Page One

A group of six Oakland residents were arrested in the offices of Randolph Ward, the state school administrator, Tuesday evening after demanding a meeting with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell over plans to close adult education. 

The six demonstrators, including an attorney, two teachers, and an Oakland City Council candidate, were arrested on trespassing charges during a sit-in in Ward’s office that prevented the offices from closing for the day. On the street outside the Oakland Unified School District Administration Building, about 100 demonstrators rallied during the sit-in to support the demonstration. 

The arrestees were led out by police in handcuffs, and were released an hour later on bail. 

The sit-in was organized by a coalition of organizations, including the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Oakland Parents Together, Education Not Incarceration, and Youth Together. 

Ward reportedly left his office shortly before the demonstrators arrived, and was at a “funders meeting” in Piedmont while the demonstration and arrests took place. 

Oakland Unified School District Board members Dan Siegel and Greg Hodge, both candidates in next year’s Oakland mayoral race, were among a group congregating in the third-floor hallway outside of Ward’s office in support of the sit-in demonstration. The two board members did not participate in the sit-in itself, and left when police cleared the hallway. 

Oakland public schools were taken over by the state two years ago after discovery of a massive budget shortfall. Ward was hired by O’Connell to run the schools and pay off a $100 million state loan. Since that time, Ward has closed several schools, and recently announced possible takeover of a second group of Oakland schools by charter organizations. But what sparked Tuesday’s demonstration was Ward’s announcement of the possible closure of Oakland Unified’s adult education program. 

Before police were called, OUSD Chief of Staff Woodrow Carter tried to reason with the sit-in demonstrators, suggesting that they either wait in the building’s downstairs lobby or outside, and offering to pass on a request for a meeting to O’Connell. Carter said that he did not have O’Connell’s telephone number and said that when he called Ward’s bodyguard, he was told that Ward was making a presentation and “could not be disturbed.” 

Malcolm X Grassroot Movement member Kali Akuno, an Oakland-based educator acting as the spokesperson for the sit-in demonstrators, called Carter’s efforts to contact his superiors “ridiculous.” Akuno also rejected later efforts by Oakland Police Lt. Ed Tracey to end the demonstration short of arrests. 

“It’s been two years since the Oakland schools were taken over by the state, and Jack O’Connell has refused to come down and meet with us,” Akuno said. Tracey asked him, “Do you want to be arrested?” Akuno answered that Carter “has made his point plain, and we’ve made our point plain. You do what you have to do.” 

During the sit-in, the discussions between demonstrators and Carter and Tracey were polite and formal, if not cordial, and Tracey told demonstrators, “you have to understand, the police don’t want to take a position on this. We’re neutral.” 

In a prepared statement, Akuno said that the coalition “does not recognize the current district leadership as legitimate. We call on Superintendent O’Connell to restore democratic control to Oakland’s public school system.” 

Arrestee Michael Siegel, the son of Boardmember Dan Siegel, added in the prepared statement, “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 coalition also issued four demands, including the “immediate restoration of local democratic control over the Oakland Unified School District, no school closures and no charter conversions, no layoffs, and an immediate meeting with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell to discuss the implementation of these demands.” 

State Superintendent O’Connell’s press secretary, Hilary McLaean, said that O’Connell had no comment directly concerning the sit-in or arrests, adding only that “Jack O’Connell is most concerned about academic achievement in the Oakland schools. He hopes that people in Oakland who are passionate about their schools will direct their passion toward the improvement of those schools.” 

State-appointed Oakland school administrator Ward did not return phone calls to answer questions concerning this article. 

Coalition members have called a meeting for Tuesday, March 8, at 6 p.m. at the First Congregational Church on Harrison Street in Oakland to discuss further action. In addition, the Oakland Education Association has scheduled a March 15, 4 p.m. march and rally at the State Office Building on Clay Street in Oakland to protest the school closures. 

In addition to Akuna and Siegel, the four other demonstrators arrested at the Tuesday action were Micah Clatterbaugh of the Chicano Moratorium Coalition, civil rights attorney Anne Weills, Community Day School teacher Linda Halpern, and Oakland adult education teacher and Oakland City Council District 2 candidate Pamela Drake. 

?