Officials with the Oakland Unified School District issued a brief response over the weekend to criticism from the teachers' union and community members about the board's decision to uphold school closures and mergers.
Despite opposition to the plan from students, community members and educators, the board Friday night rejected a resolution that would have postponed part of the plan, which includes closing Parker K-8 and Community Day School and changing La Escuelita from a K-8 school to a K-5 school until next year.
The morning after, opponents of the plan expressed their displeasure with the decision, which they said disproportionately affects students of color. Opposition to the plan included a walkout by students at Oakland Technical High School on Feb. 11 and a hunger strike by two educators that began Feb. 1 and ended Friday.
More protests were planned for Monday, including one outside Parker Elementary in East Oakland at around 2 p.m.
Parker Elementary and Community Day School, a one-last-chance school for expelled students, are set to close by this summer. Rochelle Jenkins has 11-year-old twin girls who attend Parker Elementary.
“As long as hard working parents like me pay California state taxes out of our checks, 12 months out of the year, these schools that we pay for, they’re not going anywhere,” she said.
According to the district’s plan, the twin girls have two schools they can transfer to, and they’re both more than a mile away.
“I work so I can’t be there to drop off my kids off at school,” said Jenkins.
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District officials have said the closures are necessary due to plunging enrollment and a ballooning budget deficit.
A district spokesman over the weekend released a statement in response to critics of the closures.
"On Friday night, Feb. 18, the OUSD Board of Education upheld their previous decision from the meeting on Feb. 8. The District is focused on ensuring all impacted students have as smooth and easy a transition as possible," the statement read.
