President London takes seriously her commitment to representing and communicating with the community. She has launched a successful program that takes other elected officials that represent Oakland – including city, county, state, and federal representatives – to visit Oakland’s schools. The participants in these tours find them invaluable in better understanding the many challenges and opportunities for Oakland’s students, and how they can help.

Since joining the School Board, Jody has become a regular presenter at education conferences, where she can highlight the great work occurring in Oakland. In recent years she has presented at conferences of the California School Boards Association, Council of Great Cities Schools, and Coalition for Adequate School Housing. She also testifies before legislative committees and leads Oakland’s legislative work.

Jody stays in regular communication with parent leaders and administrators of the schools in her area. She tries to attend parent-teacher group or school site council meetings at each school on a regular basis, and visit classrooms. Jody sponsors meetings for the community to meet school district leaders, and fosters collaboration between parents and community leaders at different schools.

You can see some of Jody’s newsletters, testimony, and presentations at the Directors’ Announcements & Newsletters section of the OUSD Web site.