Anyway, to John: we’ve made tough decisions and sacrifices to live in this neighborhood. Paying a high mortgage and steep property taxes means that we can’t afford private school fees for our children. It’s just not an option. We knew in moving into this neighborhood that our only option was the good public elementary school.

We look around and see that nearly all of our neighbors are two-income working families who are making a similar sacrifice to live here. And, by the way, these families are the same ones who still find time or make time to work at the school – even if it means evenings and weekends – because they know that committed families are part of the reason for the school’s success.

If my children aren’t admitted to our neighborhood school, then we will leave Oakland. And we won’t be the only ones. However, we won’t be leaving without a fight, which is why we are standing up to say neighborhood schools for neighborhood kids (and others are welcome after all legitimate neighborhood residents have been admitted).

“To ensure that the process serves OUSD’s students in the
most effective and equitable way, and in preparation for Options/Open
Enrollment for 2009-10, families and communities are being given the
opportunity to weigh in on how the Options process works for them.”

Given the very limited advance notice and outreach for these two discussion groups, it would probably be of interest to Oaklanders to know the degree to which the OUSD parent community participated in these sessions and what was said.

Ms. Murphy: Perhaps Mr. Mathews could request Chief of Community Accountability, Vital to post some statistics and information on the District’s website and in this Blog listing the number of people that participated in each session, what school they were from, the types of comments that were made, etc. Then instead of the back and forth of just the few people commenting above, we could begin to increase our collective understanding of the issues, goals and challenges the District faces.

I think there are a couple of points that should be taken into consideration. I have only one child because that’s all I can afford in time, effort and money, only one child. It is a choice that works for my family. I also know that education is the ONLY way out of the two jobs to make ends meet situation. On the weekends I bring my daughter with me and we talk while I work. We do not have expensive toys or many toys that run on batteries. She is not allowed to watch TV. We made a choice between cable TV and internet access. The internet won. We could not afford both.

We drive 1996 and 1998 model cars. We do not have fancy cell phones, go to movies, or buy lavish gifts for ourselves or our families. We got my daughter’s computer used from a company that was selling their old equipment and we often shop at second hand stores.

So, John, please be careful. Education is important. Public school is important. My daughter is important. Volunteering is important. Communication with my child is important. Working is important. Everything else is just stuff.

You cannot speak for my situation.

It is a struggle every day to be able to afford to live in my neighborhood. We do not drive new cars, which I cannot say about those who live in the “underperforming school neighborhoods.” I am not able to volunteer in my child’s school since I work long hours just to be able to afford this neighborhood. It is not a “luxury” for me to live in my neighborhood. These are choices that I have made in order for my children to attend a public school of my choice.

Life is about choices. I have made it my choice to struggle for my children’s education. I feel that this should insure my children a right to attend their neighborhood school. I have friends who drive nicer cars, have more spending money, and have falsified their addresses in order for their children to attend my child’s neighborhood school. That is their choice. However, I refuse to demonstrate to my children that it is okay to lie in order to get what one wants. That sends a message to our children that it is okay to do whatever it takes to get what one wants.

You speak about families in Oakland facing challenges that prevent them from participating in their children’s schools. Well, I face those challenges.

In addition, did it ever occur to you that perhaps the reason the other parents were not volunteering at the school was because maybe they worked more than one job so they can make ends meet? Or perhaps both parents were working two jobs? The reality is that there are some families in Oakland who are facing challenges that prevent them from participating in their children’s schools…that shouldn’t prevent their children from having access to quality schools.

Many parents are saying there was too little notice of these “discussion sessions.”

Now we’re starting to look at middle schools for younger son next year. We’re in Brett Harte’s area, and they’ve already sent us a letter asking us to consider them – younger son is in the GATE program, and every scool wants those kids because they tend to raise the overall test scores. But Munck students go to Montera, which older son attended, and we liked it.

It isn’t easy to make these choices, but I think it’s short-sighted when parents make these decisions based solely on test scores. We’ve found that there’s much more to our kids’ education than the numbers on their star reports, or the numbers for a school’s agregate scores. Our family loves our elementary school’s community of families from all over Oakland, and we’ll likely be volunteering again next year at Munck even though we won’t have a child attending there any more.

If we could not get our daughter into a school with high quality education, we would rent a house or apartment in Lafayette or Moraga. We would prefer the diversity, but it comes down to education.

Is this fair? No, quite frankly it is not. But at my daughter’s school the children, Black, White, Hispanic, and Asian who attend the school through the lottery are quite frankly not performing well at the school even though they are taught the same curriculum.

Although it is not popular to say, I wish the parents would have to take a class on how to help their child succeed. This would include information that parents “in the neighborhood” do with their children, reading and being read to every day, using the public library at least twice per month, completing and signing homework, speaking proper English, wearing clothes that fit properly, getting them to school before the first bell rings, feeding them breakfast, lunch and dinner, having them get a minimum of 9 hours sleep a night, having them complete their homework, owning and using a dictionary, coming to all school events if the parent is not working, no hitting, spanking or pulling a child, having a dialog conversation (redundant use of words, I know, but this does not include, “finish your homework.”) for at least 20 minutes per day, per child.

Having been an outsider, I would not have wanted to attend this meeting, but I would have, just to make sure my daughter had an equal education to the other children at the school.