Bay Area

Billionaire John Fisher Linked to Privatization of Schools and Port of Oakland

Doris Fisher, worth $2.6 billion, has “focused much of her wealth and resources on building charter schools. She and her late husband Donald donated more than $70 million to … (KIPP schools) … (building) the operation into the largest network of charter schools in the country, with 200 schools serving 80,000 students in 20 states,” according to an article in the website Capital & Main in 2016.

Published

3 years ago

February 14, 2022

Oakland Post

Caption: Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf. Photo courtesy of ABC News.

Oakland A’s owner Fisher, a charter school tycoon, is a leader in ‘charterizing’ public schools.

Libby Schaaf connected to Fisher through funding of her education nonprofit, Oakland Promise; she calls for closing schools.

By Ken Epstein

How does real estate development at the Port connect to closing schools? Some political observers say ongoing attempts to displace residents and ‘whiten’ Oakland has two components: one is the snatching of public funds and property to build luxury housing as Oakland A’s owner John Fisher is doing at the Port.

The other part is removing the neighborhood schools attended by generations of Oakland residents and replacing them with charter schools and private schools designed to appeal to more affluent newcomers.

Significant potential allies for school communities fighting closures may be the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and other labor unions at the Port of Oakland, which are under threat from conservative billionaire Fisher’s stadium/real estate project that seeks to take over public land at the Port of Oakland, potentially fatally disrupting the port’s functioning.

John Fisher. Twitter photo.

Fisher has strong connections to local politicians. Mayor Libby Schaaf, an outspoken leader pushing for the Oakland A’s Port real estate project, also publicly backs the closing of Oakland schools. She is a charter school supporter and has significant connections to Fisher, who, along with other charter school billionaires, helps fund Schaaf’s pet nonprofit project, Oakland Promise.

Fisher is not only a baseball team owner, he is also a charter school tycoon. He and his mother Doris Fisher are leaders in the national effort to charterize school districts. According to the Knowledge is Power Program website, Fisher is on the board of directors of KIPP schools, which has charter schools across and the country and a network of 17 charters in Northern California, including a school in West Oakland and another in downtown Oakland.

KIPP’s office in this region is at 1000 Broadway, the same building where the school district has its headquarters.

Who is John Fisher? Politically, he is very conservative. According to Wiki, In 2019, it was revealed that Fisher, together with his mother Doris F. Fisher, as well as brothers William S. Fisher and Robert J. Fisher, had donated nearly $9 million to a dark money group that opposed Barack Obama in the 2012 election.”

According to the website of the KIPP charter school chain: “John Fisher is the executive vice chairman of Pisces Inc., and co-founder of Sansome Partners, which are the family office and investment group, respectively, for the Fisher Family, founders of The Gap. The Doris & Donald Fisher Fund focuses on education reform and charter schools and was founded by Doris Fisher and the late Donald Fisher.

“In addition to serving on a number of corporate boards, (Fisher) helped found and continues to serve on the board of Charter School Growth Fund and Silicon Schools Fund.”

Doris Fisher was listed in 2016 “as the second-largest political donor in California by the Sacramento Bee – and nearly all of her money now goes to promoting pro-charter school candidates and organizations,” according to Capital & Main. “While often labeled a Republican, she gives to Democrats and Republicans alike, just as long as they’re supportive of the charter school movement.”

Some of the financial connections between Oakland Promise — Schaaf’s nonprofit — to Fisher and other charter school billionaires are documented in Oakland Promise’s 2018 annual report.

Donations to Oakland Promise in 2018 by Fisher and Fisher-owned organizations include between $50,000-$100,000 from the Oakland Athletics, between $10,000-$25,000 from the Fisher Family and between $10,000-$25,000 from the Silicon Schools Fund.

Other charter school billionaires supporting Oakland Promise in 2018 were Arthur Rock, between $1 million-$3 million; Rogers Family Foundation, between $100,000- $1 million; Reed Hastings of Hastings Fund at Silicon Valley, between $100,000-$1 million

A locally based pro- charter school organization, Educate78, donated between $100,000-$1 million.

Schaaf is on board with Fisher’s agenda. In a KQED television interview on February 4, she offered “full-throttle support Fisher’s multi-billion-dollar real estate development at the Port,” she said. “This is everything that I as a mayor could want.”

Schaff was also unequivocal in her support for closing 15 Oakland neighborhood schools. She said that Oakland has 80 schools, while comparable districts have 40 schools, implying she supported closing as many as half the public schools in her city.

“I really feel for parents, students, teachers,” she said. “They have every right to be distrustful of this decision. But I believe it is different this time… This is an opportunity to do better for our students, for our educators, our families.”

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Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

Published

4 days ago

May 25, 2025

Oakland Post

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Chevron Richmond Installs Baker Hughes Flare.IQ, Real-time Flare Monitoring, Control and Reduction System

While the sight of flaring can cause concern in the community, flares are essential safety systems that burn pollutants to prevent them from being released directly into the atmosphere. They activate during startup and shut-down of facility units or during upsets or equipment malfunctions. The typical flare stack is about 200 feet high so that vapors are well above street levels.

Published

1 week ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Image courtesy The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

Chevron Richmond recently installed flare.IQ, a real-time, automated system that will improve the facility’s flaring performance.

The technology, developed by Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business, uses sensors to monitor, reduce and control flaring in real time. It collects and assesses data on refinery processes, such as temperature, pressure, gas flow and gas composition, and adjusts accordingly to ensure flares burn more efficiently and cleanly, leading to fewer emissions.

“The cleaner the flare, the brighter the flame can look,” said Duy Nguyen, a Chevron Richmond flaring specialist. “If you see a brighter flame than usual on a flare, that actually means flare.IQ is operating as intended.”

“A key element in Baker Hughes’ emissions abatement portfolio, flare.IQ has a proven track record in optimizing flare operations and significantly reducing emissions,” said Colin Hehir, vice president of Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business. “By partnering with Chevron Richmond, one of the first operators in North America to adopt flare.IQ, we are looking forward to enhancing the plant’s flaring operations.”

The installation of flare.IQ is part of a broader and ongoing effort by Chevron Richmond to improve flare performance, particularly in response to increased events after the new, more efficient hydrogen plant was brought online in 2019.

Since then, the company has invested $25 million — and counting — into flare minimization. As part of the effort, a multidisciplinary refinery team was formed to find and implement ways to improve operational reliability and ultimately reduce flaring. Operators and other employees involved in management of flares and flare gas recovery systems undergo new training.

“It is important to me that the community knows we are working hard to lower emissions and improve our flaring performance,” Nguyen said.

Also evolving is the process by which community members are notified of flaring incidents. The Community Warning System (CWS), operated by Contra Costa County is an “all-hazard” public warning system.

Residents can opt-in to receive alerts via text, e-mail and landline. The CWS was recently expanded to enable residents to receive notifications for “Level 1” incidents, which are considered informational as they do not require any community action.

For more information related to these topics, check out the resources included on the Chevron Richmond, CAER and Contra Costa Health websites. Residents are also encouraged to follow @chevronrichmond and @RFDCAOnline on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), where additional information may be posted during an incident.

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Oakland Hosts Town Hall Addressing Lead Hazards in City Housing

According to the city, there are 22,000 households in need of services for lead issues, most in predominantly low-income or Black and Latino neighborhoods, but only 550 to 600 homes are addressed every year. The city is hoping to use part of the multimillion-dollar settlement to increase the number of households served each year.

Published

1 week ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Magaly Muñoz

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department hosted a town hall in the Fruitvale to discuss the efforts being undertaken to remove lead primarily found in housing in East and West Oakland.

In 2021, the city was awarded $14 million out of a $24 million legal settlement from a lawsuit against paint distributors for selling lead-based paint that has affected hundreds of families in Oakland and Alameda County. The funding is intended to be used for lead poisoning reduction and prevention services in paint only, not water or other sources as has been found recently in schools across the city.

The settlement can be used for developing or enhancing programs that abate lead-based paint, providing services to individuals, particularly exposed children, educating the public about hazards caused by lead paint, and covering attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing litigation.

Most of the homes affected were built prior to 1978, and 12,000 of these homes are considered to be at high risk for lead poisoning.

City councilmember Noel Gallo, who represents a few of the lead-affected Census tracts, said the majority of the poisoned kids and families are coming directly from neighborhoods like the Fruitvale.

“When you look at the [kids being admitted] at the children’s hospital, they’re coming from this community,” Gallo said at the town hall.

In order to eventually rid the highest impacted homes of lead poisoning, the city intends to create programs and activities such as lead-based paint inspections and assessments, full abatement designed to permanently eliminate lead-based paint, or partial abatement for repairs, painting, and specialized cleaning meant for temporary reduction of hazards.

In feedback for what the city could implement in their programming, residents in attendance of the event said they want more accessibility to resources, like blood testing, and information from officials about lead poisoning symptoms, hotlines for assistance, and updates on the reduction of lead in their communities.

Attendees also asked how they’d know where they are on the prioritization list and what would be done to address lead in the water found at several school sites in Oakland last year.

City staff said there will be a follow-up event to gather more community input for programming in August, with finalizations happening in the fall and a pilot launch in early 2026.