Oakand’s theft problem: Can it be stopped?
By Katy Murphy
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 at 2:31 pm in finances, investigations, safety.
Matthew Green, a former journalism teacher at Fremont Federation’s Media High School, wrote a compelling story for the East Bay Express about the continual theft of computers and other equipment from Oakland’s public schools.
Daniel Hurst, principal of Fremont’s College Prep & Architecture Academy, told Green that the school loses $50,000 a year, easily, because of break-ins. Hurst was quoted as saying that the phenomenon was “the cost of doing school in this environment.”
Last summer, after someone swiped 18 brand new Macintosh computers from a locked case on the McClymonds campus, Tribune reporter Jennifer Scholtes did a clip search and found quite a few theft reports.
At the time, then-OUSD spokesman Alex Katz told Scholtes: “There are very limited resources, and we also have 118 school sites. If someone is really determined to break into a school and steal from children, there isn’t much we can do to stop them.”
Is there?
Should the district spend precious resources to hire security to keep watch over the campuses at nights and on weekends, when most of the thefts happen? What, if anything, can be done so that widespreadtheft is no longer a cost of doing education in Oakland?
image from Torley’s profile at flickr.com/creativecommons
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February 27th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
This is one of the reasons DH stopped building and giving away computers from donated spare parts. It’s really, really painful to give a kid (or a classroom) a computer, and then have it disappear.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Many of these thefts are inside jobs! Our school was broken into using a key, and then the thieves tried to make it look like they broke in by shattering a window or two. What about thetheft of the ENTIRE Mac Lab from the district computer center, probably the most secure place in the District? How do you unlock and walk away with 30 enormous iMacs from a secure building without breaking any windows or doors? It is a HUGE problem, and our school is VERY reluctant to replace the $10,000 worth ofstolen computers we’ve lost this year.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
How much of the money to replace stolen equipment comes out of a school’s budget? Does insurance cover some of it?
I’d like to hear your opinions on how essential computer labs are to schools. Do teachers and principals ever think about going `old school’ (textbooks and paper) to reduce the security risk and maintenance costs? I feel like a dinosaur just asking that question, but someone needs to ask it…
Ben Chavis, former principal of the American Indian Public Charter School, told me last year that he decided not to have a computer lab so he could spend money on other things his students needed and the school wouldn’t become a target for theft.
“What are they going to steal? Books?” he asked.
February 28th, 2008 at 7:07 am
The computers were not part of the lab but classroom machines that students use for focused work during class time. Given the Digital Divide that already exists in Oakland and the nation, it is a sad statement that children who attend schools in wealthier neighborhoods have secure access to technology while former Oakland principals like Ben Chavis saw fit to forgo “theft targets” at the expense of his students education . While insurance does cover most of the cost of the stolen items, it still can take several months to process and replace the equipment. It also does nothing for the morale of the teachers and students who discover their classroom vandalized on a recurring basis.
February 28th, 2008 at 7:46 am
I agree that it would be inequitable to have computers in some schools and not in others. It also seems to me that the current situation, with respect to technology, is inequitable as well.
Given the likelihood of theft, and the terrible feeling children and teachers must experience when their classroom is broken into (not to mention months without the equipment), I am just curious about how, exactly,computers are used in schools, and how essential they are to a child’s education.
I should note that Ben Chavis also doubted the educational value of computers. He explained to one of his new hires — in much more colorful language, of course — that his students were far behind in reading and math, and that they could build those skills withoutcomputers. So I don’t think he perceived his decision as detrimental to his students’ education, whether or not it was.
February 28th, 2008 at 9:34 am
A lot of expensive stuff which teachers bought with their own money — laptops, projectors, etc. — so they can do their job is alsostolen, leading to despair and frustration and contributing to teacher burnout.
The value of computers in schools can easily be overstated. However, in today’s world, if you can’t manipulate Windows, type papers and do research online, you are not ready for the office or college.
February 28th, 2008 at 9:56 am
War Zone Ghetto Schools should hardly be stocked with expensive goods. The best equipment should be at the schools that are not populated by “troubled” types and that are in safer neighborhoods.
That goes for the teacher materials also. You don’t take a nice car into a bad neighborhood and park it - same thing with teacher owner property, materials and commuter vehicles.
Equity is not the issue. Practicality is. You don’t put nice things in the ghetto because it’s a waste of time and money to do so. It’s not like the ghetto doesn’t like being the ghetto.
February 28th, 2008 at 10:58 am
During all the years I have subbed in Oakland,I have almost NEVER seen students use computers for authorized academic work.They are always on My Space,checking their e-mail or going to music and merchandise sites.
The question I have is:Why is there not some sort of filtering system the school can put in to block these sites?Of course I admonish the students to focus on the proper material but five minutes later they are back to the entertainment sites again!
February 28th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
“it is a sad statement that children who attend schools in wealthier neighborhoods have secure access to technology while former Oakland principals like Ben Chavis saw fit to forgo “theft targets” at the expense of his students education .”
if i remember correctly, Ben Chavis’s school had some of the best test scores, if not the best, in the Oakland…so what’s your point?
computers are not a panacea. it’s a tool and people if need to be taught to use it as such - only if they are open to being taught. if they aren’t then it becomes nothing more than another thing to entertain and distract kids, which unfortunately just about all it is right now, with a few exceptions.
the problem here isn’t poverty or lack of materials - it’s the attitude. go to places where people are REALLY poor…like raw-sewage-running-in-the-streets-poor…living-in-a-shack poor, no-running-water poor and they don’t act like folks here.
there’s a cultural thing to being “poor” in America that you really see other places.
February 28th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Doowhopper: At our school, all computers on the network are blocked from certain sites like MySpace and YouTube.
But to block the entire Internet would be counterproductive.
“Admonishing” students or blocking them are not the best solutions. Accountability for work produced probably is.
Personally, I think the use of computers in schools should be limited to well-policed resource centers like the library or a computer lab. More effective are programs to get cheap machines into kids’ homes. At the high school level, not having a computer at home is a big handicap for any class that requires essays or research.
February 28th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Remember: The big jobs like a whole lab getting ripped off are probably done by adults, some of them employed by OUSD.
February 28th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
In war zones they build cement bunkers, why not re-design Oakland’s ghetto schools accordingly. The computers could be set right into the bunker walls and framed in steel with keyboards set & steel framed into cement blocks. The computer screens could be made of the same clear plastic material used to protect bank tellers at ghetto area bank branches.
Do it, because “a mind is a terrible thing to waste!”
Seriously Sue!