An amazing dialogue took place at MetWest last week. It was amazing for two reasons. First our young people are awesome, and second, the youth did most of the speaking. Even though there were many dignitaries and officials in the crowd, including our newly contracted superintendent, Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell (woot woot)—the adults largely yielded…
Are Oakland Students Ready for the World?
On Tuesday in Oakland, the school script was flipped. Gathered around bright tables in the atrium of MetWest High School, dozens of high schoolers and recent graduates confidently and openly reflected on if and how Oakland public schools prepared them for college and careers; while dozens of adults including the new Oakland Unified School District…
Watch These Oakland Students Tell Us How to Understand and End Gun Violence
About the Author: Sophia Sobko is a former teacher and current graduate student at UC Berkeley. Last Friday evening E14 Gallery in Downtown Oakland buzzed as 7th and 8th graders from Lighthouse Community Charter School shared their research, artwork, and writing on gun-related violence in Oakland. The exhibit was the culmination of a year of…
Fair Pay for More Work- What is Oakland’s Superintendent Worth?
Oakland should have a new superintendent. We should offer her a competitive contract and hold her accountable to that. Her contract is up for vote at the board meeting. I was disappointed to hear that the usual suspects were coming to protest the superintendent’s new contract. Please don’t, please stay home. Are we going to…
Why I Re-joined the NAACP; Confessions from a Prodigal Son
Black folks are still catching hell. At district schools, charters, private schools, in the Flatlands and the Hills, we are catching hell. It may be a different hell, “the sunken place” where we see our children’s ambitions die a slow death by a thousand sleights, checking their identity at the schoolhouse door or fighting against…