OAKLAND Calif. (KCBS RADIO) – Oakland's first day of classes begins next Monday, but the school year will start a bit differently as 10 schools have been closed due to budget cuts.
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A group of parents and volunteers who protested the closures are occupying one of those shuttered campuses, with no plans to leave anytime soon.
The doors to Parker Elementary School in East Oakland never really closed after the last day of school on May 25. Parents took over the campus and started offering summer school programs to neighborhood students, putting up signs to "stop the war on public education."
Steven Miller, a former Oakland educator who taught five science classes at Parker, told KCBS Radio he believes the parents' occupation should continue as long as Oakland Unified School District continues to close schools.
"In fact, it should be occupied by students who have classes here and the whole notion of closing it should be rescinded," he stated.
However, the school district has no plans to reopen Parker Elementary.
An Oakland Unified spokesperson told KCBS Radio they are demanding the occupiers leave campus. "The individuals who are trespassing on the site have stated that they are offering a 'program' for children. It goes without saying that what is taking place at Parker is not a District program. More importantly, the District has serious safety concerns about what these individuals are doing on the closed campus - especially as it relates to children," Oakland Unified said in a statement.
Despite the district's calls for safety concerns, Hilary Chan, one of the leaders of the occupation, said they are planning their next moves for what they now call "Parker Community School."
"We've certainly talked a lot about doing after school tutoring for an after school program for the kids just to kind of continue working with them," she said. But, there is a concern that PG&E may cut power to the school soon, interrupting the plans for "Parker Community."
According to Chan, most of the over 200 students who attended Parker during the school year are planning to transfer to their newly assigned schools.
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