The Oakland Education Week in Review: 2/11-2/18

Last week–lots of strike coverage, updates on the budget deficit and painful budget cuts, school stories, all that and much more with links, please read, share, and get involved

Oakland:

California:

Other Stories:

 

Oakland:

  • Eight Black Hands: The Oakland teachers are set to walk on struggling students
    • Here we go again. This time it’s Oakland that is bracing for a teachers strike that will disrupt the education of children who are already so far behind. To help us understand what is at issue we invited Dr. Brian Stanley, the former Executive Director of the Oakland Public Education Fund, and education activist Dirk Tillotson, founder and executive director of the nonprofit Great Schools Choices.
  • Oakland school board delays budget cuts amid complaints of lack of details
    • For months, district officials in Oakland Unified have issued warnings that they need to cut $30 million from their budget to avoid deficit-spending and prevent another state takeover…But when the school board was faced with making cuts on Monday, board President Aimee Eng said the vote would be delayed until later this month, to give the board and public more time to get more information about how the cuts — expected to include layoffs of more than 100 people — would affect students and schools.
  • APNewsBreak: Teach for America slammed over Oakland strike
    • Hundreds of Teach for America alumni are slamming the educator placement program for suggesting members should cross the picket line during a potential teacher strike in Oakland, California, or risk losing thousands of dollars at the end of their service.
  • Oakland elementary school left without heat for nearly a week after gas leak
    • An elementary school in Oakland has been without heat for nearly a week during cold weather after a gas leak was found.
  • Oakland pastor stepping up to help teachers, students ahead of possible strike
    • Oakland Pastor Anthony Jenkins says his church is currently renovating a house to provide low income housing for the teachers of Oakland as the possibility of a strike inches closer…”They need our help. These are our students. These are our teachers and yes, this is our school board and it is time to resolve this matter,” Jenkins said.
  • Acclaimed restorative justice program on the chopping block in Oakland Unified
    • A proposal to make deep cuts to the Oakland Unified School District’s renowned restorative justice program — part of an overall effort to slash nearly $22 million from next school year’s budget — has triggered loud opposition from youth advocates, students and parents.
  • Is Your School Struggling with African American Male Achievement? AAMA SPRING SYMPOSIUM
    • Learn how Oakland Unified School District’s Office of African American Male Achievement addresses the systems, structures, and culture that leads to improved educational outcomes for African American boys from Pre-K to 12th grade.
  • Amazon replaces 40 Fire tablets stolen from Oakland school
    • Early last month, while Markham Elementary was on winter break, thieves broke into Nikita Gibbs’ third-grade class and stole about 40 brand-new, still-in-the-box Amazon Fire tablets — a donation from a local law firm.
  • Preparing for college at East Bay Innovation Academy
    • If you are a California high school student thinking about college, odds are Stanford University is at the top of your list. So who better to help you apply than someone whose former job was to read student applications to Stanford?
  • Support OUSD’s APISA Program! Youth Speak Out at School Board Mtg Feb. 11
    • On Feb. 11th 2019 Asian and Pacific Islander students spoke up at the OUSD school board meeting against cutting the school districts only program supporting API youth. Check out what they had to say and join the fight by signing the petition:change.org/p/ousd-school-board-demand-ousd-to-support-oakland-api-students
  • GO: Citywide Plan
    • Not by accident, but on purpose, our schools were set up to decide who was worthy of a real education, and who wasn’t.
  • Lawsuit challenges Oakland’s certification of education funding tax Measure AA
    • Two weeks ago, a business advocacy group sued the city of Oakland over its certification of Measure AA, a tax initiative from the November election that would create a fund for more early childhood education programs. The lawsuit—filed by the Jobs and Housing Coalition, along with a group of property owners—argues that the city council thwarted the will of Oakland voters by certifying the measure even though it failed to earn support from two-thirds of the voters.
  • Far From Parkland Spotlight, Teens In East Oakland Want To Tell Their Stories
    • As the nation marks one year since the Parkland school shooting, many Americans are thinking about how the conversation about kids and gun violence has shifted…But for some young people, a year’s attention on events like Parkland hasn’t turned into the attention they’re asking for: a spotlight on the everyday gun violence they experience in their neighborhoods.
  • “You Got Booed by Educators from the Outside and Not Protected by Educators on the Inside”-A Student Reflection from the Last Big Strike
    • We all side with teachers, custodians, and all the other underpaid folks working for the babies and hardly making it themselves.  It should not be like this in a rich state in a rich country. Many of us also worry about the students and families that really need the schools, and what it means to them to miss weeks or months of instruction, or worse yet, be in unsafe circumstances.  Charles Cole, an Oakland Alum and activist for students, shared his memories of being a student in the 90’s on the latest 8 Black Hands Podcast looking at the Oakland teacher strike.
  • Feb. 15, 2019: Superintendent Update on the Potential Teacher Strike
    • Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell provides an update about the fact finding report and the potential teacher strike.

California:

Other Stories:

 

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