This is a statement by Parents United for Public Schools, on the news that their Superintendent is moving to D.C.
“Parents United for Public Schools released the following statement on the announced departure of OUSD Superintendent Antwan Wilson:
“The departure of Superintendent Antwan Wilson midway through his contract to lead our schools presents Oakland with a unique opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the past, and select a new leader who is committed to making a difference in our students’ lives and who will stay in Oakland long enough to see those changes through.
“The past two years have seen a decline in enrollment while upper-level administrative salaries have skyrocketed more than 500%. Major changes in the Programs for Exceptional Children and Student Enrollment have come without meaningful input from parents, teachers, staff or community, and the departure of long time administrators has further destabilized the district. Planning for major district initiatives has been made in closed meetings with charter leaders, but without input from our public school community. It is time for our District to put our public schools first by hiring a superintendent who believes in our public school system, who will work to create true community schools that will support and educate the whole child, and who will stay at least long enough to see those changes through.
“We call on the School Board to conduct an open and transparent search for a new superintendent in partnership with those most impacted by District policies: students, parents, teachers, staff and true community-based organizations. Our children deserve a leader with deep connections to Oakland, a strong belief in its public schools and a commitment to following through with the transformation of OUSD as a quality full-service community school district.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Oakland’s gain is Washington D.C.’s loss.
And that statement about says about all one needs to know about Wilson and his ilk-the spawn of the Broad superintendents academy (purposely not capitalized).
Congratulations Oakland!
These are the people who will save public schools. Political leaders come and go, but we live in these places and we’re around long after they leave for the next job.
It was always up to us. That’s clearer now with privatization people in power at every level, but it was always true.
Thank you for sharing our statement. I am a member of the Parents United for Public Schools steering committee in Oakland. We want to be clear that we are not “celebrating” this news. Oakland students are not career stepping stones, and we will fight to make sure this instability does not happen again. We are resolved to keep organizing for the public schools all Oakland students deserve.
I’ve been involved in the district for 13 years as a parent and a volunteer. I saw the writing on the wall when Mr. Wilson failed to push through common enrollment as a way to fold more charters into his school choice model. We are weary of these Broadies who come in, create havoc, allow rampant charter school expansion, destabilize schools, pay themselves exorbitant salaries and perks, hire friends as redundant employees for 200K plus each, fire good principals, work backroom deals with real estate developers, support spending millions on a new admin building, the list goes on and on. He’ll enjoy DC; there’s no school board to get into the way of all his “reforms”. Feel sorry for those kids. I, for one, won’t miss him.
I’m a parent involved with the DC public schools. Would you be willing to talk with me about Antwan Wilson’s approach to working with parents? I have a sense from what I’ve read, but talking about it would be helpful.
Hi, thanks for your response. I would start with this group: they have a lot of presence at board meetings and can help you out. From your blog, it looks like you are very involved with DC schools. I’m not surprised Mr. Wilson is coming your way. Unlike Oakland, he gets to work directly with the mayor (top down authority, he loves that)-there’s no school board to get into the way of things. Here’s the link:
https://ousdparentsunited.wordpress.com/
The other commentor in this post, Annswin, is a member. She would be a good start…
“Dance of the lemons!”
Buh Bye, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Learn from another district’s mistake. LAUSD hired John Deasy from the outside, even with his questionable credentials and Gate’s prompting, finally pushed him out when they could no longer ignore his questionable practices, then hired back his predecessor Cortines, finally let Cortines retire and spent a huge amount of money conducting a search before settling on a senior administrator from inside the district. Oakland just needs to stay away from Broad’s minions and hire someone who actually has experience within the district.