All the Oakland Ed news fit to link, last week–OUSD has new fiscal staff, A mom describes her journey, how Lazear fought and won against a closure, some great summer programs, Title IX and girls sports in the Bay, the conditions Black teachers need for success, research on suspensions and the link to later problems, all that and so much more, please read, share and get involved
Oakland:
- Oakland Unified hires interim CFO to fix fiscal problems as it seeks a permanent financial chief
- Fifty years after desegregation, wide racial and ethnic achievement gaps persist in Berkeley
- New Life for Oakland Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center
- Summer S.T.E.A.M Program at Allen Temple Baptist Church July 15-July 26
- Opinion: Hospitals need to address Oakland’s homeless black men
- Finding the School for Me; Individual Needs and Why Every Student Should Get “Office Hours” with their Teachers
- Parents at the Center; A Rare and Encouraging Night of Community Engagement with OUSD
- The Little School that Could; How a Relentless Community Fought for Lazear Elementary and Won
- Alameda County Board of Education Elects New President and Vice President
- Day’von Hann is just the latest black child robbed of his life — and then robbed of his youth or even the perception of innocence
- Bay Area high school coaches file Title IX complaint over field, bathroom conditions
- The Tragic Story of the Maxwell Park “Charter School” Takeover and its Role in the 14 of 16 OUSD Campuses “Taken” by Charters; or Not
California:
- Kamala Harris says busing should be considered, not mandated
- CDE launches mobile app for state’s school, district accountability system
- CALmatters Commentary: New state budget a windfall for unions
- Prop. 13 reform headed to California ballot could swamp counties
- Controversial bill that would make local districts sole authorizers of charter schools moves to a public hearing in the California Senate
- California may create 5th year high school graduation rate
- Lawmakers are trying to end a weird quirk of California’s charter school sector. Here’s why the state is so unusual
- Antonucci: NEA rejects many California delegation proposals for its national agenda
- The Latest: California’s Dixie School District to be renamed
- Questions Raised About California Proposal To Push Back School Start Times
- No girls, parties, cellphones: California’s prison inmates are getting bachelor’s degrees
- Santa Rita Inmate Suffocated From Restraints Used by Deputies
Other Stories:
- Report Highlights Community-Driven Model for Serving Men of Color
- Why Some of the Country’s Best Urban Schools Are Facing a Reckoning
- Elizabeth Warren’s first law review article blasted an anti-busing court ruling
- Other opinions: Democrats, don’t give up on education reform
- End to random searches of students is a victory for entire school community
- Why Having One Black Teacher Could Help Keep Black Students In School
- Safety, belonging, and humanity: Black teachers need strong school climates, too
- What black students who were bused said about their experiences
- Video Shows Son Begging Father Not to Call the Police on Black Man for ‘Trespassing’
- Mother Whose Toddler Died After Leaving ICE Custody Tells Harrowing Story To Congress
- DeVos rewrites rules for school civil rights probes
- The Education Connection: Helping Ex-Offenders Return to Their Communities
- Students Move Further Down School-to-Prison Pipeline With Every School Suspension
- Tennessee governor signs proclamation honoring early KKK leader, sparking backlash
Resources:
- Summer S.T.E.A.M Program at Allen Temple Baptist Church July 15-July 26
- Advice for New Principals: Make Sure You Have a Mentor
- What Teachers Need to Know to Do Right by Queer Students
- Advice From a Parent Volunteer of the Year: Find a School That Will Authentically Partner With You
- To Understand and Serve: How Schools Can Uplift Immigrant Students
- How to Prepare Yourself for an Immigration Raid
How You Can Help:
Oakland:
- Oakland Unified hires interim CFO to fix fiscal problems as it seeks a permanent financial chief
- Oakland Unified has turned to a financial consultant to bring fiscal stability as the district attempts to deal with a recent grand jury report that criticized the district for “a broken administrative culture.”
- Fifty years after desegregation, wide racial and ethnic achievement gaps persist in Berkeley
- Fifty years after Sen. Kamala Harris was bused to Thousand Oaks Elementary School from her home in the Berkeley flatlands, the district is still grappling with persistent racial and ethnic disparities that decades of concerted efforts have failed to eliminate.
- New Life for Oakland Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center
- The Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center (Auditorium) in downtown Oakland is being brought back to life by nationally renowned developer, Orton Development, Inc. (ODI).
- Opinion: Hospitals need to address Oakland’s homeless black men
- African American males are disproportionately displaced and in need of the healthcare system
- Finding the School for Me; Individual Needs and Why Every Student Should Get “Office Hours” with their Teachers
- I felt like I was getting behind. My old school had a lot of students and they were not able to work with us on an individual basis. I needed that extra 1:1 attention because it was hard for me to learn and focus…My mother stepped in for me in a huge way. She started saying to me “Asya your education is very important to me and yourself.” My mom showed me connections between a good education and going to college so I could live the type of life I wanted.
- Parents at the Center; A Rare and Encouraging Night of Community Engagement with OUSD
- It was an encouraging night in Oakland. Over a hundred parents filled the hall at Acts Full Gospel to have a real discussion with the top brass from OUSD on the state of the schools and the superintendent’s Community of Schools policy. There were some heated debates, and real disagreements, but we came together as Oakland family, broke bread, and talked it out-like functional families do.
- The Little School that Could; How a Relentless Community Fought for Lazear Elementary and Won
- In 2012 Oakland Unified moved to close Lazear Elementary School as one of five casualties of enrollment reductions and budget cuts. But the school, and the community that fought for it, are still here and thriving.
- Alameda County Board of Education Elects New President and Vice President
- The Alameda County Board of Education elected Joaquín Rivera as President and Amber Childress as Vice President for the 2019-20 school year at its July 9, 2019 meeting.
- Day’von Hann is just the latest black child robbed of his life — and then robbed of his youth or even the perception of innocence
- “There is no black innocence,” Taylor says. “When you are a victim, it’s almost like a sort of twist on double jeopardy. You become involved in the community’s violence; the act of being shot makes you connected to ‘urban violence.’ The particulars of your innocence are trivial. You were there where the violence was and these communities were long ago dismissed as ‘bad neighborhoods.’”
- Bay Area high school coaches file Title IX complaint over field, bathroom conditions
- The coaches of the Tennyson High School (Hayward, Calif.) softball team have had enough. Now they’re doing something about their problem.
- The Tragic Story of the Maxwell Park “Charter School” Takeover and its Role in the 14 of 16 OUSD Campuses “Taken” by Charters; or Not
- My neighbors were bemoaning the loss of our local school and the replacement by a charter. How Maxwell Park Elementary, had been taken over by a charter school. How it used to be a Black school and now, you see a lot of new faces driving into the neighborhood and driving off after dropping their kids off. Not a lot of Black ones.
California:
- Kamala Harris says busing should be considered, not mandated
- Sen. Kamala Harris said Wednesday that busing students should be considered by school districts trying to desegregate their locations — not the federal mandate she appeared to support in pointedly criticizing rival Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden last week.
- CDE launches mobile app for state’s school, district accountability system
- State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond has announced the release of the California Department of Education’s (CDE) first-ever mobile app for the California School Dashboard, the new accountability system that helps identify strengths and improvement areas for every public school district and school statewide.
- CALmatters Commentary: New state budget a windfall for unions
- The state budget package that Democratic legislators and Gov. Gavin Newsom just enacted is sprinkled with billions of dollars in extra goodies for their most important political constituency, labor unions.
- Prop. 13 reform headed to California ballot could swamp counties
- Progressives are excited about an initiative to change Proposition 13 that could generate billions of dollars every year for schools and local government — and it’s already qualified for the November 2020 ballot.
- Controversial bill that would make local districts sole authorizers of charter schools moves to a public hearing in the California Senate
- A controversial charter school regulation moving through the California legislature will take its next step Wednesday when the state Senate Education Committee holds a public hearing that’s expected to draw crowds of supporters and opponents of the state’s large charter school sector.
- California may create 5th year high school graduation rate
- California may soon join most states in creating a 5-year high school graduation rate as a way of crediting districts and high schools that help students who return to school after senior year to earn a diploma.
- Lawmakers are trying to end a weird quirk of California’s charter school sector. Here’s why the state is so unusual
- California legislators are considering a change to education law that would address a peculiar and controversial feature of the state’s charter school sector. The proposed fix is dredging up long-standing issues around how the state permits and oversees schools of choice.
- Antonucci: NEA rejects many California delegation proposals for its national agenda
- The National Education Association held its annual Representative Assembly in Houston last week. Six thousand delegates, representing teachers and education support workers in every state, met to debate and vote on the national union’s budget and agenda for the 2019-20 school year.
- The Latest: California’s Dixie School District to be renamed
- Trustees in the 150-year-old San Francisco Bay Area district voted Tuesday to rename it the Miller Creek Elementary School District. The vote was 3-1 with one abstention.
- Questions Raised About California Proposal To Push Back School Start Times
- Senate Bill 328 would prevent high schools from starting the school day before 8:30 am. Middle schools wouldn’t be allowed to start before 8 am. A previous version of the bill put the start times for both no earlier than 8:30 am but the time was changed for middle schools in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
- No girls, parties, cellphones: California’s prison inmates are getting bachelor’s degrees
- By 2017, about 4,500 prisoners were enrolled in community college with tuition paid for by taxpayers through a state financial aid program, up from zero prisoners in 2014. While other states have some prisons that offer in-person education, California is the only state offering classes in nearly every prison, taught by educators from nearby colleges, for credits that can transfer and count toward degrees.
- Santa Rita Inmate Suffocated From Restraints Used by Deputies
- Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies used a full-body restraint device and a spit mask on an inmate they were escorting to the outpatient housing unit in Santa Rita Jail last year, which caused his death by asphyxiation, according to a report by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office clearing the deputies of criminal charges.
Other Stories:
- Report Highlights Community-Driven Model for Serving Men of Color
- BLOOM (Building a Lifetime of Options and Opportunities for Men), an initiative of the California Community Foundation focused on addressing the disparities faced by young African-American men involved in the juvenile justice system, has developed a powerful community-driven model for expanding opportunities, a report from the foundation finds.
- Why Some of the Country’s Best Urban Schools Are Facing a Reckoning
- Amid a growing backlash against charter schools, leaders within the movement are acknowledging that some criticism of their schools is warranted.
- Elizabeth Warren’s first law review article blasted an anti-busing court ruling
- But on the sidelines of the re-litigated fight over busing — and off the stage that second night — was another candidate who waded into the busing debate in the 1970s on the opposite side of Biden: Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
- Other opinions: Democrats, don’t give up on education reform
- In advance of a July 5 forum hosted by the country’s largest teachers’ union, leading Democratic presidential candidates affirmed their commitment to America’s public schools. They’re right to, not least because of the Trump administration’s efforts to cut funding for public education. Unfortunately, rather than promoting effective improvements to the country’s K-12 system, too many Democrats are retreating from them.
- End to random searches of students is a victory for entire school community
- For the past three years, students and adult allies have built a campaign to end the dehumanizing and demoralizing 26-year practice of randomly pulling secondary students, some as young as 11, out of class — without cause — to search their bodies and their belongings for weapons with metal detector wands.
- Why Having One Black Teacher Could Help Keep Black Students In School
- Having just one black teacher in third, fourth or fifth grade reduced low-income black boys’ probability of dropping out of high school by 39 percent, the study found
- Safety, belonging, and humanity: Black teachers need strong school climates, too
- In my time at the Education Trust, a large chunk of my work has revolved around how we recruit and retain more teachers of color. And as Black History Month comes to a close, I’ve reflected on the status of black teachers specifically and their experiences in the school building. We know the data: All students benefit from having teachers of color in their classroom, and that’s especially true for students of color.
- What black students who were bused said about their experiences
- Last month, the issue of busing with the aim of desegregating schools was reinjected into the national political discourse at a Democratic presidential candidates’ debate when Sen. Kamala D. Harris (Calif.) challenged former vice president Joe Biden about his stance on the subject.
- Video Shows Son Begging Father Not to Call the Police on Black Man for ‘Trespassing’
- On July 4, an African American man was waiting for his friend outside an apartment building in San Francisco when a white man, alongside his son, approached him, asking to know the name of the friend he was waiting for and accusing him of “trespassing.” Wesley Michel, a software engineer, filmed the encounter, in which the white man since identified as Christopher Cukor called the police despite his young son begging him not to.
- Mother Whose Toddler Died After Leaving ICE Custody Tells Harrowing Story To Congress
- Yazmin Juárez sat in front of a House subcommittee Wednesday and recalled the most horrible experience of her life…She spoke to the lawmakers about how her 21-month-old daughter, Mariee, died of respiratory illnesses after leaving Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody last year.
- DeVos rewrites rules for school civil rights probes
- The Trump administration has overhauled the rules for investigating discrimination in the nation’s schools in a way that the Education Department says will boost efficiency but advocates fear will weaken enforcement of civil rights.
- The Education Connection: Helping Ex-Offenders Return to Their Communities
- Each year, 700,000 people are released from federal and state prisons. For many, the transition home is not easy. They face obstacles including poverty, drug abuse, family dysfunction, and lack of access to services and treatment. Failure to reconnect can mean that many end up back in prison: Over 50 percent of those released are incarcerated again within three years.
- Students Move Further Down School-to-Prison Pipeline With Every School Suspension
- On the school-to-prison pipeline, school suspensions may be a key shut-off valve…That’s because, regardless of students’ past behaviors, every school suspension weakens their connection to school and increases their odds of committing theft, assault, and other crimes. This is the conclusion of a new national longitudinal study published Friday in Justice Quarterly, a journal of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.
- Tennessee governor signs proclamation honoring early KKK leader, sparking backlash
- Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a proclamation declaring Saturday “Nathan Bedford Forrest Day,” in honor of the Confederate Army general who was a slave trader and an early member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Resources:
- Summer S.T.E.A.M Program at Allen Temple Baptist Church July 15-July 26
- American Council of Teachers Inc., (ACT Inc) is hosting a Summer S.T.E.A.M Program at Allen Temple Baptist Church July 15-July 26, 2019 from 9 am – 3 pm Monday-Friday. The program is designed to engage and enlighten our student’s age 6-16 years old. Hosted by a group of African American Teachers in the Bay Area willing to make a difference in the lives of our students. Cost is $200.00 for two weeks of camp. Please contact Kathie Cage at (650) 468-7888 or visit www.americancouncilofteachersinc.org for details
- Advice for New Principals: Make Sure You Have a Mentor
- In our third installment of advice for new principals, Education Week talked to Sue Park, the head of school at Yu Ming Charter School, a high-performing K-8 dual-language Mandarin immersion school in Oakland, Calif.
- What Teachers Need to Know to Do Right by Queer Students
- This conversation, nearly identical to all others I’ve had about supporting queer students, underscores the real reason we still don’t see LGBTQ representation in instructional materials: All our focus is on creating resources, and almost no attention is on actually getting those resources into the hands of teachers and students.
- Advice From a Parent Volunteer of the Year: Find a School That Will Authentically Partner With You
- I am a mother of two, single parent, and Bay Area native. I went to OUSD, Hayward and Pittsburgh schools, myself. The first school my child went to was my neighborhood school. As a single parent with a small support system I wanted to make sure that if something happened to my car I can get to my kid, and I can get her back and forth to school. And it was a familiar name, there were other schools in the neighborhood I wasn’t familiar with. I attended that school in 3rd grade, I didn’t look at the ratings…I didn’t have any sense of how to choose a school in that sense.
- To Understand and Serve: How Schools Can Uplift Immigrant Students
- Under United States law, all students, regardless of immigration status, are entitled to a free, public education. But for schools and districts, navigating a complex picture of students’ cultural identities, home languages, backgrounds and wide-ranging academic proficiencies can make upholding the spirit of the law more difficult than simply following the letter of the law.
- How to Prepare Yourself for an Immigration Raid
- It is important to be prepared and to know your rights and your family’s rights in case of a raid or other encounter with ICE or local law enforcement.
How You Can Help:
- Where is Jonathan Bandabaila? | Ditched car on bridge, texts wont send, authorities ignore family?!
- 19 year old Jonathan was a happy boy but when his car was found on the bridge, authorities jumped to suicide and told the family to move on with their lives
What do you think?