Bay Area

Reopening School: The Key to Bouncing Back Is Being Back

We have a 96% attendance rate and 94% of our students who were enrolled on the first day of school are still enrolled. This is a high rate of student persistence at a time when the narrative for many large urban school systems is scores of students gone missing.

Published

5 years ago

April 21, 2021

Mia Lane

Reopening school after a year of being in a COVID-19 closure is hard. But I can tell you firsthand, after having reopened my schools on April 5, there is nothing better than seeing students and teachers in classrooms again. The key to bouncing back is being back.

What planning goes into reopening and what does it really mean for families?

I lead a K-12 public school system of nearly 2,300 students, nine schools, and about 300 employees across three cities and two counties in California. My students are 64% Black, 25% Latino, and 78% low-income. We have been very attentive to the needs of our students and enrollment has gone up during the pandemic, not down. We have a 96% attendance rate and 94% of our students who were enrolled on the first day of school are still enrolled. This is a high rate of student persistence at a time when the narrative for many large urban school systems is scores of students gone missing. While large urban schools dominate the headlines, small school systems like mine, with under 5,000 average daily attendance, make up two-thirds of the school districts in California.

It was good that Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature gave guidance for schools to reopen by April 1. At Fortune School, we surveyed parents and found 53% wanted to return their children to in-person learning. That’s up from 46% who asked to return in November 2020 when we had plans to reopen but couldn’t because infection rates increased.

As I talk to educators from other states, I am learning that California stayed shuttered for an unusually long time. Was it politics or public health that kept schools closed for so long? I’m not sure.

What I do know is that while our buildings were closed to students, my schools put every safety measure in place from expensive, hospital-grade air filtration systems to plexiglass barriers. Our staff got vaccinated, has ongoing access to surveillance testing and we have systems for contact tracing.

On reopening day, a long line of cars wrapped around the corner for morning drop-off. Crews of educators checked kids’ temperatures at the car door and welcomed them to their pre-assigned, small pod of classmates with whom they will spend the rest of the school year.

Inside a typical classroom, we can fit 10 students and two teachers socially distanced 6 feet apart. With this configuration, we are able to offer school in-person five days a week from 7:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. The Centers for Disease Control guidance about desks being 3 feet apart came too late to be implemented this school year but could be a game-changer for the fall.

Currently, schools are required to offer families the option for distance learning. Newsom has said he expects California to be re-opened by June 15, allowing schools to be back to full in-person instruction with safety precautions. If that is the case, the state should re-establish the expectation that comes fall, in-person school attendance is mandatory for students enrolled in classroom-based programs. Right now, teachers are providing live instruction to students in person and online simultaneously. It’s not sustainable.

The governor is on the right track providing strong guidance to public schools, backed by the authority of the state and funding to implement his expectations. He should keep it up. I’ve spoken to plenty of students and teachers who are definitely glad to be back.

Dr. Margaret Fortune is the president/CEO of Fortune School, a network of K-12 public charter schools based in Sacramento, California she founded to close the African American Achievement gap in her hometown.

Mia Lane

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Oakland Post: Week of March 4 – 10, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 4 – 10, 2026

Published

5 days ago

March 7, 2026

Oakland Post

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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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2 weeks ago

March 1, 2026

Oakland Post

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Chase Oakland Community Center Hosts Alley-Oop Accelerator Building Community and Opportunity for Bay Area Entrepreneurs

Over the past three years, the Alley-Oop Accelerator has helped more than 20 Bay Area businesses grow, connect, and gain meaningful exposure. The program combines hands-on training, mentorship, and community-building to help participants navigate the legal, financial, and marketing challenges of small business ownership.

Published

3 weeks ago

February 21, 2026

Oakland Post

Bay Area entrepreneurs attend the Alley-Oop Accelerator, a small business incubation program at Chase Oakland Community Center. Photo by Carla Thomas.

By Carla Thomas

The Golden State Warriors and Chase bank hosted the third annual Alley-Oop Accelerator this month, an empowering eight-week program designed to help Bay Area entrepreneurs bring their visions for business to life.

The initiative kicked off on Feb. 12 at Chase’s Oakland Community Center on Broadway Street, welcoming 15 small business owners who joined a growing network of local innovators working to strengthen the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

At its core, the accelerator is designed to create an ecosystem of collaboration, where local entrepreneurs can learn from one another while accessing the resources of a global financial institution.

“This is our third year in a row working with the Golden State Warriors on the Alley-Oop Accelerator,” said Jaime Garcia, executive director of Chase’s Coaching for Impact team for the West Division. “We’ve already had 20-plus businesses graduate from the program, and we have 15 enrolled this year. The biggest thing about the program is really the community that’s built amongst the business owners — plus the exposure they’re able to get through Chase and the Golden State Warriors.”

According to Garcia, several graduates have gone on to receive vendor contracts with the Warriors and have gained broader recognition through collaborations with JPMorgan Chase.

“A lot of what Chase is trying to do,” Garcia added, “is bring businesses together because what they’ve asked for is an ecosystem, a network where they can connect, grow, and thrive organically.”

This year’s Alley-Oop Accelerator reflects that vision through its comprehensive curriculum and emphasis on practical learning. Participants explore the full spectrum of business essentials including financial management, marketing strategy, and legal compliance, while also preparing for real-world experiences such as pop-up market events.

Each entrepreneur benefits from one-on-one mentoring sessions through Chase’s Coaching for Impact program, which provides complimentary, personalized business consulting.

Garcia described the impact this hands-on approach has had on local small business owners. He recalled one candlemaker, who, after participating in the program, was invited to provide candles as gifts at Chase events.

“We were able to help give that business exposure,” he explained. “But then our team also worked with them on how to access capital to buy inventory and manage operations once those orders started coming in. It’s about preparation. When a hiccup happens, are you ready to handle it?”

The Coaching for Impact initiative, which launched in 2020 in just four cities, has since expanded to 46 nationwide.

“Every business is different,” Garcia said. “That’s why personal coaching matters so much. It’s life-changing.”

Participants in the 2026 program will each receive a $2,500 stipend, funding that Garcia said can make an outsized difference. “It’s amazing what some people can do with just $2,500,” he noted. “It sounds small, but it goes a long way when you have a plan for how to use it.”

For Chase and the Warriors, the Alley-Oop Accelerator represents more than an educational initiative, it’s a pathway to empowerment and economic inclusion. The program continues to foster lasting relationships among the entrepreneurs who, as Garcia put it, “build each other up” through shared growth and opportunity.

“Starting a business is never easy, but with the right support, it becomes possible, and even exhilarating,” said Oscar Lopez, the senior business consultant for Chase in Oakland.