Meg Tanaka

Nov 3, 2024 | yahoo.com | Meg Tanaka

Candidates seeking to lead the Oakland Unified School District faced a barrage of tough questions one recent evening — an interrogation led by an enthusiastic group of new voters suddenly endowed with political power: 16- and 17-year-old high school students. In a first for California, teens in two Alameda County school districts, Berkeley and Oakland, were granted suffrage in school board races for the first time this November. About 1,000 Oakland students had registered as of Oct. 22.

Oct 31, 2023 | oaklandnorth.net | Meg Tanaka

Bay Area artists performed Sunday evening for more than 500 people at the Continental Club in West Oakland to raise money to help children in Gaza. Organized by first-generation Palestinian American Janan Barance, the event raised over $13,000, all of which will be donated to the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund, which provides free medical care to injured and ill children in the Middle East.

Oct 17, 2023 | oaklandnorth.net | Meg Tanaka |Cecil Egbele

More than 100 students and adults gathered at Fremont High School in Oakland Thursday to learn about the District 5 school board candidates, Jorge Lerma and Sasha Ritzie Hernandez. Since Mike Hutchinson ended his term early in March due to Oakland’s redistricting process, District 5’s school board seat has been vacant, leaving around 7,000 students unrepresented. The special election will happen on Nov. 7 to fill the District 5 seat on the Oakland Unified School District board.