The Disconnected Rhetoric of a Forgotten Superintendent
Tony Smith’s recent anti-teacher editorial in support of the plaintiffs in the Vergara v. California supreme court case, published by the OaklandTribune (a historically and current right-wing pro-business rag) comes as no surprise toClassroom Struggle. His departure–from the lucrative post as superintendent of Oakland Unified School District (OUSD)–was precipitated by teacher, student, and parent-led protests of school closings/union busting/closure of Adult Education, and two Oakland Schools police scandals. As Smith oversaw a record influx of charter schools, and a number of public school closures, the flood of protest resistance rose higher than the flood waters at the 2ND Avenue OUSD Administration offices, which forced a relocation to the former Cole Middle School — a school later replaced by an Oakland Schools police substation and eventually a charter school move-in. The amount of money Tony Smith’s leadership wasted on administration and consultants coupled with an annual failure to spend the mandated 55% of budget funds on classrooms, should shed light what Tony Smith actually did as Superintendent of Oakland Schools. This oft-spoken advocate of critical race theory and strident supporter of young African American men, is gone and forgotten, though the legacy of his devastating policies present the public with important work to organize against and overturn these corporate/private attacks on public education.
In contrast to the teacher, student, and parent outrage at Tony Smith’s policies, his plans were met with a minimum level of resistance by the Oakland teachers’ union, the Oakland Education Association (OEA). The only minor pushback consisted of a widely respected one-day strike in response to Smith and the The Disconnected Rhetoric of a Forgotten Superintendent | Classroom Struggle: