The Oakland Education Week in Review 9/23-9/30

All the Oakland education news that is fit to link- some good news (finally) OUSD gets a bailout bill, and settles with AC Transit on bus routes, some great local events, student narratives, Salesforce supports the district, Parents in action with the Oakland REACH, patriarchy rears its head at the OUSD board meeting and the apology we need to hear, teachers rally for deserved raises, tragic cuts around school meals in Oakland, the end of for profit charters (woot woot), school board races are heating up, all that and much more, please read share and get involved

Oakland:

California:

Best of the Rest:

Ways You Can Help:

 

Oakland:

  • Funding sourced to keep AC Transit running to Oakland schools
    • Lawmakers, educators, transit officials and the mayor of Oakland all came together Wednesday morning to announce funding to keep AC Transit running to Oakland schools.
  • Cash-Strapped Oakland Unified to Get Help From State
    • The Oakland Unified School District got a helping hand from the state this week, but it comes with some hard decisions.
  • ‘Brilliant Baby’ event in Oakland celebrates college program for low-income kids
    • The celebration marked the second anniversary of the program, which deposits $500 in a college savings account for each of the approximately 300 low-income infants participating. It’s part of Oakland Promise, a city initiative.
  • Lowell High School’s competitive selection process may violate state law
    • San Francisco’s Lowell High School, ranked among the best public schools in the nation, has long admitted high academic achievers to secure its elite status, a practice that has not only led to racial inequities but also could be illegal.
  • The Black Paper | State of Black Education
    • The Black Paper release will be a multimedia event that will review the research and data from the last 10 months and present our 4 main education policy recommendations, all stemming from our community-based research. It will have a similar feel to our other events—engaging to community, breaking of bread, dialogue, community and celebration.
  • Oakland Tech Fair
    • La Clinica is hosting a Tech Fair to support community members with affordable Internet, computers, and connections to community organizations.
  • Rogers Family Foundation: Monthly Community Bulletin (grant opportunities)
    • Schools, teachers, students and families are starting to find their groove into this second month of the 2018-19 school year. This month’s newsletter is full of resources (including local grant opportunities) to help support that good momentum.
  • The Predator, The Snake, and The Thief; Why I Couldn’t Wait to Get Away from Paradise
    • The innocent boy visiting the jungle, the home of his father. If only the father was more of a wordsmith and could weave the wild acts committed in the depths of night to something not so shocking. Father told him one day, and quite by accident, he morphed him.
  • Connecting with Kyla: OUSD Budget Updates
    • Everyone in the OUSD community – from principals to staff to families to students – is encouraged to get involved. In this update I will share information about: (1) no mid year cuts, (2) state aid for OUSD, and (3) the work in the coming months.
  • Oakland measure to fund preschool, aid college graduation rates
    • Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf is asking homeowners to pay about $200 a year to send more low-income kids to preschool and prepare older students for college.
  • Salesforce foundation announces $18 million donation to Bay Area causes
    • Salesforce.org, the nonprofit arm of the San Francisco business-software company, will donate $18 million to education, cleanliness, homelessness and other Bay Area causes, the organization announced Tuesday.
  • Shoo The Flu Arrives in OUSD and Junior Achievement Helps Young Students with Financial Literacy This Week
    • Two upcoming events will be excellent opportunities for media to share important work happening in OUSD. On Wednesday morning, September 26, staff from the Alameda County Public Health Department will visit Sankofa Elementary School before classes begin to stress the importance of getting a flu shot and to sign up students for this free service in OUSD…On Thursday morning, September 27, volunteers from Junior Achievement will work with students at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School and the adjacent Lafayette Elementary School.
  • OAKLAND: Parent-Led Group Pushes OUSD and Charters for Better Schools in Oakland
    • Oakland has an active and outspoken community when it comes to education, but not all voices have been well represented—especially families most impacted by low-performing schools. The Oakland REACH, a nonprofit parent-led group, has set out to change that.
  • The End of Black Oakland?  The Latest Research on Housing and Displacement and Why it Matters
    • The latest study on gentrification and displacement from Berkeley, confirmed what many of us feel daily.  Oakland has changed and with housing prices skyrocketing, it is increasingly a place where Black folks are either being pushed or locked out of.  This research further confirms the need for us to act, and not accept this fate as inevitable.
  • GO Board Watch: September 26, 2018
    • Welcome to GO’s School Board Watch for the meeting on Wednesday, September 26, 2018.  Read on for important information about OUSD!
    • 3 BIG THINGS on this week’s agenda include:
      • 1.  OUSD’s day 20 enrollment numbers are in: Did we come in above or below projections?
      • 2.  A new long term financial planning policy: Will the board direct the district to adopt a multi-year view of the budget?
      • 3.  Met West High School expansion: will MetWest expand into Westlake Middle?
  • The Universal Funk Opera is Coming to Afro ComiCon
    • The U.F.O. is landing in the Bay Area! The Funky Heroes touch down at Afro ComiCon 2018, bringing the Universal Funk Opera to the stage October 20th at SAE Expressions creative media college in Emeryville CA
  • Putting Equity at the Center: A Forum For Parents in OUSD
    • These are challenging times for our district. Learn more about problems facing OUSD and and how leading community organizers are looking to solve them!
  • The Apology OEA Owes Director Hinton-Hodge; Call Her By Her Name
    • It was an amazing moment at the School board meeting when the Teacher’s Union Rep. Ismael Armendariz refused to address a Black Woman by her title, “Vice President of the School Board,” and instead referred to her by her first name repeatedly, even after she corrected him.  Misogyny and supremacy reared their heads, and as far as I know, the Union has been silent.
  • Oakland school suppers quietly vanish in district fiscal crisis
    • In August when Oakland Unified School District announced that 10 high school sports programs had been cut in a $500,000 cost-trimming move that affected about 500 student athletes, there was a public uproar…But no one seemed to notice when the district eliminated the after-school supper program that serves 3,000 low-income kids.
  • Oakland teachers rally for higher pay
    • Oakland teachers rallied on Tuesday to send a message to the Oakland Unified School District about their contract negotiations.
  • Elmhurst Community Prep strives to maintain teacher retention rate with upcoming merger
    • Teachers leave Oakland schools every year feeling unsupported and undervalued. According to an Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) survey conducted in April, when teachers leave, the most common reason they cite is missing a “sense of feeling valued, trusted and respected…” But not at Elmhurst Community Prep. Elmhurst has seen steady improvement in retention since 2014, and for the first time began this school year with a full team of teachers with at least one year of teaching experience.While Elmhurst isn’t the only school in the district that has succeeded in keeping its staff, for a middle school (the type of school with the highest turnover in the district) in East Oakland (the region with the highest turnover), its retention is exceptional.
  • Clarissa Doutherd and Gary Yee face off for open school board seat in District 4
    • Last weekend, the two candidates for Oakland’s most competitive school board race were knocking on doors in District 4, which represents Maxwell Park, the Laurel district, the Dimond neighborhood and Montclair.

California:

  • Gov. Brown nixes California mandate for later school start time
    • Set the alarm clock. Teens will not be sleeping in, after Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill Thursday that would have barred middle schools and high schools from starting before 8:30 a.m.
  • Judge: California child can take cannabis drug to school
    • A California kindergartner can keep bringing a cannabis-based drug used for emergency treatment of a rare form of epilepsy to her public school, a judge ruled Friday.
  • California’s Adolescent Birth Rate Continues to Decline
    • The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) today announced that California’s adolescent birth rate (ABR) continues to decline. A new state report indicates a record low of 15.7 births per 1,000 females between the ages of 15 and 19. Those numbers reflect an 11 percent decline between 2015 and 2016.
  • State Superintendent Candidates Differ on Ways to Close Achievement Gap at Oakland Forum
    • Marshall Tuck and Assemblymember Tony Thurmond, the two leading candidates for state superintendent of Public Instruction, held a forum to discuss education issues on Saturday at Holy Names University, Oakland. The forum was sponsored by California Black Media, Sistallect and Black Women Organized for Political Action and moderated by Kimberly Ellis…Both candidates discussed a variety of education issues such as the black-white education gap, how to turn around failing schools, and the importance of early childhood education.
  • California Just Banned For-Profit Charter Schools. Why?
    • On September 7, 2018, Governor Brown signed AB-406, which prohibits charters from operating as, or be operated by, “a for-profit corporation, a for-profit educational management organization, or a for-profit charter management organization.” Not only did Jerry Brown and CCSA support the signing; they now publicly “celebrated” the same ban that they very recently opposed…So why the flip flop?
  • California’s persistent teacher shortage fueled by attrition, high demand, say newly released studies
    • California has earmarked nearly $200 million over the last four years to address the state’s persistent teacher shortage, but it is not enough, according to new studies that are part of “Getting Down to Facts II,” a research project focused on a wide array of statewide education issues.

Best of the Rest:

  • Jeff Bezos and the Trap of the Charitable-Industrial Complex
    • Rather than considering the children of these future schools his “customers,” albeit tuition-free customers, Mr. Bezos could orient himself toward viewing the underserved as his collaborators. Families have been organizing to create Montessori and other preschools for their children for a long time. A truly revolutionary philanthropic fund would not create a separate network, but seek out the schools, the community centers, the storefront start-ups and the other dreams in waiting.
  • Young Adult Adaptation of Bryan Stevenson’s “Just Mercy” Released
    • In this young adult adaptation of the acclaimed bestseller Just Mercy, which the New York Times calls “as compelling as To Kill a Mockingbird, and in some ways more so,” Bryan Stevenson delves deep into the broken U.S. justice system, detailing from his personal experience his many challenges and efforts as a lawyer and social advocate, especially on behalf of America’s most rejected and marginalized people.
  • Want to boost test scores and increase grad rates? One strategy: look outside schools and help low-income families
    • “What people don’t understand is what adults go through, kids go through it too.”

Ways You Can Help:

 

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