COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...

Most community members felt the school would be a smart addition to the
neighborhood and that its state-of-the-art curriculum would help willing neighborhood
kids fulfill their dreams of attending a competitive college. They argued that the high
school had seen improvement in its Academic Performance Index in the first two years
after opening, but noted that, on the downside, enrollment had dropped. Some opponents
of the new school argued that the school ran more like a business rather than an academic
institution. School administrators who had resigned from St. HOPE Academy also stated
that the school became too bureaucratic, “Principals are CEO’s, not principals, and
students are clients and customers, and not students” (Rosenhall 2005).
When I walked into my first Neighborhood Association meeting, I sat next to a
Caucasian woman named Jamie Roberts, who was a long-time resident of Oak Park and
member of the Peace and Freedom political party. At this meeting, board members asked
attendees to introduce themselves and state how long they’d lived in Oak Park. During
my turn, I stood up and introduced myself as a CSUS graduate student who had just
moved into the neighborhood. The group clapped and welcomed me. Jamie turned to me
and smiled and said she had lived in the neighborhood for many years.
Switching our conversation, I asked Jamie if she was in favor of the business
proposals in Oak Park. Jamie responded,
I’m really not in favor of any corporations or big businesses
opening up in Oak Park. Oak Park should have more small ‘mom
and pop’ shops. I boycott all of Kevin Johnson’s businesses that he
opens up in Oak Park because they are driving small businesses
and the poor out. When St. HOPE Charter School opened up and
Sacramento Public High School shut down, many of those lowerincome
students stopped going to school altogether. Many poor
kids didn’t get on waiting lists to attend St. HOPE and they had to
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