This Bay Area school district is already back in the classroom for the 2023-24 school year
Gregory Nash called out to a group of children walking toward Oakland’s Hoover Elementary School shortly after 8 a.m. on Monday.
“Welcome to school, guys!” exclaimed Nash, a family liaison at Hoover. He knelt down to collect a smattering of haphazard high-fives. “We’re back!” says the crew.
It was the first day of school at Hoover and all 77 schools in Oakland Unified, one of the Bay Area’s largest public school districts to begin the 2023-2024 school year. The courtyard began to fill with excitement as children streamed through Hoover’s gates. While parents checked class assignments, children ran to greet their friends; teachers waved to old students and welcomed new ones.
“I feel amazing and nervous,” said Daniel Lands, a 6-year-old first-grader. “I just finished kindergarten, so I’m hoping to make some friends.”
Moms, dads, and teachers all expressed similar sentiments, especially in light of how last year ended. A strike in May forced Oakland Unified’s 34,000 students to miss class for eight days. While teachers and the school district fought over pay, better learning conditions, and other union demands, families were left in a bind.
However, it appeared that both teachers and parents were more optimistic about the state of education in Oakland this year.
“Coming out of the strike, I really feel supported and valued by both the community and other teachers,” Lilly Green, a Hoover special education teacher, said. “What I came away with was that support.”
Nonetheless, problems persist in Oakland, as well as in every other school district in the Bay Area. The country has been grappling with an ongoing teacher shortage, with Oakland Unified alone reporting 65 vacancies as of last week. This is despite a 10% raise for all district employees as a result of the strike, as well as additional increases to teachers’ salary schedules.
“We’re in a staffing shortage in the field of education in general,” said Oakland Unified Superintendent Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell. “We’ve been making contingency plans all summer anticipating that we would have some schools where no teacher would be present on the first day.”
Furthermore, nearly all districts have been impacted by pandemic-accelerated trends such as falling birth rates, out-migration due to high living costs, and a shift toward private and home schooling, according to research from the Public Policy Institute of California. According to data from that organization, birth rates in the state reached their lowest level in over a century in 2021, a trend that has continued in the years since.
According to state data, this has contributed to a nearly 9% drop in students from the 2018-19 academic year to 2022-23 at Oakland Unified. And, while these figures are stark, they are far from the worst in the Bay Area. Cupertino Union saw the most staggering declines in the region during the same time period, with a 22.4% drop in just four years.
Daniel’s mother, Shante Lands, has witnessed many of these changes. Lands is now 37 years old, but she was a Hoover student three decades ago. Despite the challenges that public education faces, Lands was mostly excited for her three children to be attending her elementary alma mater on Monday — and thrilled with how the school grounds had changed. Hoover received a new coat of paint over the summer, and bright shades of orange and blue surrounded the campus courtyard.
The school had also renovated the playground, which Daniel and his younger brother, Danon’te, were eager to try out.
“I never expected my children to come here, but it’s amazing to see the changes and differences over time.” “Both the school and the city,” Lands explained. Yes, it still feels too much like summer to be returning to school. However, San Jose’s East Side Union High School opened its doors on Thursday. San Jose, Mt. Diablo, and San Ramon Valley Unified School Districts resume classes this Thursday, while West Contra Costa, Fremont, San Francisco, and Hayward Unified School Districts resume classes next week.
A group of Hoover teachers and staff huddled in the school’s courtyard just before the start of the school year in Oakland. They piled their hands on top of one another and let out a collective cheer after a few moments.
“Let’s do it,” one of the teachers exclaimed. “Let’s go educate some kids!” says one.
