Last week, more budget cuts are coming, better answers on youth justice, and reading, a lecture on structural racism, Black history month in OUSD, looking at data, the other prop 13, SpEd disparities, the real risks that children face, and more, please read, share, and get involved.
Oakland:
- Our $75 Million Question and Youth Uprising’s Better Vision for Serving Justice Involved Youth
- Lakisha Young Talks About How Oakland Is Tackling the Reading Crisis
- The Path Forward- A Note from the Superintendent
- Beyond Anger—Working Together to End “Colonial Day”, Slap @ss Fridays, and Colonial Mentalities in Oakland
- Structural Racism: What is it? What Does it Look Like?
- ‘It’s a big fat rat’: East Oakland high school has rodent problem, district working to fix issue
- Oakland Students Featured In HBO Documentary Watch Themselves On Big Screen
- Q&A: How activism inspired Boots Riley’s first film
- CRUNCHED: Celebrating Consistent Improvement
- Oakland schools discussing $21M in budget cuts
- 2020 Black History Month School Celebrations and Observances Continue Across OUSD
California:
- California school district builds affordable housing for teachers
- Endorsement: Yes on Proposition 13 for school upgrades
- Commentary: No on Prop. 13 — school bond measure means higher property taxes for homeowners
- Opinion: Prop 13 is Exactly What California Schools Need
- California School Says Photo Showing Students Posing with Swastika, Trump Banner, and Confederate Flag Sparked Fear on Campus
- California’s Largest-Ever $15 Billion School Bond Ballot Measure, Explained
- The Children Are Our Future: National Action Network’s First West Coast Conference Shouts Education
- Newsom wants more dyslexia screenings, services for California students
Other Stories:
- Two boys with the same disability tried to get help. The rich student got it quickly. The poor student did not.
- Latest Polls Say School Shootings Are a Priority; The Data on Risks Teens Face Says That is Wrong
- An Old and Contested Solution to Boost Reading Scores: Phonics
- Black college swimmer on team trip had gun pointed at his head by police
Oakland:
- Our $75 Million Question and Youth Uprising’s Better Vision for Serving Justice Involved Youth
- Would you spend $75 million on a shiny new juvenile probation camp with 100 or so beds for young people, when the place is pretty much empty now, with only 15 beds? Is that really the best way for the community to benefit from that money? A budget is a statement of what you value. What does a $75 million juvenile hall line item say about our values in Alameda County? Why don’t we have more alternatives to incarceration?
- Lakisha Young Talks About How Oakland Is Tackling the Reading Crisis
- Lakisha Young is the executive director of The Oakland REACH. Her work began through witnessing the disparities faced by Black and Brown students, including members of her own family. She sought to change the trajectory of public education for her three children and communities of color in Oakland by engaging and leading families in a charge to advocate for fair and equitable practices that would give them access to and enhance opportunities for academic success.
- The Path Forward- A Note from the Superintendent
- Every day, we welcome and serve thousands of students. My children are among them. Our mission is to serve the whole child, and we will. That is why we are creating a stable environment in which students and staff can thrive. In order to realize that mission, we have to continue to put our district on solid financial ground.
- Beyond Anger—Working Together to End “Colonial Day”, Slap @ss Fridays, and Colonial Mentalities in Oakland
- And while I get angry when I hear stories where students or families are disrespected, I am very hopeful for Oakland when I see the actual community responses. This was highlighted in the really impressive work that young women and their allies did in creating a responsive OUSD sexual harassment policy, and also the responses of school communities to “colonial day” and colonial mentalities.
- Structural Racism: What is it? What Does it Look Like?
- In support of Dr. Martin Luther King Day, on January 22 the Saint Joseph’s College Center for Faith and Spirituality hosted Dr. Brian Stanley to present the talk “Structural Racism: What Is It? What Does It Look Like?”
- How Oakland Is Tackling the Reading Crisis; An Interview with Lakisha Young
- Lakisha Young is the executive director of The Oakland REACH. Her work began through witnessing the disparities faced by Black and Brown students, including members of her own family. She sought to change the trajectory of public education for her three children and communities of color in Oakland by engaging and leading families in a charge to advocate for fair and equitable practices that would give them access to and enhance opportunities for academic success.
- ‘It’s a big fat rat’: East Oakland high school has rodent problem, district working to fix issue
- At James Madison Park Academy in Oakland, it seems like almost everyone has had an encounter with rodents, or knows about the problem.
- Oakland Students Featured In HBO Documentary Watch Themselves On Big Screen
- Some Oakland students have embraced the opportunity to speak before a crowd and now their talents are featured in a new HBO documentary titled “We Are The Dream.”
- Q&A: How activism inspired Boots Riley’s first film
- Boots Riley, an American activist, rapper, screenwriter and filmmaker, will hold a free lecture hosted by Sacramento State’s UNIQUE Programs in the University Union Ballroom on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
- CRUNCHED: Celebrating Consistent Improvement
- As Gloria noted in her look-back reflection series on education in Oakland in the past decade, one of the things that hasn’t changed much is the proportion of schools that are high performing. We know change takes time, and that increasingly difficult conditions (i.e. inadequate school funding) make progress even more challenging.
- Oakland schools discussing $21M in budget cuts
- When it comes to kids and schools, budget cuts aren’t a popular discussion, but it’s become a necessary one Wednesday night for Oakland Unified School District. “We’re struggling with what’s going to have to be some pretty significant cuts and reductions and program changes across the district because we’re going to have to reduce by about $21 million going into next school year,” said John Sasaki, spokesperson for OUSD.
- 2020 Black History Month School Celebrations and Observances Continue Across OUSD
- In OUSD, we believe in celebrating and integrating our students’ and community’s cultural and linguistic assets every day. Throughout the month of February, as part of our long-standing commitment to honoring African American excellence during Black History Month and year-round, we are shining a light on the achievements of Black educators, activists, writers, scholars, athletes and students with ties to Oakland. We invite you to learn and teach others empowering narratives of our African American students and families. Come celebrate with us at various school based and community events. Here is a list of some of the events happening at schools across our District.
California:
- California school district builds affordable housing for teachers
- A California school district is trying to help combat the high cost of living for its teachers by building affordable employee housing.
- Endorsement: Yes on Proposition 13 for school upgrades
- Public school districts’ budgets in California are too lean to finance the inevitable demand for new facilities and major repairs to aging buildings. That’s why the state periodically asks the voters to approve bond measures to raise the large additional sums needed to fund that work, to be repaid with income tax revenue over time.
- Commentary: No on Prop. 13 — school bond measure means higher property taxes for homeowners
- By now, most California voters have received their ballot pamphlets for next month’s election. Some may be confused to see that they are being asked to vote on “Proposition 13.” No, this proposition is not the same as the landmark Proposition 13 that was approved in 1978 and saved homeowners from being taxed out of their homes. In fact, the 2020 Proposition 13 will almost certainly do the exact opposite — lead to much higher property taxes.
- Opinion: Prop 13 is Exactly What California Schools Need
- The initiative, a $15 billion investment into public school buildings, will benefit dozens of Bay Area schools
- California School Says Photo Showing Students Posing with Swastika, Trump Banner, and Confederate Flag Sparked Fear on Campus
- A California high school is taking action after a photo that circulated on social media showing several of its students posing with a swastika and Confederate flag sparked fear on campus.
- California’s Largest-Ever $15 Billion School Bond Ballot Measure, Explained
- Prop. 13 is a dirty word (OK two words) to many California progressives, but a new bill with the same name could massively reverse the reduction of funding to California schools.
- The Children Are Our Future: National Action Network’s First West Coast Conference Shouts Education
- Education may not have been the official theme of the National Action Network’s first Western Regional Conference, but it was clearly the primary focus of the gathering.
- Newsom wants more dyslexia screenings, services for California students
- A new plan by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who struggled with dyslexia as a child, would pay for more screenings and services for the thousands of California students with dyslexia — a condition that advocates say has not received enough attention in schools.
Other Stories:
- Two boys with the same disability tried to get help. The rich student got it quickly. The poor student did not.
- Once the two families made the decision that their sons’ needs could not be met in the public schools, their educational journeys could not have been more different.
- Latest Polls Say School Shootings Are a Priority; The Data on Risks Teens Face Says That is Wrong
- We fear and fight the wrong battles, missing the chance for real victories, chasing ghosts. Californians’ greatest educational anxiety is around school shootings, according to the latest polling. However, by far the biggest risk your child faces isn’t from someone else—it is from themselves.
- An Old and Contested Solution to Boost Reading Scores: Phonics
- As test scores lag, there’s a growing debate between proponents of the “science of reading,” which emphasizes phonics, and traditional educators who prefer to instill a love of literature.
- Black college swimmer on team trip had gun pointed at his head by police
- A black student at Eastern Illinois University returning from an out-of-state tournament with his teammates and coaches said several police officers handcuffed him, pointed a gun at his head and threatened to blow his head off in what turned out to be their search for a wanted suspect.
What do you think?