Tag Archives: Oakland Schools

Local

KQED Education: Oakland Schools Providing Education–and Health Care

November 2, 2012
By Caitlin Esch

In Oakland, schools are partnering with community health organizations to open clinics on campuses. On Thursday, the district celebrated its 14th such opening at West Oakland Middle School.  KQED’s Caitlin Esch visited a school-based clinic that opened a year ago to see how it’s changing the community.

The health center at Havenscourt Middle School is a cross between a pediatrician’s office and a teen clinic. Nurse practitioner Karen Gersten-Rothenberg says students can get sports physicals, vaccines, and pregnancy tests. They can even get their cavities filled.

“For some students, we are the primary care provider,” Gersten-Rothenberg says. “Many students don’t have access to primary care because they’re not insurable, because they’re undocumented.”

The clinic sees up to 50 students a week. The district is hoping on-site health centers will cut down on absenteeism.

“We see a student, they go right back to class,” says Gersten-Rothenberg. “When a student has to go a doctor in the community, they’re likely to miss at least half the day, if not the full day.”

The district will study whether access to health clinics at schools improves academic performance and reduces trips to the emergency room.

Original post.

Local

Mercury News: Election 2012: Oakland schools get out the youth vote

November 1, 2012
By Katy Murphy

This week, a group of boisterous teenagers marched down to a ballot box a few blocks from their school. The first-time voter contingent and their sign-holding supporters whooped and chanted all the way to the Alameda County Courthouse, eliciting friendly toots from passing cars.

“I feel like I’m always complaining about what’s wrong with the world,” said Di’Jahnay Stewart, a Dewey Academy student who turned 18 on May 23 and registered to vote shortly thereafter. “I feel like if I vote, at least it’ll mean something.”

Many young Americans aren’t as quick to exercise their new electoral power. Although they voted in larger numbers in 2004 and 2008 than they had in decades, their turnout was still the lowest of any age group. For all the buzz surrounding the 2008 presidential race, for all the YouTube videos and the plugs on MTV, just 41 percent of 18- to 20-year-olds and 47 percent of 21- to 24-year-olds reported voting in that election. By contrast, 58 percent of all age groups and 68 percent of those 65 and older went to the polls that year, according to a survey of noninstitutionalized adults by the U.S. Census Bureau.

“I’m finding a shocking number of young people who just won’t vote,” said Deanita Lewis, a parent leader who has long been involved in Oakland’s public schools. The reasons she most often hears? “‘My vote doesn’t count. It doesn’t matter. Nothing’s going to change.'”

To read more.

Local

Contra Costa Times: Education Report: 13 Oakland schools to lose a teacher because of bad enrollment projections

October 10, 2012
By Katy Murphy

This year, 14 teachers are being moved to other schools, a process known as “consolidation,” because fewer students enrolled in a particular school than the district expected, the Oakland school district has reported.

Enrollment projections are complicated, especially when school closures and new charter schools are in the picture, as was the case here. Another problem, which affects even the most popular schools? When families admitted to a school don’t bother to tell anyone they’re sending their child elsewhere — essentially, holding their spots until the last minute.

According to a report I requested from OUSD, 14 teachers from 13 schools are being reassigned in what’s become an annual process to balance the budget. They’re from Bella Vista, Cleveland, Hoover, Kaiser, Claremont, Melrose Leadership Academy, Bret Harte, Roosevelt, Frick (two teachers), Piedmont Avenue, Allendale, La Escuelita and Rise. The report also included three vacant positions that are being consolidated at Burckhalter, Markham and Grass Valley elementary schools.

To read more.

Local

SFGate: Oakland Measure J to upgrade school kitchens

October 11, 2012
By Katharine Mieszkowski
Public schools in Oakland are looking for major kitchen remodeling with a measure on the Nov. 6 ballot.

If approved, Measure J would authorize the Oakland Unified School District to issue as much as $475 million in bonds to improve school facilities.

Along with seismic upgrades and lead-paint removal, the bonds could help underwrite a planned overhaul of school kitchens in the district, including building a new central kitchen in West Oakland. It’s part of an effort to improve the food the district serves to students, 70 percent of whom are eligible for free or reduced-price meals.

Oakland has made strides toward serving healthier and fresher food in recent years. For instance, the district now buys more fresh fruits and vegetables from within 250 miles of Oakland. There are salad bars at 67 schools.

‘Kitchen dinosaurs’

But it’s infrastructure, not ingredients, that has become the biggest barrier to making lunches healthier and tastier. Many schools have antiquated kitchens – if they have a kitchen at all.

“It’s a very attractive museum of kitchen dinosaurs,” said Zenobia Barlow, executive director of the Center for Ecoliteracy, a nonprofit advocacy group.

The facilities limit what food can be served.

“A lot of what is served is processed and prepackaged and frozen,” said Ruth Woodruff, who has a first-grader and a fourth-grader attending Chabot Elementary School. “It gets unwrapped and put on trays and heated.”

Some schools, like Piedmont Avenue Elementary, don’t even have a kitchen. Meals there are reheated in the corner of a multipurpose room.