Oakland Ca Education

Los Angeles Unified School District may be viewed by some as a hopelessly fumbling albatross, but to Oakland officials concerned about their city's similarly troubled school system it instead represents hope. Top Oakland leaders visited Los Angeles last week to examine the secrets of the LEARN school reform program and came away with ideas they might be able to use. "Within California, (LEARN) is the broadest, most comprehensive educational initiative going on," said Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris.

Poverty is on the rise and murders hit an all-time high in 1990. But through it all, Oakland's middle class, black and white, has remained to fight for a city they believe can still attain greatness. If the decay of rusting industrial cities can be reversed anywhere, it is here, they say.

In an extraordinarily blunt report, the state auditor general charged Wednesday that the troubled Oakland Unified School District knowingly hired a convicted drug user, paid administrators for days they did not work or degrees they had not earned and granted an inflated contract to an underqualified consultant.