Uncategorized

OUSD Proposes to Change Fremont High School’s Name to Innovation High

Published

11 years ago

July 4, 2015

By Quenajonay Frazier, Green & Gold

Fremont High will no longer be Fremont High after next year — it will be called Innovation School of Oakland.

This change is one of many outlined in a 37-page document that the Fremont Design Team submitted to the Oakland Unified School District on May 20.

<p>

It was the only proposal made in response to Superintendent Antwan Wilson’s “Call for Quality Schools,” which asked for groups inside and outside the school district, including charter companies, to compete to recreate Fremont. Four other schools also were put out to bid for new designs.

The school board will vote June 24 on the plan for Innovation School of Oakland, which would open in August 2016. Construction for a new facility would start at a later date.

Members of the design team said that the name would better fit the goal of the new school, which will focus on “design thinking,” technology, engineering, health and international studies along with the three main career paths it now offers.

But not everyone likes the new name or the concept of the new school.

“I am disappointed because I wanted to be an alumni [of Fremont High],” said senior Jessica Lindemulder. “Little did I know I would not be able to return to the school I know.”

Under the plan, Media Academy, Architecture Academy and Mandela Law & Public Service Academy will stay on campus but will be broadened into pathways with additional courses. Media will be part of the Digital Media & Technology pathway; Architecture will be part of the Architecture & Engineering pathway; Mandela will be part of the Public Service & Global Studies pathway.

And a new Science, Health and Forensics pathway will open in the new school.

This excites some students, including freshman Bianca Ramirez, who helped with the design in part by visiting several schools in Southern California.

“I love the new labs because that means more hands on,” said Ramirez.

Other students who were involved in a fight to keep Fremont from turning into a charter school were not happy with all parts of the final plan.

“Students felt betrayed and did not like the fact that the school’s name is changing,” said senior Angel Cornejo. “The teachers were too busy trying to fit in someone else’s norms that they forgot the real purpose of the fight.”

One thing members of the Leadership class generally like about the plan is the flexibility it has for students.

Newcomers and special education students will be able to join all classes and pathways. Students can take classes in other pathways, not just their own.

“We can take the class we want for our career,” said freshman Janet Chavez.

The plan calls on everyone at the school to be learners and for teachers to use technology for blended learning in their classes. That would mean that students would do most of their work independently on computers and they would move at a pace that fits their learning style. The teacher would be roaming the room to help students wherever they are in their learning.

“I do not think that it (blending learning) is the greatest idea,” said senior Loata Fine of the Architecture Academy. “No child should be left behind. Everyone should learn together at the pace so they can learn and build off each other, rather than working on a computer alone.”

Along with asking teachers to adopt blended learning, the proposal gives teachers other new roles.

“Teachers will have advisories,” the plan states. “Advisory curriculum will serve to personalize learning for all students and support them academically, socially and emotionally.”

Richard Charlesworth, a Media and Mandela history teacher, said one of his concerns about the plan is not understanding what “design thinking” actually means. He also worries about teacher turnover. Students cannot learn with different teachers each year, he explained.

But he sees positives of the plan.

“We are good at keeping the strong staff and most of the new plan we have already been doing,” he said. “We do not throw the baby away with the dirty bath water.”

Nidya Baez, co-leader of the design team and a Fremont alumni, said the name of the new school is still pending.

Baez said she believes it is necessary for the name to change because there are many people who view Fremont High negatively and the design team wants people to believe that there will be an actual change on the campus.

However, Baez said just because the name will change does not mean Fremont will no longer be Fremont.

“The name change doesn’t erase the 110 classes” that have graduated from Fremont, said Baez, who hopes the new school will keep many Fremont traditions.

The design team dropped at least one controversial idea from its original plan. It no longer wants to add sixth, seventh and eighth grades to the campus.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

OP-ED: The Misapplication of Jurisprudence

Don't Miss

City Youth Make Their Voices Heard on Police Reform

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Uncategorized

Rest in Peace: A.M.E. Pastor and L.A Civil Rights Icon Cecil “Chip” Murray Passes

The Rev. Dr. Cecil L. “Chip” Murray, former pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church (FAME) in Los Angeles, died of natural causes April 6 at his Windsor Hills Home. He was 94. “Today, we lost a giant. Reverend Dr. Cecil Murray dedicated his life to service, community, and putting God first in all things. I had the absolute honor of working with him, worshiping with him, and seeking his counsel,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of the dynamic religious leader whose ministry inspired and attracted millionaires as well as former gang bangers and people dealing with substance use disorder (SUD).

Published

4 days ago

February 3, 2026

Oakland Post

The Rev. Dr. Cecil L. “Chip” Murray, former pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church (FAME) in Los Angeles, died of natural causes April 6 at his Windsor Hills Home. He was 94.

“Today, we lost a giant. Reverend Dr. Cecil Murray dedicated his life to service, community, and putting God first in all things. I had the absolute honor of working with him, worshiping with him, and seeking his counsel,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of the dynamic religious leader whose ministry inspired and attracted millionaires as well as former gang bangers and people dealing with substance use disorder (SUD).

Murray oversaw the growth of FAME’s congregation from 250 members to 18,000.

“My heart is with the First AME congregation and community today as we reflect on a legacy that changed this city forever,” Bass continued.

Murray served as Senior Minister at FAME, the oldest Black congregation in the city, for 27 years. During that time, various dignitaries visited and he built strong relationships with political and civic leaders in the city and across the state, as well as a number of Hollywood figures. Several national political leaders also visited with Murray and his congregation at FAME, including Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Murray, a Florida native and U.S. Air Force vet, attended Florida A&M University, where he majored in history, worked on the school newspaper and pledged Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. He later attended Claremont School of Theology in Los Angeles County, where he earned his doctorate in Divinity.

Murray is survived by his son Drew. His wife Bernadine, who was a committed member of the A.M.E. church and the daughter of his childhood pastor, died in 2013.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Uncategorized

Court Throws Out Law That Allowed Californians to Build Duplexes, Triplexes and RDUs on Their Properties

Charter cities in California won a lawsuit last week against the state that declared Senate Bill (SB) 9, a pro-housing bill, unconstitutional. Passed in 2021, SB 9 is also known as the California Housing Opportunity and More Efficiency Act (HOME). That law permits up to four residential units — counting individual units of duplexes, triplexes and residential dwelling units (RDUs) – to be built on properties in neighborhoods that were previously zoned for only single-family homes.

Published

4 days ago

February 3, 2026

Oakland Post

Charter cities in California won a lawsuit last week against the state that declared Senate Bill (SB) 9, a pro-housing bill, unconstitutional.

Passed in 2021, SB 9 is also known as the California Housing Opportunity and More Efficiency Act (HOME). That law permits up to four residential units — counting individual units of duplexes, triplexes and residential dwelling units (RDUs) – to be built on properties in neighborhoods that were previously zoned for only single-family homes.

A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge ruled in favor of the cities, pointing out that SB 9 discredited charter cities that were granted jurisdiction to create new governance systems and enact policy reforms. The court ruling affects 121 charter cities that have local constitutions.

Attorney Pam Lee represented five Southern California cities in the lawsuit against the state and Attorney General Rob Bonta.

“This is a monumental victory for all charter cities in California,” Lee said.

However, general law cities are excluded from the court ruling as state housing laws still apply in residential areas.

Attorney General Bonta and his team are working to review the decision and consider all options that will protect SB 9 as a state law. Bonta said the law has helped provide affordable housing for residents in California.

“Our statewide housing shortage and affordability crisis requires collaboration, innovation, and a good faith effort by local governments to increase the housing supply,” Bonta said.

“SB9 is an important tool in this effort, and we’re going to make sure homeowners have the opportunity to utilize it,” he said.

Charter cities remain adamant that the state should refrain from making land-use decisions on their behalf. In the lawsuit, city representatives argued that SB 9 eliminates local authority to create single-family zoning districts and approve housing developments.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Uncategorized

Funds for Down Payments and Credit Repair Given to Black First Time Homebuyers

The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) won a $10,000 fair housing settlement last November against a property management company, CIM Group LP, a global real estate company headquartered in Los Angeles, and property owner, RACR Sora, LLC, for implementing a blanket ban on renting to tenants with criminal histories at Sora Apartments in Inglewood. Three months earlier, the department, which enforces California’s civil rights laws, won another $20,000 civil rights settlement against a Lemon Grove property manager, who had targeted a Black tenant with a series of racist actions and threats of violence.

Published

4 days ago

February 3, 2026

Oakland Post

By McKenzie Jackson, California Black Media

Three months earlier, the department, which enforces California’s civil rights laws, won another $20,000 civil rights settlement against a Lemon Grove property manager, who had targeted a Black tenant with a series of racist actions and threats of violence.

CRD Director Kevin Kish said the department investigates cases of apparent racial bias in housing and sometimes more subtle acts of prejudice like nuisance-free or crime-free housing policies or holding tenants to different standards based on their race.

Kish said, “People will get evicted if they call the police. This can negatively impact victims of domestic violence. We also see these no-crime ordinances, or no-crime policies, used in racially discriminatory ways. If there is some kind of incident, and the police are called and it involves a Black family, then they get evicted, but other folks aren’t necessarily evicted.”

On April 11,1968, a week after Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, President Lydon B. Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, color, religion, and nationality.

Kish noted that William Byron Rumford, the first Black California State Assemblymember, who represented Berkley and Oakland, spearheaded the passing of the Rumford Act in 1963. That law sought to end discriminatory housing practices in the Golden State, five years before the Fair Housing Act became law.
Real estate agent and housing advocate Ashley Garner is the director of the CLTRE Keeper Home Ownership program. That organization gave 25 Black, indigenous, and people of color $17,500 each in down payment and credit repair support to purchase a home in Oak Park, a traditionally Black neighborhood in Sacramento, last fall. CLTRE obtained a $500,000 grant from the city of Sacramento to award the funds to the residents after they completed an eight-week homeownership program.

In 2021, the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) noted that around four in 10 Black California families owned homes, which trails that of White, Asian-American and Latinos.
According to Forbes, the median price for a home in California is over $500,000, which is double the cost of a home in the rest of the country.

Black lawmakers recently introduced their Reparations Priority Bill Package that includes support for Black first-time homebuyers, homeowners’ mortgage assistance and property tax relief for neighborhoods restricted by historic redlining.

California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) spokesperson Eric Johnson said CalHFA helps prospective low-income and moderate-income Californians purchase homes by offering down payment and closing cost aid. “There are lots of people who have steady jobs, good credit scores, constant income, but they haven’t been able to save up the money that traditional banks need or want to see for a down payment,” Johnson stated. “We help those folks out. We give a loan for the down payment to get them over that hurdle.”
CRD and the Department of Real Estate hosted “Fair Housing Protections for People with Criminal Histories” Zoom call on April 10.

On April 25, CRD will also hold Zoom seminars focused on advocating for fair housing for people with disabilities.