Mixed emotions among community after Oakland Unified school board does not vote on mergers
OAKLAND, Calif. - Parents, students and teachers were prepared to learn the fate of their schools, as the Oakland Unified school board took up the issue of merging 10 schools that share campuses at its meeting on Wednesday. In the end, the issue was not brought forth for a vote, because no member made a motion to do so.
Students, parents, and teachers made impassioned pleas to the Oakland Unified school board during public comment, urging its members to reject the proposal to merge schools.
Many carried signs that read: "Hands off our schools" and "Mergers are closures."
"Don't touch our schools, we need more, not less," one speaker said.
The board opened the meeting with the announcement that its members would not bring the proposal to a vote, as was widely expected.
"First, I say I'm sorry, it is not okay that families had to go through this, this fear and these feelings," said Vice President of the OUSD Board Mike Hutchinson. "When I visited the sites, I tried to reassure people that I wasn't going to be voting for it."
Hutchinson said he believes there should be community conversations around how schools should look moving forward. The district said merging schools would potentially save up to $3 million, and it is staring at a projected $174 million budget deficit over the next two years.
"There's been a lot of problems with just the messaging around this idea, and too many people have conflated a plan to possibly merge schools that share a school site, with our budget solution options when they are not connected at all," he explained.
Later that evening, the board voted to approve the budget balancing solutions item that identifies dozens of areas where the district can save roughly $95 million dollars in the next school year. The district said possible cost-saving measures include reducing overtime and eliminating management positions, but the list does not include mergers.
"There's relief for today and the fact that the community came out and always does," said teacher and parent Pablo Pitcher DeProto. "That's not the only thing that's on the agenda though, there's also the budget... I went to the budget meeting last week and a lot of those cuts that are going out are also going to affect the schools on the ground."
Several teachers and parents told KTVU they think it's not a matter of if, but when mergers will happen, and Wednesday's inaction just kicks the can down the road.
"It makes me feel frustrated because it has been exhausting - the parent activism that has been required to come out and make voices heard," said teacher and parent Kelley Leathers.
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