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Tag: Oakland Unified School District

  • Oakland Unified prepares to make steep budget cuts

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    Oakland Unified School District, one of the largest school districts in the Bay Area with about 34,000 students, is once again facing dire financial troubles. The district, which just emerged from more than two decades under state control a few months ago, now risks entering receivership again.

    District officials admit they are spending too much and could run out of money before the end of this school year. To avoid a county takeover and losing local control, they said up to $90 million in cuts may be necessary over the next two years.

    OUSD parent Teal Tolbert, who has five children—four of whom still attend district schools from second grade through high school—said she worried about the impact of further cuts.

    “Nobody wants to see the cuts. There have already been so many. I can’t say that I like to see them cut any further,” Tolbert said.

    She added that previous cuts have already reduced resources for her children, including after-school tutoring and sports.

    “I’m a lot more involved than I used to be just because I see a lot of the decline,” she said. “We want the best for our children, so to see these cuts, it’s really sad.”

    Other parents echoed her concerns. Nereida Bravo, a mom with two children in OUSD, said, “It’s frustrating for the parents. After so much [reduction], the parents, they just tune out.” 

    OUSD parent Isaac Mesghena added, “Very scary and very concerned for the future of my kids.”

    District 3 School Board Director VanCedric Williams held a budget listening session on Saturday to hear from parents about what should be cut.

    “The reason we got into this position was the deficit spending over the last several years. During COVID, the federal government gave us $280 million. Our particular district actually ramped up their spending and providing after school services, mental health services as well.  And that included hiring excessive, a lot of particular staff,” Williams said.

    He added that everything is on the table, from layoffs to school mergers. District leaders admitted they are overspending by about $4 million a month. To balance the budget, they said they need to cut $10 million in this current school year and another $80 million in the next school year.

    “Mid-year cuts, which I haven’t had in my time on the board, are the worst things possible. This means things that we’ve budgeted and planned on spending on for this year need to be eliminated immediately,” said School Board Director Mike Hutchinson.

    Hutchinson also criticized Williams and the teachers’ union-backed majority school board for delaying tough decisions. “What we see now represents a complete failure. And when our elected officials fail us, they need to be removed and replaced,” he said.

    Williams defended the board, saying, “This board didn’t create the debt. This board is actually fixing the debt. That’s two different things. So let’s always make sure we distinguish that. The previous boards chose not to deal with it.”

    The district only recently emerged from more than 20 years of state receivership. Now, staff, parents, and students like Tolbert’s family fear cuts all over again.

    “Trying to be optimistic. However, it’s difficult. I think I’m more ready to kind of react for whatever may happen,” Tolbert said.

    The district will hold several more budget meetings over the next couple of weeks to gather parent and student input. Afterward, the school board will have to make difficult decisions.

    Sara Nuno-Villa, Family Community Engagement Specialist at OUSD’s Office of Equity, said, “We actually need more resources in our school district. But now we’re talking about having less. I think it’s really important for families, community, and caregivers to really understand what the tradeoffs are so they’re really making the best decisions possible.”

    Da Lin

    Da Lin is an award-winning journalist at KPIX 5 News. He joined KPIX 5 in 2012, but has been reporting the news in the Bay Area since 2007. Da grew up in Oakland, and before his return to the Bay Area, he spent five years covering the news at three other television stations in Texas, Southern and Central California. He also spent five years reporting at KRON 4.

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    Da Lin

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  • Some California cities will allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote for school board this year

    Some California cities will allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote for school board this year

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    Some older Bay Area teenagers will have a chance to make their voices heard this election — albeit in limited fashion.

    While still barred from voting on higher-profile races such as those for president or Congress, 16- and 17-year-olds living in Oakland and Berkeley will be able to cast ballots in upcoming school board elections, which determine the leadership and policies of local districts.

    The vote was extended thanks to the passage of Berkeley’s Measure Y1 and Oakland’s Measure QQ, according to a joint news release.

    The state already has a system that pre-registers 16- and 17-year-olds to vote, and their registration becomes active once they turn 18, officials said. The same system will be used to allow them to vote in their local school board elections, but not other races scheduled at the same time, according to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters.

    “This has never been done before in California and we had to make sure that it was done properly,” Alameda County Registrar of Voters Tim Dupuis said in a statement. “I would like to thank the Board of Supervisors for their support in helping make it possible for 16- and 17-year-olds in Oakland and Berkeley to vote for school board in November 2024.”

    Four of seven board seats in the Oakland Unified School District are up for election in November, as are two in the Berkeley Unified School District.

    “Voting is not just a right but a civic duty, and extending this right to 16- and 17-year-olds will foster a culture of civic participation from an early age,” Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao said in a statement.

    Though the goal of this new policy is to increase youth voter turnout, its effects won’t be known until the polls close. And many minors still may opt not to vote.

    “Me, personally, I’m not that political, especially with today’s standards,” Naseem Bennett, a 17-year-old Oakland Tech senior, told the Mercury News. “But would I vote? I would think about it.”

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    Summer Lin

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  • Months later, Oakland teacher stands by objectives of pro-Palestinian

    Months later, Oakland teacher stands by objectives of pro-Palestinian

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    An Oakland teacher who participated in a controversial pro-Palestinian “teach-in” in December still stands by her actions, saying students deserved to know the details surrounding the deadly conflict between Israel and Hamas.

    In December, dozens of teachers within the district participated in an unsanctioned teach-in highlighting pro-Palestinian lessons rather than material in the district-approved curriculum. 

    The event is believed to be one cause that has since triggered federal investigations by the U.S. Department of Education into alleged civil rights violations and religious discrimination into both the Oakland Unified School District and the San Francisco Unified School District. 

    One teacher who participated in the controversial “teach-in” told CBS News Bay Area that they stand by their participation to teach curious students the details surrounding the deadly and historic conflict. 

    “Students are exploring the connections between their own experience between what the U.S. government and why agents with the U.S. government do here and in other places, and just thinking about historical and current context for the situation unfolding in Gaza in the Middle East in general, so I’m proud of our students and staff,” the teacher said. 

    For the first time since the controversial demonstration, one participating teacher spoke to CBS News Bay Area on the condition of anonymity. She asked only to be identified as a high school teacher within the district. 

    We met in her classroom, where she says she observed students engaging with the proposed material written by a group of teachers within the teacher’s union named “OEA for Palestine.” The suggested curriculum was not approved by the district. 

    “It’s more for students to consider multiple perspectives and walk out maybe with some more questions,” the teacher explained. “So, in that sense, I absolutely think that the teacher can encourage that.”

    The proposed curriculum has come under fire for containing what Jewish parents and leaders say is antisemitic content. 

    CBS News reviewed the material that was recommended for grades T-K through high school and found some content that parents and community leaders consider to be antisemitic or offensive to Jewish students. It’s unclear how much of the material was taught during the teach-in.

    Jewish students within the Oakland Unified School District are beginning to be approved for transfers out of the district after claims of antisemitism stemming from the teach-in.   

    But the teacher said she did not see any instance of antisemitism take place the day of the demonstration. 

    “I did not see any evidence of a teacher or student engaging in any antisemitic comment or behavior on the day of the teach-in,” the teacher said. “We might have a difference of opinion on what is antisemitic and I think that yeah, I think criticism of Israel is not antisemitic.”

    OUSD did not respond to CBS News Bay Area’s request for comment. 

    Complaints of religious discrimination are being reported within the San Francisco Unified School District as well. 

    Tyler Gregory is the leader of the Jewish Community Relations Council. He says San Francisco parents have reported similar activity seen in Oakland of unsanctioned material regarding the ongoing conflict being taught in San Francisco schools where a handful of parents are applying to transfer out. 

    “The teachers union in San Francisco has said openly anti-Israel, things that make a lot of Jewish students feel unsafe,” he explained. “We’ve seen these Gaza walkouts that are in support of the Palestinians, but have resulted in Jewish students feeling unsafe, and there have been a couple incidents where teachers have participated or encouraged it.”

    In a statement, SFUSD told CBS News Bay Area “we are aware that the Department of Education opened a Civil Rights complaint. We are committed to fully cooperating with the investigation. SFUSD policies prohibit discrimination and we take any report of discrimination seriously.”

    So far at least 30 Jewish students have transferred out of the OUSD, according to district officials. Gregory says a handful of Jewish students are also planning leave San Francisco Unified.

    The Anti-Defamation League also filed a federal complaint against the Berkeley Unified School District in late February, alleging officials ignored the bullying and harassment of their Jewish students.

    The U.S. Department of Education and California Department of Education declined to comment on the active investigations. 

    In Oakland, Shira Avoth is a parent of a middle schooler within the OUSD. She says it was bittersweet when she found out in early March that her son was approved for a transfer into the Piedmont School district after experiencing antisemitism in the classroom. 

    “It’s heartbreaking and the fact that in 2024 I don’t feel like my son is safe,” she explained. 

    For this teacher, she feels justified in her participation in furthering the knowledge and education of her students. 

    “If transferring out was because of an allegation of antisemitism, that learning about Palestine or learning about what’s happening currently in Palestine, for learning about the pellet Palestinian freedom struggle if that is inherently antisemitic,” she explained, “then that would lead us to, I think, an ideological difference. And I think that that’s something that we could maybe continue to talk about and try to, to parse out.”

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    Lauren Toms

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