Education
Post Endorses School Board Candidates Demanding Full Local Control, Oppose School Closings
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A committee of local educators created by the Oakland Post Editorial Board has endorsed candidates for the Oakland Board of Education in all four open races this year, supporting outspoken community leaders who oppose austerity and continued domination of district polices by state agencies and who unequivocally oppose closing neighborhood schools.
The Post endorsed: District 1 – Stacy Thomas and Sam Davis; District 3 – Cherisse Gash and VanCedric Williams; District 5 – Mike Hutchinson: and District 7 – Kristina Molina and Ben “Coach” Tapscott.
Participants in the Post’s committee were teacher Shalonda Tillman, Post editor and educator Ken Epstein, parent Mona Treviño, educator Henry HItz, retired teacher Eleanore Stovall and educator Nirali Jani. The committee made recommendations and Post publishers Paul Cobb and Gay Plair Cobb made final decisions.
The Post did not endorse candidates who support closing more Oakland schools, take money from privatizers or pro-charter school billionaires or would like the district to continue the kind of draconian cuts that have become common in recent years.
The Post-endorsed candidate from District 1, Thomas said she is committed to “stopping the charter school proliferation that is happening in Oakland.”
With a career of 30 years in accounting, she said she hopes to use her skills to fight for financial transparency and stop the state and its agency, the Fiscal Crisis Management and Assistance Team (FCMAT), from running roughshod over the school district.
She strongly stated that as a board member she would not vote to close schools because “it is hugely disruptive to parents, teachers and students.”
The Post endorsement committee also supported Davis for his experience in education. However, he was equivocal on a number of issues. Rather than say there is a need to wrest control from the neoliberals in state government, he said, “The best antidote to FCMAT is getting our own financial house in order,” which is hard to do if the privatizers and their supporters are in charge.
Gash, who was strongly endorsed for District 3, said she is opposed to closing schools and is determined to invest in education. “We have to stop defunding the schools and putting money in consulting costs. You have to have board members who will fight tooth and nail to make sure money that students need are not cut in half. They need to be given the maximum. “
She said that FCMAT officials, who are based in Bakersfield, “don’t value Oakland people and Oakland voices. They end up contributing to the school-to-prison pipeline.”
The Post also endorsed Williams for District 3 school board. A San Francisco public school teacher who lives in Oakland, he said he would never vote to close a school.
For District 5, the Post endorsed Mike Hutchinson. Speaking about outside agencies and interests impacting Oakland, he said the school district’s “budget crisis has been engineered for different political ends. This is all a part of an effort for other people to come into our school district and try to compel us to close our schools so the property can be sold off to charter schools and developers.”
Post-endorsed candidate Molina in District 7 describes herself as someone who as a student “attended Melrose Elementary School, Calvin Simmons Junior High School, and John C. Fremont High School. I come from a proud background of California pickers; my grandmother, father, aunt, and uncle worked in the fields of San Clemente and joined Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta in the fight to get unionized. I was the first in the family to attend college at the University of California at Berkeley (UCB).”
“Oakland public education needs less obscurity and more transparency. Families, teachers, students, and community stakeholders need to know how schools are spending and investing funds. School site parent-run organizations need to be provided with their school budget to see how the administration has expended every dollar of their child’s education,” she said.
The Post also endorsed “Coach” Tapscott for District 7 school board.
When the state took over the school district in 2003, the district was about $50 million in debt, he said. When the state receiver left, the district was $100 million in debt, an amount that still is not paid off. “If they generated that debt, they should pay for it,” Tapscott said.
When they cut, they cut at the school sites, (but) we’re top-heavy with upper and middle management.
“I think there is a lot of waste going on,” he said, “I think there is a conspiracy, you have more privatization, keeping us in debt. The state controller, what is that person doing to monitor the money?”
School board candidates and contact information
District 1
• Austin Dannhaus; Austinforousd.com
• Sam Davis; samdavisforoaklandschools.org
• Stacy Thomas: stacyt@bayareabookkeepers.net
District 3
• Maiya Edgerly; https://www.facebook.com/maiyaforoakland/
• Cherisse Gash; https://cherissegash.com
• Mark Hurty; https://markforoakland.com
• Maximo Santana; www.santanaforoakland2020.com
• VanCedric Williams: http://www.vancedricwilliams.com
District 5
• Mike Hutchinson; facebook.com/MikeHutchinson4SchoolBoard
• Leroy Gaines; https://www.leroygaines4oakland.net
• Sheila Pope Lawrence; https://www.facebook.com/Sheila-Pope-Lawrence-for-OUSD-School-Board-Director-Area-5-104089071265774/
• Jorge Lerma; https://www.jorgeforoakland.com
District 7
• Kristina Molina; http://votekristinamolina.com
• Ben Tapscott; coachtap@aol.com
• Bronché Jerard Taylor; broncheworking@gmail.com
• Clifford Thompson: https://clif4oaklandschools.org
• Victor Valerio; https://www.facebook.com/OaklandValerio/
Activism
Actor, Philanthropist Blair Underwood Visits Bay Area, Kicks Off Literacy Program in ‘New Oakland’ Initiative
These community activations were coordinated with the San Francisco-based non-profit program “Room to Read.” Ray said he is also donating his time to read and take pictures with students to encourage their engagement and to inspire them to read more. The inspirational book “Clifford Ray Saves the Day” highlights Clifford Ray’s true story of saving a dolphin.
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By Paul Cobb
New Oakland Series
Opinion Part 3
The Post mentioned three weeks ago that a number of our local luminaries were coming together to support the “New Oakland” movement. As this current national administration continues to eliminate our “legacy” institutional policies and programs left and right, most communities find themselves beyond “frozen” in fear.
Well, esteemed actor, long-time Bay Area supporter, and philanthropist Blair Underwood returned to Oakland this week to speak with city leaders, community trust agents, students, the Oakland Post, and local celebrities alike to continue his “New Oakland” initiative.
This week, he kicked off his “Guess Who’s Coming to Read” literacy program in some of Oakland’s middle schools. Clifford Ray, who played the center position of the 1975 World Champion Golden State Warriors, donated close to 1,000 books. Ray’s fellow teammate Charles “The Hopper” Dudley also gave Converse sneakers to students.
These community activations were coordinated with the San Francisco-based non-profit program “Room to Read.” Ray said he is also donating his time to read and take pictures with students to encourage their engagement and to inspire them to read more. The inspirational book “Clifford Ray Saves the Day” highlights Clifford Ray’s true story of saving a dolphin.
Underwood also spent quality time with the Oakland Ballers ownership group and visited the amazing Raimondi Park West Oakland community revitalization site. In the 1996 TV film Soul of the Game, Underwood played the role of the legendary first Black Major League Baseball player Jackie Robinson and commended the Ballers owners.
“This group of sports enthusiasts/ philanthropists needs to be applauded for their human capital investment and their financial capital investment,” Underwood said. “Truly putting their money and passion to work,” Underwood said.
Underwood was also inspired by mayoral candidate Barbara Lee’s open-minded invitation to bring public-private partnership opportunities to Oakland.
Underwood said he wants to “reinforce the importance of ‘collaborative activism’ among those most marginalized by non-empathic leadership. We must ‘act out’ our discomfort with passionate intentions to create healthy change.”
Activism
McClymonds High Names School Gym for Star Graduate, Basketball Legend Bill Russell
William “Bill” Felton Russell was born on Feb. 12, 1934, and died on July 31, 2022. He achieved fame as a U.S. professional basketball player who played center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. He was the centerpiece of the Celtics dynasty that won 11 NBA championships during his 13-year career.
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By Ken Epstein
West Oakland’s McClymonds High School, “the School of Champions,” this week named the school’s gymnasium in honor of one of its most famous graduates, basketball legend Bill Russell (class of ’52).
William “Bill” Felton Russell was born on Feb. 12, 1934, and died on July 31, 2022. He achieved fame as a U.S. professional basketball player who played center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. He was the centerpiece of the Celtics dynasty that won 11 NBA championships during his 13-year career.
Russell is widely known as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. In 2011, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civil honor, from President Barack Obama for Russell’s contributions to basketball and the Civil Rights Movement.
The McClymonds’ naming ceremony was held on Wednesday, the same day as Russell’s birthday. Oakland leader Bill Patterson, a longtime friend of Russell’s, was scheduled to cut the ribbon at the reopening of the gym, which had been closed for several months for renovation. Russell’s daughter Karen was scheduled to attend the ribbon cutting.
Russell’s name and signature are now printed on the gymnasium floor.
Patterson was working at DeFremery Park when he met Russell. “I befriended him as a boy and during his years at University of San Francisco” said Patterson. “We stayed friends for the rest of his life.”
Said McClymonds Principal Darielle Davis, herself a McClymonds graduate, “We are excited to honor Bill Russell for his sports accolades and because he broke color barriers. He is part of our legacy, and legacy is really important at McClymonds.”
Brian McGhee, community schools manager at McClymonds and former football player at UC Berkeley, said that Russell meant a lot to him and others at the school. “He was a beacon of light and hope for West Oakland,” he said. “He did a lot for sports and for civil rights.”
Starting in 2018, Ben “Coach” Tapscott worked with Patterson and other McClymonds grads, community members, and former coaches to encourage the Oakland Board of Education to endorse the naming of the school gym, which finally happened recently.
“We worked hard to make this happen,” said Tapscott. “He’s an important part of McClymond’s history, along with a lot of other famous graduates,” he said.
Activism
Tony Thurmond Urges Educators to Stay Focused Amid Federal Funding Battle
In a statement and a letter to California’s local educational agencies (LEAs), Thurmond praised efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism and close achievement gaps, particularly for socioeconomically disadvantaged students. “Now is not the time to be distracted by external efforts to demean and divide,” Thurmond wrote. “Please continue to stay the course with local programs that are producing results. Our students need consistency, support, and community more than ever.”
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By Bo Tefu, California Black Media
California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond has urged educators to remain focused on student achievement following a court ruling that temporarily blocks the Trump administration from freezing federal funding for schools, health care, law enforcement, and disaster relief.
A U.S. District Court judge in Rhode Island issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on Jan. 31, halting federal efforts to pause funding while a lawsuit led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 22 other state attorneys general moves forward. Thurmond, a declarant in the case, welcomed the decision and reassured educators that funding for critical school programs remains in place.
In a statement and a letter to California’s local educational agencies (LEAs), Thurmond praised efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism and close achievement gaps, particularly for socioeconomically disadvantaged students.
“Now is not the time to be distracted by external efforts to demean and divide,” Thurmond wrote. “Please continue to stay the course with local programs that are producing results. Our students need consistency, support, and community more than ever.”
Thurmond emphasized that state officials will continue advocating for stable funding to ensure schools can maintain and expand programs that help students succeed.
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