Community

Continuing Pressure for Community Involvement in Hiring of Oakland Schools’ Chief

Published

8 years ago

March 16, 2017

As the Oakland Board of Education moves ahead with its search for a new superintendent of schools, members of the community are continuing to push for a more transparent hiring process.

Local groups are calling on the school board to open up the historically secretive selection of a new superintendent and to pick a new school leader who is from Oakland and committed to staying in the position for five or more years.

Recent Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) superintendents have stayed on the job for less than three years.

There has also been widespread agreement among speakers who have attended public engagement meetings that they want a superintendent who is not connected to a “corporate” school privatizing organization, such as the Broad Foundation, but who has a track record of listening to the community and prioritizes serving the majority of Oakland students, who are Black, Latino and often have special needs.

As of a few days ago, about 35 potential candidates had taken out applications papers, according to district officials. Applications had to be submitted by Wednesday of this week.

“We’re expecting to get a good group of candidates,” said School Board President James Harris in an interview with the Post last week. “We are aggressively seeking Latino candidates, who might otherwise not hear about the job. We’re getting a good influx of African American candidates. We’re look for some rock stars out there.”

He said the potential applicants include experienced superintendents from around the Bay Area and California.

According to Harris, over 1,000 people had completed an online survey on what qualities they want to see in a superintendent.

“It shows the level of interest that people have,” he said. “It’s more than ever before.”

One of the organizations that has been taking an active role in the superintendent selection process is State of Black Oakland (SOBO), whose education workgroup recently held community-based interviews with three superintendent candidates, attended by 70 people.

Noni Sessions

“We’re trying to short circuit the usual corporate selection process,” said Noni Session of SOBO. “They hire someone without knowledge of the community, and the person leaves in less than three years. This is a national problem.”

She also added, “this is not the way to get stable schools and a stable district.”

Sessions said SOBO is working “to get a local Black or Latino superintendent.”

Victor Martinez of the Latino Education Network (LEN) said his organization wants the search for a new superintendent to include qualified school administrators from throughout the Southwest.

“We don’t want that to be an artificial barrier to others who are qualified to apply and should not be discouraged,” he said. “We’re more likely to find a Latino if we look more broadly.”

“(Whether Latino or not), we need someone who has worked with the large Latino populations, like in Oakland, and has demonstrated success.”

According to a statement issued by LEN, Latinos make up the largest group of students in OUSD, but the school district has historically not met the needs the needs of Latino and English Learner Students, most of whom come from low-income families. Nor has the district hired a fair representation of Latino educators or other employees.

Victor Martinez

“The failure to hire Latinos and include Latinos in decisions and policy leaves Latinos disenfranchised and out of crucial educational benefits,” the statement said.

Pecolia Manigo, executive director of Parent Leadership Action Network, has been working hard to bring together organizations in Justice for Oakland Students Coalition.

The coalition has been circulating a petition to seek a district leader who “will bring a vision and system-wide plan for real results for African-American, Latino, and all high-need students, based on the priorities set by students and families; (and) will ensure budget equity by prioritizing direct funding to schools, not in high salaries in central office.”

The petition, which already has 3,200 signatures, is available here.

Pecolia Manigo

Participants in the coalition include Oakland Kids First, Black Organizing Project (BOP) and Parents United for Public Education.

“We are actively organizing to have a different type of OUSD superintendent search because we believe that OUSD needs a leader who will feel and take action to be accountable to students of color—the majority of OUSD students,” said Manigo.

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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

8 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.