The Oakland Education Week in Review: 5/6-5/12

All the news fit to link from Oakland and beyond– this week– more on the OUSD budget, how grading is biased, students reflect on quality, IEPs and Black families, segregation and school placements, OUSD is potentially leaving money on the table, lots on reforms, the latest CA polling data, help an Oakland family, Tony Thurmond’s rightful focus on teacher diversity, all that and much more, please read, share and get involved–Oakland news first

California:

Other Stories:

Resources:

How You Can Help:

Oakland:

  • Answering Your Questions about the OUSD Budget; School Funding, Cost Savings in Closings, Salaries, ACOE’s Role, and More
    • We recently reached out to Oaklanders – parents, educators, and community members – to find out what questions they had about OUSD’s budget and finances. Read on for the top six questions we heard and our answers to them:
  • The Way We Grade Students is Biased and Unsound: A Conversation on “Grading For Equity”
    • Joe Feldman‘s new book, Grading for Equity disembowels the way we grade students, hanging the entrails to show how inequitable and really illogical our present grading practices are, and how we can improve them– which he has been doing in real life for years with schools, it’s a must read for educators and those who want to improve how schools function.  After his book launch in Oakland, we discussed the book and his work.
  • Student Reflections on Quality in Post-Strike Oakland and What We Need to Do
    • This a deep reflection on mental health, the state of quality and what our students are experiencing and what they need. Please take a listen. And follow the Energy Convertors for more great student centered content.
  • Who’s Afraid of an IEP?  A Lot of Black Families
    • “Don’t let them kick me out.”  That’s what “Johnny” (not his real name) said when he heard that his new school found out about his special needs and Individualized education plan (IEP).  His mom was worried too, she had seen several restrictive schools, where restraints were regular and sometimes bordered on assaults. Well, they were assaults sometimes.
  • Oakland Unified committed to fixing fiscal problems, but state must also step up
    • The recent teachers’ union strike and the weeks leading up to it were undoubtedly difficult for all of us in Oakland. Even with our teachers and students back in their classrooms, the community is still processing these events.
  • The Geography of Opportunity in Oakland and How We Change it; Mapping Inequality in Housing, Health and Schools
    • Some neighborhoods in Oakland provide ample opportunities, safe parks, high achieving schools, clean air, and a wealth of opportunities.  Other neighborhoods don’t. And it is not a coincidence, who lives where, who benefits, and who suffers. These are the ghosts of legal segregation, and they continue to haunt us, and will until we exorcise them.
  • If You Only Care about “Segregation” in Charter Schools and Not Neighborhood Schools, Please Shut Up
    • As a Black man, who works hard to support Black children and families, there are a lot of choke on your own vomit moments watching the public school wars.  Neither public school sector serves Black kids well consistently, not the districts and not charters. We need to acknowledge that and own that truth.
  • 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.
  • Oakland Unified offers critical view of charter schools to state task force
    • Against the backdrop of greater scrutiny of charter school operations across California, officials at the Oakland Unified School District have drawn up a sweepingly critical portrait of the impact of charters on their district.
  • In the Company of the Inspired
    • Om Chitale provided this cross post, please follow the awesome work they are doing at Teachers of Oakland
  • 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.
  • Join us to close the corporate loophole on CA property tax!
    • Prop 13 reform will be a promising ballot initiative in 2020 – if passed by CA voters, it would close a corporate tax loophole that could bring in $45-$50 million in education funding to Oakland. Join us on May 16 to learn more!
  • Oakland mayor to present $3.2 billion budget to council
    • Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf will present her budget at a special meeting to the City Council on Tuesday night, which includes increased spending on several programs – from affordable housing to fixing potholes.
  • Video belies cop’s account of shooting
    • Why does a man who’s minding his own business, riding his bicycle, end up dead at the hands of a police officer? Ronell Foster’s family still wants to know the answer. Vallejo police Officer Ryan McMahon fatally shot Foster on Feb. 13, 2018, after a foot chase into a dark alleyway. The Vallejo Police Department — finally — released the body cam video of the shooting Monday, but the footage doesn’t support the police assertion that Foster grabbed McMahon’s flashlight and threatened him with it.
  • The Spook Who Sat by the Charter School Door
    • In a rigged system where few even get near the door, I am picking up what tools I can, and hope to unbolt the foundations while a smarter and better army of young architects and carpenters develop. Maybe those who inherit it can finish the job of remaking this system into something better.
  • The Failure of Supply Side School Reform: The Need to Focus on Wins for Families
    • If you build it they will come.  That was the mantra of school reform for the last couple of decades.  Nowhere is that more evident than Oakland, where we have way too many schools and not nearly enough great ones.
  • Oakland B.C., Why the Blame Game Won’t Help and Will Likely Hurt
    • The search for scapegoats in OUSD’s budget deficit is in full effect and is distracting from the search for solutions.  This was on full display at the recent OUSD Board meeting, where a lot of blame was laid with few real solutions offered.
  • Three Outstanding Educators Honored as 2019 OUSD Teachers of the Year
    • They teach middle school math, fourth and fifth graders and transitional kindergarten (TK), so their daily tasks are different. But now, David Ramirez, Precious James and Tontra Love have something big in common. They are Oakland Unified School District’s 2019 Teachers of the Year. All three are being recognized for their leadership and the innovative methods they use to foster learning among their students.
  • Friday Five: Weekly news for Oakland charters
    • We have great content to share with you this week, including: OUSD sends “a catalog of criticisms” about Oakland charter schools to the state, reinforcing the charter vs. district narrative; cheers to Tony Thurmond for prioritizing teacher diversity; as OUSD begins to recover from the OEA strike and set a course for longterm sustainability, Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell calls on the state to increase school funding; and much more.
  • SFUSD program intervenes early to keep kids out of special ed for behavior
    • A new intensive SFUSD program helps kids aged three-and-a-half to five regulate and understand their emotions. The goal: to avert an “emotional disturbance” designation, a special ed category where black children are overrepresented.
  • Opinion: Charter school attacks lay bare institutional racism
    • Out of the 11.6 million new jobs created nationally since the Great Recession, 99 percent went to those with college experience. If we want California’s economy to thrive, we need to develop a more capable and diverse workforce of college graduates from among all communities across the state.
  • Opinion: Why is OUSD Ignoring a Possible Source of Cash?
    • The Oakland Unified School District Board of Directors must make some difficult and hard choices that involves the District’s finances, personnel and governance. The District is also challenged to make decisions which directly impact the quality of education for the 50,000 K-12 students attending the 124 public schools operating within the District.
  • Oakland Unified losing 24 school security officers next school year due to budget cuts
    • It’s not uncommon to see a uniformed security officer walking the halls at many Oakland schools. Besides keeping your children safe, many of them serve as friend, mentors, and confidants.”We get to know them almost like they are our own children, because we spend so much time around them. So we automatically know when something is not right,” says Oakland Unified School Security Officer Humphrey Garrett.  

California:

Other Stories:

  • What’s so Special about “Special” Education?
    • “Special” education shouldn’t be that special.   Our current system artificially divides students, provides excuses for failure, and tends to hurt rather than help the intended beneficiaries, all the while walling out a whole range of students who should benefit from additional resources but don’t technically qualify.
  • Sandra Bland, It Turns Out, Filmed Traffic Stop Confrontation Herself
    • Sandra Bland had just driven in from Illinois to start a new job in Texas when a state trooper pulled her over for failing to signal a lane change. As the exchange grew angry and the officer pulled out a stun gun, she recorded a 39-second cellphone video whose public broadcast this week has prompted calls for a renewed investigation into her arrest and death nearly four years ago.
  • Segregated by Design
    • ‘Segregated By Design’ examines the forgotten history of how our federal, state and local governments unconstitutionally segregated every major metropolitan area in America through law and policy.  
  • The Great Education-Reform War: Neither side has an end game
    • As opposing forces in the Great Education-Reform War deepen their trenches, as poison-pill bills aimed at charter schools wend their way through legislatures in the blue states and charter school advocates counter with lobbyists and anti-teacher-union screeds, I wake up in the middle of nearly every night with with one thought:
  • ‘Threatening the Future’: The High Stakes of Deepening School Segregation
    • The 65th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education approaches on May 17, but fights over school segregation, rather than decreasing, are becoming more common. Cities like New York and San Francisco are debating how to assign students to schools in ways that foster classroom diversity, and school secession movements — in which parents seek to form their own, majority-white districts — are accelerating.
  • ‘It’s Like the Wild West’: Sexual Assault Victims Struggle in K-12 Schools
    • The nation’s 98,000 public elementary and secondary schools educate 50 million children — nearly triple the number of young adults in colleges, universities and other postsecondary education facilities. And K-12 schools — often unaware of their obligations under federal law — have become notorious for failing to recognize and address sexual assault, and employing tactics to intimidate victims and avoid lawsuits.

Resources:

  • 2019 Bay Area MFG / Skilled Trades Summer Programs
    • Bay Area summer programs
  • Ramadan is Coming
    • Reminder to our educators that this month is Ramadan for our Muslim students who celebrate, here’s some information to be mindful of supporting our students!
  • Column: How teachers can support students during Ramadan
    • Ramadan is a month in the Islamic calendar when Muslims observe fasting from sunrise to sunset. And it can be a difficult month for many to get through, especially students who have to go through a normal school day without eating or drinking. This year, Ramadan will begin on Sunday, May 5, when many schools have yet to finish for the summer. For schools, it’s important to provide an environment for students where they feel safe to practice their religion, but maybe more importantly, one that ensures their well-being during the school day.

How You Can Help:

  • Save our Cambodian Family from Deportation: Pich Family, Oakland, CA
    • I am Roeun Pich, a Khmer genocide survivor, a father of five children and loving husband living in Oakland, CA. Please help keep my family together, save me from my deportation, support my application to Governor Newsom for a pardon.
  • Support College Bound Oakland Scholars
    • Located in East Oakland, California Fremont High School’s Media Academy prepares students to enter higher education and careers in digital media, photography, music, journalism, and graphic design. The Media Academy  addresses the CTE sector Arts, Media and Entertainment, Production and Managerial Arts pathway.
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