What’s it like to work at the school you grew up attending? At Aspire Lionel Wilson College Preparatory Academy in Sobrante Park, East Oakland, there are a number of alums now on staff. For these educators, connections to the school and community run family-level deep. There’s a feeling that the trajectory of their lives, and…
charter schools
Explore your options and enroll
Oakland Enrolls Executive Director Lisa Gibes de Gac shares the need-to-know information about Oakland public school enrollment for the 2021–22 school year. With school enrollment season now open, what’s the most important thing for families to know right now? The biggest thing right now is to explore your options. There are lots of them —…
Youth Activism Through Art
FIA + OSA Voting Poster Contest Oakland School for the Arts (OSA) visual arts students and educators partnered with FIA on a voting poster contest. There are many ways to show leadership and make an impact in the 2020 election, even if you’re not eligible to vote! These talented young activists are making their voices…
How Oakland Charters Kept Serving Students During Distance Learning: Community School for Creative Education
The unprecedented interruption of the 2020 school year has laid bare inequities in our system, with one in five California students (over 1 million) lacking either connectivity or a device, a staggering need. The pandemic has forced schools and school districts to make on-the-fly decisions about how to continue instruction and care of students. Some…
What’s Really Wrong with Closing Schools and How the “Opportunity Ticket” Fixes It
Closing schools balances the district’s budget woes on the backs of the already most underserved parents. The reality of closings is that it does nothing for those parents who have been dis-served and will be displaced. Typically, they attend an equally low-performing school that is further away and/or less familiar. And while the district may…