Oakland Unified mulls school mergers to address budget shortfall
More changes could be coming to the Oakland Unified School District as they continue to try and find ways to balance their budget.
On Wednesday, district staff will present the OUSD Board of Education with a list of school changes and restructuring.
"Over the next two years we have to make the district look different than it does now," said Mike Hutchinson, who is vice president of the board.
Hutchison was born, raised, and educated in Oakland, even attending what is now Edna Brewer Elementary School. He wants to create the type of schools Oaklanders deserve, and he hopes to do that by preventing closures.
"Really there are no plans to close schools on the books right now, but we have to start looking at how our resources are organized across the district," said Hutchinson.
At Wednesday's school board meeting, the district staff is presenting potential changes. Among the suggestions is possibly merging schools.
"We have a number of school sites where we have more than one small school sharing the campus so if we have two elementary schools sharing a campus, we probably should be more efficient by looking to merge those into one school," said Hutchinson.
Acorn Woodland Elementary and EnCompass Academy on 81st Avenue in East Oakland are an example of that.
Cynthia Ramirez has sent two of her children there for years.
"I really like ACORN," said Ramirez. "I'm really happy with the school."
She says she understands the budget shortfalls, but is ultimately against a merger.
"I honestly feel how the schools are right now, individually but on the same campus, is fine," Ramirez said about the current setup. "I feel like it's well organized."
After district staff presents the proposal to the board, there will be about a month to hear feedback from parents, like Ramirez, and make adjustments before voting on the changes.
While the students would be attending school on the same campuses, the people who work there may be the ones most impacted.
"Presumably there may be some reduction of staff at some levels but if we're educating the same number of students, it requires the same number of staff," said Hutchinson.
Working to avoid financial crisis, while trying to do what's best for the youngest members of the community.
