Education

Mayor Created Oakland Promise by Approving Resolution While City Council Was on Summer Break

Published

5 years ago

September 19, 2019

Local residents who follow city government might well wonder why Oakland City Council members allowed Mayor Libby Schaaf to set up her signature multi-million dollar college scholarship program, Oakland Promise, placing complete control of the program in the hands of the mayor with a minimum of oversight or transparency.

The short answer: they didn’t.

Oakland Promise was created and approved by Mayor Schaaf on the Mayor’s Summer Recess Agenda on Aug. 25, 2015. In other words, while the council was on its annual summer recess, the Mayor’s Office single handedly approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the East Bay College Fund (EBCF), which went into effect in September 2015, bypassing public input and council approval.

In a legal opinion requested by Council President Rebecca Kaplan, City Attorney Barbara Parker wrote a memorandum last week, saying that the City Council Rules of Procedure 21 “prohibits the mayor from approving ordinances during the council’s annual recess.”

In response to Parker’s opinion, City Council President Kaplan wrote in an email, “There was no funding or urgent need to bring (the MOU) as a recess action. So, it was hidden from the public without a valid reason for doing so. The 2015 recess action clearly contains legislative action, which is prohibited.”

The 2015 MOU authorizes the Mayor’s Office to appoint one voting member of the EBCF Board of Directors and members of the Oakland Promise Advisory Committee. In addition, “The Mayor’s office will provide communication support, marketing collateral, engagement opportunities and support for promotion and collaborate on annual fundraising events for Oakland Promise,” according to the MOU.

The City of Oakland from 2016-2018 gave $1.15 million to Oakland Promise’s Kindergarten to College Program. In addition, Oakland Promise received 11th floor City Hall office space, as well as “desktop computers, phone and internet service for approximately five Oakland Promise staff,” according to an administrative report to the city/school district Education Partnership Committee.

Until recently David Silver, Special Assistant to the Mayor III, served as the head of Oakland Promise. While receiving no salary from Oakland Promise, Silver’s city salary in 2018 was $261,961.45, salary plus benefits.

In her cover memo to the August 2015 M.O.U., Mayor Schaaf wrote that the MOU “has no cost implications to the City of Oakland,” though that does not appear to be the case.

Council President Kaplan, following up on the issue after it was raised by community activist Gene Hazzard, requested an opinion from City Attorney Parker about the legality of the mayor’s decision to approve the MOU without going to the City Council.

The City Attorney on Sept. 11 wrote that Rule 21 of the Council’s Rules of Procedure that the mayor may make decisions “during the annual recess except for those matters specifically set forth herein.”

Restrictions on the mayor’s authority to bypass the City Council:

• “Rule 21 prohibits the mayor from approving ordinances during the council’s annual recess.”

• The mayor must “set for reasons in the agenda reports and resolutions why approval cannot be deferred for council approval after the recess.”

• The Mayor cannot “appropriate funds without prior council authorization and approval.”

• The Council “is required to approve by ordinance any lease with rent at below fair market value. “

“The (City Attorney’s) legal memo says that anything that requires legislative action — like renting space in city hall for free or changing how board members get appointed by moving the power out of the hands of the council and into the hands of the mayor — cannot be done by recess action,” Kaplan wrote in an email on Wednesday.

In July, the Oakland Promise appears to have merged with the EBCF. The governing board of the EBCF voted to convert their nonprofit to Oakland Promise, filing with the Secretary of State, according to newly hired Oakland Promise CEO Mialisa Bonta, president of the Alameda Unified School Board and wife of Assemblyman Rob Bonta.

“Functionally, that means that Oakland Promise has the EIN (nonprofit tax IRS tax identification number) of the East Bay College Fund,” she said.

Oakland Post Questions to Mayor Schaaf’s office were unanswered by press time.

In reply to an Oakland Post email, the City Attorney’s office said that Parker’s legal memo was written about the rules governing mayoral recess decisions in the current year, not about what Mayor Schaaf did in 2015.

“The City Attorney’s memo was written in response to a Councilmember’s request to explain the current rules of procedure regarding the mayor’s recess authority. It does not address or make a determination regarding whether any particular action was, or was not, in compliance with the rules. We will review the 2015 action and the rules that were in place at the time,” said Alex Katz, Barbra Parker’s representative.

For Gene Hazzard’s website, including his blog, go to www.cleanoakland.com

Ken Epstein

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Activism

Actor, Philanthropist Blair Underwood Visits Bay Area, Kicks Off Literacy Program in ‘New Oakland’ Initiative

These community activations were coordinated with the San Francisco-based non-profit program “Room to Read.” Ray said he is also donating his time to read and take pictures with students to encourage their engagement and to inspire them to read more. The inspirational book “Clifford Ray Saves the Day” highlights Clifford Ray’s true story of saving a dolphin.

Published

4 weeks ago

February 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Blair Underwood (left) and Barbara Lee (right). Courtesy photo.

By Paul Cobb
New Oakland Series
Opinion Part 3

The Post mentioned three weeks ago that a number of our local luminaries were coming together to support the “New Oakland” movement. As this current national administration continues to eliminate our “legacy” institutional policies and programs left and right, most communities find themselves beyond “frozen” in fear.

Well, esteemed actor, long-time Bay Area supporter, and philanthropist Blair Underwood returned to Oakland this week to speak with city leaders, community trust agents, students, the Oakland Post, and local celebrities alike to continue his “New Oakland” initiative.

This week, he kicked off his “Guess Who’s Coming to Read” literacy program in some of Oakland’s middle schools. Clifford Ray, who played the center position of the 1975 World Champion Golden State Warriors, donated close to 1,000 books. Ray’s fellow teammate Charles “The Hopper” Dudley also gave Converse sneakers to students.

Underwood also spent quality time with the Oakland Ballers ownership group and visited the amazing Raimondi Park West Oakland community revitalization site. In the 1996 TV film Soul of the Game, Underwood played the role of the legendary first Black Major League Baseball player Jackie Robinson and commended the Ballers owners.

“This group of sports enthusiasts/ philanthropists needs to be applauded for their human capital investment and their financial capital investment,” Underwood said. “Truly putting their money and passion to work,” Underwood said.

Underwood was also inspired by mayoral candidate Barbara Lee’s open-minded invitation to bring public-private partnership opportunities to Oakland.

Underwood said he wants to “reinforce the importance of ‘collaborative activism’ among those most marginalized by non-empathic leadership. We must ‘act out’ our discomfort with passionate intentions to create healthy change.”

Oakland Post

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Activism

McClymonds High Names School Gym for Star Graduate, Basketball Legend Bill Russell

William “Bill” Felton Russell was born on Feb. 12, 1934, and died on July 31, 2022. He achieved fame as a U.S. professional basketball player who played center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. He was the centerpiece of the Celtics dynasty that won 11 NBA championships during his 13-year career.

Published

4 weeks ago

February 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Bill Russell and Brian McGhee in McClymonds High School Gym, 2011. Photo courtesy of Brian McGhee.

By Ken Epstein

West Oakland’s McClymonds High School, “the School of Champions,” this week named the school’s gymnasium in honor of one of its most famous graduates, basketball legend Bill Russell (class of ’52).

Russell is widely known as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. In 2011, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civil honor, from President Barack Obama for Russell’s contributions to basketball and the Civil Rights Movement.

The McClymonds’ naming ceremony was held on Wednesday, the same day as Russell’s birthday. Oakland leader Bill Patterson, a longtime friend of Russell’s, was scheduled to cut the ribbon at the reopening of the gym, which had been closed for several months for renovation. Russell’s daughter Karen was scheduled to attend the ribbon cutting.

Russell’s name and signature are now printed on the gymnasium floor.

Patterson was working at DeFremery Park when he met Russell. “I befriended him as a boy and during his years at University of San Francisco” said Patterson. “We stayed friends for the rest of his life.”

Said McClymonds Principal Darielle Davis, herself a McClymonds graduate, “We are excited to honor Bill Russell for his sports accolades and because he broke color barriers. He is part of our legacy, and legacy is really important at McClymonds.”

Brian McGhee, community schools manager at McClymonds and former football player at UC Berkeley, said that Russell meant a lot to him and others at the school. “He was a beacon of light and hope for West Oakland,” he said. “He did a lot for sports and for civil rights.”

Starting in 2018, Ben “Coach” Tapscott worked with Patterson and other McClymonds grads, community members, and former coaches to encourage the Oakland Board of Education to endorse the naming of the school gym, which finally happened recently.

“We worked hard to make this happen,” said Tapscott. “He’s an important part of McClymond’s history, along with a lot of other famous graduates,” he said.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Tony Thurmond Urges Educators to Stay Focused Amid Federal Funding Battle

In a statement and a letter to California’s local educational agencies (LEAs), Thurmond praised efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism and close achievement gaps, particularly for socioeconomically disadvantaged students. “Now is not the time to be distracted by external efforts to demean and divide,” Thurmond wrote. “Please continue to stay the course with local programs that are producing results. Our students need consistency, support, and community more than ever.”

Published

4 weeks ago

February 17, 2025

Oakland Post

Tony Thurmond. Courtesy of Tony Thurmond’s Facebook page.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond has urged educators to remain focused on student achievement following a court ruling that temporarily blocks the Trump administration from freezing federal funding for schools, health care, law enforcement, and disaster relief.

A U.S. District Court judge in Rhode Island issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on Jan. 31, halting federal efforts to pause funding while a lawsuit led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 22 other state attorneys general moves forward. Thurmond, a declarant in the case, welcomed the decision and reassured educators that funding for critical school programs remains in place.

“Now is not the time to be distracted by external efforts to demean and divide,” Thurmond wrote. “Please continue to stay the course with local programs that are producing results. Our students need consistency, support, and community more than ever.”

Thurmond emphasized that state officials will continue advocating for stable funding to ensure schools can maintain and expand programs that help students succeed.