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by Liana Fabiani
OAKLAND---How do you change the make-up of an
entire community?---maybe by changing the school
system used by the community. Oakland Mayor Jerry
Brown has come up with a sure fire way to move
forward with his gentrification plans for Oakland..... or
so he hoped.
Last week Mayor Jerry Brown was defeated for the
second time this year by the Oakland School Board. The
vote just before midnight Wednesday brought an end to a
five hour hearing on the mayor’s plan to launch a
Military Academy (magnet school) on the former
Oakland Army Base by September. Arguments for and
against the proposal were heard but, one vote in
particular set forth by one of Brown’s own, drew a roar
of applause from the very diverse crowd of people
present. Brown was bewildered by his appointee Wilma
Whites no vote who throughout the meeting seemed to
lean towards casting a yes vote, but at the end denounced
the plan as RACIST. White believed that the military
academy proposal offered no real choice for students
trapped in Oakland’s public schools. She described the
plan as being the provider of a racist two-tier system in
education. ìI do not think the proponents of this academy
are racists; I respect them all,I found the military
academy charter petition, however, racist in it’s effect.
Brown responded with "I don’t understand" (white male
rhetoric), as well as lashed out against the other board
members who voted against his plan by saying that they
were flat-earth society members who jealously guard a
failing school system and resist any kind of change
Along with White, board President Dan Siegel and
members Jean Quan, Bruce Kariya, and Ken Rice all
voted against Brown. Siegel argued that a military school
would be a bad fit for progressive Oakland and that it
would be unethical because the charter school would
receive 2-3 times more funds than any of the 90 other
public schools in Oakland.
"We’re not trying to nail Jerry", Board member Rice said
last Thursday. He’s a bright guy. But he just doesn’t get
it when it comes to what’s needed for real school reform
in Oakland.
Oakland’s School Superintendent Dennis Chaconas
agrees. Formally Alameda's Superintendent, Chaconas
also opposed Browns proposal. Believing that he had
come back to a district that was in worse shape then
when he had left it in 1993, he states that student
achievement had not been the #1 priority of the Oakland
School District like it should have been. He brought forth
the notion that there is no significant data proving charter
schools effectiveness and that he is therefore committed
to improving the overall educational system and not for
separating the community by only helping a small
number of students through charter programs.
So what are some of the answers? Chaconas proposed,
"We do need to pay teachers more, which requires more
funding, fundamentally, you create a system with high
standards and you hold teachers and principals
accountable for performance. You tell those who are not
doing their job how to improve and you reward those
who are doing a good job."
Chaconas also believes that the real issues of education
have been buried by politics, which have destroyed
morale causing people and representatives to be on the
defensive. They’re saying you can’t change the system, "
I wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t believe I could
change it and if you believe it can’t change, then you
should get out and do something else.Teaching is an art,
a passion. You have to have standards. You have to care
about the kids. Our teaching system doesn’t teach any of
those"
He went on to say that there has been a disconnect
between the district office and the school sites, a lack of
support and understanding. This seemed to ring all so
true on the night of the meeting as the crowd of more
than 150 people (many of them Oakland students) got out
of control because they were not getting a fair chance to
be heard, forcing Siegel to temporarily shut down the
meeting.
To push his proposal forward, it is publicly known that
Brown had exhausted all of his resources and pulled all
of his strings to get the idea funded through alliances
with local and National agencies from the likes of Gray
Davis and the National Guard. But it did not seem to
make any difference, as together-- the People of
Oakland, Wilma White, Siegel, Quan, Kariya, Rice,
Chaconas, and Alameda’s Superintendent of schools
Sheila Jordan stood up for what was best for all the kid’s
in Oakland. Through their courageous votes and/or
opinions they managed to slow Jerry and his troops
down.
"The bottom line is we're going forward" Brown said,
"and the point is Oakland School Board Members don’t
have the last say on this"
No Jerry, I really think the bottom line is that the people
of Oakland are simply not havin’ it.
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