Oakland parents, teachers and students will sit-in at their elementary school this Friday to save it from closure

Parents, teachers, and students and local Oakland residents are calling for help to stop the closure of 5 neighborhood public elementary schools. I marched to Lakeview Elementary in late February and I can attest that the community there is as organized as we have been to defend our beloved school and urgently need our help. Let me know if anyone is planning to help and has room in their car. It is only a 40 minute drive from the Valley.

At the end of this school year, the Oakland Unified School District plans to close 5 public elementary schools and hand children's school buildings over to private charter schools and district administration offices.  Hundreds of the displaced students have been placed by the district in elementary schools that are 10 miles away, and the school district has offered no guarantee that transportation will be provided for families. In response...

Oakland Parents and Teachers Are Sitting-in to Keep Neighborhood Schools Open!

    

We Need Your Support!!!

On June 15th, after the last day of school, Oakland parents and teachers will sit-in at Lakeview Elementary demanding that the district keep all neighborhood schools open. The district has not listened to lawsuits, pleas from parents and teachers, or protests. We know the money exists, but still they insist on closing flatland schools serving predominantly black and brown children. We say no more excuses! We’re keeping the schools open the last way left to us, by sitting-in. But we cannot do this alone. We need your support! Demand the district and the politicians give us full funding for quality education in neighborhood public schools. Join the fight for our kids’ futures!

Support the People's School for Public Education:

1. Show up to support the sit-in at Lakeview Elementary - 746 Grand Avenue (across from the farmer's market, at the Grand Ave 580 exit)
   • Friday 6/15 @ 1:00pm - Community Speakout & BBQ
   • Friday 6/15 @ 4:00pm - Rally to Kick-Off Sit-In
   • Saturday 6/16 @ 2:00pm - People's School Solidarity Rally
   • Every Night starting Friday @ 9:00 – Solidarity Watch
2. Join our work committees to organize for this action - Emaileducation4the99@gmail.com toget involved!
3. On Monday, the 18th, we will be starting a free, week-long social justice summer program for our kids - Emaileducation4the99@gmail.com for more info and to enroll your child
4. Spread the word - Tell your friends and family!

We demand:

• Don’t Close the 5 Schools! Keep All Neighborhood Schools Open! Children’s Needs Before Administration’s!
• Stop Attacks on Teachers and School Workers! Teacher Conditions=Student Conditions.
• Refuse to Pay the Unjust State Debt!
• Fully Fund Quality Public Education for All Students!

Learn more about Oakland's school closures:

• Speaking out against school closures: Oakland’s Santa Fe Elementary 
• School Closures: District Calls for a Time-Out on Its 25-School Hit List
• ROB ROOKE: School Board Says It’s Closing Time At Maxwell Park 

Contact us at:education4the99@gmail.comandeducation4the99.wordpress.com.

Alert: CA Senate Education Committee to vote this Wednesday morning to close a loophole in charter law

This Wednesday June 13th the Senate Education Committee will be voting on AB 1172 (sponsored by Assemblyman Mendoza) which passed the Assembly last January 30th by a vote of 45 to 28. This bill would add a crucially needed sixth criteria by which a district may vote to deny a charter petition. This criteria would allow a district to deny a charter if it would have a demonstrable negative fiscal impact on the district. We know firsthand that despite the staff analysis that the charter would drain the District of $464,000 over 3 years the Board of Trustees was prohibited by section 47605 of the California Education Code from considering this fiscal impact. AB 1172 would close this huge loophole that forces school districts to approve charter schools they know will drain them of much needed tax revenue.

For this reasons we can expect the charter industrial complex to be lining up to stall, gut or kill this bill. It is urgent that those of us who care to avoid the threat of a charter school being imposed on other districts to contact our state Senator Mark Leno (916-651-4003 and 415-479-6612) to ask him to testify in support of AB1172 this Wednesday. You may also send emails to all the members of the Senate Education Committee asking them to vote in favor of AB1172. If you cannot write all 10 members at least write the chair Senator Lowenthal. Be sure to tell them about how our district faced a threat from a charter petition that would have drained our district of money when you call and email them.

Charter petition is going, going, gone...really?

Charter school advocates sent a letter to the board of Trustees announcing that they are withdrawing the charter petition. This letter is misleadingly signed by the "Parents Council" as well as the "Administrative Council" although no announcements that a vote would or had taken place have been made and by my reports few parents attended last Monday's meeting. Curiously, although parents were ready to vote on the question of whether to withdraw the charter petition at the PC meeting on the previous Friday, May 25th the chair of the meeting prevented a vote from taking place. Instead she scheduled another meeting for Monday at 10 am—the morning of Memorial Day at the end of a long 3 day weekend when it was assured that few parents would and did attend.

The letter makes several points about equity but the reputation of those that pushed this charter petition in an undemocratic fashion have blown their credibility. They appear to be futilely holding onto the charter and pointing it at the head of the District like a loaded gun. Matt Andrews hinted as such at the May 25th meeting I attended and in an excerpt from the letter quoted in today's Marin IJ article. Andrews is quoted as saying "Although we are withdrawing the charter petition, as a document it is very alive for us, and beautifully illustrates what our program could be when stable and with the full support of those involved." Would it be accurate to assume that since Andrews is credited for the quote in the IJ that he signed the letter he wrote himself as if it was approved by a vote of both the AC and PC?
Instead of issuing a letter of demands the Administrative Council should be submitting their letter of resignation. Mr. Andrews' name should appear on the signature line of that letter too.

And now for something really fun...

A couple of dads made this hilarious Dylan inspired music video addressed to my fellow LWIP parents urging them to remove their names from the now defunct charter petition. What a talented bunch of parents we have in the District.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ssspVf6v_k&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Enjoy!

Parents 1, Charter 0. It's over (for now): The charter petition has been withdrawn

According to parents who attended the Board of Trustees meeting this evening the charter petition has been withdrawn. However, its proponents did so with a threat that it could be revised and resubmitted at a later date.

It seems the charter proposal is dead. For now.

Good work to all who have worked so hard to stop it dead in its tracks.

Now it's time for those LWIP parents who have pushed this ill-conceived charter petition to apologize and resign from the LWIP Administrative Council for undemocratically pushing this on all of their fellow parents in the program and across the campus. It has been a monumental waste of everyone's time and has drained the District of valuable money and other resources that should have otherwise gone to educating our children.

The lesson we can all learn from this battle is that a well informed and engaged community is the best defense against the corporate privatization of our public schools under the guise of charter schools. As the powerful abolitionist campaigner and former slave Frederick Douglass once wrote, "Forewarned, forearmed, the price of liberty is eternal vigilance." (The Nation's Problem, 1889)

Keep tuned to this blog for coverage of other District issues and policies. If you have any to suggest please write me at rfovetz [at ]  riseup.net.

Response to comment concerning Public Records Act request

A reader made the following comment below: "Do you plan to make the entire group of documents public? If not, why not?"

Thank you for your feedback. Unfortunately, I do not yet see a reason to post all 3400+ emails and pages of notes I am told I will receive on this blog. Hundreds of other pages of related documents are already available on the District website for download. Part of the issue is that I was given electronic versions of only a fraction of the documents so far. The rest of the documents would cost me 25 cents per copy to obtain a copy which would quite costly. Also many of the documents are redundant copies of the same emails CC'ed to each recipient. I understand that the District may be willing to provide more documents electronically but I am not yet convinced that a data dump of everything I receive a la Wikileaks would be useful. However I will be reporting on what I think is newsworthy and relevant. If anyone would like to take a look at what I receive please contact me. I could use the help going through it all. I am happy to share.

KPFA's The Morning Mix covers charter school issue

KPFA's The Morning Mix ran my commentary opposing the charter school proposal this morning during its 8 am prime time drive slot on 94.1 FM. You can listen at 34 min and 30 sec.