For two decades, filmmaker Susan Zeig of Community Concern Films has documented the work to overcome educational inequities in Oakland, CA. First, with the early 2000s film The Long View, which shows how a community came together to build collective power and influence change in their public school, and next, with the 2024 film Rooted in Oakland: A Community School Takes Shape, which highlights the powerful transformation of Fremont High School in Oakland.
The filmmakers interviewed seven education leaders who shaped the Community Schools movement in Oakland: Matin Abdel-Qawi, LaShawn Routé Chatmon, Matthew Duffy, David Kakishiba, Katy Nunez-Adler, Emma Paulino, and Preston Thomas. With the Community Schools Movement today being recognized as a promising approach across the United States, it is the hope of the filmmakers that we can enrich today’s practices by bringing forward some of the invaluable wisdom of these thought—provoking and inspiring individuals.
We interviewed seven education leaders; this is what we asked them":
What sparked Oakland’s redesign movement and how did you become involved?
What progress did you start to see?
How did you build trust and shared decision–making into the process?
What were some of the challenges you faced?
What sustains and keeps you persevering in this work?
Thinking back twenty years, what are a few of your reflections? How has this work changed you?
The Rooted in Oakland film guide features a special interview series. For each question, there are clickable links with interviews.
We hope this resource can provide guidance, inspiration and needed context for present and future Community School leaders.
