I only had part of the story yesterday on the leadership changes at BEST High School, when I wrote that “This spring, families learned that Principal James Gray would be sent packing at the end of the school year.”

Apparently, for a period of time this spring, Gray and others thought he might be allowed to stay on the McClymonds campus, after all. But on June 13, after most of the students had scattered for summer vacation, Gray told his staff that he was being reassigned to another Oakland school. (Jumoke Hinton Hodge, school board member-elect and the wife of board member Greg Hodge, said Gray was being sent to be an assistant principal at Roosevelt Middle School in East Oakland).

Most families don’t yet know what has happened.

“I was wondering when people were going to find out that there was going to be a new principal,” Malcolm Gattis, 17, asked Alison McDonald, the district administrator who supervises BEST High School, during a meeting last night. “Everybody right now is thinking Mr. Gray is staying.”

A group of McClymonds students, parents and teachers aren’t ready to let Gray go. Tomorrow, they plan to urge the school board to delay the appointment of Karen Todd, who has been tapped to replace him. Todd is the director of Project SOAR and the former principal at Merritt Middle College, an alternative high school that closed in 2007, apparently because Merritt College wanted to expand into the area occupied by the high school.

Here is a copy of the petition being circulated by the West Oakland Education Task Force, and Read the rest of this entry »

UPDATE: Friday morning’s meeting is canceled!

The wait is almost over. By this week, families who selected their top schools under Oakland Unified’s School Options program should receive a letter in the mail with their children’s school assignments for the 2008-09 school year.

Last year, the process had quite a few snags, especially at overcrowded schools. But the district’s central office has since been redesigned to make things more user-friendly for new families and those who wish to transfer between schools.

If and when an Options letter appears in your mailbox, Read the rest of this entry »

It started as a bake sale, but it grew into something much larger.

In a few short days, fifth-grade students and their parents have raised $30,000 — far more than they expected — for the family of Christopher Rodriguez.

Chris was shot last Thursday during a piano lesson in North Oakland. He’s only 10, and he probably won’t walk, skateboard or play basketball again.

Here is a new Web site which will include updates on his condition. He’s still in intensive care at Children’s Hospital-Oakland, but he is expected to move to the rehabilitation department soon.

The Crocker Highlands fund drive is still going. I hear that a penny drive is next.

It will be at the Coliseum, across the highway from the Tribune’s new offices.

Like this newspaper, the fair used to be located in downtown Oakland. The sprawling Coliseum/Oakport region off the I-880 is where it’s at these days, I’m telling you. At least it’s accessible by BART.

Here are the details on the fair, which is Friday and Saturday. School options applications are due Jan. 15.

image from D.L.’s Web site at flickr.com

Earlier this month, families from Hillcrest Elementary School in the Oakland hills helped Lockwood parents, staff and students beautify the East Oakland school grounds.

According to organizers, more than 70 people worked to plant 600 daffodil bulbs near Lockwood’s three new small schools: Futures, Community United and Lockwood. (Keep Oakland Beautiful and The Home Depot donated the bulbs.)

Some of Oakland’s public schools are known for their parent involvement. How often does this volunteerism cross attendance boundaries? In what practical ways could –and should — this happen?

photo courtesy of Kathy Dwyer