I support a delay in the planned closures of Parker Elementary and Community Day School, the co-location of RISE and New Highland, and the truncation of the middle school at La Escuelita until the end of the 2022-23 school year.
I support an equitable decision making process which includes all stakeholders. The time line put forth by OUSD board of education, is not designed for meaningful and equitable feedbackb, or participation of stake holders at the affected sites.
Tjis delay is necessary for meaningful and equitable input by stakeholders.
I urge the board to delay the currently planned school closures. The entire process was rushed and did not allow for enough community input or analysis of how these closures will impact special education students. I hope the board will push back on the district to create other plans for saving money in addition to closing schools. What would enrollment look like at some of the schools if open enrollment wasn't the district's policy? What would enrollment look like if schools did not have to compete with each other for students?
As an OUSD employee for over 40 years, it pains my heart to see this attempt at school closures especially with Parker immediately in peril. How about we close down a few charters first which I’ve had to serve over the years as an OUSD resource specialist and could tell many a tale of their woeful mismanagement and sucking off of resources from the district for space and lack of ADA in the process. The urgency of all of this pain and suffering is completely unnecessary.
School closures are devastating - no one can argue against that. I read Kyla's message yesterday and strongly believe in her message and her leadership. We unfortunately cannot sustain the number of schools we have open with our current student enrollment. It's hard, but we unfortunately must push forward to close schools and focus heavily on the kids that need to move schools to make sure they are settled and happy in their new school. Thank you for making this very hard decision.
Please support postponing these precipitous and community-wrecking school closures. Please allow stakeholders to perform the required equity impact analysis, and to plan, prepare for, and participate in future changes to the schools. Thank you
I support the resolution to postpone the closures. Our students and families need and deserve stability during this ongoing pandemic, not the disruption of the rushed closure of their schools. May this resolution pass, and may the Board belatedly correct their missteps and uphold the commitments they made with the Reparations for Black Students Resolution to develop a process that centers equity and respect for ALL of our students in OUSD.
I have been reflecting a lot on the idea that empathy is defined as “hearing another person’s experience and believing them”. It’s time to believe the faculty, students, parents, and community who tell you that closing these schools will have a detrimental and negative impact on them. It’s time to believe them and take action to protect these communities. When I experience empathy, I try to think of how this would effect me if I were in the same position. Please, I implied you, to put yourself in these students and parents shoes. Think about yourself and your own children, and your school communities, past and present. What would YOU do if someone was trying to close your school down? Now, act according to that. I would fight tooth and nail to keep my school open, for my kids and for the community I love so much. Also for future generations of students that deserve safe, consistent, and well funded schools. All children deserve that chance. PLEASE, I urge you to postpone now!
As a parent of a future OUSD student and educator, I am writing in support of Resolution No. 2122-0077 - Delaying School Consolidations.
I implore you to listen to your community and the overwhelming support for this measure. The inequitable impact school closures will have on our Black and Brown communities is glaring. Please, take the time to conduct an equity audit in order to give this decision the thought and considering our children and families deserve.
Please support postponing the closures and truncation this year to do an equity impact analysis and engage with the community. Racist closures hurt generations of Black and Brown youth and further gentrifying privatizers. More graduates and educated youth means lower spending on incarceration and health care by the city, county and state. If you don’t look after people based on human compassion, look after the bottom line that shows school closures do not save money.
I am a library technician at Parker Elementary and Middle School. You have done enough harm by proposing these racist school closures, and yet you continue to twist the knife by dragging us through your thoughtless amendments and inequitable plan. I support this resolution because it is the LEAST you can do at this point. Give us time to get better board members who WON'T CLOSE OUR SCHOOLS. Besides Mike Hutchinson, I have not seen ANY of the board members come to Parker before or after this careless decision was made.You cannot take away the suffering you have already caused, but we can strip of your positions. I also hope to see time for public comment (y'all need to find a way to make sure students speak first) so ALL voices can be heard.
I urge the Board - well, really Board President Yee and Directors Davis, Eng, and Thompson - to vote in support of this resolution, allowing the District the time to carry out the equity impact analysis that *you are obligated to undertake* and to allow the communities at Parker, CDS, New Highland, RISE, and La Escuelita the time to adjust and adapt to the new realities you are, so far, heedlessly determined to create.
Please, vote to postpone school closures to give time and space for more voices to be heard in the communities the school closures will directly affect. It is the decent thing to do. Thank you.
I am an Elmhurst United teacher. Please vote yes on this resolution to postpone the school closures, to allow for more time for community engagement, equity analysis, and planning time for families and school communities. When ECP and Alliance were merged, we were given a full year of design team work to prepare and plan for the new school. The way this process has been communicated and carried out is careless and disrespectful to the Oakland community.Vote YES to postpone.
Postponing school closures is a good first step toward ending this racist practice in OUSD. Stop pretending closures saves money, we have historical evidence that it does not. This board is an embarrassment to teachers, except for our two directors working to save our schools. And we wonder why there is a teacher retention problem in oakland?!?
This process has been rushed and as yet th community has seen no hard evidence as to why this must happen this year. At a bare MINIMUM people need time to prepare.
I support a delay in the planned closures of Parker Elementary and Community Day School, the co-location of RISE and New Highland, and the truncation of the middle school at La Escuelita until the end of the 2022-23 school year.
Please vote yes. Schools and families deserve more time.
I support an equitable decision making process which includes all stakeholders. The time line put forth by OUSD board of education, is not designed for meaningful and equitable feedbackb, or participation of stake holders at the affected sites.
Tjis delay is necessary for meaningful and equitable input by stakeholders.
I support this resolution to delay closures until the end of next school year.
I urge the board to delay the currently planned school closures. The entire process was rushed and did not allow for enough community input or analysis of how these closures will impact special education students. I hope the board will push back on the district to create other plans for saving money in addition to closing schools. What would enrollment look like at some of the schools if open enrollment wasn't the district's policy? What would enrollment look like if schools did not have to compete with each other for students?
As an OUSD employee for over 40 years, it pains my heart to see this attempt at school closures especially with Parker immediately in peril. How about we close down a few charters first which I’ve had to serve over the years as an OUSD resource specialist and could tell many a tale of their woeful mismanagement and sucking off of resources from the district for space and lack of ADA in the process. The urgency of all of this pain and suffering is completely unnecessary.
School closures are devastating - no one can argue against that. I read Kyla's message yesterday and strongly believe in her message and her leadership. We unfortunately cannot sustain the number of schools we have open with our current student enrollment. It's hard, but we unfortunately must push forward to close schools and focus heavily on the kids that need to move schools to make sure they are settled and happy in their new school. Thank you for making this very hard decision.
Please support postponing these precipitous and community-wrecking school closures. Please allow stakeholders to perform the required equity impact analysis, and to plan, prepare for, and participate in future changes to the schools. Thank you
I support the resolution to postpone the closures. Our students and families need and deserve stability during this ongoing pandemic, not the disruption of the rushed closure of their schools. May this resolution pass, and may the Board belatedly correct their missteps and uphold the commitments they made with the Reparations for Black Students Resolution to develop a process that centers equity and respect for ALL of our students in OUSD.
I have been reflecting a lot on the idea that empathy is defined as “hearing another person’s experience and believing them”. It’s time to believe the faculty, students, parents, and community who tell you that closing these schools will have a detrimental and negative impact on them. It’s time to believe them and take action to protect these communities. When I experience empathy, I try to think of how this would effect me if I were in the same position. Please, I implied you, to put yourself in these students and parents shoes. Think about yourself and your own children, and your school communities, past and present. What would YOU do if someone was trying to close your school down? Now, act according to that. I would fight tooth and nail to keep my school open, for my kids and for the community I love so much. Also for future generations of students that deserve safe, consistent, and well funded schools. All children deserve that chance. PLEASE, I urge you to postpone now!
As a parent of a future OUSD student and educator, I am writing in support of Resolution No. 2122-0077 - Delaying School Consolidations.
I implore you to listen to your community and the overwhelming support for this measure. The inequitable impact school closures will have on our Black and Brown communities is glaring. Please, take the time to conduct an equity audit in order to give this decision the thought and considering our children and families deserve.
Please support postponing the closures and truncation this year to do an equity impact analysis and engage with the community. Racist closures hurt generations of Black and Brown youth and further gentrifying privatizers. More graduates and educated youth means lower spending on incarceration and health care by the city, county and state. If you don’t look after people based on human compassion, look after the bottom line that shows school closures do not save money.
I am a library technician at Parker Elementary and Middle School. You have done enough harm by proposing these racist school closures, and yet you continue to twist the knife by dragging us through your thoughtless amendments and inequitable plan. I support this resolution because it is the LEAST you can do at this point. Give us time to get better board members who WON'T CLOSE OUR SCHOOLS. Besides Mike Hutchinson, I have not seen ANY of the board members come to Parker before or after this careless decision was made.You cannot take away the suffering you have already caused, but we can strip of your positions. I also hope to see time for public comment (y'all need to find a way to make sure students speak first) so ALL voices can be heard.
I urge the Board - well, really Board President Yee and Directors Davis, Eng, and Thompson - to vote in support of this resolution, allowing the District the time to carry out the equity impact analysis that *you are obligated to undertake* and to allow the communities at Parker, CDS, New Highland, RISE, and La Escuelita the time to adjust and adapt to the new realities you are, so far, heedlessly determined to create.
Please, vote to postpone school closures to give time and space for more voices to be heard in the communities the school closures will directly affect. It is the decent thing to do. Thank you.
Support the postponement
I am an Elmhurst United teacher. Please vote yes on this resolution to postpone the school closures, to allow for more time for community engagement, equity analysis, and planning time for families and school communities. When ECP and Alliance were merged, we were given a full year of design team work to prepare and plan for the new school. The way this process has been communicated and carried out is careless and disrespectful to the Oakland community.Vote YES to postpone.
Postponing school closures is a good first step toward ending this racist practice in OUSD. Stop pretending closures saves money, we have historical evidence that it does not. This board is an embarrassment to teachers, except for our two directors working to save our schools. And we wonder why there is a teacher retention problem in oakland?!?
This process has been rushed and as yet th community has seen no hard evidence as to why this must happen this year. At a bare MINIMUM people need time to prepare.
Please support this resolution.