6 Arrested in Sit-in at Oakland Schools' Administrator's Office

BREAKING NEWS :FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
3.1.05


Six Oakland Community Members Arrested at Oakland
School District HQ Demanding Meeting With State
Superintendent Jack O'Connell

Micah Clatterbaugh, Chicano Moratorium Coalition; Kali
Akuno, Malcolm X Grassroot Movement; Anne Weills,
Civil Rights Lawyer, Michael Siegal, Coalition Against
School Closures; Linda Halpern, teacher at Community
Day School; Pamela Drake, Canditate for City Council
District 2 all long time Oakland community leaders
stage sit-in to demand restoration of local democratic
control of the Oakland schools

Oakland, CA. ? As of 3:45 p.m. today, Tuesday March
1st, six Oakland residents began a
sit-in in the office of the state administrator of the
Oakland schools when their demand for a meeting with
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack
O?Connell was refused; about 75 students, parents,
teachers and labor leaders rallied outside. The group
demands a meeting with Superintendent O?Connell.

?We do not recognize the current district leadership
as legitimate,? says Kali Akuno, an Oakland-based
educator who is currently part of the sit-in. ?We call
on Superintendent O'Connell to restore democratic
control to Oakland's public school system.?
As part of their action today, the coalition issued
four demands for Superintendent O?Connell. They are:
1. The immediate restoration of local democratic
control over the Oakland Unified School District;
2. No school closures and no charter conversions;
3. No layoffs; and
4. An immediate meeting with State Superintendent of
Public Instruction Jack O?Connell to discuss the
implementation of these demands.
Michael Siegel of the coalition, also sitting-in,
continues: ?Recent actions by State Administrator
Randolph Ward to close schools without community
input, to open our campuses to private school and
charter school corporations, and to threaten the
complete shutdown of our adult education program only
further our resolve to resist this hostile takeover
until Oakland parents, educators, and community
members can once again decide how best to educate our
children, youth, and adults.?
The community coalition includes parents of Oakland
Unified School District students, educators, high
school students, and representatives from Youth
Together, the Oakland Education Association (OEA), the
Million Worker March, the American Federated County
State and Municipal Employees union (AFSCME), Oakland
Parents Together, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, and
Education Not Incarceration. For more information
contact spokespeople Kali Akuno at 593-3956 or Michael
Siegel at 289-3318.
#
Summary of Today's Action: Demands; What the State is
Trying to Do; Next Steps

Four demands for Superintendent O'Connell.
1. The immediate restoration of local democratic
control over the Oakland Unified School District;
2. No school closures and no charter conversions;
3. No layoffs; and
4. An immediate meeting with State Superintendent
of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell to discuss the
implementation of these demands.

What the State Administration is planning on doing to
Oakland schools:
1. Shut Down Adult Education Department that serves
25,000 students
2. Shut Down Six (6) more Oakland schools.
3. Transform 8 Oakland elementary schools into charter
schools, run by a top-down outside organization
"Education for Change" that would be directed by until
last week, Kevin Wooldridge, who was, until last week
assistant to the State Administrator.
4. Lay off 200 Elementary School and Middle School
Teachers
5. Cut a large portion of the remaining art and music
teachers from Oakland elementary schools (50 teachers)
6. Lay off a significant number of the already
understaffed Middle and High School Counselors (47
Counselors)
7. Cut a significant number of High School art and
music teachers (30).
8. Cap Teachers' Health Care Benefits


Next Steps:
Tuesday, March 8th, 6-8PM at the First Congregational
Church (2501 Harrison Street) Oakland Coalition to
Defend and Improve Public Education will be holding a
large Town Hall meeting of around 1,000 people.

Tuesday, March 15th, 4PM a major rally at the Oakland
State Building (1515 Clay Street) is being called for
by the Oakland Education Association.