Top students fleeing Oakland public schools

"I think it's the fear of the unknown," Westlake Principal Misha Karigaca said. "This is one of the biggest decisions a parent has to make in their lives, and it's also one of the scariest, especially for parents who have options."

Westlake, like most of the middle schools, is a reflection of Oakland, the good with the bad, the principal said.

"For children who are able to navigate those challenges, I actually think it will make them a much stronger person," he said. "They will also have the strong academics as well."

The Oakland middle school scene can be intimidating to families, and fears about safety and other issues can overshadow the rising test scores, daily orchestra classes, art, journalism, computer labs and other top-notch programs at Westlake and other district middle schools, Karigaca said.

"It all goes back to perception," he said. "The negative stories seem to travel farther and faster than the positive ones."

Choosing public

Jennifer Flattery and her husband Mark Vickness could have left Oakland Unified after their daughter, Lucy, graduated from Chabot Elementary last spring.

She got acceptance letters from three private schools as well as charter schools.

They chose their neighborhood public middle school, Claremont, which ranked in the bottom 20 percent of schools statewide a couple years back.

In making their selection, the family considered academics, social environment, proximity, and enrichment activities.

"I just got the sense there was a lingering stigmatism around the Oakland district as a whole and some particular problems that had existed in the past at Claremont," Vickness said.

Test scores at the school have risen dramatically the last two years.

"In the end it was a very brief conversation that Claremont was in our and our community's best interest," Flattery added. "We didn't want to take one more advanced student out of the Oakland schools."

Their daughter now takes orchestra everyday, plays sports and is academically challenged in her classes. Her parents say they have no concerns about her safety.

Fighting for change

Oakland isn't the only urban district dealing with the flight and associated brain drain of top students, but the city's rates are definitely high, said Anne Foster, national executive director of Parents for Public Schools, a Mississippi-based public education advocacy organization.