The Madison Miracle started in 2006 when Lucinda Taylor, Ph.D requested to lead what was considered the worst school in the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD). She started with 236 students and 13 teachers. Through Dr. Taylor’s hard work and demand for high expectations, she grew that one school into the Madison Academy – now consisting of an elementary, a middle and a high school – with a population of 910 students and 49 teachers.
Her elementary school has open enrollment through fifth grade and accepts 75, sixth graders per year; it feeds into the middle school. Those middle school parents encouraged her to keep the Madison families together by opening a high school. The OUSD approved the high school and it opened to ninth graders in 2013. Now the academy serves approximately 1,000 families with children ranging from grades kindergarten through the 10th grade.
At a recent Oakland Unified School District 7 town hall meeting Dr. Taylor shared her educational experience and objects at Madison School.
A key to the Madison miracle is Dr. Taylor’s ability to recruit and retain teachers like Mr. Zellman.
Hopefully, the Madison Miracle spreads throughout the Oakland Unified School District.
Gerald Green is a retired Mechanical Engineer. In 2007, Congresswoman Barbara Lee honored him for his: 1) engineering expertise, 2) 10 years’ service as a mentor volunteer to at-risk youth, and 3) for being a distinguished writer. Baba Green released his memoir, "Life Constricted: To Love, Hugs and Laughter," in 2010, which chronicled his family’s victories over tongue cancer in 1995, neck cancer in 1997 and prostate cancer in 2008. He has published numerous articles and is currently writing a book about African American men’s journey with prostate cancer. Baba Green is a member of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group-American College Radiology Imaging Network, where he serves as an advocate on the Head and Neck Committee. He, also, advocates for the Prostate Health Support Group for African American Men, sponsored by the University of California at San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Alameda County.
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