In case you missed it, there was a story in today’s Trib about the efforts of Oakland principals Minh-Tram Nguyen and Kimi Kean to draw attention to a citywide problem: dangers in the streets outside schools.

City leaders and police responded quickly to their plea for help, which was precipitated by three daytime shootings near the school in three months. We’ll check back in a few months to see if the conditions have changed, and if more neighbors and nearby businesses have lent a hand.

Is this cooperative spirit alive and well in other parts of the city? In what ways could it be better?

SCHOOL BOARD ALERT: Tonight’s 5 p.m. Oakland school board meeting will be held at Laurel Elementary School, 3750 Brown Ave., rather than the usual place. You can find the agenda here.

Two of those break-ins took place within the last week. First, speakers, microphones and other audio equipment disappeared. Then, over the weekend, burglars forced their way through protective fencing and windows to enter the school, which is located in an isolated part of East Oakland, along the Interstate 880, and stole at least 20 computers.

When the first custodian arrived at the school this morning, Taylor said, half the classroom doors were wide open.

Here’s the other thing that irks Taylor: The alarm sounded several times according to the log, he said, but it didn’t deter the burglars — or lead to their arrests. Oakland police apparently took one of the Sunday night calls and cleared it 14 seconds later.

Break-ins are a chronic headache — and heartache — for kids who attend Oakland schools and the adults who work in them. I’ve reported incidents at Sobrante Park, Claremont and Lincoln, to name a few, but that barely scratches the surface of the problem. 

On KCBS, where we first learned about the theft, Taylor compared someone who would steal from a school to a pedophile. The principal didn’t make that comparison during my interview with him, but he said the thieves were stripping away the things the school had done to give its students an equal footing. 

“I have a lot of very, very needy kids,” Taylor said. “We just got the computer lab up and running this year. Now we have to start all over.”

Troy Flint, OUSD’s spokesman, said the district hoped to meet with the city’s police force soon to request more night and weekend coverage for its hardest-hit schools. Another strategy, he said, is to work more closely with neighborhood crime prevention groups. (Taylor said some of the school’s neighbors were very concerned to hear about the thefts, but said they didn’t hear the alarms this weekend.)

 If you would like to help Brookfield out, Taylor said, call the front office at (510) 879-1030.

As far as we know, no kids were outside at the time for the school’s prized physical education program (pictured below) or recess. If they had been, who knows what might have happened.

Tribune file photo of a P.E. class at Frick Middle School

The shooting happened just a block from where 11-year-old Alana Williams was hit by a car and killed in a crosswalk on her way to school in October; police have yet to identify the driver, who fled the scene. 

Some of you have made the case for including the East Oakland middle school in the district’s new security cameras initiative; maybe, after this, Frick will make the list.

photo by GIOVANNA BORGNA/Tribune

Oakland Tech was the first school to receive the security upgrade we discussed earlier, and I saw a brief demonstration today in the school library. The cameras can swivel and zoom, and the picture is much clearer than the grainy images I usually associate with security camera shots.

As people have noted here, campus security requires much more than fancy technology. It’s not cheap, either. A Department of Justice matching grant covers about half of the $3 million cost; the other $1.5 million will come from OUSD’s modernization fund, but that it was budgeted for security upgrades anyway, according to OUSD’s director of procurement, Michael Moore Sr.

Still, it does sound promising, if it works as designed. Here is a list of Oakland schools slated to be part of the upgrade:

Alternative Education Schools
DEWEY ACADEMY
RUDSDALE CONTINUATION
BUNCHE ACADEMY

High Schools
OAKLAND HIGH SCHOOL
SKYLINE HIGH SCHOOL
LIFE ACADEMY
BEST AT MCCLYMONDS
EXCEL AT MCCLYMONDS
OAKLAND TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL
OAKLAND INTERNATIONAL HIGH
COLLEGE PREP & ARCHITECTURE ACADEMY
MANDELA HIGH SCHOOL
MEDIA COLLEGE PREP
ROBESON SCHOOL OF VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS
FAR WEST
YES, YOUTH EMPOWERMENT SCHOOL
BUSINESS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
EAST OAKLAND SCHOOL OF THE ARTS
LEADERSHIP PREPARATORY

Independent Study
COMMUNITY DAY
SOJOURNER TRUTH INDEPENDENT STUDY

Middle Schools
COLE MIDDLE SCHOOL
COLISEUM COLLEGE PREP ACADEMY
ROOTS INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY
ALLIANCE ACADEMY
ELMHURST COMMUNITY PREP
ROOSEVELT MIDDLE SCHOOL
PERALTA CREEK MIDDLE SCHOOL
UNITED FOR SUCCESS ACADEMY
BRET HARTE MIDDLE SCHOOL
MADISON MIDDLE SCHOOL

The district plans to install 750-plus cameras at 26 middle and high schools between now and the end of the 2010-11 school year, using a $1.5 million Department of Justice grant.

It’s hoped that the infusion of technology – and the ability for school police to monitor the happenings on every campus from one location – will keep a lid on a number of the district’s chronic ills, including truancy, neighborhood crime, on-campus fights.

If you have a flexible work schedule and want to see a demonstration of this new system, maybe I’ll see you at the Oakland Technical High School library at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

Here’s an excerpt of the district’s news release that lists the potential benefits:

* Reduce violence on school campuses and in surrounding neighborhoods

* Improve student attitudes relating to safety at school

* Boost student attendance (by diminishing fear of unruly students)

* Increase student achievement (as a result of fewer distractions, fewer behavioral problems and more regular attendance)

* Enhance levels of communication, problem solving and cooperation between OUSD and OPD and OUSD, OPD and the Oakland community at-large

* Serve as the catalyst for more technology-enabled, data-driven and people-sensitive crime prevention programs in Oakland and throughout the country

Security cameras have been in use for years; the above photo was taken at Fremont High School in 2002, in fact, and the caption said the school had just installed 32 cameras. How effective have such efforts been in the past?

In what ways do you think – or hope — the SOS system will improve the safety and security of Oakland students and staff? What are its limitations?

Tribune file photo of Fremont High School in 2002/Sean Connelley

By my count, at least seven OUSD students have been fatally shot in 2009 – more, if you include the 15-year-old who had stopped coming to school (in Oakland, anyway) or the 21-year-old adult school student who died over Labor Day weekend.

The student-leaders who organized the event told me that tragedy strikes so often in their lives it’s become almost normal.  “Right here in Oakland, you only last a little while,” said Rogerio Leon, a soft-spoken 17-year-old.

Maybe that’s why the short memorial wasn’t as somber as I had expected. Most of the students were quiet during the moment of silence, but when Rogerio asked everyone to call out the names of people they had lost, some kids started laughing and joking around. A student behind me cried out, “Biggie Smalls!”

Still, Rolando Vazquez, 17, said he felt the Castlemont schools should host these joint events more often, that doing so might bring a sense of calm and provide a release.

Alicia Loera, 14, said she hoped students who were grieving would know they weren’t alone. “We just want to tell people that we’re going through the same things,” she said.

The Oakland High School junior died yesterday evening, his grandfather cradling him in his arms, Trib reporter Harry Harris reported today.

I just don’t get it.

At an Oakland school board meeting last night, while Jody London spoke of the need to strengthen ties with the city, it was announced that the new schools chief, Tony Smith, would join the city’s even newer police chief, Anthony Batts, and Mayor Dellums at a town hall meeting Monday night at Prescott school in West Oakland.

Given the number of shootings — fatal and non-fatal — that Oakland public schoolchildren have suffered since August, and the tragic death of 11-year-old Alana Williams, who was struck by a car Oct. 16 while she was in a crosswalk right by her school, it seemed like a good start.

Smith speaks often about the need for everyone to come together to solve Oakland’s seemingly intractable problems, including the perils facing children and families in some neighborhoods. So who better to work with — at least, outside of the district — than Batts?

Maybe that will eventually come to pass. I understand that Smith plans to attend the 6:30 p.m. town hall meeting at PLACE at Prescott (920 Campbell St.), but I’m not sure what his role will be, exactly. He’s not mentioned in the promotional flier put out by the mayor’s office about Chief Batts’ introduction to the community.

In any case, maybe I’ll see you at the meeting. There’s another one Nov. 9 at the Cesar Chavez Educational Complex, if you can’t make it on Monday.

In what ways do you think the city and school system can better work together, especially around public safety issues? Do you sense a divide?

The report also projects that the drop in dropout rate would give the city an extra $144 million in “lifetime economic benefits.” You can find the one-page city profile here, and info for 16 other cities including Berkeley and San Francisco here.

Oakland’s dropout rate, according to the latest estimates by the California Department of Education, is about 36 percent. What would it take to cut that in half?

image from kimberlyfaye’s site on flickr.com/creativecommons

Tribune file photo by Ray Chavez

You can read a detailed report in support of the “Youth Protection Curfew” here.

Some community organizations plan to protest the proposal, saying it “criminalizes youth, parents and businesses.” The following release is circulating from a group called Critical Resistance:

Community Groups Oppose Youth Curfew for Oakland

Ordinance to be heard tonight criminalizes youth, parents and businesses

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 2/10/09 CONTACT: Critical Resistance,

510-444-0484; cell 510.435.6809

WHAT: Public Safety Hearing on Youth Curfew for Oakland.

WHEN: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 at 5:30pm

WHERE: Oakland City Hall, Hearing Room 1

WHO: Critical Resistance, Oakland Community members

OAKLAND, CA — Oakland community groups, residents and youth will join forces to oppose a youth curfew for Oakland. The proposal, which comes on the heels of mass arrests during the protests of the execution of Oscar Grant, is set to be discussed at the City Public Safety Committee tonight.

“A curfew means that more youth will be locked up. What does it say about our community that we would criminalize a young person simply for being out after 10pm?” asks Rose Braz of Critical Resistance, an Oakland based community group that works for true public safety in Oakland, not more policing and imprisonment.

“We need jobs, housing and quality education, not a curfew,” said Randy Garcia-Dancy, 19 years old of Critical Resistance. “Policies like the curfew that scapegoat youth only compound the challenges young people face.”

The proposed ordinance by City Council member Larry Reid would prohibit “the presence of all youth under 18 years of age on City streets between the hours of 10:00pm and 5:00am (Sunday through Thursday) and 11:00pm to 5:00am on Friday and Saturday.”

The ordinance would also make it a misdemeanor for a parent to allow a young person to violate the ordinance. Moreover, “owners and operators of entertainment establishments open to the public can also be charged” if they knowingly allow youth on their premises during curfew hours.

“Study after study concludes that curfews do not reduce crime,” continues Braz. In 2003, the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science published the results of a systematic review of juvenile curfews nationwide and concluded “the evidence does not support the argument that curfews prevent crime and victimization.”

In 1999, the Western Criminological Review also mounted an exhaustive review of existing curfews, finding that “There is no support for the hypothesis that jurisdictions with curfews experience lower crime levels.”

“After what happened to Oscar Grant and many other youth killed by the police, how could we consider giving police yet another opportunity for racial profiling. Who will Oakland police stop at 10 p.m.? What neighborhoods will see a lockdown from 10 p.m. to 5 a. m.?,” says Ritika Aggarwal, 24, organizing with Critical Resistance. “The 1865 Black Codes permitted the imprisonment of ex-slaves traveling after 10 p.m. without a note from their employer.”

Economically, a curfew isn’t feasible, either. “Oakland can’t find money to keep its schools open; Alameda County is scrambling for money for re-entry services. Does spending approximately $75,000 to enforce the ordinance plus thousands to lock up a young person for being out past 10 p.m. make sense?” says Molly Porzig, 22, of Critical Resistance. “We know what builds safe communities. We need more opportunities for young people not a curfew.”

What effect do you think these restrictions would have on public safety, on business and on teenagers?