On May 3, 2010, over 1,500 Oakland students, parents, teachers, and school staff rallied to protest the State’s attempt to enforce $25 Million in wrongful fines and charges on Oakland’s public schools. The video above produced by Bay Localize and the Collective Liberation Tour was featured ten minutes into the rally to provide the narrative context.

Below is a video from the meeting.

For more information, please see OCO’s page for the Save Oakland Schools campaign.

Yesterday, about 150 people attended OCO’s Education Committee Meeting in Eastmont Mall. At the meeting, a date was set for an action to move the OUSD Board to minimize budget cuts and layoffs at school sites. Also, plans were made for organizing work at local school sites with parents and teachers to make this action so powerful they won’t be able to say no.

The parents of Futures are now organizing and partnering with the parents of other schools facing disproportionate layoffs. Oakland Community Organizations (OCO) has been convening both informational and action-planning meetings for parents.

The recent meetings have turned out over one hundred folks and the movement is quickly growing.
Pakofe Mikaele is the father of a third grader at Futures.

Pakofe Mikaele

Having been helping as videographer with the Save Futures campaign, I’ve been really impressed by how how nurturing an environment the teachers, in collaboration with the staff and parents, have created for the kids. It’s truly a safe space for their blossoming young personalities and intellects.

When I sat in on a kindergarten classroom, I saw one boy help out his classmate by tying her shoe. Meanwhile, another let loose and danced across the classroom. And just after lunch, I had the privilege of watching the class meditate and practice mindfulness while sitting in a circle on the floor. One of the five year-olds raised her hand to express her “loving kindness,” which she then passed to her classmates, tapping each of them on the head duck-duck-goose style.

This is a pretty special place, and all of it’s threatened by the layoffs.

I’ve attached a short video clip of a Futures mother, Denise Washington, telling a story that is a testament to the sense of safety and care that Futures has created for its students. Imagine if all little boys always felt as comfortable and safe as her son does as Futures. This world would look a lot different.

On March 15th, for the first time in a very long time, we had a classroom filled with parents leading discussion on how to demand and ensure access to a quality education for their children. Teachers were moved to tears and parents were inspired to take action, developing a phone tree, committing to attend further meetings, encouraging others to join, and staying after the meeting to continue conversations. Some parents even stayed longer to have their stories recorded by our videographer with the hopes of amplifying their message further, supporting other parents in exercising their power, and stating unequivocally, their perspective on these cuts.

It was an inspiring afternoon that was made possible by this campaign. We thank those of you that have committed to supporting us already and who have helped us make this happen. Our videographer and organizers have done a great deal of work and we hope those of you who have not yet had a chance to contribute may be moved to do so, or to pass this on to anyone who you believe would like a chance to support educational equity for our students.