School Bored

The headline read: "Oakland school district to regain some powers." My mind immediately began to make a list: heat vision, invisibility, spider-sense, and invulnerability. Alas, this was not to be the case. On July 9 state Superintendent Jack O'Connell is expected to meet with board members and state lawmakers to announce an agreement: the return of board control over an area named "community relations and governance."
For those of you who, like myself, are scratching your heads and asking what exactly is meant by "community relations and governance," the state department of education still will manage the areas of student achievement, staffing, finances and facilities but the board sees symbolic importance in the power transfer. Symbols can be very powerful. The swastika, the smiley face, Hello Kitty. David Kakishiba, president of the school board says, "As opposed to us just sitting on the sidelines, we're going to be articulating what the goals are for the entire district." Again, articulation is very important too. Try saying "rubber baby buggy bumpers" without articulating. The effects can be devastating.
I confess. I'm not really impressed. Oakland Unified still owes about eighty-six million dollars on the state loan that spared the district from bankruptcy. According to its chief financial officer, Javetta Robinson, about thirty million of that amount is in a reserve, collecting interest. There is a pending Assembly bill that would force the state to gradually restore democracy to the Oakland school district, based on periodic progress reports. We could call these benchmarks, and we all know that handing over control to the local government based on progress toward benchmarks is not the kind of accountability we all feel comfortable with. And when I say "we", I mean the Royal We, and I'm referring to his Pinheadness - the man who will let no child be left behind. Sometimes I find it hard to relate to governance, community-wise.