After a six-year push for a new state-of-the-art, multi-school educational complex on the Oakland Unified School District's Second Avenue property, parents, students and staff of the four schools, together with community leaders from the East Bay Asian Youth Center and Oakland Community Organizations (OCO), finally got their wish.

In January, the Oakland school board unanimously approved $75 million to support the construction of the school site, and the State Administrator gave his approval for the construction of four new schools - La Escuelita Elementary School, Centro Infantil and Yuk Yao Child Development Centers, and Met West High School, which has had 100% graduation rate and a high rate of students going on to four year colleges. The four schools, along with Dewey Academy High School, currently share a crowded lot with the district's aging administration building. 

Before a packed room of parents, teachers, and community members, cheers broke out as the school board members voted for the construction of the new education complex. "This is a time of celebration! We won for our community! We won for our kids!" 

The victory came after a proposal in September 2006 by state school Superintendent Jack O'Connell to sell the  Second Avenue properties to the TerraMark/Urban America East Coast  development team in order to pay back some of the school district's debt. That decision was rescinded last winter after strong parent protest.

For more information on Oakland Community Organizations, visit www.oaklandcommunity.org