Parents, Students Continue Battle Against Proposed Closure of Oakland Schools
OAKLAND (KPIX) -- A heated battle to keep a number of Oakland schools from being shut down by the district continued Monday as part of a last-minute push to keep classrooms open ahead of crucial vote.
In front of Westlake Middle School, students painted signs of support for the teachers striking about a raft of potential school closures the Oakland Unified School Board is set to vote on.
The proposed closure list was released to the public at the end of January. Six schools -- Brookfield, Carl Munck, Prescott, Grass Valley, Parker, Community Day School -- are recommended for closure at the end of this academic year. Two other schools -- Horace Mann Elementary and Korematsu Discovery Academy -- would close after next year, with their students then being reassigned to other schools.
Additionally, three schools would merge onto other campuses after this school year with Manzanita Community School moving to join Fruitvale Elementary the following year.
"What's driving you to close schools? This many? Show me a budget, please," said OUSD Community Schools Program Manager Moses Omolade.
OUSD says for the amount of students in the district, there are far too many campuses and the budget is blown. OUSD has 33,000 students and 80 campuses. Fremont has 34,000 students and 42 schools. In Stockton, 48 schools serve 35,000.
OUSD parent of four Vanessa Gutierrez says if Brookfield and Grass Valley close, the move will cost her close to $100 a day in Uber fees to get her kids to class, because she doesn't drive.
"They're not thinking about the people that are less fortunate than them," Gutierrez told KPIX5. She's also worried about losing the Brookfield special ed teacher her son relies on.
"For him to get sent to another school with different teachers, that's honestly something that I will always try to fight for my kids," she said. "I don't like them being switched from one teacher to another."
Corrin Haskell, a teacher at Brookfield for the past 25 years, says this is about losing a valuable community school and resource and putting kids in danger.
"There's not really a school that's within safe walking distance from here if you've ever been to the Brookfield/Sobrany Park area. It's not really a place where people walk around freely for miles," said Haskell. "Taking these kids and making them walk another one and a half, two miles to get to another school on top of that is really unfair."
In addition to the worried parents and students, some teachers including Westlake choir teacher Maurice Andre San-Chez are on day 7 of a hunger strike trying to stop the closures.
"Many times, not only in Oakland but across the nation, brown and black kids are overlooked. Schools are closed in which they feel safe, in which they feel valued, they feel wanted in a world that has often times dismissed them," said San-Chez.
In a statement, OUSD said this about the hunger strikes and protest:
"We support everyone's right to protest, including protesting possible decisions by the Board of Education. Of course, the District cares deeply about the health and well-being of our staff, and hopes that any staff member engaging in a hunger strike explores other means of protest that don't involve harming themselves. We know that our students, staff, and families all agree that we need a district of thriving schools, yet not everyone necessarily agrees on how best to get there."
The OUSD Board is set to vote on the potential closures Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. during a special Zoom meeting.
