User:Gkessl01/sandbox

In 2018-19, only 33.46 percent of students in the Oakland Unified School District met or exceeded the state achievement standard for English Language Arts/Literacy; only 27% met or exceeded the state achievement standard for Math.

Equity Indicators

The 2018 Oakland Equity Indicators report found a number of racial inequities in OUSD, including racial disparities in 4-year high school graduation rates (68% of African American students, 76% of Asian students, 61% of Latino students, and 77% of white students) and suspensions (7% of African American students, 1% of Asian students, 2% of Latino students, and 1% of white students had received an out-of-school suspension that year). The report also found that white students were much more likely to have teachers of their own race/ethnicity than Latino, African American, or Asian students, and schools with a predominantly African American and Latino student body had more inexperienced teachers and more teacher turnover than schools with a predominantly white student body.

Superintendent

There have been nine superintendents since 2003. Kyla Johnson-Trammell was named superintendent in July 2017. She grew up in East Oakland, attended Oakland public elementary and middle schools, and had served the district as a teacher, principal, and administrator.

Pollution

Add something about lead

In February 2020, McClymonds High School closed after the possibly carcinogenic solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) was found in groundwater under the campus. Students at first were relocated to Ralph Bunche Academy while the air, pool, and drinking water were tested for the vapor-forming chemical. On March 16, test results reported that TCE was not detected in the air, pool, or drinking water, but at that point all Oakland schools had closed for remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Add section about budget issues:

Oakland Unified School District has experienced ongoing financial difficulties in recent years. A 2018 Alameda County Civil Grand Jury report noted that the District had been "in financial peril" for the prior 15 years, with an average $20 million to $30 million in debt each year, due to budgetary errors and out-of-control spending. Enrollment had dropped from 54,000 to 37,000 students, resulting in decreased state funding, but the district had opened more schools (Rudsdale Newcomer School, which serves immigrants, and the School of Language, a bilingual middle school ), rather than closing them in response to declining enrollment, the report found. The report also criticized "system-wide failures" including "no accountability, lack of trust, and high teacher and administration turnover."

Another Alameda County Civil Grand Jury Report published a year later that financial instability was due to "the district’s poor business practices and broken culture," rather than just outside pressures like declining enrollment. The report found that although the District ranked sixth in per-pupil state funding out of 37 Bay Area school districts, it had far above average spending on non-teaching costs and consultants, and lower than average spending on teachers and special education. Spending for supervisor and administrator salaries was found to be more than six times the statewide average. Under Superintendent Antwan Wilson, the report said, millions of dollars were wasted as capital projects were halted in the planning stages, and $172 million was spent on new construction projects, leaving the district's finances "in shambles." The Board of Education responded that the new Blueprint for Quality Schools, the Citywide Plan, and the Plan for Fiscal Vitality, released between the Grand Jury's investigation and the publication of its report, had already addressed some of the Grand Jury's recommendations. The Board of Education also disagreed or partially disagreed with many of the report's findings.

As part of a plan to address the budget deficit, the Citywide Plan outlined a multi-phase plan for consolidating schools. In 2019, Elmhurst Community Prep and Alliance Academy merged into Elmhurst United Middle School. In January 2019, the Board voted to close Roots International Academy, a middle school in East Oakland, rather than waiting another year and merging it with Coliseum College Prep Academy, despite strong advocacy from students, parents, and teachers.


 * "Merger: The co-located Elmhurst Community Prep and Alliance Academy schools were merged into one larger school, Elmhurst United Middle School, that has increased its overall enrollment and is thriving.
 * Merger: The co-located Futures Elementary and Community United Elementary are in the planning process now to be merged starting in the 2021-22 school year.
 * Closure: Roots International Academy was closed and the rising sixth and seventh graders were transferred to higher performing schools.
 * Expansion: Coliseum College Prep Academy doubled the size of its incoming 6th grade class (using the former Roots campus).
 * Expansion: MetWest High School was expanded to include a freshman class that doubled in size, with 44 students on the new MetWest Ericka Huggins campus located at Westlake Middle School." https://www.ousd.org/Page/18837

Bond measures

In 2012, voters passed Measure J, a $475 million school facilities bond, but the 2018-2019 Grand Jury report found that mismanagement led to delays in the 21 projects that were to be funded, and in 2018, nine of those projects were paused due to budget overruns and the district running out of funds. As of 2019, $12.5 million of bond money had been spent over the prior four years on rented office space for central offices at 1000 Broadway following a flood in the administration building in 2014, despite questions about the legality of this practice.

In November 2020, Measure Y will ask voters whether to issue $735 million in additional bonds. If passed, the bonds will fund more than 20 projects, including upgrading and expanding seven schools, safety improvements, and converting a closed school to a new alternative education and administrative building, but are only one fifth of the district's calculated financial need for construction projects.

It wrote, "The Oakland Unified School District board has failed in its responsibilities to serve the students of Oakland." The report recommended cutting spending on administrators, updating or closing several schools, " https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2019/06/26/grand-jury-oakland-unified-wastes-millions-each-year-on-administration-consultants/

December 2017 "In terms of management, for several years, former Superintendent Antwan Wilson spent more money than was budgeted on highly compensated administrators and outside contractors. Spending controls in various OUSD departments were absent. The system bled money and didn't know how much it was overspending until it was too late. And the district has never been able to reduce its disproportionately large overhead costs. Wilson left in February to become the chancellor of Washington, D.C. schools just as the Oakland's budget crisis became known to the public." https://www.eastbayexpress.com/SevenDays/archives/2017/12/14/oakland-school-board-votes-to-implement-millions-in-disruptive-mid-year-budget-cuts

Add section about administrative offices at 1000 Broadway

"The district also has used more than $12.5 million in capital improvement Measure J funds to pay rent for its administration offices at 1000 Broadway, the report says. Although the state's fiscal oversight agency has questioned the legality of using bond funds for that purpose, the district's legal team maintains such a use is proper. The school board has been presented with options to permanently house the district's administrative offices but has failed to take any action on them, according to the report."

EdSource is another possible source of news on OUSD budget

Add a section about bond funding

Add a section about Governance: OUSD Board of Education Directors https://www.ousd.org/findyourdirector