Monique speaking at the OUSD school board meeting on the importance of AIMS in Oakland.
Jamilan is a parent of an African-American fifth grader who attends AIMS College Prep Elementary School. She keeps asking the same question and has yet to hear an adequate answer: what happens if her son’s school is shut down? Where are the other high-performing public schools for African American students in Oakland?
African American students at AIMS elementary make up 43.1% of the student population, and those students greatly outperform those in OUSD elementary schools according to California assessment data (CAASPP).
At AIMS, 69.98% of African American students met or exceeded the state standard in ELA, compared with 19.7% of OUSD African American elementary school students. In math, it’s a similar story: 61.2% of AIMS’ African American students met or exceeded the state standard compared to 11.66% of OUSD African American elementary school students. Strategies AIMS has found successful include embedded tutoring, academic support during after-school program, free academic Saturday school, and small-group instruction.
The top-performing OUSD elementary school for African American students, Hillcrest (66.67% ELA proficiency; 53.3% math proficiency), enrolls fewer African American students than the OUSD average (7.4% at Hillcrest vs. 20% OUSD average) and far more white students (35.2% at Hillcrest vs. the 10.1% OUSD average).
Jamilan’s son (on the left) enjoying some time with his AIMS friends.
Yet, AIMS College Prep Elementary School faces an uncertain future. The school’s charter renewal petition was denied by the OUSD school board and the Alameda County school board did not grant a renewal, either. The school, parents and students are now in limbo as county and school officials work to settle a memorandum of understanding by June regarding issues raised during the renewal process around teacher credentialing and special education student enrollment.
Frustration is boiling over for Jamilan and other AIMS parents. Her son was on the waiting list for AIMS admission for years. The family’s local OUSD school is struggling; they experienced discrimination at the predominately white OUSD school in the hills he attended before AIMS. What are they supposed to do if AIMS closes?
“Just honestly, where are our students supposed to go?” Jamilan said.
Jamilan did her research when she was looking for the right elementary school for her son, who has ADHD. She noticed that AIMS was different from most of the high-performing schools in Oakland.
“AIMS is always up there academically, especially for students from underserved communities,” Jamilan said. “That stood out to me because other schools were high-performing for students who come from a demographic that tends to be high-performing, anyway.”
Like Jamilan, Monique is also an African American parent of an AIMS student. And she similarly was not going to send her daughter to the low-performing OUSD school in her neighborhood, discovered AIMS while doing her research, and was on the wait list to get in.
Monique with her AIMS daughter.
Monique, who is the president of the school’s parent group, said she values the rigor her fourth-grade daughter is exposed to at AIMS, the tutoring for students who are struggling. She appreciates the school’s diversity, where 17 different languages are spoken. She is an Oakland native and feels that the school’s rich diversity reflects her city.
“She is exposed to different races, different beliefs, different socioeconomic backgrounds,” Monique said. “I wanted my daughter to have a good mixture of people at her school, and she is really blossoming, with friends who are all different nationalities and races.”
Monique and Jamilan were appalled by the charter renewal process, which was overly political and didn’t center the students. Families and students had to stay late at board meetings that approached midnight on school nights while the school boards dragged the school they loved and had worked so hard to get their children into.
Jamilan volunteering at an AIMS event.
Jamilan mentioned the shock she felt when a white OUSD school board member asked what percentage of the student population was Black and which were from Africa. “Are you asking what diaspora are we from, what boat did we come off of first?” she said.
“The [board members’] tone was very aggressive, and it felt like this really was about their own issues, not about the children themselves,” Jamilan said.
Jamilan’s son has attended district, charter, and private schools. “For me, I just want him to get the best education possible, wherever that is,” she said. “It’s not about politics, it’s about him. It’s about my child.”
As the AIMS families wait in limbo to see if one of the very few high-performing public schools in Oakland with a large percentage of African American students will be shut down by a political process, Monique has the same question as Jamilan: just where is her daughter and the other AIMS students supposed to go?
After attending multiple late-night school board meetings at the district and county level, and fretting about whether their child’s school will close, all that Monique, Jamilan and other AIMS elementary school parents can do is wait for the final consideration by the county board in June. What do parents want in June? A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) where AIMS and the county can collaborate and coordinate efforts to ensure AIMS is here to stay in Oakland.
“I’m hoping we can meet their expectations,” Monique said of the county board. “I also hope they look at the bigger picture. Are our students thriving? Do they have high test scores? Do we have strong communication from the school and administrators? The answer to those things is, ‘yes.’”
What’s next for AIPCS II? The Alameda County Board of Trustees voted to reconsider the denial of the AIPCS II charter appeal before June 10, 2025. You can access the county board meeting schedule and agendas here: https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/acoe/Board.nsf/Public
