Today as part of our ongoing education series, we’ll visit Oakland Technical High School. On academic par with some of the best high schools in the Bay Area, Oakland Tech already offers teens in the East Bay rigorous academic programs in its school-to-career academies, just what the President is asking for. But now, the Oakland Unified School District and its new Superintendent, Tony Smith, have announced the district will have to cut $27 million dollars out of its general fund budget for next year. And that could have major consequences on schools working to meet federal standards.
In the first part of her semester-long series exploring the inner workings of a high school, KALW’s Nancy Mullane reports.
NANCY MULLANE: Walking through the halls of Oakland Technical High School there’s energy in the air, a buzz. During the passing period, the halls are packed with students moving from classroom to classroom, elbow to elbow, like a wave of loud, raw, potential.
Stepping out of the administration office and smack dab into the middle of the bustle is Sheilagh Andujar, the school’s principal for seven years. Carrying a security walkie-talkie, the volume turned low, she’s confident and easy and seems to fit right in among the students. A girl with long black hair and bright eyes jumps into a conversation with Andujar about her classes and her grades.
STUDENT: “I’ll tell you my grades. I slipped in math. This semester if I do good, he says he’ll go back to my last semester.
SHEILAGH ANDUJAR: Excellent. I like the smile on your face. Better than a few days ago. I’m in the halls all the time during passing time, after school and I look into the faces of kids and see, kind of get an idea what’s going on with them. Is there a smile on their faces? Are they talking with one another? Is there a nice mix going on? I always do that. It’s sort of a data collection opportunity for me. A way to get a feel for the school culture.
The school culture in Oakland high schools has a reputation. Recently, Oakland police cancelled some high school basketball games including one between Oakland Tech and a rival, McClymonds High School, after they heard there could be trouble.
As Principal Andujar watches her students, down the hallway, some young men in sagging pants and baseball caps seem to be getting a little rowdy. But Andujar says she isn’t concerned.
MULLANE: Can you read trouble?
ANDUJAR: Oh Yea. I can.
MULLANE: Can you see any trouble?
ANDUJAR: No. No. Everybody’s messing around. I keep my eye on certain
situations. I’m alert to that. But right now, I don’t see any trouble at all. No.
People talk about play fighting and what they’re doing right now, and if it
gets too carried away, I’ll say stop.
The school we’re standing in is a historic monument. Oakland Technical High School, or just “Tech,” as it’s known by locals, was built in 1914. The school’s wide bank of steps leading to the front doors and columned portico give it a distinguished old-school, academic feel.
And the school has a long list of prominent, old-school alumnae: Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, Clint Eastwood, Baseball hall of famer Ricky Henderson, Huey Newton of Black Panther fame and the Pointer Sisters. Today its 1700 students represent a snapshot of Oakland’s rich diversity - 52% African American, 18% Asian, 15% Hispanic and 10% white.
ANDUJAR: So we’re diverse geographically. We’re diverse ethnically,
culturally, and linguistically, as well as socio-economic. So we have
students who come from all over the city. We have kids who come from
well-to-do families as well as about fifty percent of our students are
on free and reduced lunch. So it’s a nice mixture of experiences that
we really appreciate and a lot of folks choose Oakland Tech because
of that.
Another reason a lot of folks choose Oakland Tech is for it’s diverse academic programs. While many of Oakland’s larger high schools have been converted into smaller schools, Oakland Tech is one of just three comprehensive ninth through twelfth grade schools left in the city where students can get an all-around general education. The school also offers small, specialized academies within the general curriculum.
ANDUJAR: We have the Health Academy, Engineering Academy, Bio-Tech
Academy, Computer Academy and our newest academy, the Green Academy.
The students apply for those academies when they’re in the 8th grade and
determine what schools they want to go to.
In comparison with Oakland’s “small school,” Tech is like a small college and its students excel. Over the past 10 years, the school’s graduation rate has jumped from a dismal 65% to 86%, a rate higher than that for the district, the county and the state. According to the California Department of Education, about half of the students graduating from Tech have completed all courses required for admission to the University of California and California State University, again exceeding state, county and district rates.
ANDUJAR: So it’s an example of what we’ve done to just continue to have our
pulse. You have a good pulse reading of what the needs of our kids are and just
build on our programs based on that.
SCHOOL INTERCOM: Just a quick announcement to students. After School Tutoring program will be held in the library until 5pm.
ANDUJAR: Come see what it looks like.
I follow Andujar down the hall to the library. Just 10 minutes after the last class, dozens of students have signed their names on an after school check-in sheet. Many are still milling around, socializing. Others are already settled in.
CHARLES LEWIS: I come here every day. They don’t have a study hall
on Fridays, but I come here every day.
Charles Lewis, a junior, is sitting at a long wooden table in the middle of the room with friends, his textbooks and notebooks splayed out in front of him. He’s a linebacker and fullback on the school’s Varsity Football Team. And this year, he was accepted into the Bio Tech Academy. Lewis says he’s been able to maintain a 3.0 Grade Point Average or GPA, by coming to the After School Program.
LEWIS: You definitely get stuff done here. Tutors help you with your homework
If it’s geometry or reading or whatever you need help with, they can help you.
So it’s really good. I think everybody should come here.
Some students come not just to get their own work done, but to help others. Federal dollars pay students to work as tutors, to help peers with algebra problems or essays. But even though these and other programs have paid dividends, Oakland Tech has its problems. At least half of the schools students didn’t pass the most recent California High School Exit Exam. And for a variety of reasons, about 15% of the students were suspended last year. In a recent survey, only about two-thirds of the students said, they felt safe at school.
Towards the back of the library, four girls are sitting at a round table doing their homework. It’s their regular table. They meet every day and stay until the library closes at around 5 or 6pm. Sahiba Taneja is in the 9th grade. She says before she came to Tech she heard it was dangerous.
SAHIBA TANEJA: Normally, people put a bad impression on Tech. They say
Tech is this and Tech is that. There are a lot of fights. A lot of kids die here.
You know when I came here I was kinda scared. But when I got here, it’s not
Like what they make it seem like. The way they exaggerate. It’s like they’re
pulling. Nothing’s wrong with Tech. I like it here. I’m going to stay here until
I graduate. Until the twelfth grade, with my friends.
Suddenly, a man looking much like he’s in charge raises his voice above the rumble. Immediately it gets quiet. He tells the students who’ve come late, the next time they won’t get snacks.
That’s Juan Carlos Carmona. He’s Director of Oakland Tech’s twenty-two federally funded after school programs. He says 300 to 500 students stay after school every day to study, get extra help and take classes in everything from 3-D computer programming to journalism - all paid for with $250,000 from the federal government. Last year, Tech’s after school program was recognized as the best in the city. This year, Carmona says, they’re aiming to be best in the state.
JUAN CARLOS CARMONA: So we’re literally changing lives. And the fantastic
thing about it is Obama is going to be giving more federal dollars to education.
And for now, anyway, Oakland Tech administrators think they’re doing what it takes to meet the standards.
It’s nearly five o’clock and getting dark out. Sitting in her office, Sheilagh Andujar looks exhausted. Oakland Unified School District just sent over the first budget estimates for next year. She says she won’t know for sure until the fall how much the school will actually receive in state and federal dollars. For now, she has to begin planning, how to keep the programs she can and cut what she must to make ends meet at Oakland Tech.
ANDUJAR: It’s going to be some hard decisions. I think we have to be really
creative. The challenge is making decisions about what kinds of cuts are on
the horizon.
In Oakland, I’m Nancy Mullane for Crosscurrents.
