Dear [first name] [last name]:
We are writing as parents and community members to express our grave concerns about the planned closure of the Carl B Munck Elementary School (CBM). We acknowledge the good faith of the decision-makers and the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, under-enrollment, and overall budgetary pressures. However, we feel that this choice has under-considered both the unique value of Carl B Munck and the costs of closure.
CBM is a unique reservoir of specialized expertise for special-needs children. Educational needs for physical or learning disabilities are universally recognized as distinct from other children. Beyond specialized vocational training, CBM staff have long experience working together on these issues. Closing this school and splitting up this team will lead to an irrecoverable loss of institutional memory that is critical to Oakland Unified School District servicing this population.
CBM produces award-winning excellence. Of all the schools considered for closure, only CBM, Westlake, and Grass Valley Elementary schools have teachers that have won the “Teacher of The Year Award” from Oakland Unified School District in the past 5 years. Excellence doesn’t emerge in isolation but is fostered in the context of an appropriately supportive environment. These successes, acknowledged by this district through qualitative analysis, capture the excellence of these institutions in ways other metrics might not, and show why they should be last on the list for closure.
Transportation logistics are worse with closure. Recent analyses (Ledbe et al “Exploratory Analysis of Recent Trends in School Travel Mode Choices in US” Transportation Research Inter-Disciplinary Perspectives 2020 6:100146) show the likelihood of bus usage increases with declining household income and increasing distance to school. The targeted closure of local schools servicing low-income households will thus predictably increase the need for bussing in the Oakland Unified School District, causing considerably increased costs.
Lack of Transparency. While the community wants to work with the OUSD board to find solutions, there have been unclear rationales on school selection for the closure list. Per public statements, there is no actual shortfall in current budgets. Comparisons on gains in academic achievement are unfair in that they do not consider the higher proportion of poverty in the Oakland Unified School District relative to others in Alameda County. This is a reliable indicator of poverty, which has known and associated educational challenges. The timeline for community input has also been very narrow; it was originally planned for less than 2 weeks.
Ours is a historically marginalized community that includes low-income families, first-generation immigrants, and people of color. We appreciate that over the past two years, the Oakland Unified School District has expressed commitment to addressing historic wrongs. Now is the time to prove that commitment by reconsidering this decision that will perpetuate harm against us. Understanding the need for consolidation in the district overall, we argue that the specific choice to close Carl B. Munck is a poor, counter-productive one. The best way to fight declining enrollment is to show the community you are engaged with them and responsive to their needs, as you can through reversing the planned closure to CBM.
We urge you to vote against the closure of CBM.
