Portables, Mural and Planter-boxes Bulldozed at Burbank Elementary

A PRESS CONFERENCE was held on Monday, March 15, at 11:30 a.m., at Burbank Elementary School, 3550 – 64th Avenue, Oakland, at the school entrance, to discuss the latest troubling event in the Oakland school closures story – the dismantling of their school buildings and treasures before the very eyes of the children and school community at Burbank.

This action came in the wakes of a City Council Hearing on school closures that will take place on Tuesday, March 16. A rally is planned for 5PM at Frank Ogawa Plaza outside the City Hall and the City Council is expected to vote unanimously to oppose the closure of any elementary schools in Oakland.

In late January, State Administrator Randolph Ward announced the finality of his decision to close five elementary schools in Oakland. Instant dismay, sadness, and chaos ensued among the afflicted school communities. Some families immediately left Oakland because they believed their neighborhood schools would close at any moment. Others removed their children from the targeted schools and found schools elsewhere in Oakland with available slots, anticipating the need to change in the fall. Immediate depression descended on students, teachers, and families alike, as their futures were abruptly changed forever.

On Friday, March 5, State Administrator Ward and his crew continued the emotional devastation by physically demolishing part of Burbank, one of the targeted schools. Without notice to the school community, the wrecking crew arrived late Friday afternoon and began destruction of two huge portables in prominent positions on the Burbank site, both of which have been used for many, many years as classrooms by Burbank students. Destroyed, in the process, were beloved features of the Burbank playground - a huge, beautiful mural embodying the spirit of Burbank, painted years ago on the side of one portable and welcoming all who came to Burbank; a huge, new planter box complete with thriving plants and trellis which the children lovingly planted and tended; and hand-made benches designed, painted, and installed by Burbank students just two years ago.

Children in a Friday after-school program watched the destruction in horror. Several went home inconsolable at what they had witnessed. Young students and teachers arrived Monday morning to find the ruins of their buildings still on the playground, with huge trucks and equipment finishing off the remains. Children and adults alike were devastated and disoriented by the inexplicable disappearance of their school buildings–the portables were a significant presence on the playground and provided what little shade the children had – and the loss of beloved school treasures. Children and teachers were in tears, at their loss. The children are asking if the rest of the school will be torn down around them. They are saying that ‘the man’ doesn’t like them or their school. They see this as part of their school’s closure.

There was no urgency to the removal of the portables; the mural, planter box, and benches could all have been moved readily to other locations on the playground. This assault once again on the Burbank community as it faces threatened closure is evidence of the consideration given to the human side of District decisions by current administration.



Please call or e-mail Patricia Durham at (510) 465-9028 & durhampdkn [at] aol.com; or Michael Foster at (510) 532-9116 & rajali [at] pacbell.net, if you have questions
Burbank Elementary School (510) 879-1040.