All the news that is fit to link in Oakland education– last week– looking at the cuts to sports and the donors who helped, school board races are heating up, the Central Kitchen project is happening, the costs of suspensions, the CA dashboard gets an update, and two important pieces for educators as school starts, please read, share, and get involved
Oakland
- Letter: Kudos to donor who saved two OUSD sports programs
- Cuts to Oakland Schools’ Free Dinner Program Felt by Thousands of Students
- Post Endorses Clarissa Doutherd for School Board, District 4
- Oakland schools’ blunder shows larger issue: Girls’ sports stuck at 2nd
- Construction moves ahead for OUSD central kitchen in West Oakland
- California poised to help Oakland and Inglewood dig out of budget deficits but with strings attached
- Special Committee on Fiscal Vitality
- Last Hired, First Fired and How OUSD Budget Cuts Undermine Progress on Equity in Sports, Hunger, Discipline, and More
California
- The Latest: Lawmakers vote to increase police transparency
- The price of punishment — new report shows students nationwide lost 11 million school days due to suspensions
- Gov. Brown again to decide whether to ban for-profit charter schools
- New ‘friendlier’ look coming for California’s school dashboard
How you can help-advice for teachers
- Real Talk for Teachers: Be Authentic, Teach Life Skills, Don’t Be Corny
- 14 Percent of Your Students Have an Actual Plan to Commit Suicide
Oakland
- Letter: Kudos to donor who saved two OUSD sports programs
- “School athletes have a sense of community overall, a higher GPA and miss fewer days of school, which can translate into better performance in core subjects such as math and science. Sports can offer equal opportunity with the benefits extending to all areas of the student population, including students that might otherwise be under served. Kudos to those who stepped in to save several programs.”
- Cuts to Oakland Schools’ Free Dinner Program Felt by Thousands of Students
- “Cuts to Oakland Unified high school sports have riled up district parents and raised legal questions, but the elimination of a dinner program that serves low-income kids has gotten far less attention.”
- Post Endorses Clarissa Doutherd for School Board, District 4
- The Oakland Post is endorsing Clarissa Doutherd for Oakland Board of Education in District 4, a candidate who has the experience, energy and commitment to take on the critical issues facing the Oakland schools.
- Oakland schools’ blunder shows larger issue: Girls’ sports stuck at 2nd
- Nearly half a century after a federal law barred gender discrimination at schools and universities, blatant inequities remain, with girls and women routinely cheated out of academic and athletic opportunities, research shows.
- Construction moves ahead for OUSD central kitchen in West Oakland
- But in 2016, when she says she first heard from her city council member during a neighborhood meeting about the Oakland Unified School District’s plans to build a kitchen and farm at the site, she was concerned about how the construction would affect her neighborhood, and that this was the first she was hearing about it. “It was just outright disrespectful,” said Cook, “of the school district to think that they can get by with something like this without really notifying the community, and use taxpayer dollars.”
- “Food is powerful,” said Hinton Hodge. “It tells our stories, it tells who we are as a people, it tells our connection to things. It’s a part of our security—or not—in life.”
- California poised to help Oakland and Inglewood dig out of budget deficits but with strings attached
- If they follow the steps outlined in legislation making its way through the state Assembly and Senate in Sacramento, the districts can expect to get state money to cover a portion of their deficits from 2019 through 2022.
- Last Hired, First Fired and How OUSD Budget Cuts Undermine Progress on Equity in Sports, Hunger, Discipline, and More
- This year is starting as the last one ended; with a parade of the equity horribles—first it was restorative justice, cuts to the program and elimination of school based staff, then it was slashing the growing Office of Equity, then, as school started we saw the wholesale elimination of sports, with girls’ sports bearing an unequal burden. And this week it’s a story about how the OUSD program that fed hungry children dinner was eliminated. Literally food being taken from the mouths of babes.\
California
- The Latest: Lawmakers vote to increase police transparency
- State lawmakers on Friday passed the bill allowing the release of records when police are found to have improperly used force or discharged a firearm, committed sexual assault on the job, or have been dishonest in their official duties.
- The price of punishment — new report shows students nationwide lost 11 million school days due to suspensions
- Children in America’s public schools lost more than 11 million instructional days due to suspensions during the 2015-16 school year, with California students losing nearly 750,000 days, according to a report released this week by the ACLU and the UCLA Civil Rights Project.
- Gov. Brown again to decide whether to ban for-profit charter schools
- Organizations representing teachers unions, school boards and school administrators also want Brown to sign the bill, Assembly Bill 406, which would ban charter schools that operate as, or are controlled by, for-profit corporations. It’s a rare instance in which teachers’ and school officials’ organizations find themselves agreeing with the California Charter Schools Association.
- New ‘friendlier’ look coming for California’s school dashboard
- The much-maligned California School Dashboard is getting a makeover.
How you can help (Advice for teachers?)
- Real Talk for Teachers: Be Authentic, Teach Life Skills, Don’t Be Corny
- I’m not a teacher, so I don’t have a full solution, but I do know one thing. The teachers I like are authentic. I feel like I know them and I can see them as human. The teachers I can’t stand all feel like they’re trying to hide something. Hopefully, that’s helpful.
- 14 Percent of Your Students Have an Actual Plan to Commit Suicide
- These recent survey numbers, combined with the lived experiences of our students, highlight the need for an emphasis on mental health or wellness in adolescents. Algebra 2 won’t help if you are imploding in on yourself and have no place to go for help, and no strategies to deal with your challenges.
What do you think?