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
I know it's tough but closing schools is not the answer! Especially when your proposal is to close majority Black and Brown school. That is absolutely unacceptable.
I am an OUSD educator as well as an OUSD parent. This process, or lack thereof, is totally unacceptable. Closing down even ONE majority Black school without a THOROUGH EQUITY AUDIT is unconscionable.
As an administrator in an Oakland-based after school enrichment program for school-aged youth, I oppose the school closures and consolidations on the grounds that this legislation disproportionately removes resources from Oakland zip codes most impacted by over-policing, economic discrimination, geographic discrimination, and overall opportunities for youth in majority Black & Brown communities. The constituencies within these zipcodes must be targeted for an increase in capital, direct services, and other material forms of assistance, not the removal of them. This proposed consolidation will undermine the work of other city services and agencies, like the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth, which works to pair organizations with OUSD schools for direct services, and would have sweeping, large scale, racist impacts on millions of dollars spent on funding those programs for OUSD schools and zipcodes.
If you were the board members you said you would be when we voted and campaigned for you, this wouldn't have been an issue. What a disappointment. Listen to your city, your people, your constituents and vote against school closures.
I am a resident of D2 and have taught at Alliance Academy / Elmhurst United Middle School in D7 for the past 5 years. I have gone through a school merger and been a welcoming teacher for Roots students. That lived experience has led me to oppose school closures. You have not engaged with the community. You are disproportionately affecting black students while claiming to support them. This is wrong, plain and simple. Do not close these schools.
Issues of race and equity determine that the Oakland schools should not be closed or merged and should continue to serve their communities. Fiscal mismanagement at the very top should not be paid on the backs of students, parents and teachers. The previous financial report was biased to make the proposal seem legitimate. This alone is enough to withdraw the entire proposal and to reimagine how savings can be made without impacting the lives of our beloved Oakland community.
As an educator working at a Bay Area nonprofit I am one of the many supporters of the Reparations for Black Students Resolution and I oppose OUSD's attempt to balance the budget at the expense of Blank students' wellbeing and education. There are other ways to handle a budget crisis without further damaging student mental health during an already tumultuous time. OUSD’s own history of school closures is a clear indicator that closing schools will not produce the desired district savings. I urge the board to consider paths forward that actually center Black students and not breach their commitment to the Reparations for Black Students Resolution passed in March 2021. Our students deserve stability and it's the board's job to support them.
I strongly oppose the proposed school closures. These closures, which will monumentally impact the lives of thousands of Oakland families, are being done in haste, based on sloppy, incomplete data, and questionable attrition assumptions. The proposed amendment introduced at the 11th hour to "save" some, but not all, schools feels even more random and rushed. How did you choose these schools to save versus the others? What is the methodology and rationale? More time is needed to sort through these questions. We cannot risk traumatizing and displacing so many Oakland children without vetted, thoughtful and clear reasoning. You can't make up for decades of financial mismanagement on the backs of Oakland kids. We need our neighborhood schools!!
The proposed school closures will primarily affect Black and Brown students, disrupting communities, forcing kids to lose friendships, relationships with a familiar setting that could be a source of safety. As an Oakland resident I urge you to immediately stop this plan and find ways to access the resources necessary to maintain the stability that our children need.
It is not OK that you guys are suggesting to close down schools at all especially during the pandemic. Not only is it bad enough that our teachers are not getting paid as much as they should but all of our administrators are getting paid quite a hefty dollar. I oppose of this decision I even oppose of the thinking that this decision was even an option which should be an option is lowering the pay of administrators especially principals vice principals receptions they're getting paid way more than most teachers are. Not to mention this all comes just after we had to go on strike for you guys to raise the payments for our teachers! This is simply just not okay our kids are most important here! Making this decision is making it harder for parents especially single parents like me to get my child to school if you care about attendence so much this disrupts it
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!
If you want to redesign the school system, then you should close ALL the schools and redesign the WHOLE thing. I am a parent at Melrose and we have been growing but I believe that all schools need the attention and support of a good school, so let's all participate and redo ALL the schools. Reduce the number of schools and build good local schools and make everyone do to their local school.
Me and a few other Oakland Tech students strongly oppose these school closures. WE, the community, are ready to help you all find alternatives to our budget problem that don't include closing schools. We have 827 signatures from Oakland Tech students urging you to vote no. Please choose your community. Don't solve the money problem by making students of color suffer.
I'm an Oakland resident and OUSD parent, and I oppose the rushed and inequitable school closures in our district. OUSD’s plan to close or merge up to 18 almost exclusively low-income Black and Brown schools with no community engagement violates OUSD’s own Equity, Community Engagement and Reparations for Black Students policies and disproportionately harms Black and Brown communities. Our students need your leadership to eradicate, not reinforce, systemic injustices. No cuts, no closures.
It is cruel and morally reprehensible to close schools that serve primarily Black and Latine students in underserved, over-policed neighborhoods and ask children to bare the burden of the state’s poor planing. Since when were schools expected to be profitable instead of a public good to serve the people ? How can this decision be made in good faith when there is no proof previous closures have actually saved the district money? It’s time to INVEST in students, teachers, and resources to make the schools stronger, not tear them apart.
I am a teaching artist in OUSD and I strongly oppose these racist proposed school closures and disinvestment in Oakland public schools. Smaller class sizes and smaller schools benefit student learning, and closing schools negatively impacts student and community mental health. The fact that Black and brown students would disproportionately bear the burden of those impacts from these proposed closures is white supremacy. The state of California has billions in surplus, and the school board needs to seek that surplus money to close their budget gap. I commend Carroll Fife, Sheng Thai, & Nikki Fortunato Bas for backing this plan as well. No racist school closures; yes to reparations for Black students. My students deserve smaller class sizes so they can get the tailored attention that wealthier families are able to buy for their children through private schools.
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!
Considering closures or consolidations in the midst of the pandemic is the worse possible time to introduce this kind of disruption. It is clear that the board has spent no time in the barely 2 weeks since this announcement, trying to engage the communities that will be most impacted. It is also clear that the board has not completed any equity impact analysis (or doesn't care what that impact will be) since the majority of schools on the proposed list serve mostly black and brown students. Given that any money saved - if there is any - is barely a drop in the bucket compared to OUSDs overall budget, and given that there has yet to be any financial analysis completed about the impact of prior school closings - this effort seems to be a ill conceived and cowardly move by the board. It is grasping for pennies instead of fighting for our children.
I know it's tough but closing schools is not the answer! Especially when your proposal is to close majority Black and Brown school. That is absolutely unacceptable.
I am an OUSD educator as well as an OUSD parent. This process, or lack thereof, is totally unacceptable. Closing down even ONE majority Black school without a THOROUGH EQUITY AUDIT is unconscionable.
As an administrator in an Oakland-based after school enrichment program for school-aged youth, I oppose the school closures and consolidations on the grounds that this legislation disproportionately removes resources from Oakland zip codes most impacted by over-policing, economic discrimination, geographic discrimination, and overall opportunities for youth in majority Black & Brown communities. The constituencies within these zipcodes must be targeted for an increase in capital, direct services, and other material forms of assistance, not the removal of them. This proposed consolidation will undermine the work of other city services and agencies, like the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth, which works to pair organizations with OUSD schools for direct services, and would have sweeping, large scale, racist impacts on millions of dollars spent on funding those programs for OUSD schools and zipcodes.
If you were the board members you said you would be when we voted and campaigned for you, this wouldn't have been an issue. What a disappointment. Listen to your city, your people, your constituents and vote against school closures.
I am a resident of D2 and have taught at Alliance Academy / Elmhurst United Middle School in D7 for the past 5 years. I have gone through a school merger and been a welcoming teacher for Roots students. That lived experience has led me to oppose school closures. You have not engaged with the community. You are disproportionately affecting black students while claiming to support them. This is wrong, plain and simple. Do not close these schools.
Issues of race and equity determine that the Oakland schools should not be closed or merged and should continue to serve their communities. Fiscal mismanagement at the very top should not be paid on the backs of students, parents and teachers. The previous financial report was biased to make the proposal seem legitimate. This alone is enough to withdraw the entire proposal and to reimagine how savings can be made without impacting the lives of our beloved Oakland community.
As an educator working at a Bay Area nonprofit I am one of the many supporters of the Reparations for Black Students Resolution and I oppose OUSD's attempt to balance the budget at the expense of Blank students' wellbeing and education. There are other ways to handle a budget crisis without further damaging student mental health during an already tumultuous time. OUSD’s own history of school closures is a clear indicator that closing schools will not produce the desired district savings. I urge the board to consider paths forward that actually center Black students and not breach their commitment to the Reparations for Black Students Resolution passed in March 2021. Our students deserve stability and it's the board's job to support them.
I strongly oppose the proposed school closures. These closures, which will monumentally impact the lives of thousands of Oakland families, are being done in haste, based on sloppy, incomplete data, and questionable attrition assumptions. The proposed amendment introduced at the 11th hour to "save" some, but not all, schools feels even more random and rushed. How did you choose these schools to save versus the others? What is the methodology and rationale? More time is needed to sort through these questions. We cannot risk traumatizing and displacing so many Oakland children without vetted, thoughtful and clear reasoning. You can't make up for decades of financial mismanagement on the backs of Oakland kids. We need our neighborhood schools!!
The proposed school closures will primarily affect Black and Brown students, disrupting communities, forcing kids to lose friendships, relationships with a familiar setting that could be a source of safety. As an Oakland resident I urge you to immediately stop this plan and find ways to access the resources necessary to maintain the stability that our children need.
It is not OK that you guys are suggesting to close down schools at all especially during the pandemic. Not only is it bad enough that our teachers are not getting paid as much as they should but all of our administrators are getting paid quite a hefty dollar. I oppose of this decision I even oppose of the thinking that this decision was even an option which should be an option is lowering the pay of administrators especially principals vice principals receptions they're getting paid way more than most teachers are. Not to mention this all comes just after we had to go on strike for you guys to raise the payments for our teachers! This is simply just not okay our kids are most important here! Making this decision is making it harder for parents especially single parents like me to get my child to school if you care about attendence so much this disrupts it
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!
If you want to redesign the school system, then you should close ALL the schools and redesign the WHOLE thing. I am a parent at Melrose and we have been growing but I believe that all schools need the attention and support of a good school, so let's all participate and redo ALL the schools. Reduce the number of schools and build good local schools and make everyone do to their local school.
Me and a few other Oakland Tech students strongly oppose these school closures. WE, the community, are ready to help you all find alternatives to our budget problem that don't include closing schools. We have 827 signatures from Oakland Tech students urging you to vote no. Please choose your community. Don't solve the money problem by making students of color suffer.
Do not close any schools!!!
Short but sweet: Don't close these schools!
I'm an Oakland resident and OUSD parent, and I oppose the rushed and inequitable school closures in our district. OUSD’s plan to close or merge up to 18 almost exclusively low-income Black and Brown schools with no community engagement violates OUSD’s own Equity, Community Engagement and Reparations for Black Students policies and disproportionately harms Black and Brown communities. Our students need your leadership to eradicate, not reinforce, systemic injustices. No cuts, no closures.
It is cruel and morally reprehensible to close schools that serve primarily Black and Latine students in underserved, over-policed neighborhoods and ask children to bare the burden of the state’s poor planing. Since when were schools expected to be profitable instead of a public good to serve the people ? How can this decision be made in good faith when there is no proof previous closures have actually saved the district money? It’s time to INVEST in students, teachers, and resources to make the schools stronger, not tear them apart.
I am a teaching artist in OUSD and I strongly oppose these racist proposed school closures and disinvestment in Oakland public schools. Smaller class sizes and smaller schools benefit student learning, and closing schools negatively impacts student and community mental health. The fact that Black and brown students would disproportionately bear the burden of those impacts from these proposed closures is white supremacy. The state of California has billions in surplus, and the school board needs to seek that surplus money to close their budget gap. I commend Carroll Fife, Sheng Thai, & Nikki Fortunato Bas for backing this plan as well. No racist school closures; yes to reparations for Black students. My students deserve smaller class sizes so they can get the tailored attention that wealthier families are able to buy for their children through private schools.
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!
Considering closures or consolidations in the midst of the pandemic is the worse possible time to introduce this kind of disruption. It is clear that the board has spent no time in the barely 2 weeks since this announcement, trying to engage the communities that will be most impacted. It is also clear that the board has not completed any equity impact analysis (or doesn't care what that impact will be) since the majority of schools on the proposed list serve mostly black and brown students. Given that any money saved - if there is any - is barely a drop in the bucket compared to OUSDs overall budget, and given that there has yet to be any financial analysis completed about the impact of prior school closings - this effort seems to be a ill conceived and cowardly move by the board. It is grasping for pennies instead of fighting for our children.