Some Oakland Parents Worry About Moves Planned for Schools' Special Ed Classes

The Oakland Unified School District says that about 80 percent of its special education students attend programs in schools outside their neighborhoods. In an effort to change that and improve access to special ed services to students in East and West Oakland, the district is getting ready to move some of its programs to new locations.

But many families whose students will need to move to new campuses aren't happy with the change.

Five-year-old James Hubbard is one student who will be changing schools next year. He has autism, and his parents drive him 20 minutes every day from their home near Highland Hospital to attend a program at Charles P. Howard Elementary, just off Interstate 580 near the Oakland Zoo. The district is getting ready to move this program to Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary in West Oakland, a school that previously had no special education program.

James' mother, Sheila Hubbard, worries that the move will be disruptive, since James will have to get settled at a new school.

"You know, my thing is, my son and his classmates are comfortable right where they are. They shouldn't have to move because of some balancing program," Hubbard says.

Currently, most special ed programs are clustered in more affluent neighborhoods in the hills, with fewer services in East and West Oakland flatland schools. Neena Bawa, coordinator of the district's special education program, says the move will benefit all students in the long run.

“We're looking at where we have unequitable distribution of programs. We know that there’s a need for a type of program in the east, and that’s how we were strategically moving. It’s not, 'Hey, we’re going to pick up this program and move it.' We’re looking at the big global picture," she says.

The end goal is that every neighborhood school will have a special education program. Kara Oettinger, also with the district, said their hope is that special education students can become more a part of their school community.

"We want the kids to be able to go to the resident school, meet and socialize with peers that live in their neighborhood," she said.

At Edna Brewer Middle School, just off Park Boulevard in Oakland's Trestle Glen neighborhood, part of a decade-old special education program is being relocated to Alliance Academy, on East Oakland's 98th Avenue. Special education teacher Ismael Amendariz is concerned that students won't have access to as many resources and activities after the move, since Alliance has never had a special education program.

"The question is like how do you define equity?" he asked. "Is equity being close to home, or is equity being at a school where you can be provided for?"

The district has said that the Howard Elementary program is being moved to create both a "continuum" of grades, so that special education students can attend the same school from kindergarten through fifth grade, and a program closer to where most students in the program live. Both Howard and Martin Luther King perform about equally in standardized testing, but Mike Nguyen, a parent of another child attending the program at Howard, feels the West Oakland neighborhood around King, located at 10th and Market streets west of I-980, is more dangerous.

"I actually kind of grew up in that neighborhood, and just knowing that there's a lot going on on those streets, it would make it honestly a little more unsafe for him, as an autistic student going there," Nguyen says. "My son has a tendency to wander if unsupervised, and it's easier for him to be contained at Howard than at another site where it's more accessible to get out to the street or a neighborhood he's unfamiliar with."

A coalition of parents has been organizing to stop the moves since the district announced its plans last month.

James Hubbard's father -- James Sr. --- says that he and other parents are happy for their kids to attend a school outside their neighborhood if it means a better quality school.

"It’s no inconvenience. We want the best education for our son," he says. "And I can speak for the rest of the parents. They just want the best for their babies."

The district still plans to move ahead, while parents continue to push their case. Next month, they plan to meet with the district's superintendent to discuss their concerns.

"I'm so worried as a parent, because my son, you should just see him when he gets out of the car, he’s ready to go to school. He loves that environment," Sheila Hubbard says. "And I’m just begging the district, don’t take that away from him.”