last week, building community at Sankofa/Kaiser, lots of discussion of the board meeting disruptions, a superintendent update, how Aurum got a 75% Black male teaching staff, the challenges and successes of the supe, reading scores are down but what does it mean, Black and Brown families are doing a go fund me to meet Elizabeth Warren, all that and much more, please read share and get involved
Oakland:
- Building the Sankofa/Kaiser Community; Starting with a Soap Box Racer and How You Can Join In
- Oakland school board may close meeting to public after protests
- Oakland Unified Schools may separate public from board meeting 2nd time this month
- Oakland school chief’s tenure at pivotal point
- Setting the Record Straight on School Closures- A Message from the Superintendent
- End of Week of November 11 Packed with Events for OUSD Students
- Oakland police investigate shooting that leaves pregnant woman dead, husband injured
- Protestors take over Oakland Unified board meeting
- SOBEO Rants Podcast…with David Hardin, 75% Black Male Teaching Staff is Possible!
- Oakland school board moves meeting to closed room after protester disruptions
- Oakland council approves plan for new parcel tax to pay for homeless services, parks
California:
- Where Does Cultural Competency and Quality Fit into CA’s Teacher Credential? A Black Teacher Wonders
- A Schools Choice Organization Is Gathering Signatures For The Education Freedom Act
- Reading scores drop in California, most states in much-watched national test
- 3 California school employees to be charged with manslaughter in death of special needs student
- Pension costs feed resistance to higher school taxes in California county, study finds
Other Stories:
- Messy, Moral Questions for Education Innovation
- Cory Booker: Stop Being Dogmatic About Public Charter Schools
Resources:
How You Can Help:
Oakland:
- Building the Sankofa/Kaiser Community; Starting with a Soap Box Racer and How You Can Join In
- Community building begins face to face, and amidst the tantrums and disruptions of the Sankofa/Kaiser merger, some parents are working on building that community. It started with a simple gesture, building a soap box racer, and it is growing.
- Oakland school board may close meeting to public after protests
- After a chaotic Oakland Unified school board meeting in October, when protesters rushed a metal barricade and were struck by police with batons and arrested, the school board — fearing the same protesters would return — closed its first meeting of November to the public and may do it again Wednesday.
- Oakland Unified Schools may separate public from board meeting 2nd time this month
- Oakland Unified School District may for a second time this month separate the public from its board meeting Wednesday night. If everyone is well behaved, school officials said there would be no need for the public to gather in a nearby auditorium where they could use a microphone to comment on agenda items.
- Oakland school chief’s tenure at pivotal point
- Her connections to Oakland have allowed her to draw on a well-spring of support from key constituencies in the city — even as she enters the most perilous phase of her tenure in this 50,200-student district, one-fourth of whom are enrolled in charter schools.
- Setting the Record Straight on School Closures- A Message from the Superintendent
- Dear Oakland Unified Community:I am writing to address some misinformation that has been swirling around the Blueprint for Quality Schools process and most likely will turn up at tonight’s Board of Education Meeting.
- End of Week of November 11 Packed with Events for OUSD Students
- The last two days of this school week, plus Saturday, have multiple exciting events scheduled across Oakland Unified School District. The events are aimed at supporting students in numerous ways, plus families, staff and community members.
- Oakland police investigate shooting that leaves pregnant woman dead, husband injured
- Homicide detectives are investigating a shooting that killed a pregnant mother of two and injured her husband in Oakland over the weekend.
- Protestors take over Oakland Unified board meeting
- Large organized groups including the, “Oakland Education Association” and “Blacks Organizing Project” and community members, demanded an end to school closures and urged that police officers be taken out of Oakland schools.
- SOBEO Rants Podcast…with David Hardin, 75% Black Male Teaching Staff is Possible!
- This podcast series delves into the minds of some of the most influential Black leaders in Oakland (and beyond). When we let great minds just rant, they always leave a trail of gems in their wake. Enjoy.
- Oakland school board moves meeting to closed room after protester disruptions
- The Oakland school board on Wednesday again moved its meeting to an upstairs conference room closed to the public after protesters disrupted its regular downstairs meeting.
- Oakland council approves plan for new parcel tax to pay for homeless services, parks
- The Oakland City Council approved a plan Thursday to add a March 2020 ballot measure for a 20-year parcel tax that would fund parks maintenance and homeless services.
California:
- Where Does Cultural Competency and Quality Fit into CA’s Teacher Credential? A Black Teacher Wonders
- A guest post by Oakland teacher Marquise Evans, aka “Quis,” on the challenges of getting the technical teaching credential and how little it tends to mean for students
- A Schools Choice Organization Is Gathering Signatures For The Education Freedom Act
- School choice advocates are gathering signatures and raising awareness for the Education Freedom Act, a proposition slated to go before voters in 2022. The statewide initiative would allow parents more control over how their children are educated. This initiative comes at the time when government leaders and their backers are attacking individual parental decisions in education and medical issue.
- Reading scores drop in California, most states in much-watched national test
- In 2017, California education leaders heralded the significant increase in the state’s 8th-grade reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress as a sign that the state’s investment in education and its adoption of the Common Core standards had taken hold.
- 3 California school employees to be charged with manslaughter in death of special needs student
- Charges were announced Tuesday against three California employees in the death of a student with special needs, CBS Sacramento reports. Guiding Hands School, Inc. Executive Director and Site Administrator Cindy Keller, Principal Staranne Meyers and special education teacher Kimberly Wohlwend each face one charge of felony involuntary manslaughter for the November 2018 incident.
- Pension costs feed resistance to higher school taxes in California county, study finds
- The unexpected defeat in 2016 of a school parcel tax in wealthy Marin County and the near-defeat of another in the county that same year prompted a trio of authors to look into what had turned many voters against them.
Other Stories:
- Messy, Moral Questions for Education Innovation
- As a humble participant in a range of education reforms, I am aware of reformers’ less-than-stellar-track record. It is tempting to stop trying to bring about change within educational and political systems that are not designed to produce and absorb innovation. To date, I’ve chosen otherwise, concluding, like so many others, that no matter how unlikely the chances are of meaningful reform at scale, maybe an educational black swan will glide into the next school year’s pond.
- Cory Booker: Stop Being Dogmatic About Public Charter Schools
- We can’t dismiss good ideas because they don’t fit into neat ideological boxes or don’t personally affect some of the louder, more privileged voices in the party.
Resources:
- SANCTUARY EVENT: ONLY THREE DAYS AWAY!
- OUSD students and families are still in jeopardy!
- In the past month alone, several OUSD families, including students, have received deportation orders.
- DACA is in danger, putting dozens of students and parents in legal purgatory.
- An OUSD parent is currently being detained due to his immigration status, and another has left the district with his child because of the threat of deportation.
- Southeast Asian refugees continue to be targeted with removal orders.
- We cannot afford to be complacent or fatigued! Now is the time to stand up and fight alongside our families and community members. We are Oakland strong!
How You Can Help:
- These Black and Latino Parents Have a GoFundMe to Talk to Elizabeth Warren
- A powerful coalition of Black and Latino parents and education advocates from around the country announced in a new video that they are fundraising a trip to meet with Elizabeth Warren to share how her recently unveiled education plan gets it all wrong for children of color.
What do you think?