This guest post is by Camille Marley Brewster (aka Mars), who is graduating from MetWest High School in Oakland Unified School District this month. During my time in Oakland I’ve been to eight different schools, some district, some charter, one home-schooling program twice, and then finally ending up at one very different and special high…
Oakland Unified School District (OUSD)
After Common Enrollment, What’s Next for Equity in OUSD
Oakland’s raucous debate around including all public schools—charters and district-run in a single enrollment system—is literally much ado about nothing. Common enrollment will not happen in the short term in Oakland—the politics are too hot, and the real beneficiaries, Oakland parents stranded without satisfactory neighborhood schools are relegated to the sidelines. The debate dominated by…
The Facts on Oakland’s Foster Students and How We Can Do Better
It’s National Foster Care Month and Oakland’s numbers are crying out for action. We can do better, we need to do different, and this month and ongoing I will be shining a light on these children, our children. First let’s look at the facts—which are dismal—you can see the charts below from Oakland Unified. But…
The Numbers We Are All Judged By
Zero and 0%. The number and percentage of foster children who completed the A-G requirements in OUSD last year. 13.6% suspension rate, the highest of any tracked subgroup. 22.7% the rate of chronic absenteeism 33% cohort graduation, the lowest These are our children. They are often technically wards of the State. They have been burdened…
A Big Week for Oakland “Privatization”
Oakland schools were front and center in the national and local debate around, “privatization”, with a front page NY Times article and local stories on a contested visit by Steph Curry to a West Oakland district-run school. The common point shown in both of these events was the division in rhetoric, and in my view…