Events
Please join us for our Racial Healing Summit on Monday, January 5, 2026 for Professional Learning Day!
We will practice skills in somatic awareness, deep listening, and growing through conflict and relationships across different racial experiences. Site teams are encouraged to attend together!
REGISTER HERE by December 17, 2025!
Registration may close early if spots fill up, so please register early!
Facilitators:
David Yusem and Kyle McClerkins have led the Restorative Justice movement at OUSD for over 14 years. Between the two of them, they have experience with site-based RJ and district-wide RJ implementation. With others, they have developed a model and supported a framework for RJ training, coaching and implementation that has become a national model.
Lailan Sandra Huen, an OUSD alumna, brings over 20 years in education, youth development, institutional transformation, and community organizing to her role as a Racial Healing coach in OUSD's Health & Wellness Department. She worked in OUSD's Office of Equity specializing in antiracist learning, progressive education policy reform, youth-led participatory action research, targeted equity strategies, and culturally responsive practices.
SEIU & AFSCME Members who are 10-month can submit OT/ET forms. Other members can check in with their Supervisor to see if they are eligible to submit an extra/over time form online if these times fall beyond contract hours. Please list Mara Larsen-Fleming, OUSD Health & Wellness Director as the approver & supervisor.
This summit is supported by the Kaiser Foundation & the California Endowment.
Attendees are encouraged to take public transit or carpool to share parking expenses downtown.
OUSD is excited to announce the second year of the Fellowship for Racial Healing leaders who are exploring the intersections between transformative wellness, antiracism, disability justice & culturally responsive pedagogy.
An 8-month commitment to support OUSD staff who are implementing, collaborating and supporting each other on racial healing efforts to build antiracist community schools, beloved communities and joyful learning environments for students, families and staff to thrive everyday.
For Year 2 of the Racial Healing Fellowship, we will focus on 1) Generative Conflict & Repair, and 2) Holding conversations about race/racism through Courageous Conversations Conditions and Restorative Justice.
Who should apply?
Any OUSD staff leading racial healing at sites, which can include but are not limited to Community School Managers, TSAs, Principals/APs, teacher leaders, Wellness Champions, Culture & Climate Teams, ILTs, Restorative Practices staff, counselors, or family and student leaders doing this work in OUSD schools.
An information session will be held on Thursday, August 28th 4-5pm
to provide an overview & answer questions, please RSVP here!
Please apply by September 5th, 2025!
Site teams are required to apply together, but each applicant should complete an application.
Tuesday, June 24, 10:00am-12:30pm:
Intro to Courageous Conversation Protocol
(All Staff PD Opportunity)
Antiracist Learning - Foundational PD Series Summer 2025
Session 1: Brave Space & Courageous Conversation (Via Zoom)
Open to all staff who have not yet participated or received training on the Courageous Conversation Protocol.
Space is limited to first 100 staff who register.
RSVP HERE, for our June 24th Seminar: Intro to Courageous Conversation Protocol.
For additional information on our antiracist learning foundational series, contact raquel.jimenez@ousd.org
We celebrate the 2024-2025 Racial Healing Fellows & projects!
Racial Healing Projects shared:
- It’s Okay To Be Different: Preventing & Addressing Racial Namecalling (Cleveland Elementary)
- Growing SEEDS of Shared Leadership (Manzanita SEED)
- Student-Led Racial Healing Projects (Montera Middle School)
- Rehearsing for Life: #Be the Change (Skyline High)
- Radiant Reflections: Girls' Mental Health (Claremont, West Oakland Middle School & Korematsu Discovery Academy)
- A Bias Shifting Tool For School Teams (Disability Justice Team)
- Rooted and Rising: Belonging, Voice, and Power for Native Students in OUSD (Sojourner Truth & Academic Innovation)
- Under-told Stories (Oakland High, Encompass Academy, African American Male Achievement, Health & Wellness)
Spring 2025 Learning Series
January
February
March
April
OUSD Racial Healing Fellowship
Taskforce Background:
OUSD's Racial Justice and Healing Taskforce was founded in the summer of 2019 with leaders in the Principal Professional Learning Bias Cohort, Office of Equity, Behavioral Health, Restorative Justice, Health and Wellness, Special Education, Expanded Learning, English Language Learner & Multilingual Achievement, and Teacher Support to build a district-wide initiative to lift up a racial justice, equity and healing mindset for all educators in Oakland. This task force combined two task forces focused on Culturally Responsive Practices and Implicit Bias as mandated by the Voluntary Resolution Plan created to address disproportionate suspensions of African American students in OUSD.
From a grant through the California School Based Health Alliance, the Taskforce hosted a speaker series focused on developing culturally responsive practices in our schools in the spring of 2019. Building on OUSD’s Core Values of Cultural Responsiveness and Equity, the entire OUSD community, staff, teachers, and families were invited to attend events and trainings with some of the nation’s most prominent leaders in the field of transformative education practices to effectively serve and support diverse populations of students. During the 2019-2020 school year, school site professional development at middle schools delved deeper into how school communities can integrate frameworks and practices into school culture and institutional structure.
In January 2020, the Taskforce held the first Racial Justice, Equity and Healing Summit which attracted over 300 educators from across the district to share core professional learning workshops. Racial Affinity Circles were organized in Summer 2020 by Taskforce members to hold safe space for Black, API, Latin@ and Native, White and Jewish communities to come together to discuss our various roles in the Movement for Black Lives, and will continue through the school year. For the 2020-2021 school year, the Taskforce focused on integrating professional development in the New Teacher supports, the Principal Leadership Institute, Teacher and Staff Professional Development offerings, and a Racial Affinity Facilitator Fellowship for school sites to send a staff point person to be able to implement site work. The Taskforce has since organized seven Racial Justice summits on Professional Learning Days, two week-long Summer Racial Justice Institutes, and 11 Community of Practice learning series for over 4,500 educators with over 10,000 learning experiences across more than 100 sites and including over 100 community partners.
Focus areas include:
- Supporting Black Thriving & District-Wide Coordination
- Equity Policy & Administrative Regulations
- Piloting Equity Champion School Sites
- Antiracist & Culturally Responsive Curriculum
- Developing Racial Justice Learning & Affinity Groups
Contact Us
For questions or support, Email Us
School Site Teams: Complete the Antiracist Learning Inventory & Needs HERE.
Get on the email list for Racial Justice events & resources, please sign-up here!