Oakland school board votes to close or merge nearly a dozen schools

OAKLAND, Calif. - The Oakland Unified District school board early Wednesday morning voted to close or merge nearly a dozen schools over the next two years, despite community objections and even a hunger strike by two teachers not to do so.

The vote came just before 1 a.m. after eight hours of emotional public comment. 

But ultimately, the board decided that it doesn't make financial sense to keep so many schools open with 35% of its campuses underenrolled. The district says it faces a $20 million budget deficit over two years and hiring double the number of custodians, secretaries and principals doesn't add up. 

The vote, while disheartening to many community members, was a more modified resolution than originally proposed. In all, 11 schools will be affected, when the original proposal was to close or merge 16. 

By this summer, two schools in District 6 – Parker Elementary and Community Day schools will close.  By 2023, five more schools are set to close, others will merge and some K-8 schools will have their middle school grades removed.

By the time the vote came, there were still more than 1,000 community members logged into the Zoom meeting, many with their virtual hands raised. 

SEE ALSO: OUSD to vote on closing campuses despite community objections

The nine school board members were divided, and the motion to consolidate schools narrowly passed. 

Three school board directors voted no, four voted yes, and two others abstained. Directors VanCedric Williams and Mike Hutchinson were particularly passionate in their vote against the motion:

"Ya'll just declared war on the community, and I plan on leading the charge," Hutchinson said. "No way!" 

Hutchinson said he felt that the community was getting "steamrolled" in the process and he unsuccessfully lobbied for two more hours of public comment. 

"You made sure you waited until after the community spoke," he said. "So you could railroad us and not even allow anyone to weigh in."

At the end of the 2022-2023 school year Brookfield, Carl B. Munck, Grass Valley and Horace Mann – all elementary schools, and Fred T. Korematsu Middle School will close.

RISE Community and New Highland elementary schools will merge, though the other mergers were removed from the resolution. 

And grades 6-8 will be removed from La Escuelita and Hillcrest elementary schools. 

Two teachers at Westlake Elementary had gone on an 8-day hunger strike over the school closures. While Westlake will remain open – the original proposal had been to merge it with West Oakland Middle School –  it's unclear what the striking teachers will do now.

"My babies are worth it," Choir teacher Maurice Andre-San-Chez said Tuesday before the vote. "That's why I'm here. I love these kids." 

Prescott Elementary, which is now 153 years old, will remain open. 

Here's a breakdown of what the OUSD school board voted on: 

There will be seven closures, two mergers and two truncated schools. 

• Community Day School and Parker Elementary School will close at the end of this school year.  
• Five more schools will close at the end of the next school year in 2023: Brookfield Elementary, Carl B. Munck Elementary, Grass Valley Elementary, Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy and Horace Mann Elementary. 
• RISE Elementary will be merged into New Highland Academy Elementary for the start of the 2022-23 school year. Beginning that same school year, La Escuelita Elementary and Hillcrest Elementary will eliminate grades 6-8.