Score: +3 (3/4/0)

Alameda County Grand Jury • 2017-2018

Oakland Unified School District:*

Published: October 12, 2018 15 pages

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⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.

⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.

Findings and Recommendations 7 findings

F18-6

budgeting policies along with board efforts to interfere in the administrative responsibilities of the superintendent invite financial instability and contribute to Oakland Unified School District's financial problems. Oakland Unified School District's inability to control overstaffing

No recommendations for this finding

F18-7

and poor position control decisions have contributed to the district's financial instability.

No recommendations for this finding

F18-8

Lack of transparency related to Oakland Unified School District's financial positions has led to mistrust between the district, the community, and labor organizations.

No recommendations for this finding

F18-9

High turnover of key administrators has created an atmosphere of mistrust, destroying the continuity of the district's educational mission, and crippling the district's effectiveness in addressing its most pressing fiscal issues. 2017-2018 Alameda County Grand Jury Final Report Financial instability and high staff turnover contribute to poor

No recommendations for this finding

F18-10

student performance.

No recommendations for this finding

F18-11

Operating 86 schools is unsustainable and will lead the district to insolvency. Collaboration between traditional public schools and charter schools

No recommendations for this finding

F18-12

operating in the district benefit all students in Oakland Unified School District.

No recommendations for this finding

Conclusions 1

CL1

The "U" in OUSD stands for unified. It is clear that there is little unity in the Oakland school system. Staffs come and go. Administrators come and go. So many ideas tried but so little to show for that effort. Trust and unity comes from achieving something. Failure breeds mistrust 2017-2018 Alameda County Grand Jury Final Report and that mistrust can be infectious. Principals won't trust that a new superintendent can deliver. Teachers won't trust that a principal will last. Most troubling of all, these can lead to a system that thinks its students cannot deliver. On its website, OUSD makes five commitments to the citizens of Oakland: Provide every student with access to a high-quality school Ensure each student is prepared for college, career, and community success Staff every school with talented individuals committed to working in service of children Create a school district that holds itself and its partners accountable for superior outcomes Guarantee rigorous instruction in every classroom, every day The Grand Jury has determined that the district has failed in at least three of these commitments.

Agency Responses 1

Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.

Oakland Unified School District (OUSD)

September 26, 2018 • 7 responses • Score: +3 (+3, 4, 0) View Details ▾

PDF

7 responses to findings and recommendations

F18-6

budgeting policies along with board efforts to interfere in the administrative responsibilities of the superintendent invite financial instability and contribute to Oakland Unified School District's financial problems. Oakland Unified School District's inability to control overstaffing

Response: Agree Score: +1

The District agrees with this finding with the clarification that it does not believe the efforts referenced in the finding are intentional.

F18-7

and poor position control decisions have contributed to the district's financial instability.

Response: Agree Score: +1

The District agrees with this finding.

F18-8

Lack of transparency related to Oakland Unified School District's financial positions has led to mistrust between the district, the community, and labor organizations.

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

The District agrees in part with this finding but believes that other factors, including historical context in Oakland and negative media coverage of the District contribute to distrust even though there is greater access to information.

F18-9

High turnover of key administrators has created an atmosphere of mistrust, destroying the continuity of the district's educational mission, and crippling the district's effectiveness in addressing its most pressing fiscal issues. 2017-2018 Alameda County Grand Jury Final Report Financial instability and high staff turnover contribute to poor

Response: Agree Score: +1

The District agrees with this finding.

F18-10

student performance.

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

The District agrees in part with this finding but qualifies its response based on the myriad factors that may impact student performance.

F18-11

Operating 86 schools is unsustainable and will lead the district to insolvency. Collaboration between traditional public schools and charter schools

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

The District agrees with this finding in part.

F18-12

operating in the district benefit all students in Oakland Unified School District.

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

The District agrees with this finding in part.

* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.