OUSD Board Meeting Highlights - August 25

August 25, 2010

In Board Watch Blog

At 5pm, a group of protesters including parents, teachers, community members and students lined the steps of the Board of Education building at 1025 Second Avenue expressing their disappointment over the impending closures of the district's Child Development Centers (CDCs).

Similarly, the Non-Agenda Speaker Cards this evening focused on the closures of Oakland's CDCs and the massive funding cuts to the Early Childhood Education program.  Henry Hitz of Oakland Parents Together (OPT) noted that if necessary, on August 30, OPT will do a people's takeover of the CDCs that are being forced to close. Other speakers shared their disappointment and anger over the possible disbanding of The Castleers, Castlemont High School's choral group since 1929.

President's Report
Board President Gary Yee met with the State Board of Education to request that they reconsider the restructuring of the School Improvement Grant (SIG) in Oakland.  Of the four OUSD schools that were eligible for SIG, only Elmhurst Community Prep (ECP) and United for Success chose to submit applications. Both schools learned that their applications were denied this summer, since the district's application did not include all four eligible schools.

On behalf of the OUSD Board of Education, Director Yee requested that the State Board consider funding all schools that applied, regardless of whether a district applied for all eligible schools. The State Board unanimously adopted the request to submit a federal waiver, which will allow California to allocate available funding for schools that applied but were not awarded. President Yee believes that $8 million will be awarded over the next three years for ECP and United for Success Academy middle schools. Superintendent Smith will have additional information shortly.

Superintendent's Report
After welcoming Maria Santos, OUSD's new Deputy of Instruction, Superintendent Smith noted that it was another year of remarkable success for the district. He acknowledged that while the CST results are a narrow measure, they are an important one, and shared the following performance highlights:

• ELA proficiency rates continued to improve (except for 7th grade)
• Math proficiency rates continued to improve
  
• 2nd grade math performance higher than the state average
  
• 5th grade math performance higher than the state average

At the next meeting, the Board will take a deeper look at the data over time and by cohort.  

Dr. Smith also spoke briefly about the district's financial position, noting that OUSD regularly overspends its budget by over $30 million annually. He highlighted the need to become fiscally and academically solvent, and shared that the district has prioritized funding early childhood education to the extent possible. (Note: the State of California cut 80% of funding to early childhood education, and OUSD is currently operating at 65% of ECE programming). He invited the community to offer feedback.

Posted by Admin - Comments (0) - Permalink

Tags: Board Watch Blog