District Is Dismantling West Oakland Public Schools ‘Piece by Piece,’ Says Coach Tapscott

Ben “Coach” Tapscott

By Ken Epstein

The future of West Oakland Middle School (WOMS) – the only middle school in the area and the only school that feeds directly into McClymonds High School – is in jeopardy since the Board of Education approved the co-location of a new charter middle school at the site next year, says public school advocate Ben “Coach” Tapscott.

“They are dismantling the schools in West Oakland piece by piece,” said Tapscott, a leader of the New McClymonds Committee.

“That’s the plan we’ve been fighting since 2011,” he said, pointing out that the district has already placed three charter schools in West Oakland and closed six public schools.

WOMS currently serves about 200 students at 991 14th St. The Alameda County Board of Education, acting this past year over the objections of students, community members and members of the Oakland school board, approved the new charter middle school, Envision Academy of Arts & Technology.

The charter middle school will be an expansion of Envision, which already operates a high school at 1515 Webster St. in downtown Oakland.   

As part of the district’s interpretation of the state-mandated Prop. 39 process, it gave the upper floor of the WOMS campus to the new charter, which opens in the fall.

WOMS only has space for about 50 new 6th graders each year. As a result, as many as 300 graduates of West Oakland elementary schools must travel out of the area to attend middle schools in other parts of the city, said Tapscott.

The placement of the new charter middle on the campus could limit the possibility of WOMS to expand in the future, he said.

If West Oakland had a middle school that served all of its elementary graduates, the enrollment at McClymonds would probably jump to about 600 students, said Tapscott.

The district currently has 44 charter schools and 86 public schools, an extended process that has meant eliminating many schools serving Black and Latino students throughout Oakland, he said.

Tapscott also sees a pattern of closing schools that serve Black and Latino students in West Oakland, making way for gentrification. Over past six years, he said, the district has closed six public schools in West Oakland: Cole, Marcus Foster Middle, Marcus Foster Elementary, Hoover Middle, Lowell Middle School and Lafayette. Other nearby schools that closed were Santa Fe Elementary and Sankofa Middle.

Opposing the opening of the new charter, Tapscott says he and others are “going to make it as clear as we can that Envision is not welcome in West Oakland.”

He said they will begin organizing community meetings, the first of which will be held Saturday, July 20, 10 a.m. to noon, at the West Oakland Public Library at 1801 Adeline St.

“We’re asking all public school supporters to attend,” he said.