What steps do you think schools should take to keep kids safe? Some students said tonight that they wanted bag checks or metal detectors at Cole. Is that the answer?
No one was hurt when a gun went off yesterday at Cole Middle School, hitting an old fashioned radiator and breaking into pieces.
But I can’t imagine what must be going through the minds of parents, teachers and students, knowing what could have happened.
The 13-year-old student accused of bringing the loaded weapon to school is in juvenile hall. Troy Flint, the OUSD spokesman, said it wasn’t yet clear how or why the shot was fired. Read the rest of this entry »
Did you know the Oakland school district has a city-wide governing council made up of high school students? One of its leaders, Arwa Omar (pictured below, second from right), asked if I’d share some information she had written about the council’s work, as well as some thoughts from her colleagues. -Katy
courtesy photo
All City Council (ACC) is a platform for youth empowerment and youth voice. We work with the leadership classes throughout the Oakland school district to push for positive change in our schools. We consist of eight governing board members: President, Vice President, Secretary, Historian, two Student Board Directors, Media/Outreach Director, and Treasurer. These positions are vital because they are the bridge linking the students to the decision makers (Board of Education).
Andrew Wilson, MetWest High School (President)
All City Council is important to me because first and foremost I am an advocate for student voice. It has shown me that with enough effort and determination anyone can push for positive social change. Read the rest of this entry »
TUESDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office is not going to file criminal charges against Tyska.
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The school district’s police chief, Art Michel, has returned the videotape he confiscated from Tribune photographer Jane Tyska last Friday. Michel accused Tyska of hitting his patrol car with her elbow — and, later, of trying to incite a riot — while she was filming a student demonstration.
Warning: Some of the language in this clip is not exactly family-friendly.
Hundreds of high school students from Oakland and Richmond flooded BART stations today while trying to get to a big immigration protest in San Francisco, causing BART service to be delayed.
Tribune photographer Jane Tyska, who took this photo in East Oakland’s Fruitvale district, was later detained by school district police while trying to film the demonstration with a video camera. OUSD Police Chief Art Michel reported that Tyska Read the rest of this entry »
This fall, a sixth-grader at Bret Harte Middle School in Oakland’s Laurel District was apparently taken to the emergency room after another student shot him in the face with a BB gun while they were in class.
The boy was not seriously hurt, but he could have been. (The girl who injured him was suspended and will possibly face expulsion.)
Some Tilden Elementary School parents were dismayed this week to learn that their new principal, Rachelle Sallee, wanted no part of the school’s PTA.
In a rather abrupt e-mail to parent Steve Asztalos and other PTA members, Sallee announced that she planned to disband the existing parent group and create a new one that would focus on “fundraising and community engagement.”
Date: Tuesday, October 7, 2008, 8:03 AM
Dear Steve,
As the administrator of Tilden, I am selecting NOT to have
a PTA this year. I have established another group that will be
working towards fundraising and community engagement.
Regards,
Rachelle Sallee
Principal
Tilden Elementary School
Oakland Unified School District
(510) 879-1560
Tilden serves a large number of disabled children, and parents had worked closely with the previous principal, Joslin Johnson, to address safety issues (such as an evacuation plan and the lack of a coordinated alarm system), Asztalos said.
Earlier this month as school was letting out, a Lincoln Elementary mom saw a 4-year-old preschooler walking out of school, hand-in-hand, with a man she didn’t recognize. She went up to him and asked who he was, and the stranger dropped the girl’s hand and left, according to a letter that went home to parents.
Then, just eight days later, an 8-year-old boy from neighboring Lighthouse Community Charter School was playing soccer with his classmates at Madison Square Park, downtown, when a man grabbed his wrist and tried to take him away — in front of a bunch of teachers. Read the rest of this entry »
In the next four years, fewer and fewer Oakland high school students will be permitted to escape school grounds at lunchtime, according to a plan that will be presented at Wednesday night’s school board meeting. (See full agenda here.)
Skyline, Life Academy, International, Youth Empowerment, Dewey, Far West And Bunche already have closed campuses. Next year, under the phase-in plan, ninth-graders at Read the rest of this entry »
Parents and teachers at Tilden Elementary School, which serves a large number of disabled children, showed up to the board meeting tonight to ask why the school still doesn’t have a working fire alarm or intercom system.
“The potential for disaster with tragic consequences is far too great,” said Kathleen Boos, a teacher at Tilden.
Boos said teachers have to run up and down, knocking on doors, whenever there’s a drill or a crisis. The phones often don’t work, she said, and the school was recently encouraged to buy Walkie-talkies as a temporary solution. Read the rest of this entry »
Parents and teachers at