Community

Oakland Teacher Strike Day 4: Solidarity Schools

Published

6 years ago

February 26, 2019

As the Oakland teacher strike continues, parents, students, teachers, and residents have united to create solidarity schools to help families who don’t want their children crossing their teachers’ picket lines.

Solidarity schools are ad hoc organizations that provide free childcare, educational activities, and meals to students while Oakland educators are on strike. Some solidarity schools are small and run within parents’ homes while over 25 bigger schools are located in churches and recreational centers.

“This solidarity school is really helpful,” said lifelong Oakland resident, Shawn Tillman. Her young child has been attending a solidarity school run out of Taylor Memorial Church as Tillman needs help with childcare during the day. “I didn’t want my daughter going to school with her teacher not there and I didn’t want her crossing the picket line.”

Tillman remembers being a student in 1996, when her teachers struck for about a month. Then, as now, Oakland teachers have asked her family to not attend school and she’s honored their request.

Some older Oakland students have volunteered to help out at Taylor Memorial’s solidarity school by supervising and organizing activities for younger students. Oakland Tech Senior Jossi Blair and four of her classmate friends played games with younger students and helped them to make signs in support of their teachers. On Friday, Feb 22, the students showed their signs to Oakland teachers and their supporters who participated in a teacher strike march that passed by the church.

“I think it’s really important to have places that people can bring their kids and I’m happy to help,” Blair said.

Retired librarian Kristen Loomis, who attends church at Taylor Memorial and lives about ten blocks away, helps to provide a meal and childcare for children whose parents need to work during the day. She sees her service as part of a network that’s working to ensure teachers get the pay and supports they’re asking for.

“I hope the school board has sense enough to know that they’ve got to find the money for the teachers,” Loomis said.

While attendance in all Oakland public schools has remained sparse since the strike began, attendance at solidarity schools has been increasing. During Feb 21-22, the first two days of the strike, both Taylor Memorial and Bushrod Recreational Center’s solidarity schools served from 20-25 students, but after the weekend past, attendance rose in both schools. Around 50 attended the Taylor and Bushrod solidarity schools on Mon. Feb. 25. Oakland parent and volunteer Mikaela Rabinowitz claims attendance is increasing because many parents who could take a few days off from work as the strike started can no longer do so.

While Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) parents have primarily been organizing Bushrod’s solidarity school, Bay Area teachers have also helped. OUSD music teachers Bonnie Larsen and Yari Mander, and art teacher Ellen Oppenheimer all organized classes for students.

Jo Ann Gong, who has taught elementary school in several Bay Area school districts, including OUSD, also helped out at Bushrod. Although she says she loved working with Oakland parents and students, she left OUSD in 2005 because she felt unsupported by the district.

“I think its important to support Oakland teachers because they’re so underpaid and under-resourced,” Gong said. “And I definitely think teachers around the country need to fight for a system that trusts them.”

Zack Haber

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Oakland Post: Week of December 25 – 31, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of December 25 – 31, 2024

Published

20 hours ago

December 26, 2024

Oakland Post

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Bay Area

Glydways Breaking Ground on 14-Acre Demonstration Facility at Hilltop Mall

Glydways has been testing its technology at CCTA’s GoMentum Station in Concord for several years. The company plans to install an ambitious 28-mile Autonomous Transit Network in East Contra Costa County. The new Richmond facility will be strategically positioned near that project, according to Glydways.

Published

3 days ago

December 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Image of planned Richmond facility courtesy of Glydways.

The Richmond Standard

Glydways, developer of microtransit systems using autonomous, small-scale vehicles, is breaking ground on a 14-acre Development and Demonstration Facility at the former Hilltop Mall property in Richmond, the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) reported on social media.

Glydways, which released a statement announcing the project Monday, is using the site while the mall property undergoes a larger redevelopment.

“In the interim, Glydways will use a portion of the property to showcase its technology and conduct safety and reliability testing,” the company said.

The new Richmond development hub will include “over a mile of dedicated test track, enabling Glydways to refine its solutions in a controlled environment while simulating real-world conditions,” the company said.

Visitors to the facility will be able to experience on-demand travel, explore the control center and visit a showroom featuring virtual reality demonstrations of Glydways projects worldwide.

The hub will also house a 13,000-square-foot maintenance and storage facility to service the growing fleet of Glydcars.

“With this new facility [at the former Hilltop Mall property], we’re giving the public a glimpse of the future, where people can experience ultra-quiet, on-demand transit—just like hailing a rideshare, but with the reliability and affordability of public transit,” said Tim Haile, executive director of CCTA.

Janet Galvez, vice president and investment officer at Prologis, owner of the Hilltop Mall property, said her company is “thrilled” to provide space for Glydways and is continuing to work with the city on future redevelopment plans for the broader mall property.

Richmond City Manager Shasa Curl added that Glydways’ presence “will not only help test new transit solutions but also activate the former Mall site while preparation and finalization of the Hilltop Horizon Specific Plan is underway.

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Alameda County

Last City Council Meeting of the Year Ends on Sour Note with Big Budget Cuts

In a five to one vote, with Councilmembers Carroll Fife and Janani Ramachandran excused, the council passed a plan aimed at balancing the $130 million deficit the city is facing. Noel Gallo voted against the plan, previously citing concerns over public safety cuts, while Nikki Fortunato-Bas, Treva Reid, Rebecca Kaplan, Kevin Jenkins, and Dan Kalb voted in agreement with the plan.

Published

3 days ago

December 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Oakland City Council voted on a plan to balance the $130 million deficit at their last regular meeting of 2024. The plan reduces police spending by $25 million, temporarily closes two fire stations, and guts the cultural arts programs. iStock photo.

By Magaly Muñoz

In the last lengthy Tuesday meeting of the Oakland City Council for 2024, residents expressed strong opposition to the much needed budget cuts before a change in leadership was finalized with the certification of election results.

Oakland police and fire departments, the ambassador program, and city arts and culture will all see significant cuts over the course of two phases.

Phase 1 will eliminate two police academies, brown out two fire stations, eliminate the ambassador program, and reduce police overtime by nearly $25 million. These, with several other cuts across departments, aim to save the city $60 million. In addition, the council simultaneously approved to transfer restricted funds into its general purpose fund, amounting to over $40 million.

Phase 2 includes additional fire station brownouts and the elimination of 91 jobs, aiming to recover almost $16 million in order to balance the rest of the budget.

Several organizations and residents spoke out at the meeting in hopes of swaying the council to not make cuts to their programs.

East Oakland Senior Center volunteers and members, and homeless advocates, filled the plaza just outside of City Hall with rallies to show their disapproval of the new budget plan. Senior residents told the council to “remember that you’ll get old too” and that disturbing their resources will only bring problems for an already struggling community.

While city staff announced that there would not be complete cuts to senior center facilities, there would be significant reductions to staff and possibly inter-program services down the line.

Exiting council member and interim mayor Bas told the public that she is still hopeful that the one-time $125 million Coliseum sale deal will proceed in the near future so that the city would not have to continue with drastic cuts. The deal was intended to save the city for fiscal year 2024-25, but a hold up at the county level has paused any progress and therefore millions of dollars in funds Oakland desperately needs.

The Coliseum sale has been a contentious one. Residents and city leaders were originally against using the deal as a way to balance the budget, citing doubts about the sellers, the African American Sports and Entertainment Group’s (AASEG), ability to complete the deal. Council members Reid, Ramachandran, and Gallo have called several emergency meetings to understand where the first installments of the sale are, with little to no answers.

Bas added that as the new Alameda County Supervisor for D5, a position she starts in a few weeks, she will do everything in her power to push the Coliseum sale along.

The city is also considering a sales tax measure to put on the special election ballot on April 15, 2025, which will also serve as an election to fill the now vacant D2 and mayor positions. The tax increase would raise approximately $29 million annually for Oakland, allowing the city to gain much-needed revenue for the next two-year budget.

The council will discuss the possible sales tax measure on January 9.