A Bay Area Journalist's First-Hand Account Of How Mayor Jerry Brown Screwed Over Oakland On His Way To Sacramento
OF SCHOOLS AND CELEBRATIONS J. Douglas Allen-Taylor Item from a longer column: An article in last Sunday’s Chronicle talking about Mayor Brown’s new military charter school says that "Oakland Military Institute students need a C average and good attendance records to get in." That’s got to be a misprint, isn’t it? Don’t remember ever seeing those requirements before, certainly not in the "admissions requirement" section of the original charter proposal. A year ago, in presentations before the Oakland School Board, city officials said that one of the main purposes of the institute was to help disadvantaged students. The original proposal read: "The Academy can provide particular benefit to at-risk students who may feel isolated from the educational system." Me, I figured right there they were talking about kids who are pulling D’s and below, and who are missing a lot of school time. If I was being cynical, I’d say that the mayor’s staff only promised to help at-risk kids just so they could get the charter approved, and once the military institute actually got off the ground, they upped the requirements. But it’s way too hot to be cynical, this week. So I figure there’s got to be another explanation. I’ll wait for one from the mayor’s office, or the city manager’s staff, or someplace.
|