"OUSD (Oakland Unified School District) is closing down classrooms and moving students into alternative spaces with differing teachers. How is this affecting the teachers and students involved?"--Mila Boyden,6th grade
OUSD (Oakland Unified School District) is closing down classrooms and moving students into alternative spaces with differing teachers. They are also switching out teachers with other schools to teach other students.. This is happening because some classes are too small due to Covid’s effect on student count, or bad decisions as some people say. Because of this, some families have decided to pull students from the district and use alternatives such as online learning and homeschooling.
Sugeera Eckley is a fourth and fifth grade teacher at Montclair Elementary school in Oakland. Eckley has been working at the school for two years now.
“Consolidations are difficult for everyone involved,” says Eckley. “Especially this year as we come back from distance learning, the changes have made coming back to school more challenging. There was also no extra support given by the district to help with these changes, it was as if we were all supposed to make changes immediately and move forward.” Eckley did not get consolidated, but she was concerned, nevertheless, about how consolidation of her co-workers would impact her class, school, and community.
Jamila Edwards is also a teacher at the Montclair. Edwards teaches third grade and has been teaching at Montclair Elementary School for five years and counting.
“We lost two teachers at Montclair,” says Edwards. “One went to another school and the other moved to a role outside of the classroom. As a result of those moves, a fifth grade class and a third grade class were closed and their students were dispersed to other teachers. It has a negative impact on morale, trust in the district, and increased safety risks.”
Five students from another third grade class were moved into Edwards' class because another third grade class was consolidated. These students were put into different classes with different teachers at Montclair.
Julia Textor used to be a teacher at Montclair. She is one of the teachers who were moved to another position. Textor agrees with Edward and Eckley. “Consolidation has been very stressful for students, teachers, and families. There have been lots of tears and anxiety because of consolidation,” said Textor.
“I think that it’s awful and really hard on everyone involved,” she continued. “This could have been figured out sooner. Here we are at week nine and we need to start all over. It’s very unfortunate for everyone.”
Textor said that she found out that she was going to be moved a week before it happened. She had been teaching 5th grade for eight weeks and then took the place of a kindergarten teacher. Eckley’s class absorbed some of these students, illustrating that consolidation doesn’t just affect one class, it affects the whole school.
Students also feel that OUSD’s consolidation is having a negative impact. . Third grader Natasha Boyden says, “I think it’s kind of bad because students get used to their class and their teacher and then the teacher goes away and the class gets separated. That's bad because the class is like a community and then it gets ripped apart and the kids have to adjust to a new classroom all over again.”
Boyden seems to think that consolidation is really bad for the school community, adding that,“A couple weeks ago a kindergarten teacher and a first grade teacher went away from the school and because of that a third grade had to take on the role of the first grade teacher and a fifth grade teacher had to talk about the role of the kindergarten teacher. It was all very complicated.”Boydens class absorbed 8 new students because a third grade class closed down.
If you thought that elementary school consolidation was bad, middle school is even worse. Sadie Anderson who is a 6th grader at Bret Harte Middle School said that, “It’s bad because people had their schedule changed a couple months into the school year after they had learned to adapt to the first one. Middle schoolers classes got switched around which made it very confusing. Imagine adjusting to a new school and having to go to different classrooms for every class and then everything being switched around. Half of the 6th graders' schedules changed and half of them didn’t because the English and history teacher went away. I have around 7 new students in my English class and it’s the same for my history class.” Anderson also said that a lot of kids she knows switched from a public school to a private school because of these consolidations. .
Sugeera Eckley is a fourth and fifth grade teacher at Montclair Elementary school in Oakland. Eckley has been working at the school for two years now.
“Consolidations are difficult for everyone involved,” says Eckley. “Especially this year as we come back from distance learning, the changes have made coming back to school more challenging. There was also no extra support given by the district to help with these changes, it was as if we were all supposed to make changes immediately and move forward.” Eckley did not get consolidated, but she was concerned, nevertheless, about how consolidation of her co-workers would impact her class, school, and community.
Jamila Edwards is also a teacher at the Montclair. Edwards teaches third grade and has been teaching at Montclair Elementary School for five years and counting.
“We lost two teachers at Montclair,” says Edwards. “One went to another school and the other moved to a role outside of the classroom. As a result of those moves, a fifth grade class and a third grade class were closed and their students were dispersed to other teachers. It has a negative impact on morale, trust in the district, and increased safety risks.”
Five students from another third grade class were moved into Edwards' class because another third grade class was consolidated. These students were put into different classes with different teachers at Montclair.
Julia Textor used to be a teacher at Montclair. She is one of the teachers who were moved to another position. Textor agrees with Edward and Eckley. “Consolidation has been very stressful for students, teachers, and families. There have been lots of tears and anxiety because of consolidation,” said Textor.
“I think that it’s awful and really hard on everyone involved,” she continued. “This could have been figured out sooner. Here we are at week nine and we need to start all over. It’s very unfortunate for everyone.”
Textor said that she found out that she was going to be moved a week before it happened. She had been teaching 5th grade for eight weeks and then took the place of a kindergarten teacher. Eckley’s class absorbed some of these students, illustrating that consolidation doesn’t just affect one class, it affects the whole school.
Students also feel that OUSD’s consolidation is having a negative impact. . Third grader Natasha Boyden says, “I think it’s kind of bad because students get used to their class and their teacher and then the teacher goes away and the class gets separated. That's bad because the class is like a community and then it gets ripped apart and the kids have to adjust to a new classroom all over again.”
Boyden seems to think that consolidation is really bad for the school community, adding that,“A couple weeks ago a kindergarten teacher and a first grade teacher went away from the school and because of that a third grade had to take on the role of the first grade teacher and a fifth grade teacher had to talk about the role of the kindergarten teacher. It was all very complicated.”Boydens class absorbed 8 new students because a third grade class closed down.
If you thought that elementary school consolidation was bad, middle school is even worse. Sadie Anderson who is a 6th grader at Bret Harte Middle School said that, “It’s bad because people had their schedule changed a couple months into the school year after they had learned to adapt to the first one. Middle schoolers classes got switched around which made it very confusing. Imagine adjusting to a new school and having to go to different classrooms for every class and then everything being switched around. Half of the 6th graders' schedules changed and half of them didn’t because the English and history teacher went away. I have around 7 new students in my English class and it’s the same for my history class.” Anderson also said that a lot of kids she knows switched from a public school to a private school because of these consolidations. .
