Teacher: Oakland kids could be squeezed out of Alameda schools
Brian Rodriguez, a history teacher at Alameda’s Encinal High School, once taught at the old Elmhurst Middle School in East Oakland. Though he left the Oakland school district, he’s still teaching lots of Oakland kids. He worries that a “witch hunt” for out-of-district transfers is about to happen. -Katy
I have taught at Encinal High School in Alameda since the 1996-97 school year, when I left Oakland following the teacher strike. I left reluctantly, because I loved teaching at Elmhurst Middle School, but like many union reps, I was the subject of illegal disciplinary action following the month-long teacher’s strike and left in disgust.To my delight, I still was able to teach many Oakland students who also left OUSD following the strike, and to work with fine educators who left then, too. It’s estimated that 400 out-of-district students attend Alameda schools.
Encinal, with an enrollment of 1,100, is officially an “open enrollment” school, and as such has gladly accepted Oakland and San Leandro students. This has made it a much more diverse high school. Over 40 different languages are spoken in the hallways.
My first Encinal principal used to joke that Oakland didn’t need a charter school because it had Encinal. Read the rest of this entry »
Parent group proposes a “people’s takeover” to keep Oakland preschools open
By Katy Murphy
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 at 12:38 pm in community, parents, preschool, teachers
6 Comments »
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 at 12:38 pm in community, parents, preschool, teachers
6 Comments »
At the end of the month, if nothing changes, seven of Oakland’s childhood development centers will close their doors because of massive budget cuts threatened at the state level: Manzanita, Jefferson, Golden Gate, Santa Fe, Piedmont Avenue, Sequoia and Hintil Kuu Ca childhood development centers.
Henry Hitz, the director of Oakland Parents Together, has another idea: staff the centers with volunteers (including some laid-off teachers) until the state Legislature approves a budget with preschool funding.
“Our feeling is if we allow the centers to close, they will never reopen,” Hitz said.
If you want to learn more — and vote — on this proposal, Hitz invites you to an Oakland Parents Together meeting at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow (Wednesday) at the Santa Fe CDC, 5380 Adeline St. in North Oakland. School district staff will be there, he said.
