Connect with us

Education

OUSD Families and Staff Oppose Cuts at Schools

Published

on

Supt. Kyla Johnson-Trammell says difficult steps are necessary to maintain stability
Hundreds of chanting protesters – teachers and school workers, parents and their children – filled the Oakland Board of Education meeting room this week to attempt to pressure the school board to halt or reduce the mid-year budget cuts that will directly impact schools and classrooms and result in layoffs of many low-wage school employees.
Monday evening’s meeting had been scheduled to vote on proposed cuts, but the school board is now considering ways to avoid some of the school site budget reductions.
The board’s Budget and Finance Committee is scheduled to discuss the proposal at its Thursday, Dec. 7 meeting, and the final decision on cuts is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 13.
Speaking to the crowded room – amid chants of “Chop from the Top!” –  School Board President James asked for people to discuss “how these cuts will land on you” and to propose solutions.
“The board absolutely understands that you are upset about any threat to your students,” he said. “Our goal is to listen this evening.”
“I want you to know no decisions have been made about (the size of the cuts). No decisions have been made about (what to cut at) a school,” said Harris.
The room quieted as Supt. Kyla Johnson-Trammell outlined the district’s precarious budget situation and a proposal for recovery.
“As your new superintendent, I have inherited this fiscal challenge and now the responsibility to right the ship,” she said. “I acknowledge and understand the hurt, frustration and anger that everyone is feeling.”
She said some of the economic decisions made in the past two school years were made with the best intentions – for libraries, early childhood education and the Oakland Athletic League – but without regard to the impact on the overall budget.
“We have to look at what we’re going to divest in to make sure we are solvent,” she said. “That is where we fell short in the last two years.
“I know this information isn’t positive but it’s important to be transparent every step of the way about where we are – the good, the bad and the ugly, when we make mistakes.”
Some of the budget cuts at school sites and the central office are necessary to guarantee stability and avoid state takeover, she said. The needed money includes $1.2 million for the state-mandated reserve; a contingency reserve for unforeseen expenses totaling $7.2 million; and $4.7 million to support special education, a program that always costs more than the limited funding the district receives from the state.
The district may be able to postpone an additional $2 million in cuts the board had intended to use to begin to restore the depleted self -insurance fund, she said.
However, she said, budget reduction at both the central office and school sites are unavoidable.
Speaking to the Post after the meeting, Oakland Education Association (OEA) President Trish Gorham said, “I think it was long overdue, a small step in the direction. Some of the board members finally admitted their lack of oversight.
“The pressure of the community had them reduce the cuts – slightly. I feel more optimistic now that we can keep the cuts away from the school sites and the lowest paid workers.”
JoAanna Lougin, executive director of United Administrators of Oakland Schools, told the Post that responsibility for the district’s current crisis should be borne by much of the district’s top management.
“It’s poor management on the part of a whole lot of people. They took advantage of the situation. Now the workers are having to pay the cost for this with their jobs,” she continued. “There need to be consequences for these actions.”

Hundreds of teachers, school employees, families and community members attended the Oakland Board of Education Monday night to protest mid-year budget cuts that would mean reducing programs for children, cutting school supplies and laying off low-wage workers at schools. The board is expected to make a final decision Dec. 13. Photo by Ken Epstein.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Activism

LIVE! — TOWN HALL ON RACISM AND ITS IMPACT — THURS. 11.14.24 5PM PST

Join us for a LIVE Virtual Town Hall on the Impact of Racism hosted by Post News Group Journalist Carla Thomas and featuring Oakland, CA NAACP President Cynthia Adams & other Special Guests.
Thursday, November 14, 2024, 5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. PST

Published

on

video
play-rounded-fill

Join us for a LIVE Virtual Town Hall on the Impact of Racism hosted by Post News Group Journalist Carla Thomas and featuring Oakland, CA NAACP President Cynthia Adams & other Special Guests.
Thursday, November 14, 2024
5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. PST

Discussion Topics:
• Since the pandemic, what battles have the NAACP fought nationally, and how have they impacted us locally?
• What trends are you seeing concerning Racism? Is it more covert or overt?
• What are the top 5 issues resulting from racism in our communities?
• How do racial and other types of discrimination impact local communities?
• What are the most effective ways our community can combat racism and hate?

Your questions and comments will be shared LIVE with the moderators and viewers during the broadcast.

STREAMED LIVE!
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/PostNewsGroup
YOUTUBE: youtube.com/blackpressusatv
X: twitter.com/blackpressusa

Continue Reading

Art

Brown University Professor and Media Artist Tony Cokes Among MacArthur Awardees

When grants were announced earlier this month, it was noted that seven of the 22 fellows were African American. Among them are scholars, visual and media artists a poet/writer, historian, and dancer/choreographer who each receive $800,000 over a five-year period to spend as they see fit. Their names are Ruha Benjamin, Jericho Brown, Tony Cokes, Jennifer L. Morgan, Ebony G. Patterson, Shamel Pitts, Jason Reynolds, and Dorothy Roberts. This is the third in the series highlighting the Black awardees.

Published

on

Tony Cokes. Photo courtesy of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Tony Cokes. Photo courtesy of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Special to The Post

When grants were announced earlier this month, it was noted that seven of the 22 fellows were African American. Among them are scholars, visual and media artists a poet/writer, historian, and dancer/choreographer who each receive $800,000 over a five-year period to spend as they see fit. Their names are Ruha Benjamin, Jericho Brown, Tony Cokes, Jennifer L. Morgan, Ebony G. Patterson, Shamel Pitts, Jason Reynolds, and Dorothy Roberts. This is the third in the series highlighting the Black awardees. The report below is excerpted from the MacArthur Fellows web site.

Tony Cokes

Tony Cokes, 68, is a media artist creating video works that recontextualize historical and cultural moments. Cokes’s signature style is deceptively simple: changing frames of text against backgrounds of solid bright colors or images, accompanied by musical soundtracks.

Cokes was born in Richmond, Va., and received a BA in creative writing and photography from Goddard College in 1979 and an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1985. He joined the faculty of Brown University in 1993 and is currently a professor in the Department of Modern Culture and Media.

According to Wikipedia, Cokes and Renee Cox, and Fo Wilson, created the Negro Art Collective (NAC) in 1995 to fight cultural misrepresentations about Black Americans.[5]

His work has been exhibited at national and international venues, including Haus Der Kunst and Kunstverein (Munich); Dia Bridgehampton (New York); Memorial Art Gallery University of Rochester; MACRO Contemporary Art Museum (Rome); and the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts (Harvard University), among others.

Like a DJ, he samples and recombines textual, musical, and visual fragments. His source materials include found film footage, pop music, journalism, philosophy texts, and social media. The unexpected juxtapositions in his works highlight the ways in which dominant narratives emerging from our oversaturated media environments reinforce existing power structures.

In his early video piece Black Celebration (A Rebellion Against the Commodity) (1988), Cokes reconsiders the uprisings that took place in Black neighborhoods in Los Angeles, Detroit, Newark, and Boston in the 1960s.

He combines documentary footage of the upheavals with samples of texts by the cultural theorist Guy Debord, the artist Barbara Kruger, and the musicians Morrisey and Martin Gore (of Depeche Mode).

Music from industrial rock band Skinny Puppy accompanies the imagery. In this new context, the scenes of unrest take on new possibilities of meaning: the so-called race riots are recast as the frustrated responses of communities that endure poverty perpetuated by structural racism. In his later and ongoing “Evil” series, Cokes responds to the rhetoric of the Bush administration’s “War on Terror.”

 Evil.16 (Torture.Musik) (2009–11) features snippets of text from a 2005 article on advanced torture techniques. The text flashes on screens to the rhythm of songs that were used by U.S. troops as a form of torture.

The soundtrack includes Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” and Britney Spears’s “… Baby One More Time,” songs known to have been played to detainees at deafening decibel levels and on repeated loops. The dissonance between the instantly recognizable, frivolous music and horrifying accounts of torture underscores the ideological tensions within contemporary pop culture.

 

More recently, in a 2020 work entitled HS LST WRDS, Cokes uses his pared-down aesthetic to examine the current discourse on police violence against Black and Brown individuals. The piece is constructed around the final words of Elijah McClain, who was killed in the custody of Colorado police. Cokes transcribes McClain’s last utterances without vowels and sets them against a monochromatic ground. As in many of Cokes’s works, the text is more than language conveying information and becomes a visualization of terrifying breathlessness. Through his unique melding of artistic practice and media analysis, Cokes shows the discordant ways media color our understanding and demonstrates the artist’s power to bring clarity and nuance to how we see events, people, and histories.

Continue Reading

California Black Media

On Your November Ballot: Prop 2 Seeks to Modernize Public Education Facilities

Proposition 2 would authorize the state to issue $10 billion in bonds with $8.5 billion dedicated to elementary and secondary educational facilities and $1.5 billion for community college facilities. If approved, the proposition will make changes to the formula used to determine the amount each district is required to contribute to be eligible to receive state funding from the bond revenue. It would also require the state government to cover between 50 and 55% of construction project costs and 60 and 65% of modernization project costs.

Published

on

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond (Courtesy Photo)
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond (Courtesy Photo)

By Edward Henderson, California Black Media

Proposition 2 would authorize the state to issue $10 billion in bonds with $8.5 billion dedicated to elementary and secondary educational facilities and $1.5 billion for community college facilities.

If approved, the proposition will make changes to the formula used to determine the amount each district is required to contribute to be eligible to receive state funding from the bond revenue. It would also require the state government to cover between 50 and 55% of construction project costs and 60 and 65% of modernization project costs.

Supporters argue that the money is critical for making safety improvements in schools, as well as modernizing science labs, performing arts spaces and kindergarten classrooms. School districts in lower-income areas have no other way to pay for these improvements.

According to the Public Policy Institute of California, 38% of students attend schools that don’t meet the state’s minimum safety standards. The research shows that schools with sub-standard facilities tend to have students with lower attendance rates, lower morale and lower overall academic performance.

California Black Media spoke with a Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) spokesperson on why she believes it should be a YES vote on Prop 2.

“Measure US, Los Angeles Unified’s Local Public Schools Safety and Upgrades Measure on the November ballot would provide $9 billion to upgrade Los Angeles public schools for safety and 21st century student learning and college and career preparedness. The average annual cost to property owners is estimated at 2.5 cents per $100 of assessed (not market) property value. The Los Angeles Unified Board of Education adopted a Resolution on October 22 to support Los Angeles Unified’s Measure US, and State Propositions 2 and 4,” the spokesperson said.

Opponents argue that the state should include school repairs in its regular budget instead of putting the burden on taxpayers. Opponents also argue that the proposition would not directly impact students. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is on record as one of the organizations opposing the proposition.

“Proposition 2 is $10 billion of bonds, new state debt, to pay for school facilities. It is almost certain to result in higher property tax bills, because school districts must provide a ‘local match’ of funds in order to receive money from the Prop. 2 state bonds. That will lead to districts issuing new local school bonds, which are paid for by adding new charges to property tax bills,” said Jarvis.

Opponents also have voiced concerns about what they view as an inequitable distribution of funds. They believe that lower-income school districts should receive a greater share of the state’s sliding scale for matching funds.

“Enrollment is declining in both K-12 district schools and community colleges and the declines are projected to continue. But Proposition 2 commits California to pay an estimated $18 billion, including interest, for school buildings that may not even be necessary. Vote no on proposition 2.”

A “yes” vote gives approval to the state to issue $10 billion in bonds to fund construction and modernization of public education facilities.

A “no” vote will prohibit the state from issuing $10 billion in bonds to fund construction and modernization of public education facilities.

Continue Reading

Subscribe to receive news and updates from the Oakland Post

* indicates required

CHECK OUT THE LATEST ISSUE OF THE OAKLAND POST

ADVERTISEMENT

WORK FROM HOME

Home-based business with potential monthly income of $10K+ per month. A proven training system and website provided to maximize business effectiveness. Perfect job to earn side and primary income. Contact Lynne for more details: Lynne4npusa@gmail.com 800-334-0540

Facebook

iStock.
Alameda County4 weeks ago

Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price Announces $7.5 Million Settlement Agreement with Walmart

Exclusive interview with County D.A. Price days before recall election. Photo by Ken Epstein.
Activism3 weeks ago

‘Jim Crow Was and Remains Real in Alameda County (and) It Is What We Are Challenging and Trying to Fix Every Day,’ Says D.A. Pamela Price

Oakland City Councilmember at-large Rebecca Kaplan. File photo.
Activism1 month ago

OP-ED: Hydrogen’s Promise a Path to Cleaner Air and Jobs for Oakland

Members of Oaklanders Defending Democracy political action committee with Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, center. Courtesy photo.
Bay Area4 weeks ago

In the City Attorney Race, Ryan Richardson Is Better for Oakland

Activism3 weeks ago

Oakland Post: Week of October 30 – November 5, 2024

Alameda County courthouse. Courtesy photo.
Alameda County3 weeks ago

D.A. Price Charges Coliseum Flea Market Vendors in Organized Retail Theft Case

(From Left:) U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee. File photo. Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson. File photo.: Former Assemblymember Sandré Swanson. Courtesy photo. California State Senator Nancy Skinner. Courtesy photo.
Activism1 month ago

Barbara Lee, Other Leaders, Urge Voters to Say ‘No’ to Recalls of D.A. Pamela Price, Mayor Sheng Thao

Walter Riley. Courtesy photo.
Activism1 month ago

COMMENTARY: DA Price Has Done Nothing Wrong; Oppose Her Recall

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said the loans would be in amounts up to $20,000. Official photo.
Business1 month ago

Harris Promises 1 Million Forgivable Loans for Black Businesses

Activism1 month ago

Oakland Post: Week of October 9 – 15, 2024

Oakland Unified School District 3 candidates VanCendric Williams and Dwayne Aikens Jr.
Bay Area1 month ago

2024 Local Elections: Q&A for Oakland Unified School Candidates, District 3

“People have no idea what the vision is for the next district attorney, or where the office will go if I am, in fact, recalled, she continued. “I'm just running against a billionaire,” who does not show his face in public, she said. Courtesy photo.
Activism3 weeks ago

‘Criminal Justice Reform Is the Signature Civil Rights Issue of Our Time,’ says D.A. Pamela Price

Activism2 weeks ago

LIVE! — TOWN HALL ON RACISM AND ITS IMPACT — THURS. 11.14.24 5PM PST

Keyanna Ortiz-Cedeño at her graduation from UC Berkeley after receiving her master’s degree in City Regional Planning. Alongside her, are her parents holding a Puerto Rican flag. Courtesy photo.
Activism4 weeks ago

“Two things can be true at once.” An Afro-Latina Voter Weighs in on Identity and Politics

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao,
Bay Area3 weeks ago

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s Open Letter to Philip Dreyfuss, Recall Election’s Primary Funder

Trending

Copyright ©2021 Post News Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.