Occupy Oakland has taken much of the spotlight off the vote that was cast yesterday concerning our public school system. With five board members approving and two against the proposal, five schools on the closure list will close at the end of this school year. These Oakland public schools are Lakeview, Lazear, Marshall, Maxwell Park and Santa Fe.
Faith Network has a volunteer presence in each of these schools; we have been developing relationships with Lakeview, Lezear and Santa Fe for over five years.
Katy Murphy of The Education Report took notes from the meeting, which can be found here.
Superintendent Tony Smith's plan for restructuring also includes the expansion (and potential relocation) of Burckhalter
and Kaiser elementary schools, the merging of Sobrante Park Elementary and
Madison Middle School, and uniting several of the small high schools on the
Fremont and Castlemont campuses.
Another piece of the equation to consider is the announcement that ASCEND and Learning Without Limits are going to become charter schools, potentially taking 800 students from the OUSD public system. Through closing and restructuring, the school board hopes to save two million; with two schools going charter, OUSD will lose four million from the state.
It is speculated that ASCEND and Learning Without Limits voted to go charter in order to avoid being next for closure. Unfortunately, both schools are close to Lezear, a fact that could potentially make it more difficult for Lezear students to find nearby schooling options come the 2012-2013 school year.
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