Oakland Schools Need Stability

[Peter Farruggio <pfarr@cal.berkeley.edu>]

A great letter to the Oakland Tribune from a knowledgeable 
parent.  Unfortunately, the darned newspaper didn't bother to upload 
this letter to its website, even though it was printed in the daily 
edition of June 12.  Here it is, copied word for word.  I know that 
this parent is not unique in the Oakland school district, and that 
means that we can and must increase our efforts at grass roots organizing...


Oakland Tribune, Letters to Editor, June 12, 2007

Oakland Schools Need Stability

Regarding "Officials Get Earful at School Hearing," June 2:

	As a longtime Oakland public school parent, I have concluded that 
the state school administration has failed to create a change for the 
better.  The previous leadership had weaknesses, but the state has 
produced its very own Frankenstein monster.
	The California Department of Education must have been thrilled to 
acquire OUSD.  Now it could offer its friends, Eli Broad, Bill Gates, 
et. al., the opportunity to try out their 
"we're-billionaires-and-we-know-it-all" notions of public school reform.
	If you needed a laboratory  to test your theories, Oakland would be 
ideal.  Disadvantaged by significant class, ethnic, and race 
divisions - with an abundance of uninvolved parents - no one would 
organize effective resistance against your efforts.  Besides, with 
average academic performance already low, what would be lost if your 
experiment didn't succeed?
	As it turns out, something has been lost.  The students and their 
families are now continuously subjected to instability.  The state's 
manipulations have produced a constant turnover of people, positions, 
and programs at the schools with no end in sight.
	Dedicated educators and engaged parents, our most valuable 
resources, are mostly disregarded.  With such rapid change, the body 
of collective memory is growing very, very thin.
	OUSD is being controlled by outsiders with no sincere allegiance to 
the well-being of our city.  They are not experts who can solve the 
painful problems which plague us.  We'll need to do that ourselves.
	So maybe it's time to say, "Enough is enough."

Sharon Higgins
Oakland