Coalition fights to defend public education

According to the Oakland Coalition to Defend and Improve Public Education, Oakland schools are not for sale. And actions this March by this concerned coalition of unions, students, parents and community members—including a sit-in, a town meeting and a large rally in front of the state building—demonstrate the fighting spirit needed to save Oakland’s public school system.

Action in Oakland, Calif.,

The combined impact of President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act and a large budget deficit enabled the state government to step in last year and take over Oakland’s public education system. The Oakland Education Association (OEA) and the community have been doing battle ever since with State Super intendent Jack O’Connell. Ran dolph Ward, state administrator of Oakland’s schools, announced plans to close six of them, shut down the Adult Education Department, which serves 25,000 students, and turn eight public elementary schools into charter schools run by a private company.

On March 1, six Oakland long-time community activists and members of the coalition sat in at Ward’s office to demand a return to local control of Oakland’s schools. The protesters also demanded no layoffs and no school closings.

Then on March 8, a Town Hall meeting of nearly 400 teachers, students and community organizations unanimously demanded, “Stop the dismantling of public education.” Clarence Thomas, an Executive Board member of Local 10, International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU), and co-chair of the Million Worker March Organizing Committee, chaired the meeting. Thomas received a rousing response when he asked the crowd, “Are you ready to fight?”

Clarence Thomas

OEA President Ben Viznick accused the school district of “balancing the budget on the backs of students and teachers.” He urged everyone to come out to the March 15 rally at the state office building in Oakland.

Rev. Dr. Zaida Flowers, a spokesperson from Oakland Parents Together and a pastor at a local Oakland church, stated, “We want the best for our children. We want them to have the best education possible. That’s why we are defending the Oakland schools tonight.”

On March 15, over 450 teachers, students, parents and community members rallied in downtown Oakland across the street from the state office building. Clarence Thomas again chaired the rally and brought solidarity greetings from ILWU Local 10. “There is a movement afoot to privatize public education and charter schools will weaken the unions,” Thomas stated.

The Million Worker March organizer said that on March 19, the ILWU was shutting the Port of Oakland down in solidarity with national demonstrations against the U.S. occupation of Iraq. “We may all have to take such action to save Oakland’s schools,” Thomas said.

After the rally, the coalition tried to enter the State Office Building to speak with state legislators. Police barred the way. The Oakland Coalition to Defend and Improve Public Education is planning to continue its fight to win “democratic control of our schools” and to “fully fund public education.”