By Zoneil Maharaj, Photos by Angelica Flores and Steve Wake
Jul 16, 2007 - 9:20 PM
East Oakland Community High School students march for their education and lose, but only come out stronger
Students bang on makeshift drums. The drumming, along with bullhorns, car honks and the chanting of the marchers, cause people to watch the march and inquire about its purpose. (Photo by Angelica Flores)
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Students pass out directions that map out the path of the march, along with a list of reminders, telling them to behave properly, maintain the peace and not give up. If for any reason police harass the students, the National Lawyers Guild phone number is attached.
From the beginning, they know that at least one district official is on their side.
“All of our schools should join you to demand better education for our district,” says school board member Noel Gallo who walks the entire length of the march. “You have the right to be here. You have the right to have quality schools. That right is guaranteed in the Constitution.”
The crowd begins chanting as soon as the march begins: “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!” and ”The people united, will never be divided!”
Students take over the streets as they march down Macarthur Blvd. The megaphones, makeshift drums made of buckets, cheers and car honks cause spectators to pop out of ever corner and inquire about what’s going on. Folks drive by and throw peace signs and pump their fists in the air.
Becky Alexander, 29, is a graduate student instructor for a Social and Cultural Studies in Education course at UC Berkeley. She joined the march to support the school and its unique approach to education.
“I think it’s a really inspiring example of what schools can do and be. They take an innovative approach at engaging kids in arts, media, literacy, history, resistance,” she says.
Cesar Cruz, a faculty member and director of the Avenues Project at East Oakland Community High, visited Alexander’s Race and Ethnicity class two years ago. UC Berkeley students in turn visited the high school.
“It was really inspiring for my students to visit the school and to see an example that’s outside of the box and what a school can do,” Alexander says. “They have a critical curriculum that engages with the history of struggle of this country and globally.”
Ironically, they’re now living the struggle they teach and manifesting the reality of why schools like East Oakland Community High should exist.
Teachers from the adjoining Youth Empowerment School join the march as well.
“The vision that East Oakland Community High School was created on deserves a chance and I admire the way the faculty reflects the student body because the student body is mostly youth of color and so is the staff,” says Morrison Lyman, 32, a special education instructor at Youth Empowerment School. “I’m afraid a closure will squash hope.”
A KRON-4 helicopter hovers above as the marchers approach the school district headquarters. Everyone stops to wave for the copter cam. Several of the students are beginning to lose their voice. When they finally reach the district office, they are greeted by more supporters and news crews filming their arrival. The marchers are exhausted.
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Left Behind
Bodies fill every crevice of the first floor hallway. Seating is limited inside the main room, so the majority is directed to the fourth floor where they watch a live broadcast of the meeting on a small TV. The entire school board is present for tonight’s School Portfolio Management review. Last year, fourteen schools were targeted as “area of focus” schools by the district. It has since narrowed the list to just three, one of which is East Oakland Community High.
By this time, 7 p.m., students are tired and hungry. As the board meeting continues downstairs in the main room, photography teacher Rosa Cabrera shares sandwiches with several students.
High School Network Executive Officer Wendy Gudalewicz and Chief of Community Accountability Kristen Vital, present the data they compiled after making site visits to EOC, recommending a closure.
Aside from low tests scores and enrollment, they point out that 43 percent of the junior class are behind on credits, thus not on track to graduate next year. Fifty-one students have no P.E. credits because the class wasn’t offered in its first year. To remedy this, students will have to take two class periods of PE just to be on track to graduate.
They do, however, acknowledge the variety of enrichment courses being offered and the gradual increase in enrollment; they went from 99 students in 2004 to 180 in 2006.
“Why do we let our schools get to a certain level and then take corrective action?” asks board member Noel Gallo. “At a certain point administratively, we have to take responsibility. I have a school where I truly believe the students want to achieve, yet we’ve failed them. I accept responsibility.”
When it comes time to hear the school community’s rebuttal, 30 heads line up.
“In order for us to move forward, everyone has to take responsibility. I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud. I’ve never seen so many kids want to go to school,” says Tyra Robertson, a concerned parent. “This is shameful, especially in Oakland where the drop out rate is so high. Where are these kids going to be in 10 years if this is the message we’re sending them?”
Wayne Yang, who has remained calm and optimistic through the entire ordeal, takes the podium, speaking about the schools successes and failures. He apologizes for the horrible instruction of the previous year and for the lack of support to the neighborhood, whose members, including Anita Stewart, are present.
“Had you asked me if this school needed to be closed a year ago, I would have said ‘yes.’ But we’ve had dramatic changes,” he says.
He points out the improvement in student writing. “Sorry ya’ll, it sucked before,” he says, addressing his students in the room. The school has hired a writing coach and started this school year with two intervention classes to improve test scores. But he acknowledges that after auditing and interviewing students, there are still a handful of students that have no chance to graduate on time.
Through their efforts, the school has rallied a great amount of support. Even the city’s mayor, Ron Dellums, supports the school. Kitty Kelly Epstein, the city’s Director of Education, appears on his behalf and reads a letter of support
In the letter, Dellums writes: “While I understand that administrators who have reviewed the school have several specific concerns, I believe that it is important to give institutions an opportunity to develop, especially when there are many, many students, parents, and teachers who have demonstrated their willingness to assist with that development.”
Students approach the microphone, hoping their testimonies will not fall on deaf ears.
“Being a young black male, I was told I couldn’t be much. But the teachers expected me to do so much,” says Evarette Lavender, 17, citing the rigorous coursework and the many books he was forced to read, something he would have never done with enjoyment. “They call me an intellectual, not just intelligent.”
Leonard Jones, a bulky 17-year-old who towers over the podium, tells those at the meeting that his career goal before attending East Oakland Community High was to simply be a mechanic. Through the influence of his teachers, he now wants to be an automotive engineer. “I don’t want to fix other people’s cars, I want to make my own,” he says.
In his first year at Fremont High School, 18-year-old Adrian Arias was picked on a lot, so he joined a gang. After transferring to East Oakland Community High, he says he was taught discipline and how to fight back without using violence. “Do not close EOC because that’s my future right there,” he pleads.
None of this student involvement and public outcry will appear in test data. The overwhelming support raises the questions of how much value should be placed on data-driven analysis as a measure of achievement.
“We do need to be data-driven to be able to hold those numbers up and say the achievement gap is unacceptable,” says board member Gregory Hodge who compares the students to those who marched during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. “It’s already an exemplary school; the numbers just don’t show that yet. It’s time to take a risk, not for people but with a people so that these children’s dreams are not deferred.”
After listening to hours of speeches, the board members, who since the state takeover can only offer advice, give their recommendations. Board members Noel Gallo, Gregory Hodge and Christopher Dobbins recommend the school stay open. Alice Spearman recommends East Oakland Community High merge with the adjoining Youth Empowerment School. Gary Yee says he will stand behind State Administrator Kimberly Statham’s decision, whatever it may be. Kerry Hamill and David Kakishiba’s recommendations are unclear. Requests for follow up interviews with Hamill, Yee and Kakishiba were not returned. (*Correction: At the meeting, Hamill stated that though she was unsure at first, she was moved by the support and determination of the students that she recommended the school be granted more time to make improvements.)
At 11 p.m., well past many of the students’ bedtimes, a decision is made.
“We have failed you,” admits Statham. “As a representative of the district, I take that responsibility.”
“I’d rather face your anger and disappointment tonight rather than on the streets five years from now when you can’t get a job,” she says before adding, “I pledge to you that we will follow you.”
There is an overall moan. Eyes well up with tears. Only a handful raise their voices but are silenced quickly as faculty members direct everyone into the hallway. There is no uproar. One parent notes, “Look at all these children left behind.”
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Victory
Just as when they entered, students, parents and teachers crowd the hallway. Except they are now beaten. There is no protest, no vocalized anger. Instead, heads hang low in silence, as if in mourning.
Gisella Ramirez, a school volunteer, breaks the silence and jumps into the center of hallway.
“This is round one. We got work to do. We gotta go to plan B,” she says. “We always fight. Even if we don’t have our school, we still fight.”
The next battle is Assembly Bill 45 written by State Assembly Member Sandre Swanson in order to reverse the impact of the state takeover. Since the takeover, the community-elected school board has never made a binding decision because the state administrator has the final say. On June 11, 2007, supporters of East Oakland Community High will speak in front of the state Senate and urge them to pass the bill.
“The parents and students are left without any entity to hold accountable for the decisions that are being made about their education,” says Amber Maltbie, communication director for assembly member Sandre Swanson, in a phone interview. This new bill, Maltbie says, has the students’ educational interest in mind.
The decision made by State Administrator Kimberly Statham is a perfect example of why this bill exists. Had the school board members been able to hold an actual vote, perhaps the outcome would have been different. But then again, the empowerment that follows the decision will have never occurred.
Bodies line the hallway with an open space in the center. Like a scene from a movie, one by one, members of the school community give inspirational speeches. And soon, defeat becomes victory.
“This is what we’ve been teaching you. It’s not over. I told you, I’m with you for life,” says Dwight Stallings, the coach of the boys and girls basketball teams. “Go and show ‘em what you’re made of…Leave here with your pain and sorrows but leave here with pride. You will never be a failure.
“Our minds have to be fit, strong and ready to fight. Be in school on time tomorrow,” says Daneen Keaton, a teacher and co-director of East Oakland Community High. It’s close to midnight. “Don’t let anyone take away your desire to learn.”
Evarette Lavender plants his feet firmly in the center like a drill sergeant, scanning the faces of his peers who are still here almost 12 hours after the eight-mile march began. He breaks the tension with jokes. “I know ya’ll. We didn’t have P.E. classes and we’re still walking…We did our thing this year. Our faces were on TV. We can tell our grandchildren that we walked for their education. We can talk about this history forever.”
“Lessons have not been taught in vain. To me, this is Oakland unified,” says Cesar Cruz, director of the school’s Avenues Project, with watery eyes. “The people who get paid from Oakland Unified (School District) had to go out the back door. We’re leaving through the front.”
Cruz plans on starting a charter school. If he does so successfully, the school district will ultimately lose says school board member Christopher Dobbins. According to Dobbins, charter schools answer directly to the state, so funds come from and go to the state rather than the school district.
“We say we want to retain students yet you do something like this and you push them out,” Dobbins says in a follow up interview. “If you look at it cynically, even if you didn’t care about the fact that they had invested all this emotion and energy in to it, when it come downs to dollars and cents the district is losing money by doing this.”
Jeffrey Duncan-Andrade, a San Francisco State University professor and East Oakland Community High instructor, has taught in the Oakland school district for 15 years. For him, this is a familiar battle ground.
“The people that made the decision are not from our community. They don’t live in this community. And they pass judgment on us?” Duncan-Andrade says. “I’m not surprised by the decision tonight. I’m reaffirmed.”
“I grew up as an athlete and I always wanted that final score. But freedom is not a final score. Freedom is a journey…Our freedom is in our decision to fight forever,” he says. “This march will be in the history book. Look in any history book for hundreds of students marching for freedom and education, and you’ll see that chapter is lacking. You have written it here today.”
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Comments (2)
Posted by Brian | August 3, 2007 9:12 PM
Posted on August 3, 2007 21:12
Posted by Brian | August 3, 2007 9:14 PM
Posted on August 3, 2007 21:14