Oakland school officials released a list of five schools slated for closure this weekend and say the move could save more than $2 million, money that can be put toward improving other district schools.
District Superintendent Tony Smith is proposing to close five elementary schools in 2012: Lakeview, Lazear, Marshall, Maxwell park and Santa Fe. Another eight school programs would be redesigned, according to the proposal, two - Burckhalter and Kaiser -- would be expanded and one middle school would see its grades reconfigured.
The closure list contained ten names prior to Saturday's list.
The school closures would affect more than 900 students.
A district staff report notes that the district operates far more schools than districts with nearly twice as many students. Long Beach Unified School District, for example, operates 89 schools for 86,000 students, Sacramento Unified School District operates 85 schools for 48,000 students, and San Jose Unified School District operates 52 schools for 32,000 students.
Oakland, meanwhile, operates 101 schools for 38,440 students. Nineteen of those schools have fewer than 200 students and 24 of them have between 200 and 299 students.
The school board will discuss the recommendations at a meeting Tuesday, but is not scheduled to make a final decision until Oct. 26.
Local
Bay City News contributed to this report.
