Alameda County

Called a ‘Miracle’ School, Oakland’s Emiliano Zapata Street Academy Celebrates 50 Years

In 1970, high school graduation rates for Black students in the U.S. were half those of whites. Civil rights protests turned this reality into a big issue and these protests made possible the birth of a truly unique school like the Oakland Emiliano Zapata Street Academy. Over the years, it has been featured in several local news stories, one network touted it as ‘the miracle school located at 417 29th St. And perhaps miraculously, the school will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a community party on Saturday April 27 at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church.

Published

6 months ago

June 7, 2024

Oakland Post

Students at Emiliano Zapata Street Academy hold a community circle for International Women’s Day. Photo by Nick Young.

By Post Staff

Over the years, it has been featured in several local news stories, one network touted it as ‘the miracle school located at 417 29^th St. And perhaps miraculously, the school will celebrate its 50^th anniversary with a community party on Saturday April 27 at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church.

While the system called kids drop-outs, the organizers of the Street Academy said they were actually being pushed out by an impersonal and bureaucratic system. Whereas regular high school students had six or seven classes a day with no adult that really got to know them, the Street Academy created a “consulting teacher” model with one adult for every 20 students.

The consulting teacher would get to know them and their families well and stay with them throughout their years in high school. While other schools had history classes focused through the lens of European accomplishments, Street Academy was the first high school to require that every student take an ethnic studies class

And Street Academy had staff with activist mindsets. Bernard Stringer, the history teacher, for example, had been on strike as a student at San Francisco State. Betsy Schulz had been part of VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) a sort of stateside Peace Corps. Roger Chavarin had been an activist in the Latino community.

As a result, many of the students have shown a desire to help the community and Street Academy graduates have had an impact within and beyond the school. Ze Segundo and Corrina Gould worked for the American Friends Service Committee. Gould later became a leader of the Ohlone people and has led in the repatriation of Ohlone land through her organization, the Segorea Te Land Trust

Ana Guadalupe Aviles graduated in 1990 and became a bilingual mental health therapist and a member of the Street Academy board. Bukola (Lara) Lawal and Jaron Epstein graduated from Street Academy, went to college, and returned to the school as educators.

The staff has influenced other schools as well. Gina Hill and Monica Vaughan worked at the Street Academy for many years and carried its practices into their new leadership responsibilities at Alameda County and the Oakland Unified School District level.

Street Academy also has a unique travel club: Students have visited Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti and France. This year, some students are going to Italy.

The school has had many “angels” over the years, people who went out of their way to make sure the school survived. Former school board members, Sylvester Hodges and Peggy Stinnett, now deceased, were pivotal, as were the owners and publishers of this newspaper, Gay and Paul Cobb.

Several television networks have aired shows about the Street Academy. One of them referred to it as the “Miracle School.” The ‘Miracle School’ celebrates its 50th birthday this year

The 50^th anniversary celebration will be at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, 521 29^th St., in Oakland from 1-5 p.m. Web site – https://www.streetacademy.online/

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Alameda District Attorney Pamela Price Is Considering Legal Action If Recall Makes It to Ballot

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Outgoing D.A. Pamela Price Releases Report on County Gun Violence Epidemic

The 84-page report is divided into two parts: the Public Health Impact of Violence and the Contribution of Structural Inequalities; and the Public Safety Impact of Gun Violence and the Regulation of Firearms. Each section documents trends in rising gun violence in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with special attention to the rise in gun-related deaths of women and children in Alameda County. Each section advises innovative approaches for the County to address gun violence and build safe communities.

Published

1 week ago

December 8, 2024

Oakland Post

Exclusive interview with County D.A. Price days before recall election. Photo by Ken Epstein.

Pamela Price was recalled in the election on Nov. 5. File photo.

By Post Staff

Criminal Justice Reformer District Attorney Pamela Price, who is leaving office this week after losing a recall election, released a comprehensive report on the gun violence epidemic and public health emergency in Alameda County: “Tackling Gun Violence Epidemic in Alameda County: A Public Health Emergency (2019-2023).”

This report represents an unprecedented collaboration between public safety and public health partners and provides data and recommendations to guide the County’s continued work to reduce violence while advancing justice reform.

Each section documents trends in rising gun violence in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with special attention to the rise in gun-related deaths of women and children in Alameda County. Each section advises innovative approaches for the County to address gun violence and build safe communities.

“Between 2019 to 2023, an average of three residents were killed by firearms each week in Alameda County, and behind every statistic is a shattered family and community,” said Price.

“Under my administration, the DA’s office has taken bold steps to combat gun violence while promoting equity and healing for survivors,” she said.

The report highlights strategies for keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people. Last month, the DA’s office secured a $5.5 million grant from the California Judicial Council to help improve compliance and case management for gun cases and gun relinquishment orders —the removal of guns from people prohibited from possessing a firearm – with law enforcement and court partners.

This effort builds on Price’s work in 2023 and 2024 in attacking the gun violence epidemic.

“We launched an innovative Gun Violence Restraining Order Outreach Project to educate communities about the availability of tools to remove guns and ammunition from people who are a danger to themselves and others and the intersectionality of domestic violence and gun violence and convened gun violence roundtable conversations with our law enforcement partners and collaborated with the Alameda County Public Health Department to produce this comprehensive report,” she said.

“We supported Oakland’s CEASEFIRE program through its transition and implemented a pilot Mentor Gun Diversion Program with our collaborative court partners, offering non-violent youth in possession of a gun pathways to interrupt the potential for escalating harm.” added Price.

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D.A. Pamela Price Receives Hugs from Teary-Eyed Supporters as She Leaves Office

Crowding the sidewalk around Price were many teary-eyed supporters and well-wishers, who embraced her and carried homemade signs, singing, and chanting in recognition of her brave work as a champion for justice with compassion.

Published

2 weeks ago

December 7, 2024

Oakland Post

While holding a bouquet of flowers, District Attorney Pamela Price waves goodbye to supporters as she leaves her East Oakland office. Courtesy photo

By Ken Epstein

District Attorney Pamela Price left her office near the Oakland Coliseum Thursday afternoon for the last time after losing the recall election in November.

The crowd shouted and chanted, “We love you D.A. Price,” “You’re our hero,” and “We will not give up.”

They also sang: “We love you; we love you, Pamela Price. Just like a tree that’s planted by the water, we shall not be moved.”

Signs read: “Pamela Price: The D.A. who fought for us all:” and “Thank you for standing for justice. We love you.”

One man in the crowd said, “I’ve opposed pretty much every D.A. I’ve encountered. I guess that’s why they got her out. They can’t stand having a district attorney that believes in justice for everyone.”

After leaving work, she went to the Claremont Hotel in Oakland, where she was scheduled to receive an award from Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA).

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Alameda County

Councilmember Carroll Fife, on Track to Win Reelection, Looks to Oakland’s Progress

District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife, though outspent by hundreds of thousands of dollars and facing a bitter campaign of slander, misrepresentations, and physical threats, seems to have emerged with a fairly comfortable lead in her reelection bid, well ahead of her nearest competitor (44% to 30%). In an interview with the Oakland Post Thursday, Councilmember Fife said she is hopeful that Congresswoman Barbara Lee would be willing to run for Oakland mayor if Mayor Sheng Thao is recalled.

Published

1 month ago

November 6, 2024

Oakland Post

Carroll Fife. Courtesy photo.

By Ken Epstein

In an interview with the Oakland Post Thursday, Councilmember Fife said she is hopeful that Congresswoman Barbara Lee would be willing to run for Oakland mayor if Mayor Sheng Thao is recalled.

She also explained why she thinks her campaign has done so well against extreme challenges and talked about her priorities for the coming year, especially the need to stabilize leadership in city government.

“We’re on the right path,” said Fife. “We just need to bring in the right leadership, and I’m praying that Barbara Lee will consider running for mayor. I think she has the gravitas to pull Oakland together and unite everyone in a way that none of the top potential contenders will.”

Fife explained why she feels she has been able to overcome very powerful opponents to win reelection.

“There are several thousand votes outstanding (left to be counted), but it looks pretty good,” Fife said, emphasizing the impact of the door-to-door work her supporters have done over the past four years and her close ties with her constituents.

“I attribute that to ongoing base-building and community organizing, outside of the election years,” she said. “I have an amazing field team that was able to penetrate through the negative messaging and the narratives that these millionaires and billionaires were trying to craft.”

In addition, she said she spoke with most of her opponents, and they agreed to support each other in ranked choice voting. “I was able to coordinate with them, except for the two candidates that were perpetuating false narratives, and were part of former Mayor Libby Schaaf’s talking points,” and the doom-loop narrative trashing Oakland promoted by corporate public relations operative Sam Singer.

One of the local groups working to unseat Fife, Empower Oakland, received over $500,000 raised by crypto industry leader Jesse Pollak. The National Association of Realtors and other real estate groups also poured over $1 million into the campaign against the councilmember.

Though the billionaire and multimillionaire backers may be successful in recalling Oakland’s mayor and the Alameda County district attorney, they appear to be failing in their attempt to remake the leadership of City Hall.

“With all the money they’ve spent, they were successful with the two recalls and nothing else,” she said, explaining that corporation-backed candidates are not winning.

She noted that some local leaders are organizing to repeal ranked-choice voting in Oakland and that eliminating or preventing ranked-choice voting “is one of the (right-wing) Heritage Foundation’s flagship campaigns in cities and states across the nation.”

People “should be aware of how these Republican policies are creeping into the Bay,” she continued. Ranked-choice voting is a threat to those with money because it allows for “unlikely candidates who are not necessarily connected to wealth and or political connections,” to succeed, she said.

Oakland is poised for economic growth and is becoming a much safer city, Fife says.

At the same time, considerable economic challenges remain.

“We are dealing with some of the most challenging financial times in the history of Oakland, and I want to make sure that our infrastructure is solid. There are a lot of things to do and understanding that we’re going to need some help, and we’re not going to even have consistent leadership in the mayor’s office,” she said.

“If you want to empower Oakland, you don’t destabilize it,” Fife said. “You don’t destabilize it by creating mass hysteria in one of the largest businesses in the city, which is our city government.”

Looking at the impact of the Nov. 5 elections, she said, “I know people are feeling really dejected about some local and national races. But I think these are the opportunities for people who have big ideas and who are concerned about the beloved community to step up.

“We’ve seen how people have voiced their positions and their anxieties around our country, our city. But now is the time to organize,” Fife said.