State of Black Education Oakland (SoBEO), a collective co-founded by our founder Dirk Tillotson, is gathering information from the Oakland public education community about the state of Black education in Oakland through a survey we developed. (We would love to hear from you, please take five minutes to complete it!)
With the 2024 election right around the corner, we wanted to hear what candidates for the Oakland school board had to say about solutions and problems around the state of Black education in Oakland. We reached out to each candidate with the same set of questions. Here is our interview with Dr. Clifford Thompson, the current District 7 school board member who is running for re-election. The transcript below has been edited for clarity.
SoBEO: This is Ryan Phillips with State of Black Education Oakland. We’re very blessed to welcome Dr. Clifford Thompson from the OUSD school board. Dr Thompson, thank you so much for being with us today.
Clifford Thompson: Thank you for allowing me. I really appreciate this opportunity.
SoBEO: Today’s conversation is going to be around the state of black education in Oakland, and also Dr Thompson’s candidacy for the District 7 school board seat, which he is running for re-election right now. So thanks again for being here, Dr Thompson. The first question is about the election and your history. What are you doing, and what have you done to improve education for young people in Oakland, particularly in District 7, and how does that make you the best candidate for this role?
Clifford Thompson: Okay, you know, I have to start back several years ago. Not only was I a teacher in Oakland, Oakland Unified, but I also specifically worked in district seven, starting a tutorial program. This was several years ago of actually working in the heart of what is called Deep East Oakland, working with black and brown children, making sure that they had equal access to educational opportunities, making sure that they would receive, as I felt from me and a long time educator who knows exactly how to help kids learn certain academic opportunities. I really wanted that to happen for many of the kids who have been traditionally marginalized and not given that real in depth opportunity to actually engage rigorous academics in order to propel them forward in their academic career. So not only have I worked in the East Oakland area, the Oakland public schools, but I also worked as a mentor for over 20 years, working with incarcerated youth, giving them the opportunity to have better access to educational opportunities, being the role model that they would need, seeing that a person of color could actually navigate The educational system and be a success educationally. So I’ve done several things, and so I think as a result of the things that I’ve done, it makes me a real viable candidate for the seat in district seven. Because not only have I worked in district seven to actually complete these things outside of the school system. I’ve actually worked in the school system in district seven to use my my skill and not only being a classroom teacher, but also being an administrator, to again be the model for the kids, not only in the juvenile justice system, but also in the school system itself.
SoBEO: Dr Thompson, we really appreciate you. Our next question is about Oakland public education. Is Oakland public education moving in the right direction?
Clifford Thompson: You know, I think it is now and again. I’m not trying to pat myself on the back, but I’ve been raising for the past three and a half, almost four years, raising the the flag for academic growth for traditionally marginalized students. So because of the passage of the resolution to actually focus on the academic growth of black and brown kids in English language arts and also reading, and also focusing on making sure that we increase the participation rate of A to G requirements of all students, so that all high school students, that is so that they would have the option for higher education, post high school or going in the community service or just whatever avenue they wish. So I think or Oakland education is going in the right direction. It’s it’s a very hardship to actually turn but we are making that term so that we are concentrating. More on the academic opportunities for kids in Oakland. So I have to say it’s going in the right direction, but it’s moving slowly because this is a new direction. And if you’ll allow me to digress just for a moment, the pyramid that we should look at is really looking at at least 65% of our time should be spent on anything, dealing with academics, with the kids, and then you can split the rest of the 35% into the other two corners of the pyramid and deal with it that way. But we sort of have had the pyramid inverted, where we’re spending 65% on those two areas. Now I’m not saying that those two areas aren’t important. Those two areas are important, but we’re spending about 15% of our time on the academic growth of our kids, and I, think we are turning that pyramid in the correct direction so that we can actually move in the right direction for kids. So all of that said to say that, yes, I think we are going in the right direction, but it’s moving slowly, and so I want to make sure that I stay on the board in order to continue the movement that we’re making.
SoBEO: The next couple questions are about the State of Black Education Oakland survey. What do you see as the challenges affecting the state of black education in Oakland right now?
Clifford Thompson: You know, I really think equity is a really big issue in Oakland. The whole discussion of equity can be somewhat unsettling for some people, because it’s moving people past their comfort zone at one time in Oakland, and I remember years ago, when I first started in Oakland, there was a concentration to actually deal with all Children, but there was because we had such a high population of black students in Oakland, we had to deal with the issues confronting black students now that it has changed some, and this is not to denigrate any other group, but It’s just to say that we have replaced our focus on the needs of black students. I feel, and that focus, perhaps, is out there in the ether someplace and but it’s not really focusing on the needs of black kids. I really feel being a black man who was in a system that perhaps did not deal with black people 100% I really think we as teachers need to actually focus, focus the big idea on equity. If we focus the big idea on equity, we’ll get every subgroup that’s in the school population, and that way, we would have more of a focus on the state of black education as it is right now, where we would actually address The needs of those students, black students, who are not receiving all they need in education. So the big word that I’m using is equity right now, and that’s the problem I think that we’re facing. There is no equity, or there’s lack of equity. I should put it that way, lack of degree of equity that would actually focus on the needs of our black students in Oakland Unified School District presently.
SoBEO: You touched on this during the question, but if there’s anything else you’d like to say about kind of the solutions, where do you have any additional words about solutions for for kind of the state of black education in Oakland?
Clifford Thompson: Yes, I really do. I do. I do want to lift up the need to actually address the primary when I say primary, I mean Elementary School, primary grades and elementary school actually address the need of using the the science of reading. Right now we have a board policy that deals with phonemic awareness and phonics, but. I do believe the three additional points that are lacking are fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. And I think if we concentrate totally on those five aspects of reading education, we will we would, in essence, bring up the reading growth of all kids. You know, we’re talking a lot about making sure that kids are reading at the third grade level. Well, they’re not going to get there if we don’t deal with the fundamentals that are lacking in actually getting the kids or bridging that gap. So I think, and I decided that what I want to do is I want to revisit the board policy that only deals with the two pillars of reading, and I want to deal with all five, so I want to add the additional three so that we’re actually dealing with the fundamental problem that kids are having in terms of reading and reading on grade level. So that’s the thing that’s missing right now, and that’s what I want to deal with
SoBEO: Right now I wanted to share with you from the survey, State of Black Education survey is asking community members, students, families and educators some questions about the challenges and the solutions around the state of black education. Oakland, I just wanted to share with you a few that that folks have shared with us so far. So we’re going to start with with challenges. And then we would like to hear your response to them: Lack of resources, racism, poverty, poor leadership, lack of political will to make hard funding decisions, wasted money, teacher quality and lack of diversity and adult special interests.
Clifford Thompson: I want to address several of them, and I want to make sure that I mentioned them specifically. I think racism is one of the big issues that is encompassed in the whole concept of equity. And I think as a result of people perhaps not understanding the importance of equity. And I want to draw a stark difference between equity and something being equal. You know, you can give people an equal amount of something and they still won’t be able to rise to the level of where they can actually access what’s going on. But equity says those individuals who have been traditionally not given what they need in order to rise to the level where they should be. I that’s, that’s where the equity part comes in. And I think as a result of racism, and perhaps it might be microaggression in racism that equity has not been given. And I think a direct result of the poverty issue is the fact that some kids don’t get what they need. Therefore, the equity issue is primary in terms of working with those kids who are coming from a poverty background to be able to get what they need, poor leadership. And poor leadership is, I mean, I’m not trying to invalidate poor leadership, but I think individuals who are in leadership roles who don’t understand what kids need in order to make an equitable run at something, I think we have a problem there too, because we have individuals who don’t understand the state of the kids that they’re at or the teachers that they’re actually leading. I’m going to digress now and say that’s why I believe in the five pillars that I have used throughout my career in education, and I still use it today, and if I can share with you, it’s relationship, culture, communication, consistency and structure, if those five pillars are actually embraced by the leadership that’s actually working with the teachers and all and well, and also leaders in in. Education and the students. Then, of course, the whole concept of equity and racism, poverty, all of those things would be dealt with, and we would come up with what’s actually needed in order to cause kids or allow kids, to rise to the level that that’s needed in our educational institutions. I think there is again, going back to equity. I think there’s a lack of political will because individuals look at what is politically acceptable and what is politically not acceptable, or in other words, what could help a person’s political career or maybe stunt a person’s political will political career, excuse me, is probably their political will To deal with situations or ideas that might be difficult to handle or that might place them on the cutting edge of either going with the system or not going with the system, aligning with the system or not aligning with the system. And so political will is really a bigger conversation, but I think it’s a very important one to have, because you have individuals who are in a position over some of our leaders and over our students, and if they don’t have the political will to actually stand firm on what’s needed in order for our students and our leaders and our teachers to actually move forward, then there is a problem there with with one having the political will to stand firm, and something that wasn’t mentioned is, yeah, I’m going to go on and say it because I think it’s necessary. We need to look at individuals who are really engrossed in adult decisions. We need to, oh, there’s adult special interest, okay? Well, I want to say it then, because that’s exactly what I’m talking about. Sometimes we have adult issues that take precedence over what our students need, and I think that is something that needs to be dealt with, and it needs to be dealt with from the board to the union to the classroom, when adult issues tend to take precedence over what’s needed in order to make a classroom functional. I hope that wasn’t too long,
SoBEO: So that was when we were talking about some of the challenges, and that’s what the folks in the community and educators students have shared with us, families, and we’re going to talk about what some of the solutions that have been shared with us: more political will, more collaboration among schools, more funding, better teacher pay, better teachers, more experienced teachers, more teachers of color, more support for families.
Clifford Thompson: I think some of those solutions are right on if you think about providing better pay for teachers, that’s something we at the board level decided to do, because we know, and I know, having been a teacher or been in education for over 40 years, I know how important it is to give teachers a living wage. So that has has that was really very important thing for all of us at the board level, um, actually getting better teachers. I can understand what people are saying about better teachers, but then I want to know really, if better teachers mean teachers who have established a better relationship with the students and the community. If that’s what they’re talking about, I totally agree with it, and I totally agree that if my five pillars are embraced, my five pillars would actually address all of these situations. And if you don’t mind me saying and I’m gonna just pat myself on the back here, just for a few moments, I. Most of us understand that the academic growth of our students is extremely important well and well, I want to say my co authoring, the resolution to actually increase the academic growth in English, language, arts, mathematics and also the participation rate and energy requirements is a wonderful idea, and I’m glad we passed it at the board level. But if I can look at what I’m doing in my classroom, if you look at my students, this is it’s not the whole school, but it’s my classroom. If you dis-aggregate the data and subtract from it, those kids who can’t speak English right now, and if you would subtract from that my data, those kids that have an IEP, you will see that my students in only eight months. Now, we’ve asked on the resolution for it to be 10 years, but in only eight months, you would see at least a 50% growth in reading and math in my classroom of grade level, reading grade level or above, reading and math in my classroom alone. And that’s again, I attribute it to embracing my five pillars, number one, and then really holding students responsible for excellence in education. It works. I know it works. It can work for everyone, not just me. It can work for every single person. So that’s that’s really all I want to say on the solution part, because I know we can get there. I’m sorry. I should say the the last thing I want to mention is we need to support families. We need to make sure that we give families the support they need in order for them to help their kids. Many times we ask kids to move a certain way and to move up and do this and do that, but we don’t provide the support that the family needs in order to make sure that they all holistically move up and then they actually meet the challenge that they are encountering in education today.
SoBEO: Before we let you go, is there anything else you want to say about the state of Black education in Oakland, or about or about your campaign?
Clifford Thompson: You know, I know, even though the state of education, in reference to Blacks right now might look dismal, but you know, as black people, we’ve always worked hard and we’ve always rose to the occasion. So I think even though there is a problem right now with equity, like I said before in education, I know we’re able to get to where we need to go, because we as black people, have always been strong to address the needs that are going that the need that we have in an educational growth and we will get there. So I guess what I’m saying is sure people are putting roadblocks in the way, but I’m totally convinced the roadblocks are going to serve as stepping stones to our success.