Oakland Unified school board votes to close, merge or shrink 11 schools in the next two years

OAKLAND — The Oakland Unified School District will close seven schools, merge two others and cut grades from two more over the next two years, the district board of directors decided in a meeting that stretched for nearly nine hours Tuesday into early Monday morning.

The district administration had suggested closing Prescott Elementary, Carl B. Munck Elementary, Parker K-8 School, Brookfield Elementary, Grass Valley Elementary and Community Day School at the end of the school year and merging RISE Elementary with New Highland Elementary, Westlake Middle School with West Oakland Middle School, and Ralph J. Bunche High School with Dewey High School. Meanwhile, La Escuelita would be turned into an elementary school only and lose its 6-8 grade levels.

Instead, after a week of intense community protests that have included walkouts, rallies and hunger strikes by two middle school staffers, the board voted Tuesday to take Prescott off the closure list entirely, put off the closures of Brookfield, Carl B. Munck and Grass Valley elementary schools until next school year, and reduce the mergers to just that between RISE and New Highland.

The board already voted in January to cut $40 million from the district’s budget through layoffs, elimination of vacant positions and other measures. And last week after the school closure hearing, it cut the equivalent of almost 200 full-time positions, which will result in some layoffs involving various support staff from library technicians to classroom aides.

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