last week- more on the budget cuts and teacher’s contract, some help from the City, schools that made progress and still have spots, CORE data is coming out, congrats to Mack, the outlandish costs of juvenile hall, looking at achievement gaps, all that and more with links, please read, share and get involved
Oakland:
- Teachers contract to cost cash-strapped Oakland Unified $36 million through 2021
- The contract agreement that ended Oakland’s seven-day teacher strike earlier this year will cost the cash-strapped district about $36 million through 2021.
- Oakland City Council gives schools $1.2 million in one-time funding for the school year
- Last Tuesday, the Oakland City Council passed a resolution to provide $1.2 million in funding for the Oakland Unified School District’s (OUSD) restorative justice program, foster youth case manager positions, and school libraries. All three programs were at risk of enacting widespread layoffs or reductions to the services they provide following the Oakland school board’s vote last month to cut about $22 million from the district’s budget.
- Oakland schools’ restorative justice saved for now, thanks to city
- Responding to public outcry over the cutting of Oakland Unified’s restorative justice programs and foster youth case managers from next year’s budget, the city is giving the district a one-time $1.2 million grant to pay for them.
- McClymonds High School’s Three-Time State Champion Football Coach Wins Top Honors in California
- We have wonderful news to share from the world of OUSD and Oakland Athletic League sports. The head coach of the three-time defending California Champion McClymonds High School Warriors football team, Michael Peters, has won the 2018-19 California Football Coach of the Year, as voted on by the California Coaches Association.
- Y-PLAN Policy Summit: Planning a More Inclusive and Resilient Region
- The UC Berkeley Center for Cities and Schools is pleased to invite you to the 2019 Y-PLAN Policy Summit: Planning a More Inclusive and Resilient Region on Thursday April 25th, 2019 at the UC Berkeley International House, as we bring young people and civic leaders together to plan for a more inclusive and resilient region.
- School-Based Clinic Offers Vision Care for Students and Community Members in Need
- Launched in 2017, Oakland Unified School District’s vision clinic at the Youth Heart Health Center, is the first center for vision care to be based at a school in the Bay Area. The clinic is located in the same complex as Las Escuelita Elementary, is adjacent to Metwest High, and located across the street from the Dewey Academy. The clinic serves both Alameda County students and members of the community between the ages of 3-21 and provides both comprehensive vision exams and prescribing eyeglasses if necessary.
- Oakland Unified may need $2 million more in budget cuts to give other employees same raise as teachers
- The Oakland Unified School District may need to make $2 million in additional budget cuts or raise more money if it wants to give all district employees the same raise won by teachers after a seven-day strike.
- Mills’ Summer 2019 Waldorf Certificate Program
- Mills College School of Education is opening up their summer Waldorf Certificate Program in collaboration with Alanus University, Germany. Waldorf education promotes a pedagogy that emphasizes the role of imagination in learning, striving to integrate holistically the intellectual, practical, and artistic development of students.
- Oakland Unified School District plans to eliminate 100 classified workers’ positions
- During the Oakland teachers’ strike last month, classified workers joined the teachers on the picket lines in a sympathy strike. Now, with the strike over and the teachers having won higher wages, the school district is following through on planned budget cuts, which are expected to eliminate over 100 classified positions, including college counselors, reading tutors and school security officers.
- Oakland Unified approves teachers’ contract that ended strike
- The $36 million contract agreement that ended Oakland’s seven-day teacher strike earlier this year and provides teachers an 11 percent raise through 2021 was approved Wednesday by Oakland Unified’s school board, despite state and county overseers’ warnings that the district may not be able to give other employees the same raise.
- Oakland CORE Data Collaborative
- The Education Trust-West and CORE have partnered to publicly recognize schools throughout California that are supporting students to achieve high academic growth. At these high-growth schools, students are making academic gains faster than similar students at similar schools throughout the California. Right here in Oakland we have 43 high growth schools. This is a great accomplishment for school staff and students!
- Award-Winning Public Schools in Oakland You Might Still Get Into—And Those You Won’t
- Oakland families should have received their offers for Round 2 of enrollment already, and most high-demand schools are full or filling up. If you aren’t sure about your top choice, or if you just want to see what else is out there, we have a list of schools that you should take a look at.
- A Human Rights Education Framework for Our Current Political Moment
- Please join us next Thursday, May 2nd 4pm at Roosevelt MS with Dr. Melissa Canlas to learn about how we as educators can apply Human Rights Education frameworks to engage our diverse students in understanding the political and global moment we live in today & empowering them as change agents.
- True Testing Stories; Bias, Boredom, and Futures in the Balance
- Point was, just on the basis of background knowledge, and cultural frames, these kids were at a huge disadvantage. Test scores matter though, and reducing the achievement gaps would do massive good for Black and Brown and disadvantaged folks. As the above Brookings article stated, “Closing the black-white test score gap would probably do more to promote racial equality in the United States than any other strategy now under serious discussion.”
- Juvenile hall costs skyrocket
- The annual cost of incarcerating a youth in juvenile hall in California has doubled over the past eight years, a new state survey shows, putting pressure on counties to answer for skyrocketing costs even as serious juvenile crime decreases.
California:
- BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR: CHARTER SCHOOL BILLS OVERLOOK TOO MANY CRUCIAL QUESTIONS
- Three charter school bills the Assembly Education Committee cleared last week leave too many unanswered questions, says Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego). She is the chair of the Legislative Black Caucus and a member of the Assembly Education Committee.
- Outside public view, panel faces tight deadline to recommend reforms of California’s charter school law
- Each Thursday a group of educators and representatives of labor unions meets — out of the public eye — for several hours at the California Department of Education building in Sacramento to take on arguably the most contentious current issue on California’s education reform landscape: charter school reform.
- Why is the ‘achievement gap’ in California education so stubborn?
- California has poured tens of billions of additional dollars into its public schools this decade on the assumption — or hope — that they would close the state’s stubborn academic “achievement gap.”
- California May Ban Schools From Suspending Students For ‘Willful Defiance’
- The California State Senate voted to ban schools and principals from suspending students for “willful defiance” of teachers, staff, and administrators.
- Majority of Californians supports teachers striking over wages, poll finds
- Teachers who have gone on strike in Sacramento, Los Angeles and Oakland demanding higher pay have the backing of most California adults, according to a Public Policy Institute of California poll released Wednesday.
- California opinions on charter schools are divided—and more complex than portrayed
- The growth in charter schools has become one of the year’s most contentious issues in California. Now a statewide poll shows that not only are state lawmakers divided on the issue, but California voters are as well.
- Despite education reforms, foster students in California lag far behind on multiple measures
- Seven years ago, two education researchers in California did something that had never been done before. They sat for months in San Francisco in a secure, private room and matched confidential information on children in the child welfare system — those who had been removed from their biological parents due to abuse or neglect and placed into foster care — with information on those same kids’ school attendance and performance.
- Anti-Charter Bills: California Lawmakers Need to Take Parents Seriously
- On Wednesday, April 10, 2019, I had the opportunity to share my testimony, as one of the witnesses opposing AB 1505. It was an honor to speak on on behalf of parents from across the state.
Other Stories:
- Do voucher students’ scores bounce back after initial declines? New research says no
- New research on a closely watched school voucher program finds that it hurts students’ math test scores — and that those scores don’t bounce back, even years later.
- 100,000 Undocumented Students Graduate From U.S. High Schools Each Year, Analysis Finds
- An estimated 98,000 undocumented students graduate from U.S. high schools each year, but those graduates remain “at risk of deportation and will face severely limited opportunities to pursue further work and education,” according to a new report from the Migration Policy Institute.
- Principal Says Parents Can’t Wear Pajamas, Hair Rollers, and Satin Caps in Her School. Is It Racist?
- Should a principal create a dress code policy for parents entering their child’s school? That’s a debate now raging after a Houston high school principal created a dress code policy for parents and guests, and informed the school community that those who showed up at school with a satin cap or bonnet on their heads, ripped jeans, low-cut tops, Daisy Dukes, and low-rider shorts would be prohibited from entering the premises.
- The Other Segregation
- But more troubling, and often less discussed, is the modern-day form of segregation that occurs within the same school through academic tracking, which selects certain students for gifted and talented education (GATE) programs.
How You Can Help:
- College Fees Fundraiser by Leilani Noel
- I am in need of money to pay for my college fees to attend a four-year University. I have to enroll by May 1st, 2019. My top three schools are U.C. Berkeley, San Diego State University, and Oregon State University
What do you think?