Combined Voices from 6/1/26

We considered all 159 comments transcribed from our June 1 session, and created 25 summary statements. Every comment from the source tables is mapped to one statement below, so no voice is lost, and we included unsummarized statements below. To read the full text of all statements as we classified them, click here.

What's Important (15 statements)

1. Schools must welcome and include all students and families regardless of race, culture, language, ability, religion, family structure, or identity. Staff should reflect the school communities.   

2. Schools must have enough trained staff, funds, and resources to succeed. Well-supported working and learning conditions are the key to thriving students.  

3. Kids must feel and be physically and emotionally safe at school.

4. Every child must be seen, known, and feel they belong. Schools must bring kids joy. Joy and a sense of belonging will make kids want to attend.

5. Schools must communicate effectively and authentically partner with families.  They must share the information families need, make them feel safe and heard, and learn each student's family context.

6. Teachers and staff must be caring, committed, and high-quality professionals who love their craft.

7. Instruction must meet each child where they are.  There is a need for trained teachers, support staff, and quality materials to reach each kid at their skill level. Teaching focused on student learning, not teaching to the test.

8. More recess and inclusive physical activity for all ages.

9. Schools must have a clear, articulated vision of what kids should learn. That vision must actually drive the work.

10. Immigrant and non-English-speaking families need language access and organized parent leadership. This includes interpreters, and parent groups equipped to reach their own communities.

11. The district must provide systematized, collaborative, data-driven approaches that benefit all schools.

12. Every child in the district deserves rigorous, engaging, grade-level academics daily.

13. Every kid must be taught to read using effective, science-of-reading-based instruction and intervention.

14. Schools need stable staffing and stable leadership. Schools need staff who build community.

15. Education must extend beyond core academics and include arts, music, dance, sports, libraries, electives, Advanced Placement (AP) classes, and field experiences.

Not currently summarized (6 statements)

• No computers/iPads in classrooms!

• Bring back cursive to the classroom

• Schools must have honorable culture — cussing and slurs not acceptable; students prepared to learn

• Daily restorative practice before + after classes

• Online students should have access to in-person opportunities

• I need a school that builds radical community

Part 2 — What's Working (10 statements)

1. Diverse, integrated schools are the best of Oakland; Kids learning with and from families different from their own, with the greatest needs prioritized.

2. Cultural and language representation works. Multilingual classes and staff during the school day, affinity spaces, and culture visible on the walls. (

3. Enrichment built into the school day is working. Gardens, music, art, dance, eco-literacy, band, and library time are all highlights.

4. Targeted, individualized support gets results. Examples include literacy reform with goal-tracking, small classes with per-student goals set with families, lessons modified to level, and newcomer/ELL supports.

5. Consistent, caring, long-tenured staff and accessible principals change everything.

6. Real-world learning, pathways, electives, and clubs keep students engaged.

7. Relationships are the foundation of great learning; kids known by name by adults, who are welcomed as their whole selves, in schools that feel like home.

8. Restorative justice and social-emotional learning are working, to the tune of 0% suspensions in some places where it is practiced.

9. Full-day school, aftercare, and after-school programs kids actually want are working for families.

10. Structured family engagement works; SSC/PTA, monthly principal meetings and cafés, weekly updates, parent groups, volunteerism, and community events.

Not currently summarized (4 statements)

• Being able to walk to school matters — and it holds because the school is also strong academically (4 dots — one comment, heavily dotted)

• A field would make it safer for kids to play (1 dot; written as a need on the Arabic board)

• Daily morning messages give students a positive start (0 dots)

• "I want everything to stay as it is — nothing cut at our school" — Think College Now (0 dots)