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 am the parent of Prescott and West Oakland Middle School students. All OUSD students deserve their neighborhood schools, yet you repeatedly sell out schools serving majority black/brown students to balance your budget. It is appalling and racist. Where is the equity analysis? How does the closure of so many majority black schools = black reparations? Why have a Black Reparations Task Force only to ignore their recommendations? Why establish an Enrollment Committee only to ignore their work? That OUSD leadership and board would even consider putting forth such an inequitable closure hit list is beyond disappointing because you know it's unfair and rushed and against your own policies for equity. You know it's wrong and yet you do it anyway. Shame on OUSD. Have the courage to stand up for the kids who need you most. Take the time to create the school district of the future - with innovation and imagination we can do anything. Let's work together with state and county for a better OUSD!
I am a proud Special Education teacher at Grass Valley and an OUSD educator since 1999. To take our special education population (FIVE classes!) and tear them away from their nurturing and safe environment is criminal. At Grass Valley, we are a family. Each child in my class is known, by name, by the other teachers and staff in the school. They are part of the lifeblood of the school . . . not an afterthought thrown into a portable or in some distant hallway where they are seen as a separate category of student. Parents feel good about sending their children to our school because they know that they are safe and loved. How dare the idea of closure even cross your minds when students are just returning to, or some for some of the younger kiddos just starting, their lives as an in-person student. We have so much to worry about with COVID so this act of terrorism is especially cruel! You should be working FOR the kids, not against them!
I support the Reparations for Black Students Resolution. Closing schools will only cause more challenges for our communities. We need to invest in our schools and communities. Budget shortfalls can be addressed by cutting from the top, not on the backs of our Black students and families.
Greetings...PLACE @ Prescott is one of the oldest Schools in the District, (circa,1860s). Parents chose the site and raised monies to have the school for the children of the West Oakland community especially. Ms. Ida Louise Jackson, the first Black teacher in California and the first Black teacher to be hired by OUSD, (after a long struggle with the district), was given her first placement at Prescott. The school should really be an historical landmark for sure. Closing Prescott will be like closing the door to the history of OUSD and Oakland. Please rethink this closure for the students and their families and the community as a whole. Thank you.
You know that what you are doing is wrong and is contrary to every stated value this of this district: Reparations, Community Schools, Sanctuary District. Do not sell our children for $10m in one time money. If history holds, you will be forcing hundreds of students out of the district, which will cost us that same $10m in ongoing funds. This has been the pattern in other mass closures like 2012, and there is nothing different here. In all, you will be impacting half of our schools at a time when staff is already stretched thin because of the pandemic (which is not over, no matter how much ppl want it to be). We have no capacity to do this well. This will devastate communities and will harm those most vulnerable, including students with disabilities. All for $10m and a very uncertain future for OUSD. Please stand up to whomever you believe is forcing your hand and do the right thing for Oakland.
I lived and worked in Oakland my entire life up until I retired. As a volunteer and former Board member of Prescott Circus Theatre, and currently temporary annuitant employee with Oakland Public Works, I'm appalled at the lack of an essential community engagement process and transparency in the data to create such a plan. Students in Oakland deserve better than this. Prescott is historic and is a Family. It may be small in enrollment, due to changes in demographics and economics but for those who reside there, it's home.
The average distance a student/family would have to travel to get to these proposed welcoming schools is over 2 miles. Some of these welcoming schools are in completely different neighborhoods, some require our students to walk across dangerous high traffic streets and intersections. The safety of our children was not considered at all in this district's planning. Hands off our schools!
Hello - I both live and work in West Oakland. I am deeply opposed to the closures and consolidation being proposed. My community needs it's school, right down the street from my home. These proposed closures are racist and will negatively impact Oakland's most vulnerable residents.
As a parent of two students in an Oakland public school (MLA) and live in D5, I oppose this proposal to close/consolidate schools as the solution to Oakland's budget deficit given its negative impact on students, families and communities in the flatlands of Oakland and stands in stark contradiction to the Reparations for Black Students resolution that was passed by the OUSD board last year. Instead, the OUSD board should consider alternative ways to find savings in the district and should seek funding and debt forgiveness from the state to make up the budget shortfall. Before making any decisions to cut or consolidate schools, there must be a thorough equity and economic impact assessment done and if any schools must be closed or merged, then there should be a thoughtful plan that addresses rather than exacerbates racial inequity; that is carried out over a long period of time to ensure minimal disruption to the lives of the students, families, teachers and school staff involved.
I live in the Lakeshore neighborhood of District 2 and I am one of many supporters of the Reparations for Black Students Resolution and I am strongly opposed to OUSD’s attempt to balance the budget on the backs of our Black students! A decision to close community schools is too major a choice to go without community engagement. The very fact that this board passed legislation that exempted themselves from conduction community engagement nor an equity impact analysis is downright disrespectful to the students, families and teachers this board is supposed to serve. Closing schools is not the answer! Find alternative ways to balance the budget.
Keep Oakland schools open. As a longtime resident and home owner in Oakland, I am very opposed to the plan to close or consolidate our community schools. Displacing our students, especially Oakland's Black students, will be harmful - not just to the students themselves but to the communities of families, teachers, and staff. When you have closed schools in the past, it did not save any money. Don't balance your budget on the backs of Black children and families.
don't close the majority black schools without a meaningful community engagement process! Are you kidding me?
Why can't you just lead a healthy process instead of subverting it and waiting for panic and fear to meet the needs of your communities?
When will you internalize and operationalize equitable and responsive care for kids?
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. A decision to close community schools is too major a choice to go without community engagement. The fact that this board passed legislation that exempted themselves from conducting community engagement or an equity impact analysis is disrespectful to the students, families and teachers this board is supposed to serve. The average distance a student/family would have to travel to get to these proposed welcoming schools is over 2 miles. Some of these welcoming schools are in completely different neighborhoods, some require our students to walk across dangerous high traffic streets and unsafe intersections. 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!
How cost effective is it to provide additional funding to welcoming schools for professional developments, consultants, facility improvement and bussing versus keeping neighborhood community schools open? What other options were considered to balance the budget? Can your other considerations be shared with the public for review and comment? VOTE NO on school closures. The routes recommended for displaced students are not feasible. Because many of our students walk to their neighborhood school, I encourage each board member to walk the proposed routes from Prescott to Hoover, from Brookfield to Highland, from Manzanita to Fruitvale and others. Keep in mind, your routes measure from school to school and not from the students' homes to school. Closing public schools destroys communities. You hold a position to strengthen our communities by keeping open our public schools that public funds support.
I oppose the school closures. Such closures cause negative disruptions to students, teachers, and communities. The fact that the proposed school closures disproportionately affect low-income families and families of color demands that it undergo serious scrutiny as to whether they are necessary and the best possible solution to addressing the district's financial problems. OUSD has provided insufficient evidence to indicate that these school closures meet this standard, and the rush to pass this proposal raises serious doubts about whether viable alternatives have been adequately explored.
I am the parent of Prescott and West Oakland Middle School students. All OUSD students deserve their neighborhood schools, yet you repeatedly sell out schools serving majority black/brown students to balance your budget. It is appalling and racist. Where is the equity analysis? How does the closure of so many majority black schools = black reparations? Why have a Black Reparations Task Force only to ignore their recommendations? Why establish an Enrollment Committee only to ignore their work? That OUSD leadership and board would even consider putting forth such an inequitable closure hit list is beyond disappointing because you know it's unfair and rushed and against your own policies for equity. You know it's wrong and yet you do it anyway. Shame on OUSD. Have the courage to stand up for the kids who need you most. Take the time to create the school district of the future - with innovation and imagination we can do anything. Let's work together with state and county for a better OUSD!
This will disproportionately affect students of color. And it does not seem well thought out. We need a greater debate on this subject.
I am a proud Special Education teacher at Grass Valley and an OUSD educator since 1999. To take our special education population (FIVE classes!) and tear them away from their nurturing and safe environment is criminal. At Grass Valley, we are a family. Each child in my class is known, by name, by the other teachers and staff in the school. They are part of the lifeblood of the school . . . not an afterthought thrown into a portable or in some distant hallway where they are seen as a separate category of student. Parents feel good about sending their children to our school because they know that they are safe and loved. How dare the idea of closure even cross your minds when students are just returning to, or some for some of the younger kiddos just starting, their lives as an in-person student. We have so much to worry about with COVID so this act of terrorism is especially cruel! You should be working FOR the kids, not against them!
Please don't close our schools!
I am a student at West Oakland middle school. The fact that your board would try to close black schools is outrageous. Stop this
Please keep these schools open. I am opposed to school closures. This hurts kids and families.
I support the Reparations for Black Students Resolution. Closing schools will only cause more challenges for our communities. We need to invest in our schools and communities. Budget shortfalls can be addressed by cutting from the top, not on the backs of our Black students and families.
Greetings...PLACE @ Prescott is one of the oldest Schools in the District, (circa,1860s). Parents chose the site and raised monies to have the school for the children of the West Oakland community especially. Ms. Ida Louise Jackson, the first Black teacher in California and the first Black teacher to be hired by OUSD, (after a long struggle with the district), was given her first placement at Prescott. The school should really be an historical landmark for sure. Closing Prescott will be like closing the door to the history of OUSD and Oakland. Please rethink this closure for the students and their families and the community as a whole. Thank you.
You know that what you are doing is wrong and is contrary to every stated value this of this district: Reparations, Community Schools, Sanctuary District. Do not sell our children for $10m in one time money. If history holds, you will be forcing hundreds of students out of the district, which will cost us that same $10m in ongoing funds. This has been the pattern in other mass closures like 2012, and there is nothing different here. In all, you will be impacting half of our schools at a time when staff is already stretched thin because of the pandemic (which is not over, no matter how much ppl want it to be). We have no capacity to do this well. This will devastate communities and will harm those most vulnerable, including students with disabilities. All for $10m and a very uncertain future for OUSD. Please stand up to whomever you believe is forcing your hand and do the right thing for Oakland.
I lived and worked in Oakland my entire life up until I retired. As a volunteer and former Board member of Prescott Circus Theatre, and currently temporary annuitant employee with Oakland Public Works, I'm appalled at the lack of an essential community engagement process and transparency in the data to create such a plan. Students in Oakland deserve better than this. Prescott is historic and is a Family. It may be small in enrollment, due to changes in demographics and economics but for those who reside there, it's home.
Keep the majority Black schools open! Do not balance the budget on the backs of the Black student community.
The average distance a student/family would have to travel to get to these proposed welcoming schools is over 2 miles. Some of these welcoming schools are in completely different neighborhoods, some require our students to walk across dangerous high traffic streets and intersections. The safety of our children was not considered at all in this district's planning. Hands off our schools!
Hello - I both live and work in West Oakland. I am deeply opposed to the closures and consolidation being proposed. My community needs it's school, right down the street from my home. These proposed closures are racist and will negatively impact Oakland's most vulnerable residents.
As a parent of two students in an Oakland public school (MLA) and live in D5, I oppose this proposal to close/consolidate schools as the solution to Oakland's budget deficit given its negative impact on students, families and communities in the flatlands of Oakland and stands in stark contradiction to the Reparations for Black Students resolution that was passed by the OUSD board last year. Instead, the OUSD board should consider alternative ways to find savings in the district and should seek funding and debt forgiveness from the state to make up the budget shortfall. Before making any decisions to cut or consolidate schools, there must be a thorough equity and economic impact assessment done and if any schools must be closed or merged, then there should be a thoughtful plan that addresses rather than exacerbates racial inequity; that is carried out over a long period of time to ensure minimal disruption to the lives of the students, families, teachers and school staff involved.
I live in the Lakeshore neighborhood of District 2 and I am one of many supporters of the Reparations for Black Students Resolution and I am strongly opposed to OUSD’s attempt to balance the budget on the backs of our Black students! A decision to close community schools is too major a choice to go without community engagement. The very fact that this board passed legislation that exempted themselves from conduction community engagement nor an equity impact analysis is downright disrespectful to the students, families and teachers this board is supposed to serve. Closing schools is not the answer! Find alternative ways to balance the budget.
Keep Oakland schools open. As a longtime resident and home owner in Oakland, I am very opposed to the plan to close or consolidate our community schools. Displacing our students, especially Oakland's Black students, will be harmful - not just to the students themselves but to the communities of families, teachers, and staff. When you have closed schools in the past, it did not save any money. Don't balance your budget on the backs of Black children and families.
don't close the majority black schools without a meaningful community engagement process! Are you kidding me?
Why can't you just lead a healthy process instead of subverting it and waiting for panic and fear to meet the needs of your communities?
When will you internalize and operationalize equitable and responsive care for kids?
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. A decision to close community schools is too major a choice to go without community engagement. The fact that this board passed legislation that exempted themselves from conducting community engagement or an equity impact analysis is disrespectful to the students, families and teachers this board is supposed to serve. The average distance a student/family would have to travel to get to these proposed welcoming schools is over 2 miles. Some of these welcoming schools are in completely different neighborhoods, some require our students to walk across dangerous high traffic streets and unsafe intersections. 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!
How cost effective is it to provide additional funding to welcoming schools for professional developments, consultants, facility improvement and bussing versus keeping neighborhood community schools open? What other options were considered to balance the budget? Can your other considerations be shared with the public for review and comment? VOTE NO on school closures. The routes recommended for displaced students are not feasible. Because many of our students walk to their neighborhood school, I encourage each board member to walk the proposed routes from Prescott to Hoover, from Brookfield to Highland, from Manzanita to Fruitvale and others. Keep in mind, your routes measure from school to school and not from the students' homes to school. Closing public schools destroys communities. You hold a position to strengthen our communities by keeping open our public schools that public funds support.
I oppose the school closures. Such closures cause negative disruptions to students, teachers, and communities. The fact that the proposed school closures disproportionately affect low-income families and families of color demands that it undergo serious scrutiny as to whether they are necessary and the best possible solution to addressing the district's financial problems. OUSD has provided insufficient evidence to indicate that these school closures meet this standard, and the rush to pass this proposal raises serious doubts about whether viable alternatives have been adequately explored.