OAKLAND (BCN) -- The Oakland Unified School District has officially regained control of the city's schools, and new Superintendent Tony Smith started his first day on the job with promises of accountability, improvement and some tough decisions.
"It feels like my life's journey has brought me to this moment," Smith told a throng of parents, administrators and reporters at a welcome event Wednesday morning.
Speaking in front of Think College Now Elementary School in the city's Fruitvale neighborhood, Smith said the beleaguered district has much to do to restore test scores and educational standards.
"I want you to hold me accountable," he said. "There has to be a revival like we have not seen."
Smith's arrival marks the first time the school district will control its own destiny since 2003. Oakland schools were placed in state receivership that year after receiving a $100 million state loan. Since then, a state-appointed administrator has overseen the district's budget and operations. On Monday the state officially transferred full fiscal and academic authority over to the district's school board.
The state has been gradually returning control back to the district, a phased process culminating in Smith's arrival as superintendent. The seven-member board of education approved his appointment unanimously in May after a national search.
Smith comes to Oakland after serving as deputy superintendent for the San Francisco Unified School District, responsible for instruction, innovation and social justice. He also served as superintendent for the Emery Unified School District in Emeryville when that district regained its self-governance in 2004 after being under state administration.
Oakland's new superintendent now helms a district facing low test scores, strained teachers union relationships and ongoing budget shortfalls. He said schools, parents and administrators must first identify education priorities, then prepare to make some tough tradeoffs to achieve them amidst fiscal realities.
Educators, officials and members of the Oakland schools community hailed Smith as a natural fit. He is already an Oakland resident and has two daughters enrolled in district schools. Speakers at this morning's event heaped praise on Smith's work as an educator and proclaimed today a new beginning for the school district.
"We may have been knocked down but we're not knocked out," said Oakland school board president Noel Gallo.
San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Carlos Garcia even crossed the Bay Bridge to congratulate Oakland on hiring his former colleague.
"He'll make work joyful," Garcia said. He also emphasized the need for the two large urban school districts to work together.
"It's not about kids on one side of the Bay," he said.
The word "partnership" permeated the morning's remarks. Now that Oakland is once again in control of its own educational destiny, school leadership emphasized the need to involve parents, city and state government, community groups and even other cities in educating Oakland's students.
Jody London, a school board member from North Oakland and mother of third- and fifth-grade students, said the district needs to "make sure every neighborhood has schools where parents feel comfortable sending their kids.”
“There are hidden gems in every neighborhood in Oakland," she said. "We need the community to come out and support our schools."
(Copyright 2009, Bay City News, All rights reserved.)