Lillian Mongeau and Becky Palstrom from Oakland North, a UC Berkeley School of Journalism blog, captured a quintessential slice of high school life in an audio slideshow about the Oakland Technical High School homecoming game (and the basic rules of football). Mongeau took the photos, and Palstrom interviewed the students and collected the audio.

I was highly entertained. You can find the slideshow here.

photo by Ray Chavez/Tribune staff

Last year, I wrote about the 100 Oakland Technical High School kids who woke up extra early, three days a week, to skate at a downtown ice rink for a class started by P.E. teacher Kelley Haskins. (It’s still going strong this year, I’m told.)

Out of that unexpectedly popular class — and generous community support for the program, in the way of equipment grants, expertise and time — a coed hockey team has emerged. I went to the program’s first practice of the season yesterday, a clinic with the Sharks, and talked with players Rachel Potter, Katy Ramos-Thompson, Calvin Washington, Monica Elvin and Kamrin Lewis.

A story about the fledgling team, which will face its first opponent in January, will appear in tomorrow’s paper.

Some of you might have read the heartwarming story about players and families from Danville’s Monte Vista High School — the team that McClymonds beat last Saturday to make it to the state championship  — donating more than $1,000 to Mack, so that the players could stay overnight in Sacramento before the big game.

The donation came about after the Mack coach was quoted in the paper saying he was “broke” after covering the team’s expenses all season, and that there was no money for hotel accommodations.

Late this afternoon, though, the Oakland school district sent out a news release saying the whole thing was just a “misunderstanding” — that the basketball program would be provided for, and that they would give back the money.

Read the rest of this entry »

Will Mack’s boys basketball program take state again this year? Maybe its girls team will. Or the Castlemont girls, or the Skyline boys.

photo of last week’s Mack vs. Skyline game by Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group

If you want to come out and support some of Oakland’s student-athletes, Round I of the 2009 CIF State Basketball Championships starts at 7 p.m. tonight, with the McClymonds girls (21-7) at home against Lowell High School (27-4). Read the rest of this entry »

Skyline High School’s track and field has fancy stadium lights, which could really come in handy during the short days between November and March. Here’s the catch: Its sports teams aren’t allowed to flip the switch for practice.

photo by Ray Chavez/Tribune staff

A 6-year-old contract between since-departed Oakland school district officials and the Hillcrest Estates Improvement Association restricts light use to 10 games a year — no practices. So, during Standard Time, outdoor sports teams either call it quits early or stick it out in the dusk.

LaMont Sanders, a 17-year-old track star, broke his leg last month while attempting his last set of hurdles at dusk.

photo by Ray Chavez/Tribune staff

The issue has been a sore spot for years. Read the rest of this entry »

Dallas Lane is not a Skyline High School student, or a teacher for that matter. But she is certainly abreast of the high school’s internal communications. In fact, she can’t escape them.

Lane and her husband live close to Skyline, work from home, and they say they hear every single word blasted from the school’s frequently utilized PA system.

“I’ve heard it early in the morning, at 7 — Beep! And then an announcement,” Lane said at a neighborhood association meeting tonight. “Somebody’s got their hand on that little button,” she added. “It’s too loud, and it’s used excessively.”

Skyline’s new principal, Al Sye, Read the rest of this entry »

Three mornings a week before school, when it’s barely light outside, more than 100 teenagers are lacing up their skates at the Oakland Ice Center. They come of their own free will, even if it means showing up at 6:45 a.m. – more than an hour before they need to be at Oakland Technical High School.

photo by Laura A. Oda/Staff

Kelley Haskins, a physical education teacher at Oakland Tech, started the before-school P.E. class this fall. She said she worried that she wouldn’t meet the 35-student minimum, but her roster now includes 115 names.

I visited the class this morning with a photographer, and watched the teenagers swizzle, slide and speed around the rink. Read the rest of this entry »

Want to weigh in on the future of youth athletics in Oakland? The Special Committee on the Future of the Oakland Athletic League meets at 7 p.m. Thursday to discuss such questions as:

“Should the OAL join the North Coast Section of CIF? Should Charter Schools Participate in the OAL? What resources are required to adequately maintain the OAL? What resources are required to adequately compete in the North Coast Section of CIF?” (from agenda)

Michael Moore Sr., the new OAL commissioner, is recommending that the OAL remain in its own section, rather than joining the North Coast Section. He listed the pros and cons of joining the larger section here.

That document also includes some interesting information on the sports teams fielded at each school, the number of student-athletes on each team, and the district funding allocated to them.

I didn’t know there was a bowling team in Oakland!

What’s your opinion about the questions Moore and the special committee have raised?

Tribune file photo

Michael Moore Sr. told me this morning that he didn’t know whether the 89-year-old Oakland Athletic League would have fizzled if it continued without a full-time commissioner. But, he said, “I didn’t want to leave it to chance.”

A year after OAL’s last commissioner retired, Roberta Mayor, Oakland’s new interim superintendent, announced this morning that she had named Moore, a district administrator, to the post.

Jerry Luzar, the previous commissioner, stepped down in 2007 after 12 years. The Oakland league — which has its own high school section, the smallest in the state – struggled last year without someone in charge. Many worried that the Oakland Section, and eventually the league, itself, would dissolve.

In comes Moore, a 28-year district employee and a 1975 graduate of Oakland High School. Read the rest of this entry »

The Oakland Athletic League has been without a full-time commissioner for almost a year now, and sports advocates and league insiders say they have a bad feeling the school district is going to let the historic institution fizzle because of a lack of funds.

Carl Steward, a columnist, wrote about the situtation in today’s Tribune:

One of the most historically proud and distinguished prep sports leagues in America, the Oakland Athletic League, is in trouble. If it doesn’t get a smart, committed savior right now, the OAL could be history by the time school resumes in the fall.

Unfortunately, that would-be savior would require strong school district support that doesn’t currently appear to exist. Read the rest of this entry »