The Oakland Education Week in Review: 4/27-5/3

A million meals from OUSD, some innovative partnerships and powerful out of school supports for youth, the need a better vision of internet access, OUSD got something right, NFL dreams are realities for two Mack grads, how the FCC keeps failing students, all that and more, please read share and stay safe

Oakland:

• Library Donates 500 Wi-Fi Hotspots to Support OUSD Schools
• Story Curator – Noxhegalactica X Swimgood
• OUSD Grab and Go Free Meal Program Surpasses 1,000,000 Student Meals Handed Out
• Traumatized migrant kids were being shot. One school district came up with a plan to save them
• Better Together: Oakland charter school giving away art kits to their students and food for their families
• OUSD Joins School Districts Across the Nation in Calling for More Education Funding From the Federal Government
• New New Deal-Employment, Connectivity, and A Better Oakland
• Mack in the House-Two Former OUSD Football Players Make it to the NFL, Sign with Browns & Raiders After 2020 Draft
• OUSD Finally Did Right by Families on the Opportunity Ticket, Now It’s the Charters’ Turn

California:

• It’s time to take a hard look at tax reform for California’s future
• Terminal Island prison inmates have worst coronavirus outbreak in federal system
• Schools surprised by Governor Newsom’s announcement about possibly reopening campuses early
• New wrinkles in old school fights
• California’s Timid and Rickety Toll Bridge over the Digital Divide, What Helsinki Teaches Us
• More California students are online, but digital divide runs deep with distance learning

Other Stories:

• Detroit Students Have a Constitutional Right to Literacy, Court Rules
• The FCC and Trump Administration Are Sacrificing Student Learning for Corporate Profit
• Bernie Sanders Says Internet Service Should be a Human Right
• Don’t Let Them Fool You: The FCC Has Done Nothing New to Connect Kids
• Stay the F Home
• In Philanthropy, Race Is Still a Factor in Who Gets What, Study Shows

How You Can Help:

• Keep up the pressure! The FCC hears us and they do NOT like what we are saying.

Oakland:

• Library Donates 500 Wi-Fi Hotspots to Support OUSD Schools
  • The Oakland Public Library (OPL) is here to support Oakland school children and families forced to learn from home during the coronavirus pandemic. In a city where an estimated one-third of students lack access to the internet at home, bridging the digital divide is paramount.
• Story Curator – Noxhegalactica X Swimgood
  • A story about the importance of curating stories in education.
• OUSD Grab and Go Free Meal Program Surpasses 1,000,000 Student Meals Handed Out
  • On Monday, April 27, the thirteenth day of free meal service for students across OUSD during the coronavirus pandemic, nutrition services staff handed out the one millionth meal to a family in need. The total student meals distributed through the program now stands at 1,084,589.
• Traumatized migrant kids were being shot. One school district came up with a plan to save them
  • Gilberto Ramirez hoped to give his son a better life in the US. Instead the 13-year-old was killed blocks from his new home
• Better Together: Oakland charter school giving away art kits to their students and food for their families
  • Oakland charter school giving away art kits to their students and food for their families
• OUSD Joins School Districts Across the Nation in Calling for More Education Funding From the Federal Government
  • On Tuesday, April 28, Oakland Unified School District joined 61 other urban school districts across the country in calling for Congress to allocate more money to education during this time of crisis because of the coronavirus pandemic. The collection of districts, which includes Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh and Seattle, all signed on to a letter from the Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS), to which they all belong.
• New New Deal-Employment, Connectivity, and A Better Oakland
  • Back in 2008, when he was leading the Ella Baker Center here in Oakland, Van Jones articulated a bold and modern reworking of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal. The key feature of FDR’s new deal was that it put the unemployed to work while improving the functional and cultural infrastructure of the nation. The Green New Deal that Jones envisioned did the same, proposing to train and employ a large workforce to improve the green infrastructure of the nation for the purpose of saving our environment. Jones’ visionary Green New Deal has been adopted by many politicians and activists, but it’s helpful to remember that his vision has its roots here in Oakland. Jones’ idea was that we could address the dual issues of underemployment and climate change with a single bold initiative that trained workers in a green collar economy.
• Mack in the House-Two Former OUSD Football Players Make it to the NFL, Sign with Browns & Raiders After 2020 Draft
  • Two young men who both played football at McClymonds High School signed with professional football teams last weekend as free agents after the 2020 NFL draft. Safety Javin White from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) signed with the (formerly Oakland) Raiders and quarterback Kevin Davidson of Princeton University signed with the Cleveland Browns.
• OUSD Finally Did Right by Families on the Opportunity Ticket, Now It’s the Charters’ Turn
  • Despite tying themselves in knots and nearly fornicating their own orifices, OUSD finally approved a set of enrollment changes that will actually help families in closing schools.  For years the State of Black Education in Oakland and The Oakland REACH have been fighting for fairer enrollment rules, particularly for our most underserved families.  The first step was getting the Opportunity Ticket approved, which gives families at closing schools first choices at any school in the district.

California:

• It’s time to take a hard look at tax reform for California’s future
  • While the coronavirus crisis and response is front and center for California lawmakers, a fiscal crisis, driven mainly by the state’s uniquely volatile revenue system, is brewing in the background. 
• Terminal Island prison inmates have worst coronavirus outbreak in federal system
  • Nearly half of the inmates at the federal prison at Terminal Island in San Pedro have tested positive for the coronavirus in what has become the nation’s worst outbreak in a federal penitentiary.
• Schools surprised by Governor Newsom’s announcement about possibly reopening campuses early
  • Governor Newsom announced that schools may open as early as July to make up for the lost time and inequality in educating kids online. The details have yet to be worked out, still, it took many school districts by surprise.
• New wrinkles in old school fights
  • The semi-shutdown of California’s social, economic and institutional life, that was ordered to arrest the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, seems to be working — albeit at immense cost. Nowhere is that cost more evident than in the abrupt closure of public schools, sending their 6 million students home to continue their educations, as best they can, under the tutelage of teachers on computer screens and bewildered parents.
• California’s Timid and Rickety Toll Bridge over the Digital Divide, What Helsinki Teaches Us
  • The State’s answers on the digital divide lacks imagination, staying power, and enforcement.  We can do better, and there are plenty of examples of cities that are.  
• More California students are online, but digital divide runs deep with distance learning
  • Sharing a hotspot with five siblings who take turns connecting to the internet has made even the simplest assignments a struggle for Yesenia Velez, a high school senior in East Los Angeles. She and other students across California have benefited from recent efforts to get internet access to all students amid school closures amid the coronavirus pandemic. But as California leaders push to close a digital divide that has persisted in California for decades, students and school leaders say closing that gap will require much more than handing out devices. 

Other Stories:

• Detroit Students Have a Constitutional Right to Literacy, Court Rules
  • A major ruling in a lawsuit involving the Detroit public schools comes at a time when school shutdowns are expected to affect poor children most adversely.
• The FCC and Trump Administration Are Sacrificing Student Learning for Corporate Profit
  • Once again, the FCC and the Trump administration are sacrificing underserved children on the altar of corporate profits. If there was any question who the FCC works for it was answered this week with another timid and industry-favoring response to the pandemic.
• Bernie Sanders Says Internet Service Should be a Human Right
  • The Vermont senator and presidential candidate proposed a $150 billion plan to expand broadband, including regulating rates for internet service.
• Don’t Let Them Fool You: The FCC Has Done Nothing New to Connect Kids
  • After weeks and weeks of working and fighting for the FCC to guarantee the educational rights of low-income families by compelling internet providers to ensure all students have access to remote learning, the FCC finally released a statement.
• Stay the F Home
  • You can get another job, another car, even another house. The beach will be there in a year and so will the parties. You can get all those things back. You can’t get your sister back, or your wife, parent, child or best friend. There is no return from COVID for too many. 
• In Philanthropy, Race Is Still a Factor in Who Gets What, Study Shows
  • Nonprofit groups led by black and Latino directors lag behind peers with white leaders, but two leading philanthropic organizations hope to change that.

How You Can Help:

• Keep up the pressure! The FCC hears us and they do NOT like what we are saying.
  • This petition has one simple request: The FCC should tell internet providers to waive restrictions on their low-income plans so that the most vulnerable students can get online and go to school.