In June, OUSD will present an updated district map that could include more school closures.
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.
Posted inEducation Equity
For the last decade, only one OUSD school had a girls’ lacrosse team. Until now.
Oakland Tech’s team will be joined by squads at seven other high schools, thanks to a partnership with the Oakland Lacrosse Club that aims to change misconceptions about who plays the sport.
Posted inEducation Equity
Camping chairs and garden classrooms: How Oakland schools are moving learning outside
Teachers, parents, and school leaders have found innovative ways to use their campuses for learning in the pandemic.
Posted inEducation Equity
How many Oakland Unified students returned for in-person learning?
Not as many as you might think, and students from low-income households have returned at lower rates than others.
Posted inEducation Equity
7 years ago, Oaklanders approved a tax to improve schools. Did it work?
Oakland High School, along with two dozen other schools, has seen major improvements in student success, which officials attribute to the parcel tax.
Posted inEducation Equity
Learning doesn’t need to stop in summer. Here’s a list of free enrichment programs for Oakland students
Several local organizations offer free camps focusing on literacy, STEM, and youth development.
Posted inEducation Equity
Oakland schools have a bold, simple idea for helping students’ struggling families: Raise money for them
Over a dozen schools have fundraised and given away more than $250,000, no strings attached, to their families over the past year.
Posted inArts & Community
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.
Posted inEducation Equity
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.
Posted inHealth & Environment
‘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.
Posted inEducation Equity
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.
Posted inEducation Equity
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.
Posted inEducation Equity
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.
Posted inEducation Equity
‘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.
Posted inEducation Equity
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.
Posted inEducation Equity
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.
Posted inHealth & Environment
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.
Posted inEducation Equity
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.
Posted inEducation Equity
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.
Posted inEducation Equity
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.