Friday, September 9, 2011

Kaiser School

As long time readers know, I volunteer at a school in the Oakland Hills.  I have been there for 10 years.  I used to volunteer twice a week, and then dropped to one morning a week.  I work with a first grade class, and it is a highlight of my week.

Well folks there is trouble on the horizon.  Kaiser is on the Oakland School District list of closures.  It is not final yet.  But it is a very possible thing.   This is a school that draws from the whole city.  We have every race, ethnic group you can think of.  We have every income group you can think of.  This school serves the total population of the city. We teach children from the hills to the flats.  Read this link about Kaiser.

Kaiser is a small school and that is one reason it is on the list.  It is more economical to run large schools.  But if Kaiser closes, the area with the huge property taxes that support a city wide school system will have no school.  No school, people will request a lower tax assessment.  And then less money to run the schools.

There are many reasons why this school should remain open.  Too many to list here.  I know a lot of my readers are not from Oakland.  But if you feel like writing an email to some officials, I would be really happy.  Read the above link and then you decide.  I will list a few people to email.  If you are from Oakland, please write, I know some of you already have.  This closure affects the city, not just kids from a high end neighborhood. 

Thank you.

Here's who to email AND call:
Tony Smith (Superintendent) tony.smith@ousd.k12.ca.us, (510) 879-8200

Jody London (school board member for Kaiser's neighborhood) Jody.London@ousd.k12.ca.us, (510) 879-2161

Mia Settles (our Regional Executive Officer), mia.settles@ousd.k12.ca.us, (510) 879-2923

David Montes de Oca , david.montes@ousd.k12.ca.us, (510) 336-7570

Other school board members:

Vice President Jody London -
District 1 - Jody.London@ousd.k12.ca.us

David Kakishiba -
District 2 - David.Kakishiba@ousd.k12.ca.us

Jumoke Hinton Hodge -
District 3 - Jumoke.Hodge@ousd.k12.ca.us

President Gary Yee -
District 4 - Gary.Yee@ousd.k12.ca.us

Noel Gallo - District 5
- Noel.Gallo@ousd.k12.ca.us

Christopher Dobbins - District 6
- Christopher.Dobbins@ousd.k12.ca.us

Alice Spearman - District 7
- Alice.Spearman@ousd.k12.ca.us