Activism

Public Ed Protectors ‘Unwelcome’ NewSchools Venture Fund

Published

6 years ago

May 17, 2019

Oakland Unified School District teachers, students, parents and supporters pose behind a giant mural they created that reads “Schools for Kids, Not for profits” on May 8 outside of Oakland’s Marriott at City Center. The mural was addressed to those attending NewSchools Venture Fund’s, a pro-charter organization backed by billionaires, invite only dinner. Photo by Zack Haber.

As the 2018-19 Oakland Unified School District’s (OUSD) academic year winds down in the wake of an historic teachers’ strike, Oakland educators, students, and their supporters are continuing to fight against school privatization and for increased public education funding.

“When we struck, we said this is just the beginning,” Oakland Education Association’s (OEA) first vice president Ishmael Armendariz said on May 8, speaking over passing traffic honking in support, to a crowd of over 100 people at a rally outside of Oakland Marriott City Center. OEA, the union representing about 3,000 teachers, nurses, and counselors.

“We are on our way to Sacramento because it’s us, as public school teachers, who need to lead the fight to defend public education,” he said, drumming up support for a May 22 rally, where OEA and its supporters plan to join other California educator unions to flood the capital with people calling for increased public education funding and legislation that limits the growth of charter schools.

The May 8 rally, called “Billionaires Can’t Teach Our Kids!” served as an unwelcoming party for those attending an invitation-only dinner organized by the NewSchools Venture Fund (NSVF), an Oakland -based organization funded through multi-million dollar donations from high-profile billionaires, including Mark Zuckerberg, Bill and Melinda Gates, and Sam and Helen Walton.

Speakers at the rally said NSVF and its supporters drive school privatization in Oakland, which harms public schools.

“They are essentially using the unlimited funding of the billionaire class to turn public education into a business,” said Redwood Heights Elementary School parent Erin Brightwell, speaking at the rally. “Their ultimate goal is to turn K-12 education into something you have to pay for.”

NSVF’S website claims that they invest “in both nonprofit and for-profit organizations that are working to improve public education in a variety of ways.”

NSVF has invested in several local charter schools including Lighthouse Community Charter, Aspire, and Alliance. They also have invested in Go Public Schools (GO), an organization that many public school advocates claim works to weaken public education while pushing a pro-charter agenda.

GO has financially backed school board members Jumoke Hinton Hodge, Gary Yee and James Harris with campaign funding, all of whom later voted to close Roots International Academy, a public middle school in East Oakland..

While the Roots campus is being taken over by another public school, Coliseum College Prep Academy (CCPA), in Oakland’s recent past public school closures have often meant that a charter school takes over the public school campus.

The former campus of Lakeview Elementary, which closed in 2012, now houses a charter school called American Indian Model School. Marshall Elementary School, which closed in 2013, now houses East Bay Innovation Academy.

OEA and its supporters are seeking and supporting candidates for the upcoming 2020 school board election who won’t vote to close public schools.

Speaking at the May 8 rally, Kaiser Elementary School parent Steve Young said there were good District 5 and District 3 candidates, but a total of four school board seats will still be up for grabs in 2020, meaning that there is a need for two more Oakland community members to run for office who support public schools and stand against charters.

“I will walk till my feet bleed to elect you and to see these corrupt buffoons cast to the winds of history,” said Young, addressing those considering running against current board members.

District 5 school board candidate Mike Hutchinson spoke at the rally, claiming the pro-charter movement can be stopped by a public that is ready to fight for its public schools.

“The only way we can counter money power is with people power,” he said.

“We are not done,” said second OEA Vice President Chaz Garcia. “There are a great number of us here, but there are going to be more of us in Sacramento [at the May 22 rally], and we are going to continue to let them know that we will not allow them to take our public schools.”

Zack Haber

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Activism

Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

3 hours ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.