Over a dozen schools have fundraised and given away more than $250,000, no strings attached, to their families over the past year.

Author Archives: Ashley McBride
Ashley McBride reports on education equity for The Oaklandside. She covered the 2019 Oakland Unified School District teachers’ strike as a breaking news reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. More recently, she was an education reporter for the San Antonio Express-News where she covered several local school districts, charter schools, and the community college system. McBride earned her master’s degree in journalism from Syracuse University, has held positions at the Palm Beach Post and the Poynter Institute, and is a recent Hearst Journalism Fellow.
East Oakland Youth Development Center is raising money for fire repairs
The fire comes weeks after similar blazes damaged the Junior Center of Art and Science and the Vietnamese American Community Center of the East Bay.
Here’s how Oakland Unified wants to spend its $735 million bond
Board members were split on how and where to relocate the district’s central office staff from its current $243,000-a-month downtown office.
‘It’s kind of liberating’: An Oakland teacher explains why he got vaccinated
Ready to return to the classroom, elementary school teacher Tré Clayton got his vaccine at the Oakland Coliseum last month.
Can Oakland Unified provide more in-person instruction this year? This parent group hopes so.
The limited schedule is a compromise to make sure that instructional time is equitable between distance learners and students who come to school, officials said.
Worried about learning loss? Here’s where to get free tutoring for your Oakland students
To help students playing catch-up after a year of online learning, we compiled a list of local organizations offering free academic support.
This Oakland high school reopened in March. The hard part? Getting students to come back
Oakland Unity High School, a small public charter in East Oakland, is one of the only public schools in the city to offer in-person instruction, five days per week.
‘I’m happy because I love school’: how the first day back on campus went for Oakland’s youngest students
Some Pre-K through second graders were back on OUSD campuses Tuesday, for the first time in over a year.
How has the pandemic changed the way educators teach?
Most teachers are thrilled to say goodbye to distance learning, but some say they picked up surprising new ideas along the way.
Oakland school board says yes to reparations for Black students, no to banning school closures
Disagreement over whether Oakland should close schools nearly derailed a sweeping plan to address the achievement gap and declining Black student enrollment.
East Oakland students challenge the city to clean up trucking pollution
Metal factories and big rigs on I-880 are local issues young environmentalists are learning about—and campaigning against.
How Oakland Unified could spend millions in COVID relief funds
Oakland Unified has a limited amount of time to spend nearly $300 million from COVID legislation.
Mills College will stop granting degrees and become ‘Mills Institute’
The president of the 169-year-old school attributed the change to the pandemic, decreasing enrollment, and financial problems.
Oakland Unified and teachers’ union reach tentative deal to reopen schools
Pre-K through second graders would be back in classrooms by the end of the month. Older students will return in April.
Most OUSD elementary school families want the option of returning to in-person learning, according to reopening survey
A survey for families with older students will go out in the next few weeks.
Police-free schools: OUSD security officers are taking on a new role
With the elimination of the police department, the officers’ responsibilities will focus less on security and more on campus climate.
Missing students, mental health, classroom fears: Cutting through the noise on school reopening in Oakland
As Oakland teachers get their shots and calls for public schools to reopen this spring get louder, we’re taking a close look at what’s at stake.
Families worried about merging Sankofa and Kaiser. How did the school community make it work?
Even during the pandemic, parents and staff from two very different Oakland schools have made time to find common ground.
OUSD ahora entrega comidas gratis a los hogares de los estudiantes
Los estudiantes del distrito y sus familias también pueden recibir cajas con verduras dos veces al mes.
Have questions about vaccine safety and reopening Oakland schools? Doctors have answers
OUSD is hosting five virtual discussions about the safety of the vaccine, how coronavirus spreads, and how to lessen the risk of getting the virus.