THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: A trip down memory lane with Oakland’s “American Indian” charter schools & Ben Chavis

THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: A trip down memory lane with Oakland’s “American Indian” charter schools & Ben Chavis:

A trip down memory lane with Oakland’s “American Indian” charter schools & Ben Chavis

by The Perimeter Primate

Last evening Oakland Tribune education reporter Katy Murphy sent out this tweet: Oakland school board just voted 6-1 to issue "notice of intent to revoke" to three American Indian charters. Final decision in March.

It seems apropos to take a look back at some memorable news stories about those schools.

11/14/2001

“Beating a New Kind of Drum.” East Bay Express (CA) Martin Waukazoo helped establish Oakland's American Indian Public Charter School, which was created in 1996 with the mission of improving the dismal performance of Native Americans in the Oakland schools... By early 2000, things had gotten so out of hand that the school board seriously was considering shutting the institution down... new leadership took the form of Dr. Ben Chavis... NOTE: After Chavis arrived, the “American Indian or Alaska Native” (AI/AN) students at