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More at Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — Art Michel, the Oakland school district police chief who detained a Tribune videographer last fall during a student protest, will leave the department this week, school district spokesman Troy Flint confirmed Tuesday. Flint would not give the reasons behind Michel's departure, saying that it was a personnel matter that had yet to be approved by the school board. But some familiar with the situation say the police chief's resignation might have been triggered — at least, in part — by concerns about compensation and benefits, rather than by his confrontation with photojournalist Jane Tyska on Oct. 31, which was captured on video. Michel retired from the Oakland Police Department as a sergeant in 2003 after 31 years of service. In 2007, he joined the newly resurrected Oakland school district force as a lieutenant and was promoted to interim chief in January 2008. But questions recently arose about Michel's employment in light of his retirem...

- From the aricle: "Students Successfully 'Kickin' Asthma' in Oakland Schools | MedHeadlines : “The Oakland Unified School District educates 42,000 students, a good many of whom struggle with the energy-zapping symptoms of asthma.  Its urban location and high number of low-income students made the Oakland school district a prime destination to study the merits of an asthma awareness program developed to educate asthmatic children on their medical condition.  Researchers at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars Program hoped the program would help children better manage their medical care in order to prevent absences from school and reduce the number of emergency room visits these children often face. Almost 6.8 million US students (close to 10%) suffer from asthma, a chronic medical condition that jeopardizes a patient’s ability to breathe freely.  Asthmatic kids must often restrict physical activities, making play time not so much fun.  Br...

This was on the Yahoo! Message Board:  Volunteer Opportunity Your help is greatly needed to stem the tide of truancy in Oakland .  Our beleaguered school clerks are often responsible for attendance as well as performing many other duties with constant interruptions.  Because of that, calls to parents to follow up on absences are often not made. If you have a daytime hour or two a week, you could help a school clerk make those calls to parents.  Volunteers will be trained and assigned to a convenient school.  A child back in school has great results: 1. The opportunity for learning, 2. Less likelihood of getting hurt or into trouble in the streets, and 3. Increased income for the school which is based on average daily attendance We have at least 10 schools in District 3, and 4 volunteers have signed up already.  It would be great to have 1 person for each day of the week for each school (50 volunteers).  Please share this email with someo...

Two Oakland schools escape closure District postpones decision to close Burckhalter, Sankofa for another year By Katy Murphy, STAFF WRITER Article Last Updated: 12/20/2007 06:19:56 AM PST OAKLAND — Burckhalter Elementary School and Sankofa Academy will remain open through the 2008-09 school year. School district staff, who had originally recommended that they be closed, decided it would be best to postpone the decision for at least one year. After hearing some of the community input and the remarks from the board, they sat down and decided to re-evaluate, said Troy Flint, the school district's spokesman. Last week, during an emotional meeting at the district office, many speakers urged the district to keep the schools open. Many argued that the closures in recent years have disproportionately affected African-American families. Sixty-one percent of Burckhalter's students and 92 percent of Sankofa's students are African-American. A staff report on recent school closures supp...

Well, first, I'm happy Skyline High, where I went, is not on this list. Second, my question -- not answered here -- is "why do these schools have that problem?" Oakland, Emeryville schools make dropout list Fewer than 60 percent of freshmen make it to senior year By Katy Murphy, STAFF WRITER - OAKLAND TRIBUNE Article Last Updated: 10/31/2007 02:47:25 AM PDT OAKLAND — Oakland High School and Oakland Technical High School made the Associated Press's recent "dropout factory" list, as did Emery Secondary School in Emeryville. According to a data analysis conducted by Johns Hopkins University researchers for the Associated Press, only about 44 percent of ninth-graders from Oakland Tech, 52 percent from Oakland High and 55 percent from Emery Secondary made it to their senior year. The high schools were among 1,700 nationwide in which no more than 60 percent of ninth-graders enrolled as seniors three years later. By looking at the size of a particular grade l...