More changes could be coming to the Oakland Unified School District as they continue to try to find ways to balance their budget.
On Wednesday, district staff will provide the OUSD Board of Education with a list of school changes and restructurings.
“Over the next two years, we need to make the district look different than it does now,” said Mike Hutchinson, vice chairman of the board.
Hutchison was born, raised and educated in Oakland, even attending what is now Edna Brewer Elementary School. He wants to create the kind of schools that Oaklanders deserve, and he hopes to do that by preventing closures.
“There are really no plans at this point to close schools, but we need to start looking at how our resources are organized across the district,” Hutchinson said.
District staff will present possible changes at Wednesday’s school board meeting. One of the suggestions may be to merge schools.
“We have a number of school sites where more than one small school shares the campus, so if we have two elementary schools sharing a campus, we should probably be more efficient by merging them into one school,” Hutchinson said.
Acorn Woodland Elementary and EnCompass Academy on 81st Avenue in East Oakland are an example.
Cynthia Ramirez has been sending two of her children there for years.
“I really like ACORN,” Ramirez said. “I am very happy with the school.”
She says she understands the budget shortfalls, but is ultimately against a merger.
“I honestly feel like the schools are doing just fine right now, individually but on the same campus,” Ramirez said of the current setup. “I feel like it’s well organized.”
After district staff presents the proposal to the board, there will be about a month to hear feedback from parents like Ramirez and make adjustments before the changes are voted on.
Although students would attend school on the same campuses, the people who work there may be the most affected.
“Presumably there will be some staff reductions at some levels, but if we are training the same number of students, it will require the same number of staff,” Hutchinson said.
Working to prevent a financial crisis while trying to do what’s best for the youngest members of the community.
