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Students view vandalism at American Indian Charter School. Photo by John Frando. Click to enlarge.

Reverend Paul Holt'

In May 2010 the Rev. Paul Holt celebrated 30 years as pastor of Pilgrim Lutheran Church. At Pilgrim he oversaw a Chinese Ministry outreach and started a preschool and daycare program in 1989, with his wife Linda as director. He leads devotions, teaches, and drives the church bus for weekly field trips in the summer. He attended Holy Names College's Marriage and Family Counseling Program and led disadvantaged and culturally diverse youth group retreats throughout northern California.'

He served as chaplain in the California State Park Chaplain program for more than 10 years and on the boards of Lutheran Social Services and Mount Cross Lutheran Camp. For 10 years he was chaplain to Highland Hospital, John George Psychiatric Hospital, and Villa Fairmount. Most recently, Pastor Holt has become active with the 100 Black Men Association through the Tommy Smith Youth Track Program. Last year, he was an assistant coach while his three youngest children and foster children participated in the track events. This year, he returns to Pilgrim's kayak ministry overseeing daytrips on the estuaries of San Francisco Bay.

'Rev. Holt was born in 1947 in Ensieh, Hupeh, China, to Wilbert and Geraldine Holt, who were missionaries to China. He grew up in Hong Kong until the age of 16, when the family returned to the U.S. Rev. Holt attended Concordia Jr. College in Oakland and Concordia Senior College in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he met his wife Linda. They married in 1969 and will celebrate their fortieth anniversary in June. They have 12 children, including six adopted children of various ethnic backgrounds: Michael, Amy, Anne, Jonathan, Matthew, Amanda, Brian, Leland, Benjamin, Joshua, Noah, and Ashley. They are proud grandparents to Sequoia and William. They also have foster-parented more than 42 children and are currently foster parents to three brothers. No wonder, in 2004, Paul and Linda received the National Angels of Adoption Award.'

'Rev. Holt graduated from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley and Concordia Lutheran Seminary in Springfield, Illinois with dual masters of divinity degrees. In 1975 he was called to his first church, St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Gardena, California, a church started by the Nisei during WWII, where he also had a ministry to the Spastic Children's Foundation serving people with cerebral palsy.

Strike Graffiti

On April 29, the day of the Oakland public schools teachers' strike, teachers at the American Indian Public Charter School arrived to find that someone had vandalized the school. Teachers at the charter school are not unionized and reported for work. Someone had sprayed painted "STRIKE" on the school sign and the sidewalk in front of the school, put glue in the school gate padlock, and littered the grounds with fliers saying: "Chinese Students + High Stakes Tests = High API." Last year the school posted an Academic Performance Index (API) of 977, the highest for a middle school in the district.

'"Our black students parents were most upset," according to Principal Sophath Mey. "The flier didn't recognize that our students of all races work hard and contribute to the success of the school."