Q&A: Meet new Oakland Education Association president Trish
Gorham  Trish Gorham, the new president of the Oakland Education
Association, sits down with Oakland North.   Depending on who’s
talking, the Oakland Unified School Distinct (OUSD) is either on
the brink of success or failure—it’s making strides or it’s
missing the mark. Parents, teachers, and community activists
have fought for the last 10 months to have the school board’s
decision to close five elementary schools overturned. That
decision has spawned contentious debates, thunderous marches and
a tent city built at Lakeview Elementary School with the help of
Occupy protesters.  This round of school closures—which is
supposed to save the district money—comes in the wake of a
popular movement during the early 2000s that set up more than 45
new smaller institutions in Oakland, and was supported by
concerned parents who wanted schools in the “flatlands”
transformed. Large schools in the district were closed, or began
housing more than one school within