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NEWS & LETTERS, January-February 2004Save Our Schools!Oakland, Cal.--Hundreds of parents, students and teachers jammed an Oakland School Board meeting Jan. 8 to protest projected public school closures. Of 13 schools under consideration, five are to be selected for shutdown. The board had hoped to limit discussion to about four of the schools for this first meeting and take up the remainder at subsequent meetings. But outraged Oaklanders were in no mood to be broken up into small, "manageable" groups. Many not even associated with the 13 schools came to make their voices heard and plan to show up at the next meetings. With the room overflowing, the doors to the school administration building were locked and guarded by a line of cops. The 200 locked-out protesters, mostly Black and Latino, carried on a vigorous rally denouncing Dr. Randolph Ward's "solution" to Oakland Unified School District's insolvency. Ward was appointed to his post by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, when the State took over OUSD in June 2003. He has all the authority the school board used to have. Ward based his closure choices on low enrollment and under-attendance. He dismissed a suggestion to transfer students from overcrowded schools to the small population schools on the grounds that parents would not tolerate sending their kids to other districts. One Black man gave a possible reason for under-attendance. His children attend Emerson Elementary, a predominantly Black school located in a middle-class, white neighborhood. He told the crowd parents in the neighborhood won't let their kids go to Emerson. He also pointed out that if it were shut down and converted to a charter school, the student body would change to reflect those who can afford such schools. --David Mizuno'Oto |
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