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De Anza High Students Protest Dismissal of Popular Teacher

Published

11 years ago

March 13, 2015

By Post staff

About 100 De Anza High School students held a day-long protest and peacefully demonstrated in front of the high school on Mar. 9. The students were part of the high school’s Law Academy program and they demanded that the West Contra Costa School District reverse a decision to fire their teacher.

De Anza’s principal and the West Contra Costa Unified school board decided not to renew the contract of probationary teacher Tahitia Dean, who was the director of the school’s Law Academy.

Under state law, school district’s can fire or layoff teachers during their first two years without giving any reason.

Students say they went to the school board, wrote letters to the principal and school board, but no one listened to their complaints – then officials decided against renewing the Dean’s contract, concerned parents said.

According to students, the announcement that the teacher was not going to be rehired may be tied to an incident that occurred when De Anza students attended a mock trial event in Martinez in February.

The De Anza law academy students’ bus broke down, and when a replacement bus arrived, it smelled strongly of marijuana.

The students felt disrespected. They were upset that that the company would provide them with a bus that was not clean. As might be expected of students who were learning to understand law and their rights, they expressed their concerns in letters to the bus company, the principal and administration.

The announcement of Dean’s termination immediately followed. Dean could not be reached for comment.

Some students and parents think Dean’s lost her job because she encouraged students to speak up for themselves. The students believe had they not said anything, that their instructor would still have a contract, said De Anza parent Jonothan Dumas.

“That was the kids actually wanting to do what they were learning to do in the law academy; which is if you see something that you believe to be wrong that you do something about it, that you put it in writing to the authorities,” he said.

“They did it without prompting,” he said. “They were voicing their frustration over the situation and this happens.”

A spokesman for the West Contra Costa School District told news reproters, “While we value and respect the opinions of our students and parents, the ultimate responsibility for evaluating teachers lies with the principal and the district.”

Congressman Mark DeSaulnier happened to be visiting the school on Monday during the protests and stopped to talk with the students. DeSaulnier could not be reached for comment.

Dumas, whose daughter attends the law academy, said parents are confused because the popular teacher was scheduled to participate in a teaching summer fellowship.

One of the requirements for the fellowship is that Dean needed acknowledgement from school management that her teaching contract was in place and would continue, according to Dumas.

Dean did get that acknowledgement, so the refusal to renew her contract was a surprise, he said.

Education professor Dr. Kitty Kelly Epstein said that the decision to terminate the teacher seemed to contradict the school district’s commitment to excellent teaching.

“The testimonials by parents about the passion for education this teacher has created in their children are inspirational,” said Kelly Epstein. “She gives students new experiences, and she demands the best if them.”

“This is what we’re all looking for in a high school teacher,” she said.

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Poll Shows Support for Policies That Help Families Afford Child Care

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

Published

2 days ago

March 2, 2026

Oakland Post

By First Five Years Fund

New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

The national survey was conducted by UpOne Insight on behalf of the First Five Years Fund from January 13–18, 2026.

Key findings include:

• Parents need help: 80% of voters say the ability of working parents to find and afford child care is either in a state of crisis or a major problem.

• This is an affordability issue: 82% believe federal child care funding will help lower costs for working families — including 69% of Republicans, 84% of Independents, and 94% of Democrats.

• And there continues to be strong support (62%) for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), a federal program that makes it possible for hundreds of thousands of families to afford safe, quality care for their children while parents work or go to school, including a majority of Republicans, 63% of Independents and 72% of Democrats.

• Support for funding child care programs remains strong: 75% believe child care funding should be increased or kept at current levels — including 75% of Republicans, 85% of Independents, and 97% of Democrats.

• 74% say funding for child care is an important and good use of tax dollars, including a majority of Republicans, three-quarters of Independents, and nine in ten Democrats.

FFYF Executive Director Sarah Rittling said, “Voters across the country are sending a clear message: federal child care and early learning programs work. These investments help parents stay in the workforce, strengthen families, and support healthy child development. They have also long had strong bipartisan support in Congress. At a time when affordability is top of mind for families, continued federal funding is essential to ensure child care remains accessible and within reach.”

First Five Years Fund works to protect, prioritize, and build bipartisan support for quality child care and early learning programs at the federal level. Reliable, affordable, and high-quality early learning and child care can be transformative, not only enhancing a child’s prospects for a brighter future but also bolstering working parents and fostering economic stability nationwide.

We work with Congress and the Administration to identify federal solutions that work for families with young children, as well as states and communities. We work with policymakers to identify ways to increase access to affordable, high-quality child care and early learning programs for children. And we collaborate with advocacy groups to help align best practices with the best possible policies. http://www.ffyf.org

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Oakland Post: Week of February 25 – March 3, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 25 – March 3, 2026

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3 days ago

March 1, 2026

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Trump’s MAGA Allies are Creating Executive Order Plan to Steal the 2026 Midterms

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

Published

5 days ago

February 27, 2026

Oakland Post

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Correspondent

A group of MAGA pro-Trump activists, who say they are working in coordination with the White House, are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that would claim without evidence that China interfered with the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential to President Joe Biden by over 7 million votes. Since Trump lost to Biden in 2020, he has repeatedly claimed that the election was “stolen” without evidence. The report of a group of “Trump allies” preparing an executive order to give Trump power over elections was first reported by The Washington Post.

The lies around the right-wing campaign that pushed falsehoods that the 2020 election was stolen was trafficked through right-wing media, particularly Fox News. Fox News was then sued for defamation for the claims by Dominion Voting Systems. Fox lost the case and had to settle for the largest defamation amount on record of $787.5 million in April 2023.

The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

The story in The Washington Post arrives as Trump increasingly signals that he may take actions that would alter the result of the 2026 midterms. The Republicans are widely expected to lose as their approval ratings plummet as a result of a failing economy under Trump. Over 50 members of Congress have announced they will retire this year and not return in 2027.

The Trump Department of Justice, which now has a large image of Trump on the side of it, “sued five new states Thursday [Feb. 26, 2026] demanding access to their unredacted voter rolls — escalating a campaign that has been rejected by multiple federal courts and faces resistance from Republican-led states as well,” according to Democracy Docket, a group that works to protect voting rights.

Trump claimed back in late 2020, the last year of his first term, that he had the authority to issue an executive order related to mail-in voting for the 2020 elections — which he would then lose. But the Constitution states that control of elections lies with the states. As the GOP works to place hurdles in front of voting, Democrats worked to make voting easier.

In March 2021, President Biden signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to expand voting access as part of the Biden Administration’s effort “to promote and defend the right to vote for all Americans who are legally entitled to participate in elections.”

Trump’s focus is clearly on altering the November 2026 midterm elections. Trump’s polling numbers and the elections and special elections that have taken place around the U.S. over the last year clearly indicate that Republicans are about to be hit by a blue wave of Democratic victories.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent investigative journalist and the founder of Black Virginia News. She is a political analyst who appears on #RolandMartinUnfiltered and hosts the show LAUREN LIVE on YouTube @LaurenVictoriaBurke. She can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke