Cutting school, with dire consequences | The Education Report

Cutting school, with dire consequences | The Education Report

Cutting school, with dire consequences

By Katy Murphy
Friday, June 3rd, 2011 at 5:38 pm in crime, high schools, students, violence.

I’m supposed to be an education reporter, not a crime reporter, but lately there hasn’t been much of a distinction.

Today I reported on a tragedy that unfolded at a market near Youth Empowerment School in the East Oakland hills — which, according to the school principal, is about to close (not merge into the Castlemont campus, as originally planned).

On Tuesday morning, a 14-year-old YES freshman cut school and, police said, got into a violent struggle with the 57-year-old owner of Oak Knoll Market over bottles of vodka he was trying to steal. When the boy fled, the owner followed in his car