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In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors.
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Oakland's state-appointed school chief takes stock on first day
Tuesday June 17, 2003
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) Oakland's new state-appointed school
administrator spent his first day on the job Monday visiting some
of the district's schools to learn about the district's programs,
schools and employees.
Randolph Ward, former state administrator of Compton schools,
was brought in by the state to help bring the troubled Oakland
Unified School District back to financial stability. On June 2 the
district was granted a $100 million dollar bailout loan, the
biggest in state history.
Because the loan is so large, state law required state schools
chief Jack O'Connell to install an administrator to take financial
and academic control of the district until it can pay back the
money.
Ward said he hopes to impose freezes on spending and hiring as
part of his plan to control costs this summer.
``All levels have to show that they support what happens in each
and everyone of these classrooms,'' he said. ``If they're not
making a difference in the classrooms, then they're probably not
necessary. We will be looking at both central office and throughout
the system.''
Come fall, Ward said one of his primary efforts will be on
improving student attendance. If all the district's 48,000 students
attended school regularly, Oakland Unified's financial problem
would be much less since school's receive state funding based on
how many students are at school each day, he said.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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