"At the end of January, the Oakland Unified School District announced their plan to close and merge up to 15 schools as a means of saving money" -- Ava Rukavina, 9th Grade
At the end of January, the Oakland Unified School District announced their plan to close and merge up to 15 schools as a means of saving money. Later, on February 8th, the plan was revised and finalized. Currently eleven schools are affected: Parker K-8, Community Day, Korematsu, Horace Mann, Brookfield, Carl B. Munck, and Grass Valley will all close by the end of the 2022-2023 school year. In addition to the seven closing schools, La Escuelita (K-8) and Hillcrest (K-8) will no longer teach middle school, and Rise Community Elementary and New Highland Academy will be merging. This has been met with protests across Oakland.
Many concerned staff, students, and parents have protested the closures because they disproportionately impact students of color and low-income students. In her article, Oakland School Closure Decision Inspires New Opposition Efforts, Annelise Finney, a weekend reporter for KQED, says, “an estimated 93% of students at the schools affected by the plan are considered either lower-income, English learners or foster youth, compared to the district-wide average of about 80%.” 90% of OUSD’s student body are students of color, and according to data from the California Department of Education, 98.2% of the students affected by the closures are students of color.
Hillcrest Middle School is an outlier. Located in the Oakland Hills, Hillcrest Middle School was one of the schools that OUSD’s Board of Education decided to close by the end of 2023. Hillcrest is much less diverse than most OUSD schools in the socio-economic status, race, and ethnicity of their student population.
According to data from the California Department of Education, in the 2021-2022 school year, it was found that 50.5% of Hillcrest students were students of color, and only 8.6% were considered socio-economically disadvantaged. These percentages for the other closing schools were between 90% and 100%. The Oakland Unified School District’s plan unjustly impacts many schools with an overwhelming population of students of color and low-income students. So, why is there an outlier here?
“[The Board of Directors] just threw us in to make their decision look not as targeting towards low-income families. A lot of kids depend on those schools,” Jackson Lindley, a 6th grader attending Hillcrest Middleschool, speculates.
Wyatt Langston and Tristan Kim, two 8th grade students attending Hillcrest Middle School were also interviewed, they shared their thoughts about the closures.
“If Hillcrest closes, it wouldn’t really be a big deal. But if it’s all the other schools in poorer neighborhoods, they would be more affected than Hillcrest,” Wyatt shared. “When Hillcrest closes a lot of middle schoolers will probably be going to private schools and what not, but most other student’s can’t afford that.”
For many lower-income families, switching schools is stressful. Aside from the process of adjusting to a new school, many underprivileged parents can’t afford to spend their time and money transporting their children to a new school. Additionally, according to Great Schools, “A larger number of schools in this district are rated below average in school quality.” Wealthier families have the freedom to enroll their children in private schools if they’re unhappy with the quality of the school their children are sent to; lower-income families don’t have that privilege.
“It affects people who are in poorer neighborhoods and don’t have other schools to go to,” Tristan said. Not only are most of the students affected by the closures a part of low-income families who may be unable to sacrifice time and money to transport or support their children in a new school, some students might quite literally not have anywhere else to go. On the list of closing schools is Community Day, OUSD’s only school for expelled students. Without an environment built to assist them, these students may be turned away from other schools.
“I protested a few weeks ago, here [at Hillcrest], Westlake, and in downtown Oakland,” Wyatt mentioned. Westlake has been the center of many of these protests; in the proposed plan, it was originally set to be relocated, but was eventually removed when the plan was revised. However, that hasn’t stopped the community members from protesting. Students from Westlake and other OUSD schools walked out in protest and went to Frank Ogawa Plaza in downtown Oakland for a rally. At one point in February, two of their staff participated in hunger strikes in opposition to the closures. Andre San-Chez and Moses Omolade ate & drank only water, vitamins, and electrolytes from the 1st to 18th of February.
When asked what they thought OUSD could do to save money in lieu of closing schools, many students suggested fundraising. “A lot of schools are having fundraisers,” Piette said “I think that could be helpful.” Hillcrest is heavily funded by their PTA, with most of their income coming from donations, fundraisers, and their annual benefit/auction. This has worked quite well for them in the past.
Many students don’t believe that the closures will benefit the district. In 2020, Kaiser Elementary closed to merge with Sankofa Elementary. After the school closed, 17% of Kaiser students went on to attend non-district owned schools. Declines in enrollment like this result in even less funding from the state. This is especially concerning because the 2022-2023 closures are on a much larger scale than OUSD closures have been in past years. “I think it’s hurting more than it’s helping,” said Chloe Leduc, in Hillcrest’s 8th grade class. “Don’t close our schools.”
Many concerned staff, students, and parents have protested the closures because they disproportionately impact students of color and low-income students. In her article, Oakland School Closure Decision Inspires New Opposition Efforts, Annelise Finney, a weekend reporter for KQED, says, “an estimated 93% of students at the schools affected by the plan are considered either lower-income, English learners or foster youth, compared to the district-wide average of about 80%.” 90% of OUSD’s student body are students of color, and according to data from the California Department of Education, 98.2% of the students affected by the closures are students of color.
Hillcrest Middle School is an outlier. Located in the Oakland Hills, Hillcrest Middle School was one of the schools that OUSD’s Board of Education decided to close by the end of 2023. Hillcrest is much less diverse than most OUSD schools in the socio-economic status, race, and ethnicity of their student population.
According to data from the California Department of Education, in the 2021-2022 school year, it was found that 50.5% of Hillcrest students were students of color, and only 8.6% were considered socio-economically disadvantaged. These percentages for the other closing schools were between 90% and 100%. The Oakland Unified School District’s plan unjustly impacts many schools with an overwhelming population of students of color and low-income students. So, why is there an outlier here?
“[The Board of Directors] just threw us in to make their decision look not as targeting towards low-income families. A lot of kids depend on those schools,” Jackson Lindley, a 6th grader attending Hillcrest Middleschool, speculates.
Wyatt Langston and Tristan Kim, two 8th grade students attending Hillcrest Middle School were also interviewed, they shared their thoughts about the closures.
“If Hillcrest closes, it wouldn’t really be a big deal. But if it’s all the other schools in poorer neighborhoods, they would be more affected than Hillcrest,” Wyatt shared. “When Hillcrest closes a lot of middle schoolers will probably be going to private schools and what not, but most other student’s can’t afford that.”
For many lower-income families, switching schools is stressful. Aside from the process of adjusting to a new school, many underprivileged parents can’t afford to spend their time and money transporting their children to a new school. Additionally, according to Great Schools, “A larger number of schools in this district are rated below average in school quality.” Wealthier families have the freedom to enroll their children in private schools if they’re unhappy with the quality of the school their children are sent to; lower-income families don’t have that privilege.
“It affects people who are in poorer neighborhoods and don’t have other schools to go to,” Tristan said. Not only are most of the students affected by the closures a part of low-income families who may be unable to sacrifice time and money to transport or support their children in a new school, some students might quite literally not have anywhere else to go. On the list of closing schools is Community Day, OUSD’s only school for expelled students. Without an environment built to assist them, these students may be turned away from other schools.
“I protested a few weeks ago, here [at Hillcrest], Westlake, and in downtown Oakland,” Wyatt mentioned. Westlake has been the center of many of these protests; in the proposed plan, it was originally set to be relocated, but was eventually removed when the plan was revised. However, that hasn’t stopped the community members from protesting. Students from Westlake and other OUSD schools walked out in protest and went to Frank Ogawa Plaza in downtown Oakland for a rally. At one point in February, two of their staff participated in hunger strikes in opposition to the closures. Andre San-Chez and Moses Omolade ate & drank only water, vitamins, and electrolytes from the 1st to 18th of February.
When asked what they thought OUSD could do to save money in lieu of closing schools, many students suggested fundraising. “A lot of schools are having fundraisers,” Piette said “I think that could be helpful.” Hillcrest is heavily funded by their PTA, with most of their income coming from donations, fundraisers, and their annual benefit/auction. This has worked quite well for them in the past.
Many students don’t believe that the closures will benefit the district. In 2020, Kaiser Elementary closed to merge with Sankofa Elementary. After the school closed, 17% of Kaiser students went on to attend non-district owned schools. Declines in enrollment like this result in even less funding from the state. This is especially concerning because the 2022-2023 closures are on a much larger scale than OUSD closures have been in past years. “I think it’s hurting more than it’s helping,” said Chloe Leduc, in Hillcrest’s 8th grade class. “Don’t close our schools.”