Oakland’s Yu Ming Mandarin immersion charter gets new head

Startup Oakland charter Yu Ming is flourishing
By Maya Mirsky

OAKLAND — What started as a simple phone call has now turned into a new job for Sue Park, the new head of school at Yu Ming, an Oakland elementary charter school.

It’s exciting times for the Mandarin immersion school as it welcomes a new head of school and prepares for its entree into middle school next year. But for the school community, change is part of how the school functions, and nothing to be scared of. “It’s a startup school,” said Rodrigo Prudencio, a Yu Ming parent and former board chairman. “We’re constantly going to be working and refining.”

Park originally moved to Oakland’s Montclair neighborhood when her husband got a job in the Bay Area. She was going to start looking for job opportunities, but first, she called Yu Ming to find out about enrollment for her three children, who had already been in a Mandarin educational environment. Finding the head of school job open seemed providential.

“Just the timing was really fortuitous,” she said.

Please read more here.