Oakland Schools Archives - Page 2 of 3

Undeterred by the ‘Hella Storm’ 200 Oakland Students Walk out for Michael Brown

December 17, 2014 Saa'un Bell

Oakland (December 15th, 2014)—Undeterred by the ‘Hella-Storm’, roughly 200 students, hailing from eight Oakland high schools staged a ‘die-in’ outside the Fruitvale BART station, disrupting business as usual for 4 minutes and 28 seconds. The

A Day in the Life of Lam Vo

March 5, 2013 Debora Gordon

By Debora Gordon Lam ended a recent letter with “Write me when you find the time. I certainly have all the time in the world to wait.” This prompted me to ask him what it

Looking at Lam and what needs to Be done

February 23, 2013 Debora Gordon

Lam was, and perhaps still is, a young man with a lot of potential. He could have gone on to lead a life of commonplace trials and triumphs; having a family, a job or a career,

Oakland Teacher Alison Ball Breathes Life into Math & Science

February 22, 2013 Debora Gordon

By Debora Gordon After early teaching stints in far flung locales from Ecuador and China to New York and Sunnyvale, 4th year middle school teacher Alison Ball, 29, came to Urban Promise Academy (UPA),

A Call to Lam’s Mother

February 20, 2013 Debora Gordon

Many, perhaps most, parts of this story have been hard to tell. I often imagine someone who might be personally affected by a particular part of the story looking over my shoulder. As I write

Oakland Art Teacher Thi Bui Urges Students to Draw, Think Outside the Box

February 13, 2013 Debora Gordon

Thi Bui, an art and digital media teacher at Oakland International High School, described herself as “a little reckless. I break a lot of rules. I’m very comfortable letting go of the reins if there

School-to-Prison Pipeline

February 13, 2013 Debora Gordon

By Debora Gordon Every time a student does poorly in school, or drops out, there is likely a great increase in the chances he will wind up in prison. I recall in my discussion with

Going to Prison, Part II: Getting In, the Visiting Room, and Lockdown

February 4, 2013 Debora Gordon

By Debora Gordon After my visit with Lt. Smith, I had some time to kill that Friday evening in Delano, California. While there may be more than meets the tourist eye, what the casual passer-through

Going to Prison, Part I

January 28, 2013 Debora Gordon

By Debora Gordon I drove down to visit Lam in the Kern Valley State Prison (KVSP) the weekend of December 7ththrough December 10th. I checked in by phone and email with the Public Information Officer,

The Stonehurst Edible Garden

January 22, 2013 Debora Gordon

By Debora Gordon Through the entrance to the Korematsu Discovery Academy and Esperanza Elementary School, and just off to the right, is the Stonehurst Edible Schoolyard. Suzanne Ludlum developed the project, and today she is the Garden