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😮‍💨 PSAC, hot schools, and March 25 board meeting links

By Rebekah Otto —
😮‍💨 PSAC, hot schools, and March 25 board meeting links

We’ve been so humbled by the positive response to this newsletter and our event with Superintendent Castro. Thank you for your ongoing collaboration and feedback!

Every time we start writing about a new corner of our district or parent advocacy, there is so much more to dig through than we thought 😉

Last week felt especially busy! We are in awe of parent leaders like the members of OUSD’s Parent and Student Advisory Commission, and the parents behind Cool the Schools, so in addition to our regular board links we’re sharing some of their work below.

🗓️ Wednesday March 25 Board Meeting

There are 3 items we’re especially excited for at Wednesday’s meeting:

  • Item G: The Board will start with a Closed Session discussing Labor Negotiations. They are required to report out on the Closed Session.
  • Item T: Director Bachelor, the Facilities Committee Chairperson, will report from last week’s meeting with the Facilities Master Plan for a “First Reading.” Here is the deck they will review.
  • Item W: Director Hutchinson is introducing a resolution “Clarifying The Financial Implementation Plan and The One-Pagers”

How to participate

👨🏽‍🏫 Parent Student Advisory Committee (PSAC) on March 18

Background

Every California school district makes a Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP). The LCAP Parent & Student Advisory Committee is one of four Advisory Committees responsible for the LCAP plan, and is the main parent voice in how OUSD spends its money. Elected reps from School Site Councils (SSCs) across all 7 districts, plus student advisors. They weigh in on the budget, make recommendations, and track whether the plan is followed through.

What just happened

PSAC’s March meeting had a packed agenda focused on upcoming community engagement and what's changing in OUSD's Academic Division for next school year.

PSAC is organizing for what comes next. PSAC is helping lead a cross-stakeholder group — parents, students, teachers, staff, administrators, and the board — to shape how OUSD engages and makes decisions heading into the next budgeting phase. This will involve a deep review of spending, structures, and staffing. They aspire to create a durable process to engage our community and focus on the future of OUSD as a unified school district.

🗓️ Attend the Community Meeting on Tuesday, Mar. 31 at 5:30 PM at the Santa Fe Campus at 915 54th St.

Superintendent update: Interim Superintendent Denise Saddler expressed support for the direction, saying the process needs to be community-led to be durable to help build trust across the district.

Network offices are being consolidated. The three elementary networks (currently 4.5 staff each) are merging into one serving 49 schools. Parents and staff were told directly: the district won't be able to provide the same level of support. Response times will slow. Middle school is losing 3 of 8 positions. The high school Home & Hospital program serves students who are hospitalized or need in-home instruction, and they are losing 2 teachers, meaning caseloads for remaining staff will increase.

Updates from other parent & student committees:

  • DELLS reported on staffing reductions in the English Learner office and shared concern about the loss of a family engagement specialist who was deeply valued by parents.
  • CAC (Special Ed) celebrated Inclusion Week and shared suspension data for disabled Black students in middle school. Rates are slowly improving but remain high. They're looking for school partners.
  • Foster Youth Advisory Committee is focused on discipline practices for foster youth in elementary schools, with a meeting on March 24.
  • All City Council held a successful conference for 300+ middle schoolers and is gearing up for their annual Youth Action Summit.

🔥 Facilities Committee meeting on March 19

Background

OUSD’s Facility Committee oversees all OUSD facilities (buildings and grounds), infrastructure, and construction. The committee is chaired by Valarie Bachelor and has two additional members: Patrice Berry and Clifford Thompson. It meets monthly (usually on the third Thursday of the month). Parents who want to engage on topics like accessibility, student safety and wellbeing, capital improvement, deferred maintenance, vacant buildings, teacher housing, the built environment, sustainability, and more will find this committee interesting.

The OUSD Facilities Planning and Management Department has been working on a draft 2026 Facilities Master Plan which “outlines proposed priorities and strategies to improve facilities in ways that better serve students, staff, and the community.” Put simply – this document will inform what work is done to maintain our schools, what principles guide that work, and will inform the bond measures that fund that work.

What just happened

The committee voted in favor of bringing the  Draft Facilities Master Plan to be read by the full board. This plan will guide how OUSD spends millions of remaining Measure Y dollars and the next round of future bond dollars. That’s billions of dollars of implications. This plan responds to community feedback about unsafe learning and teaching conditions due to the impacts of climate change, namely Oakland’s warming climate. The proposal focused on investments over the next 5-7 years. 

Over 21 parents and teachers made in-person public comment (joined by close to 100 written e-comments) to ask why OUSD isn’t taking action sooner to prevent learning loss, unequal access to education, and severe health risks. 

What to look for next

Expect a first read of the Facilities Master Plan to be on the board agenda this Wednesday March 25. 

  • Share your perspective via public e-comment here. 
  • Attending? We’ll be there in the room, attend with us! 
  • Sign the Cool the Schools Petition to hold Superintendent Saddler and the OUSD Board accountable to taking immediate action to mitigate this health emergency

Watch the full meeting on YouTube: Facilities Committee on March 19, 2026

📰 OUSD in the news

We will send a recap after the Board Meeting this week 🚀