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Oakland Schools... How Could You Mess Up Already?!

The Oakland school board finally got partial control of its schools back from the state after five years, and promptly squandered renewed public hopefulness by hiring an interim superintendent in closed session, without consulting with teachers or the public. Ms. Roberta Mayor, a former member of the Fiscal Management and Assistance Team, was responsible for briefing State Schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell on Oakland's financial progress over the last five years, and its readiness to take back control of its school system. She is now the one-year interim superintendent of Oakland schools, with an annual salary of $250,000.
Ms. Mayor's salary, factored in with the cost of the new internal auditor that she will be choosing, will cost the city nearly $400,000 for one year. If the Oakland school board is concerned with cleansing its image and renewing public trust after declaring bankruptcy five years ago, it should start by directly involving the community with its decisions. To hold closed sessions, in which teachers were not involved, is already squandering the trust the board has worked so hard to earn back. Both the teachers and the public should have been made aware of these school board meetings. They should have been given the chance to state their opinions; instead, the Oakland school board took what could have been an academic renaissance and turned it into deja-vu.

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