Bay Area

Oakland Parents Join Statewide Coalition to Protest State-Imposed School Closings

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The Oakland Unified School District has remained under FCMAT’s domination since the state took over in 2003. Already, under FCMAT’s leadership, more than 30 Oakland schools have been closed. Now, in the 2021-2023 school years, 13 additional Oakland schools have either been closed or are expected to close at the end of this school year.

Published

3 years ago

September 25, 2022

Oakland Post

Protesters from Oakland and the Inglewood school district in Southern California protest against school closings and budget cuts Wednesday, Sept. 21 at the annual meeting of the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) in Los Angeles County. They were demanding that FCMAT and their respective county offices of education relinquish control of their districts.

Protesters shut down meeting of Gov. Newsom’s state-funded nonprofit agency

By Ken Epstein

Parent Voices Oakland and other Oakland community groups this week joined with parents and community leaders from Inglewood in Southern California to demand an end to state-imposed school closings and decades of budget cutbacks at the annual board meeting of the state-financed nonprofit, Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT).

At the meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 21, held at the Los Angeles County Office of Education in Downey, the community coalition demanded “that FCMAT change its racist policy course or, if they refuse, (we) demand that Governor Newsom hold this state agency accountable for their decades of racist public school closures and colonization of Black and Brown communities,” according to a press statement that was released prior to the protest.

The protesters shut down the meeting. They scheduled a meeting with FCMAT’s Chief Executive Officer Michael Fine.

The coalition is “demanding that the Governor recognize progress and new funding wins and that he holds this state agency accountable for their decades of racist public-school closures that continue to disproportionately impact schools and communities of color.”

Specific parent demands are:

FCMAT reimburse local districts for costs incurred during state takeovers of school districts including Oakland and Inglewood, among others;
Newsom should create stable funding for majority student-of-color districts in his next budget;
Newsom and state education leaders commit to a multi-year approach to early and K-12 education to guarantee stability to the state’s classrooms;
Restore local sovereignty to districts of color currently under FCMAT’s domination.

According to the parent coalition, up to now, FCMAT has received minimal public attention, and as a result, has not been held accountable for targeting working-class districts of color in California for decades with state takeover and receiverships.

Reporting directly to the governor, FCMAT has forced districts into debt, utilizing audits to require unnecessary loans, exorbitant fees, and unachievable financial outcomes, according to the coalition press statement.

The Oakland Unified School District has remained under FCMAT’s domination since the state took over in 2003. Already, under FCMAT’s leadership, more than 30 Oakland schools have been closed. Now, in the 2021-2023 school years, 13 additional Oakland schools have either been closed or are expected to close at the end of this school year.

The state has forced Oakland and Inglewood, majority Black and Brown school districts, to take loans far more than what the community needed, wanted, or agreed to, and then has given authority to FCMAT to exercise complete control over these districts because of debts the district did not create, the press statement said.

FCMAT often requires school districts to close schools even when these actions do not save funds and overrules attempts by these districts, and parents to find alternatives to save funds apart from closing schools, the press statement said.

In a September 21 letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, coalition members wrote:

“Beyond Oakland and Inglewood, a much longer list of school, early education and community college districts, almost entirely majority Black and Brown districts, have been under the thumb of FCMAT for decades, forced into austerity measures by an entirely unaccountable entity led by an overwhelmingly white leadership team (comprised of 22 people that include 20 white and 2 Latinx individuals). FCMAT itself says there are a ‘historic’ number of districts on its list this year – all majority Black and Brown districts. FCMAT does not exert this level of control over any white majority school districts in California.”

Among the signers of the letter were Inglewood parents and community leaders, including members of Inglewood Rising and Law 4 Black Lives Inglewood, as well as representatives from Oakland, including Zach Norris of Oakland Not For Sale, Dr. Frankie Free Ramos of Oakland Progressive Alliance and Dr. Kitty Kelly Epstein, an Oakland education professor.

At press time, FCMAT has not responded to a request for comment from the Oakland Post.

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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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Bay Area

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

2 weeks 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.