Lawyers spent at least an hour last night laying out the facts and explaining the various bodies of law (Government Code 1090, Common Law, Political Reform Act, Board Bylaws) that led to their conclusion that David Kakishiba’s dual roles as Oakland school board member and executive director of the East Bay Asian Youth Center (EBAYC) pose a potential conflict of interest.

EBAYC has received 64 contracts worth $6.5 million and brought 21 grants worth $8.3 million to the school district since 2004, according to the legal analysis. While Kakishiba says he doesn’t take part in the drafting of those contracts or vote on them, the attorneys say that’s not enough to remedy the appearance of — and opportunity for — impropriety, especially since he’s the head of the nonprofit.

Laura Schulkind of the SF-based law firm Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, which reviewed the case, said “the law doesn’t care” if Kakishiba is a noble and ethical public servant — that the laws were written to protect public institutions from nepotism and conflicting economic interests.

It’s not just Kakishiba who faces a potential conflict in the current situation, in her view. For example: What about an OUSD employee who — through no doing of Kakishiba’s — decides to promote a contract with EBAYC, rather than with another organization, in part because he or she thinks it will please the board member (and, maybe, offer job security)?

Enter the “red flag” e-mail. Read the rest of this entry »

The Oakland school board will hold a special meeting Wednesday to decide whether to accept a legal opinion of the district’s top lawyer: that board member David Kakishiba can’t wear two hats — as executive director of a nonprofit that works in Oakland schools and as a board member — and avoid the appearance of impropriety.

Although the board doesn’t vote until Wednesday it seemed clear, from their questions and comments, that they’ll do what they can to convince Kakishiba to stay. Read the rest of this entry »

In mid-October, Oakland school board member and East Bay Asian Youth Center Executive Director David Kakishiba announced he would resign from his post at the end of the month because of a conflict-of-interest ruling by the district’s new general counsel, Jackie Minor.

Well, it’s Nov. 2, and Kakishiba hasn’t left. He says he is respecting the requests he has received from other board members and his constituents to see if a “legal remedy” could be reached that would let him serve on the board within certain parameters.

“I’m prepared to resign, but not one single person has said, `Get the hell out of here,’” Kakishiba told me today.

At 6 p.m. Nov. 12, the school board will hold a special meeting on the subject. Read the rest of this entry »

Sports4Kids at Manzanita Community School/Tribune file photo

From a lively, uh, discussion tonight between Oakland school board member Alice Spearman and Chief Academic Officer Brad Stam about Sports4Kids (now Playworks) emerged the beginnings of a philosophical debate about what is “necessary” for Oakland schools in the context of severe and ongoing budget cuts.

Earlier in the evening, the board had discussed the superintendent’s proposed priorities — a set of goals that will theoretically help the board and staff know where to cut $27 million-plus from next year’s budget.

Spearman had also singled out, from a long list of vendors, a few Sports4Kids contracts with individual schools. What she didn’t realize was that in June, before the school district emerged (mostly) from state control, State Administrator Vince Matthews approved a $727,500 master contract with the organization, which runs games and activities at 25 elementary schools in the mornings, after school and at recess.

According to Cindy Wilson, Playworks’ communications director, the organization charges each school a flat fee of $23,500. Since the number of participating Oakland schools went from 40 to 25 this year, Playworks will receive $587,500, less than the total amount allowed under the master contract.

(Side note: An old Sports4Kids Web page lists Oakland Superintendent Tony Smith Read the rest of this entry »

Ed Report readers, here’s your chance to earn some *EXTRA CREDIT*: 1) Pretend you’re an Oakland school board member. 2) Take a look at these slides, which break down how OUSD spends its money. 3) Tell us where you think the district should cut back. The latest budget cut projection I’ve heard is $28 million.

I have to say, this is by far the most detailed analysis of department-by-department spending I’ve seen in the three years I’ve covered OUSD. Read the rest of this entry »

David Kakishiba took even his school board colleagues by surprise tonight with this news: He will step down at the end of the month because of a conflict-of-interest ruling by the district’s new general counsel, Jackie Minor.

Kakishiba is also executive director of the East Bay Asian Youth Center, a local youth development nonprofit that works in the school district. In the past, he abstained from votes involving EBAYC contracts, but apparently, that’s not enough.

“Yesterday I was informed by the general counsel that it was her opinion that my continuing to serve on this board and to work at my organization is a situation that is untenable,” Kakishiba said at tonight’s (well, last night’s) board meeting.

He added, “I believe the general counsel has done her due diligence. Read the rest of this entry »

Phillip Wilhite wrote “Surviving Chadwick,” a novel about an African American teenager from West Oakland who goes to a wealthy boarding school in the 1970s — a story based on his own experience. Last week, he spoke to West Oakland middle school students about it, and he wrote the below essay. -Katy

Scared. Nervous. Excited.

Those were the words used by some of the sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students all decked out in their maroon and blue uniforms last Monday inside a large assembly hall at the St. Martin de Porres Middle School Campus in West Oakland to describe what their first days felt like at their new school.

I told them that Isaiah Issacson, a young African American teenager from West Oakland and the main character of my new novel, Surviving Chadwick, felt that same angst on his first day at a predominantly white boarding school in Ojai, California in the 1970’s. Read the rest of this entry »

File photo by Sherry LaVars/Contra Costa Times

If you want to catch tomorrow night’s regular Oakland school board meeting, don’t go to the district’s headquarters at 1025 Second Ave. This time, the board meets at Skyline High School, 12250 Skyline Blvd, starting at 5 p.m. You can find the agenda here.

Oh, and if you have cable or the Internets at home, you can still watch these meetings live without subjecting your back to the ergonomically incorrect chairs in the board room. (Well, only for the meetings held on Second Avenue. You’ll have to head up the hill if you want to watch this week’s session.)

The Web site isn’t the easiest to navigate, but OUSD spokesman Troy Flint tells us how: Read the rest of this entry »

If you plan to attend Wednesday’s school board meeting, I have two pieces of advice: Don’t go to the usual spot, and don’t show up at 5 p.m.

This week’s meeting will take place on the old Lowell campus in West Oakland (991 14th St., between Market and Adeline), which is now home to KIPP Bridge and West Oakland Middle School. The public session doesn’t begin until 6 p.m., and 10 tributes to various groups and individuals top the agenda.

View Larger Map

The Oakland school board is back in business. It holds a special meeting at 5 p.m. this evening with the district’s new superintendent to talk strategic priorities, and it met on Saturday as well.

A couple of things on the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting, the first regular session since June:

• A new personnel report, in which I learned: Matthew Duffy, the Elmhurst Community Prep principal I profiled in May, is now a Network Executive Officer; Duffy’s assistant principal, Laura Robell, has become acting principal; Elyata Davis is acting principal of REACH; and Claude Jenkins is acting principal of Youth Empowerment School. (The Skyline High School appointment is conspicuously absent, unless I missed it somehow.)
• A hefty $1.78 million, one-year contract for Swun Math, a program first piloted at a handful of elementary schools. This year, if the contract is approved, Swun Math will be in place at 35 elementary and 18 middle schools throughout the district. 

Most of the schools using the Swun Math method have seen their test scores rise significantly, according to the charts in this district presentation.

Read the rest of this entry »