the expected bulling that intensifies with these sorts of traumatic changes to kids and their families when schools close. It’s clear the impact to families was never considered. We need. Strong board that will represent the best interest of the children and communities and will not be inTimidated nor influenced by outside political and monetary agendas.
OUSD needs to keep majority Black schools open and to honor the Reparations for Black Students resolution that OUSD approved last year
Directors Yee, Eng, Davis, Gonzalez & Thompson - WHO DO YOU WORK FOR? WHOM ARE YOU ANSWERING TO? CLEARLY not the Oakland communities you claim to support. How DARE you COMPLETELY IGNORE almost 2000 people at the meeting this evening OPPOSED to these racist, classist, unjust & likely illegal school closures & mergers, OVER 700 comments here OPPOSED to these school closures, HUNDREDS of pleading students, parents & community members COMPLETELY OPPOSED to these school closures? How DARE you add to the already extensive trauma the students & families at these schools are going through with the ongoing overwhelming, destabilizing realities of this pandemic & political atmosphere, structural racism & structural violence that YOU are perpetuating?
As a current OUSD parent & D1 resident, I am ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED by your votes to close these beloved schools serving majority Black & Brown families & communities. How dare you claim to support RBSR WHILE DESTROYING their lives & livelihood?
Where is the adjournment. Disgusting. Yee needs a refresher on parli pro
I am against the closure schools which are serving majority black and brown students. I am a product of Oakland publics schools two of which are on the list to be closed, Prescott elementary and Westlake middle school. I am also a parent of an OUSD student and worked with OUSD students for over 16 years. The closure of these schools will negatively affect thousands of families and OUSD as a whole. You are not taking into considerations those affects, you are not seeing our children as humans but pieces on a board game. Do the necessary research and studies needed to make a unjust equitable decision. This is not just or equitable. Stop insulting us.
I am writing to voice my opposition to the plan to close yet more majority Black schools. The decision-making process does not appear to have been inclusive or democratic, and the impacts are likely to be harmful to Black students and families. Please revisit the current plan and find a more equitable option that better supports the Black community’s needs and wants. Thank you, Jonathan
As a mental health consultant working in some of the schools slated for closure, I want to say that you can't throw "extra mental health support" at "Welcoming Schools" and undue the trauma and harm that comes from closing a student's school. It doesn't make it right. I see what it means for families to have middle school and elementary school siblings in the same school at La Escuelita. Taking that away without proper process and public involvement is so unethical. The community will never forget what you are doing.
I am one of many supporters of the Reparations for Black Students Resolution and am opposed to OUSD’s attempt to balance the budget on the backs of our Black students. This board has failed to engage the community tonight's decision will impact nor has the board conducted a necessary equity impact analysis. There are other ways to handle a budget crisis and OUSD’s own history of school closures is a clear indicator that closing schools will not produce the desired district savings. Hands off our schools!
Everyone one in this meeting tonight was either on their phone, picking their nose, or talking over someone else. Yee, Eng, and Davis. Say goodbye to your jobs. Because you’re treating this as a JOB and not a DUTY to these students. The three of you are deplorable. I’ll be sure to send this recording to the ACLU for comments. I’m sure they’d love to see how pathetic our alleged “community legislators” are.
How shameful that during a pandemic, we’re once again forcing vulnerable communities to sacrifice. We should be funding our schools, not closing them. This is a racial justice issue as well. There is no fiscal benefit to closing these schools, while there are real harms to closing them. If these schools got the actual support they deserve and Black and Brown students’ lives were a priority, we wouldn’t be in this position. Please stop this further gentrification, redlining, and segregation of Oakland. Thank you.
Listen to your community - NO to school closures! NO to ripping apart communities! NO to putting this burden once again on the backs of black and brown students and families. NO!!!
Shame
I submit this brief comment to ensure the board knows that there is community and staff support to close schools and give OUSD a real opportunity to build quality schools for all students. Stop listening to the sensational politicized commentary from Mike and Williams and the communities they lie to claiming there’s universal opposition. The fact that Mike celebrates himself for being elected on a platform that he won’t close schools. No school board member should uphold any platform with no regard for what’s in the best interest of the community. Mike is violating his fiduciary duty as a board member and he will destroy the district and fail the community he pretends to protect if he continues as he has.
Please keep these schools open. Kids are already traumatized from online learning and the social emotional setbacks it has brought.
You know you can do better. Please make good choices. Drop the buzzwords, fire those consultants, lose some weight at the top.
My kids' school, Kaiser Elementary, was closed in 2020 because the school board claimed it was too expensive to keep open. Never have I seen the board disclose the budgetary impact of that closure (or of other school closures over the years), and never have I seen data about how many students simply leave OUSD for charters, private schools, or other districts when their schools close. Why doesn't the board feel obligated to be transparent? For 3 hours tonight, students and parents and teachers told you loud and clear why you shouldn't close their schools just to pay for OUSD's longtime financial mismanagment. I realize you all know your positions and no public comments could have affected your votes. But how can you disregard everything that's happened in the last two weeks--comments, emails, strikes, walkouts, hunger strikes--without feeling obligated to produce basic evidence that these closures are necessary and will do what you claim? It's a shameful way to treat Oakland families.
I understand all of the problems OUSD is up against, and am against the board’s solution of school closures. There’s a lot to say about how rushed this feels from the outside (even if the board says it’s been in the works for months), or the lack of definition around what “better” looks like for communities that’ll be losing their schools because of this. But the thing that gets me more than anything is just the timing of this from a students point of view - they’re coming off of everything that’s happened in 2020-2022, have to deal with the uncertainty of omicron, and, just as things seem to be coming down, now this. I believe the postponement Mr Williams and Hutchinson were in favor of was reasonable, and it’s a shame other board members did not agree.
I am an Oakland native and I have been a teacher at I.C.S. for 11 years. I am opposed to closing schools. Although you did not create the current challenges in the district, you do have the power to make real change instead of reinforcing the systemic racism and classism that plagues the district. District staff have repeatedly stated that a primary reason for closing schools is to raise teacher salaries in order to recruit and retain teachers. This not only seems to be an effort to pit teachers against families, it also does not acknowledge the real challenge the district has in retaining quality teachers. The district's tactics of perpetual instability exemplified in this school closure proposal are the primary impediment to retaining high quality teachers. Please stop saying that you are closing schools to retain teachers.
I gravely oppose school closure. Closing schools is harmful to the students, teachers, and parents who are served by the closed school. These people did not cause the problems that are now supposed to be the reason for closing their schools. How dare you make the students of the selected schools, the majority of whom are BIPOC, bear all the pain that is the result of the district’s poor planning? Haven’t students and teachers been challenged enough through two years of turmoil due to the covid pandemic which isn’t even over yet?
If the problem stems from low enrollment, what are you doing to keep and/or attract students? Do you think closing schools will help? Not likely. If there is a shortfall of money, the pain should be shared! Go back to the drawing board, vow transparency, be open to all possibilities, and bring in all stake holders, including the business community, and allow those most impacted to make recommendations.