lots of COVID coverage, from the powerful community efforts to help from the Curry’s to Bridges Academy, alongside the exposure of huge equity gaps in access to the internet and devices, as well as the challenges of home schooling, there are also ways you can help, from donating to signing the free internet petition to the FCC. There are also so me great stories from schools that are making a difference on their “secret sauce.” All that and lots more, please read, share, and stay as safe as you can.
Oakland:
- How Steph and Ayesha Curry are dishing Oakland 300K meals a week amid coronavirus
- Technology, Trust and a Lot of Patience: Single Working Moms Juggle During Coronavirus
- Oakland Forms Task Force To Address Racial Disparities Of Coronavirus Pandemic
- Oakland Unified School District Honors 2019-20 Classified Employees of the Year
- Update from Jody London, District 1 School Board Director: April 2020
- Youth Beat Vlog Documentary
- The Secret Sauce: Award-winning schools on A-G success
- OUSD Board of Education Makes Two Major Moves, Signing Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell to New Contract and Officially Hiring District’s New Chief Business Officer
- Educators make a Stimulus Pledge to East Oakland families
- Map shows East Oakland hit hardest by COVID-19
California:
- California moves to close digital divide as schools shift online
- California Department of Education creates task force to assist with lack of technology for students
- California schools ask for pension relief, more funding to cope with coronavirus costs
- Unable to complete student teaching requirements, prospective teachers may soon get reprieve
- California to give 70,000 devices to students, expand internet access for distance learning
- Internet providers asked to do more for California students without access
- Getting free internet is hard for poor students despite provider promises, survey finds
Other Stories:
- Our Kids Can’t Go Back to School Right Now, So We Need to Make Sure They’re Connected
- I Used to Like Dr. Oz, But Now He’s Coming for the Children
- How the FCC can give Internet access to all Americans during this pandemic
- The FCC Needs To Act Now To Ensure All Low-Income Students Have Home Internet
- DeVos Excludes ‘Dreamers’ From Coronavirus College Relief
- 5 Weeks After In-Person School Shut Down, Only Half Of CPS Kids Who Need A Computer Have One
- America’s Teachers Urge Trump to Use Time at Home to Repeat First Grade
- Imagine Online School in a Language You Don’t Understand
Resources:
- Fund will donate percentage of stimulus checks to undocumented workers in Oakland
- OUSD Leading the Way with Food Distribution
- Michelle Obama Is Reading Books to Children Stuck at Home
How You Can Help:
- Arne Duncan, Jeb Bush and 12,000 of Us Agree—Every Child Deserves Internet Access, You Can Help
- Pledge some or all of your stimulus check to help vulnerable immigrant families.
- Ensure College Access in Oakland – Dump the D!
Oakland:
- How Steph and Ayesha Curry are dishing Oakland 300K meals a week amid coronavirus
- Nine months ago, Stephen Curry and his wife, Ayesha, launched their foundation, Eat. Learn. Play. Created to help underserved children in Oakland, one of the foundation’s key pillars is addressing hunger. Over the past year, the foundation ramped up its efforts, working with community partners to provide meals for the approximately 25% of Oakland school children who have food insecurity.
- Technology, Trust and a Lot of Patience: Single Working Moms Juggle During Coronavirus
- The coronavirus pandemic has forced many parents to take on the role of teacher while working from home. For single parents, the adjustment has called for major changes. Three Oakland women shared how they are trying to keep their sons on track.
- Oakland Forms Task Force To Address Racial Disparities Of Coronavirus Pandemic
- Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and other regional leaders announced Friday that they’ve formed an emergency task force to address what they say are the racialized impacts of the COVID-19 coronavirus and create state legislation to reduce health disparities for people of color.
- Oakland Unified School District Honors 2019-20 Classified Employees of the Year
- Despite the current shelter in place and the closure of all OUSD schools, the business of the District continues. One important thing that happens at this time every year is the formal recognition of outstanding work by our employees. At the first Board of Education meeting of April, the Directors celebrated our Classified Employees of the Year. Six employees from across the District received honors, and they come from Child Nutrition, Maintenance, Operations and Facilities, Office and Technical, Para-Educator and Instructional Assistance, School Security and Support, and Transportation. Along with quotes from the people who nominated them, here are the 2019-20 OUSD Classified Employees of the Year!
- Update from Jody London, District 1 School Board Director: April 2020
- Greetings! I hope that you and your loved ones are staying safe during this crazy time in our world. In this newsletter you’ll find an overview of the work of thousands of people to keep our schools functioning, albeit very differently than we are used to. You’ll also find information on the tremendous need for any contributions you can make right now. And you’ll learn more about our ongoing work, including an extension of Superintendent Johnson-Trammell’s contract to 2023.
- Youth Beat Vlog Documentary
- We are looking for Oakland Youth who would like to share their personal journey through this pandemic
- The Secret Sauce: Award-winning schools on A-G success
- On April 22, Families in Action for Quality Education and Energy Convertors will co-host the first awards ceremony to recognize the top high schools in Oakland that are providing access to rigorous A-G coursework for Latinx and African American students: the A-G Quality School Awards.
- OUSD Board of Education Makes Two Major Moves, Signing Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell to New Contract and Officially Hiring District’s New Chief Business Officer
- On Wednesday evening, April 22, the OUSD Board of Education held its regularly scheduled meeting in which the Directors made two significant decisions involving the leadership of the District. The Board voted unanimously to give Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell a new three year contract. The Board also voted unanimously to approve the contract of the new Chief Business Officer (CBO), Lisa Grant-Dawson.
- Educators make a Stimulus Pledge to East Oakland families
- The idea to send money to support undocumented families of Bridges Academy at Melrose in East Oakland started before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The father of two Bridges students passed away unexpectedly, and the Bridges community rallied to support: raising money to help the family bury him in his native Honduras; they helped the mother, now without a source of income, find work.
- Map shows East Oakland hit hardest by COVID-19
- A new map published by the Alameda County Public Health Department shows East Oakland has the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Town. Oakland has 366 of Alameda County’s 1,350 coronavirus cases in Alameda County, the highest in the County. Over two-thirds of Oakland’s COVID-19 cases are in East Oakland.
California:
- California moves to close digital divide as schools shift online
- California students who lack the resources necessary to participate in computer-based distance learning during the coronavirus pandemic are at the heart of a new task force announced Thursday by the California Department of Education.
- California Department of Education creates task force to assist with lack of technology for students
- The California Department of Education announced in a press release on Friday that they have created a task force to facilitate technology donations and resources for disadvantaged students. The task force has been named the “Closing the Digital Divide Task Force.”
- California schools ask for pension relief, more funding to cope with coronavirus costs
- California school districts are asking Gov. Gavin Newsom to delay scheduled increases to their pension payments and to divert money from a variety of relief funds to help them get through the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
- Unable to complete student teaching requirements, prospective teachers may soon get reprieve
- Thousands of teacher candidates in California who are preparing to graduate this year in the midst the coronavirus pandemic may not have to complete all their student-teaching hours or take all required tests before teaching in their own classrooms next year.
- California to give 70,000 devices to students, expand internet access for distance learning
- A cross-sector partnership to support California students with distance learning will provide 70,000 devices to those in need
- Internet providers asked to do more for California students without access
- In an ongoing effort to connect all California students to the internet at home, state legislators are urging internet service companies to increase their efforts to extend services to families without access.
- Getting free internet is hard for poor students despite provider promises, survey finds
- Despite promises of help, families in the low-income neighborhoods of Watts, Boyle Heights and South Los Angeles have struggled to get online, with at least 16% of students lacking basic internet access, according to a survey of public school families in those communities released Wednesday by the nonprofit Partnership for Los Angeles Schools.
Other Stories:
- Our Kids Can’t Go Back to School Right Now, So We Need to Make Sure They’re Connected
- Since the spread of the COVID-19 virus, I’ve been most concerned about its impact on the lives of Black, Brown, poor and other marginalized students. So at that moment, I naturally started to think about the fate of the mostly low-income students at the Level 2, intensive support public school and all those in similar situations around the country.
- I Used to Like Dr. Oz, But Now He’s Coming for the Children
- Since the spread of the COVID-19 virus, I’ve been most concerned about its impact on the lives of Black, Brown, poor and other marginalized students. So at that moment, I naturally started to think about the fate of the mostly low-income students at the Level 2, intensive support public school and all those in similar situations around the country.
- How the FCC can give Internet access to all Americans during this pandemic
- As schools around the country shuttered, efforts focused on how we could keep kids learning at home for weeks or even months. Getting every student online is critical. And right now, no Internet pretty much means no school. Districts and charter school networks doled out laptops and other mobile devices and scrambled to institute online learning.
- The FCC Needs To Act Now To Ensure All Low-Income Students Have Home Internet
- An internet connection is the most critical component of COVID-era schooling. The digital divide is now exposing and exacerbating our already immense opportunity gaps as nearly every school in the country turns to distance learning. When students can’t get online at home, they can’t access their school. Those students who are already struggling are at risk of falling further behind now and when school resumes next fall.
- DeVos Excludes ‘Dreamers’ From Coronavirus College Relief
- The education secretary told colleges that congressional relief for students dislocated by campus closures cannot go to undocumented immigrants, even those under federal protection.
- 5 Weeks After In-Person School Shut Down, Only Half Of CPS Kids Who Need A Computer Have One
- Thousands of anxious Chicago parents who want their children to join their teachers and classmates online during the coronavirus school shutdown are trying to figure out ways to make e-learning work.
- America’s Teachers Urge Trump to Use Time at Home to Repeat First Grade
- Donald J. Trump should use this time when he is staying at home to repeat first grade, the nation’s teachers are urging.
- Imagine Online School in a Language You Don’t Understand
- In this lesson, students will consider the challenges of remote learning when you don’t speak the same language as the teacher. As a Going Further option, they can research what their school district is doing to support English-language learners.
Resources:
- Fund will donate percentage of stimulus checks to undocumented workers in Oakland
- Oakland Education Association members organized an online fund to donate a percentage of their stimulus checks to undocumented workers in Oakland.
- The OUR Fund will distribute relief payments of $500 to families who have lost income due to COVID-19.
- OUSD Leading the Way with Food Distribution
- Hello Oakland Unified Community,In times of tremendous challenge, a full service community school district is a hub of opportunity for our community. Our food distribution program is an example of our district’s mission in action. These food distribution sites have quickly become critical community resources.As the Chief Systems and Services Officer, I have been honored to play a role in coordinating this effort with a team of amazing leaders in OUSD and our community.
- Michelle Obama Is Reading Books to Children Stuck at Home
- Hello Oakland Unified Community,In times of tremendous challenge, a full service community school district is a hub of opportunity for our community. Our food distribution program is an example of our district’s mission in action. These food distribution sites have quickly become critical community resources.As the Chief Systems and Services Officer, I have been honored to play a role in coordinating this effort with a team of amazing leaders in OUSD and our community.
How You Can Help:
- Arne Duncan, Jeb Bush and 12,000 of Us Agree—Every Child Deserves Internet Access, You Can Help
- In the era of virtual schooling an internet connection is essential. Unfortunately, 12 million families don’t have access to reliable internet. These historically underserved students are threatened with falling even further behind, expanding exponentially our existing opportunity gaps. This is a relatively simple problem to solve and we need your help.
- Pledge some or all of your stimulus check to help vulnerable immigrant families.
- It’s clear that many hard-working immigrant families will receive no federal assistance, such as a stimulus check or unemployment benefits, even in the midst of a pandemic and economic crisis. If you can afford it, your pledge and donation will be directed to the families that most need support.
- Ensure College Access in Oakland – Dump the D!
- Every year in Oakland hundreds of students graduate from public school only to learn that they didn’t pass the courses to even apply to the UC/CSU system. This issue disproportionately affects Black and Brown graduates. At one large OUSD high school 69% of Black students graduated in 2018, but only 11% qualified to apply to a 4-year state college by successfully completing the so called A-G coursework. Another school had a 94% eligibility rate for Black graduates.
What do you think?