Bay Area

Local Leaders, Activists Angered as State Enforces Permanent School Closings

“There needs to be a concerted effort to do more than complaint about this,” he said. “There is no contention that the district is incompetent to govern its own affairs. The trusteeship should be ended.”

Published

5 years ago

April 8, 2021

Mia Lane

Carroll Fife

Dan Siegel

Nirali Jani

A number of Oakland community leaders and activists are calling for removing the Oakland Unified School District’s state-imposed trustee and the semi-private Fiscal Crisis Management and Assistance Team (FCMAT), which are enforcing a regime of austerity budgets and the closure of flatland, neighborhood public schools.

The state trustee, Chris Learned, recently came to a public school board meeting to say he would “stay” or rescind a school board decision if the board went ahead with a vote to halt the closing of schools in predominately Black neighborhoods. In the face of the threat, the board majority withdrew the disputed language.

“As a homeowner, I pay three OUSD parcel taxes: Measure N, Measure G1 and Measure G. Why am I paying parcel taxes to Oakland schools so FCMAT can turn around and tell the district to close them,” said Brian Crowell, an activist and member of the Oakland Education Association, speaking in an interview to the Oakland Post.

“Where were FCMAT and the trustee when (former Superintendent) Antwan Wilson was blowing through the budget a few years ago? They were silent and complicit.”

Crowell continued: “Now all of a sudden, FCMAT is raising its profile after the board threatened to stop closing schools. Now, they want to exercise oversight. They aren’t protecting students. They need to be audited and dismantled.”

The state overseers, who have never been audited or held to account, have been overseeing Oakland since 2003, requiring the district to lay off countless employees and closing as many as 20 schools, though unable to point to any evidence that school closings save money.

In the 2003 takeover, the state imposed a receiver, who usurped the power of the superintendent and the school board and unilaterally spent a $100 million state loan, which the district did not ask for and did not need. At the time, the district had about a $37 million deficit but also had sufficient money in a restricted fund, which it could lend itself to cover the debt.

The state did not allow OUSD to lend itself this money, though the practice was common in other districts, thereby ensuring state domination, which has continued to this day.

In 2009, receivership ended and the authority of the board was reinstated largely due to the work of former Mayor Ron Dellums and then Assemblyman Sandré Swanson. However, the state trustee and the authority to overrule school board decisions has remained in place.

Carroll Fife, a member of the Oakland City Council and a public-school parent, told the Oakland Post that FCMAT and the trustee are part of the structures that perpetuate educational harm to Oakland students.

“They are part of the structure that keeps repeating the same outcomes for our students,” she said.

“They see public education as a cash cow, something that’s commodified. They see it as a market to be exploited,” Fife said.

Fife said the district should create a Department of Race and Equity, similar to what Desley Brooks was able to enact in the city while she was on the City Council. With such a department, OUSD would examine the race and equity implications of its decisions, rather than enacting “the extreme opposite” like the school closings advocated by FCMAT and the trustee.

Civil rights attorney Dan Siegel was formerly OUSD’s legal counsel and later a school board member. He was on the board in 2003 when the state took over the district.

“The effort has not been made by the local legislative delegation to get the state to back off,” Siegel told the Oakland Post. “There is a behind-the-scenes power structure that has the ability to come in and upset local decisions. It has the ability to overrule decisions they disagree with.”

“It’s discriminatory that state government and the people in power treat Oakland as second–class (citizens),” he said. “Like in other districts, why can’t the board be trusted to make those decisions?”

“There needs to be a concerted effort to do more than complain about this,” he said. “There is no contention that the district is incompetent to govern its own affairs. The trusteeship should be ended.”

Nirali Jani, an education professor at Holy Names University and former OUSD teacher, has examined the role of FCMAT and its role as an enforcer of economic austerity in districts across the state.

“FCMAT does not have public oversight. It is a semi-private, extra–governmental organization that receives state funding” she said, arguing that FCMAT has done nothing positive although the district has spent millions of dollars to support the FCMAT’s staff.

With nearly two decades of FCMAT’s operations in Oakland, the district is still being asked to close schools and cut its budget, even though OUSD is receiving over $200 million in federal stimulus funds, she said.

Mia Lane

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Activism

At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses. The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Published

7 days ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Toks Omishakin, secretary of the California State Transportation Agency, was one of the speakers at the event. Photo by Shellee Fisher Photography and Design.

By Calvin Naito, Special to The Post

On June 4, a national nonprofit named the Equity in Infrastructure Project (EIP) – which aims to increase public construction contracting opportunities for small and historically underutilized businesses – held a day-long event in downtown San Francisco to rally supporters and build momentum to its cause.

It was attended by more than 100 individuals from public agencies, private firms, and other organizations committed to increasing contracting opportunities with governmental agencies, thereby creating more competition and lowering public costs.

The EIP event was held the Hyatt Regency San Francisco in conjunction with BuildIT, which aims to increase contracting opportunities for LGBT-owned businesses.

At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses.

The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Following the workshop, BuildIT hosted a VIP evening reception honoring EIP, whose principals – Phil Washington, John Procari, and Rick Jacobs – accepted the award.

The event also set in motion the coalition’s efforts to implement recommendations from EIP’s “Procurement for Prosperity: A Playbook.”

The Playbook is a practical guide for public agency leaders and procurement and contracting practitioners to grow the capacity of small and first-time contractors, strengthen competition, and deliver better value for taxpayers.

Toks Omishakin, Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), a long-time EIP supporter, also told attendees, “This is about commitment. This has been a life’s work. This is a tailwind moment.”

The event’s presenting sponsor was Hub International, one of the largest insurance brokerages in the nation, which was joined by partners Travelers Insurance and the State Compensation Insurance Fund.

After the pledge-signing ceremony, attendees participated in a workshop in which they examined the policies, practices, and programs needed to meet EIP goals, learned from practitioners, and identified next steps toward utilizing the Playbook.

Ingrid Meriwether, formerly of Merriwether & Williams Insurance Services (MWIS) and current president of Hub International’s Aligned Risk Management, MWIS, described the hard-fought lessons she and her MWIS team have learned over the last three decades administering contractor development programs (CDPs) for the City and County of San Francisco, Alameda County, City of Los Angeles, LA Metro, and other municipalities.

The CDPs help small and local construction firms win public infrastructure contracts with these government agencies. The program provides bonding assistance, contract financing, technical support, training, and other services to underrepresented businesses funded by public agencies who seek greater contracting participation with these firms.

Merriwether said programs like these “break down systemic barriers, create greater fairness, and save taxpayers money by enabling more competition. The contractor development programs have, cumulatively, over two decades, helped contractors access over $1 billion in bonding, supporting over $380 million in awarded contracts, and maintaining a loss ratio 250 times lower than the industry average – while saving participating municipalities more than $27 million in contracting costs as a result of enabling more competition.”

Rick Jacobs, EIP co-founder and co-chair urged attendees make plans to meet again in the near future “to continue building on this work, share progress on organizational commitments, and discuss how we can collectively advance the goals of the EIP pledge.”

For more information on the EIP and to access a copy of the Playbook, go online to https://equityininfrastructure.org/

Calvin Naito is communications manager for Equity in Infrastructure Project.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Oakland Museum Presents Landmark Retrospective Celebrating Beloved Bay Area Artist Mildred Howard

“Poetics of Memory” coincides with a year of major recognition for Howard. In 2026, she received the California Arts Council’s 50th Anniversary Award, honoring artists whose work has shaped California’s cultural and civic life, as well as the Museum of the African Diaspora’s Artist Impact Award. In 2025, she was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in recognition of her transformative contributions to American cultural life.

Published

7 days ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Mildred Howard. Photo by Christine Cueto for the Oakland Museum of California, 2025.

Special to The Post

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) opened “Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory,” the first major museum survey of Bay Area artist Mildred Howard, on June 12.

The exhibition spans five decades of Howard’s influential work, bringing together immersive installations, found-object sculptures, archival materials, and new commissions that explore memory, identity, and power in American life.

Howard was born in San Francisco in 1945 and raised in the East Bay, where she went on to study Afro-Haitian dance, make and sell clothing, and experiment with collage and sculpture.

Her multimedia art practice emerged from these experiences, later becoming associated with West Coast conceptual art, San Francisco funk, and a vibrant community of artists like Oliver Jackson, Betye Saar, and Raymond Saunders. Since the 1970s, she has used found materials and family stories to explore memory—both individual and collective.

At OMCA, visitors enter “Poetics of Memory” through a series of intimate galleries featuring Howard’s early mixed-media pieces and sculptures, along with a large video projection of a number of her public artworks.

Together, they emphasize Howard’s interest in everyday objects as powerful carriers of individual and shared stories. Highlights include collages that remix images of the artist herself; found-object sculptures like The History of the United States with a few Parts Missing (2007) that address omissions in dominant narratives; and public works like “Locks and Keys for Harry Bridges” (2001) that transform urban space into a meditation on access and labor.

This culminates in a richly detailed “studio” environment, where works in progress, archival exhibition flyers, historic photographs of Howard and her community, postcards from fellow artists, and other materials offer insight into her creative process and daily life.

The exhibition then opens into a high-ceilinged, dramatically lit space that brings together Howard’s signature immersive installations. On one end, “Crossings” (1997/2026) – a field of hundreds of ceramic eggs leading to an ornate mirror – suggests cycles of birth, motherhood, and transition, while drawing on the emotional echoes of the Middle Passage. On the other end, “Blackbird in a Red Sky” (a.k.a. “Fall of the Blood House”) (2002) – a red glass shack bordered by a pond – also uses reflection and transparency to draw viewers into the work and prompt consideration of themes of identity and home.

Howard’s newest video installation, “Moving Stills” (2026), repurposes never-before-seen family footage she took as a teenager on a train trip to the American South. Projected onto cascading layers of translucent fabric that stretch across an entire gallery wall, the piece immerses viewers in a layered meditation on memory, migration, and time.

The “Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory” exhibit will be on display through Oct. 11 at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland, CA 94612. Museum hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended hours on Fridays to 9 p.m.

This story is sourced from the Oakland Museum of California press office.

Oakland Post

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Alameda County

Ferry Fares to Increase July 1 as Ridership Hits Record Highs

The Oakland and Alameda routes will increase from $4.90 to $5.10, the South San Francisco route will go up from $7.40 to $7.60, and the Vallejo route will increase from $9.90 to $10.

Published

7 days ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Courtesy photo.

By Mike Aldax, The Richmond Standard

Starting July 1, the standard adult fare for the San Francisco Bay Ferry route between Richmond and San Francisco will increase to $5.20, up from the current $4.90.

Discounted fares for eligible passengers, including youth, seniors, people with disabilities, and Clipper START users, will rise to $2.60 from the current $2.40. Children under 5 will continue to ride for free.

The Oakland and Alameda routes will increase from $4.90 to $5.10, the South San Francisco route will go up from $7.40 to $7.60, and the Vallejo route will increase from $9.90 to $10.

The adjustments are part of a systemwide fare update approved by the agency’s Board of Directors, which is moving away from a flat 3% annual increase to route-specific pricing for the 2027 and 2028 fiscal years.

This fare update arrives as San Francisco Bay Ferry celebrates a historic May, transporting 301,270 passengers. The record-breaking figure represents an 8% increase over May 2025 and marks the third consecutive month of record-setting ridership.

Furthermore, it is the sixth month in a row that passenger numbers have exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Weekend travel has been a primary driver of this growth, with average weekend ridership seeing a 56% increase compared to pre-pandemic trends.

The agency states that the fare adjustments are necessary to ensure the long-term fiscal sustainability of public ferry services. By shifting to route-specific adjustments, the agency aims to offset rising operating costs while maintaining the high levels of service frequency and reliability.