Our school received a Title I Academic Excellence Award this year. Our families are very actively involved, our kids exceed the required annual progress, and our teachers are experienced and effective.

I have no idea what your basis was for saying the school was “simply not good”, but I’d love to know where you got that erroneous idea.

It’s true that most of the kids attending Munck don’t live in that neighborhood. My family doesn’t either. We transfered our kids to Munck because it was *SO* *MUCH* *BETTER* than our flatlands neighborhood school, and we’ve never regretted our choice.

So we backed out since our cost would also include private schools. We purchased in Orinda.

Now, considering how dumb, ignorant, confused and all of the other comments I have read about OUSD- why is there so much push for local control? I would push for more charter schools, keepin state control or something that would make this district react.

By the way, I wonder how many children of OUSD administrators attended private schools such as Head Royce?

If OUSD’s Board was taken over by people who actually cared about the community and it’s kids they would adopt San Francisco style policy where academic schools were set up and opened district wide for admission by competition. Those schools would become white/asian dominated. Some blacks would survive the competition and get in/stay in depending on how many total seats were created and how much AA/patronage was allowed – the chips would fall where they may. The result would be the shoring up of property values in the district and better prospects for all. This won’t happen because the cardinal mission at OUSD is pacification, not education and certainly not property valuation.

OUSD’s board couldn’t care less about shoring up property values in Oakland. Thus the huge difference between the price per sq ft in Piedmont and the price per sq ft for similar homes in Oakland. Piedmont isn’t all about the roaring ’20′s manions – take a look at Baja Piedmont in the Grand Ave area. These families are in hock to their eyeballs and glad to be there – for the schools.

In response to your question: “How does a buyer deal with this conflicting information?” The answer is simple, DON’T BY IN OAKLAND!” The only interest city and school board officials have in Oakland “home values” are calculation pertaining to their property tax yield. Regarding your concern “WITH THE SCHOOL AND THE DISTRICT OFFICE GIVING MIXED MESSAGES,” I think you’re just confused. We’re accustomed to “THREE STOOGES” being scripted for scenarios like this – NOT TWO. But in Oakland they’ve perfected the art of doing LESS with LESS. It’s a butter knife cutting edge urban municipussality. I’d nominate Larry, Curly, or Moe for Mayor but (except for super star Brown) a white guy wouldn’t have a chance – NO MATTER HOW DUMB QUALIFIED HE MIGHT BE.

From what I read the critical Real Estate issues presently seen in outlying areas (quick sales & foreclosures) will likely (sooner or later) be coming to our areas (i.e., Oakland).

Perhaps Oakland homeowners with kids should sell NOW (providing of course they’re permitted to do so under the terms of Oakland’s 2004 ‘renter voter majority’ passed rent control ordinance – Measure EE). Forward thinking Oakland home owners could sell NOW and bank whatever equity they might have left (after paying Oakland’s exorbitant “home sale transfer fees”, etc.) and rent temporarily in a civilized competently run community.

When the ‘home repo tour bus’ sooner or later shows up in their new hood they could ‘take the tour’ and choose a foreclosed or ‘drastically reduced’ property close to schools with regular running water and flushing toilets and… They could also donate their (previous Oakland) student’s bullet proof vests to our boys & girls in Iraq.

http://www.cftl.org/centerviews/march08.html

it looks like many questions will be answered at the 3/14 meeting.

The following document is interesting:

http://boe-webextender.ousd.k12.ca.us/attachments/9699.pdf

For every seat set aside in the Hills schools for kids from PI schools or kids receiving free-reduced lunch the district will lose, at minimum, one middle/upper class family. I hope they factor this into the data runs!

But then I remember some wise words from a leader in my spiritual community who works in Interfaith organizations and often encounters members of other faiths/belief systems/religions who don’t know anything about our practices and beliefs.

“Never attribute to malice what can be explained by ignorance or gross incompetence.”

Perhaps OUSD adminstration isn’t trying to hide anything. Perhaps they are ignorant of the importance of a good relationship with the local press. Or, perhaps they aren’t fully competent, and the lack of press communications can be explained that way.

None of the alternatives are very flattering, but at least the last two aren’t sinister.