A group of Oakland public school parents and community members have spotted an opening.
Now that Oakland Unified School District is no longer in receivership, Matt Glaser, a Peralta Elementary school parent, said, there’s a chance for families to lead the charge on restructuring the district. He and several other volunteers came together to spearhead a new entity, the OUSD Multi-Stakeholder Engagement Group, or MSEG — pronounced “message.” It launches this summer with the goal of getting participation and insights from every school community as the district begins the overdue work of reshaping the district.
District leaders have recognized that the current way the OUSD is structured is financially unsustainable. Twenty-five years ago, OUSD had 85 schools with more than 53,000 students. Today, it has 77 schools with less than 34,000. But previous initiatives, like the “Citywide Plan,” the Blueprint for Quality Schools, and the “Three R’s” process, either never gained traction or fizzled out when new leadership came in. Decisions to close or merge schools have frequently resulted in contentious fights. This year, district officials laid out a four-phase plan for balancing the budget, with the fourth phase being a long-term vision for the district. That’s the phase MSEG wants to weigh in on…