The Oakland Education Week in Review: 5/4-5/10

from Oakland North 2014

Last week, OUSD’s latest enrollment rule changes (good news), OUSD’s teachers of the year, lots of digital disparity news, a good look at the data from CRUNCHED, the Latino honor roll, the state’s weak response to access issues, the challenges facing SpEd youth, ways you can help folks affected by COVID and more, please read, share, and stay safe.

Oakland:

California:

Other Stories:

Resources: 

How You Can Help:

Oakland:

  • 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.
  • AMPS Discrimination Complaint Against WCCUSD Filed
    • The AMPS charter school system files legal complaint against West Contra Costa Unified School District The charter school system alleges that the West Contra Costa Unified School District was biased and explicitly discriminatory to Latino families. 
  • May 4 Baytech Parent Letter
    • COVID 19 has been devastating for many in our community. However, a bright spot has been that our students and families have been amazing, and our faculty is impressed with many of our students. We have heard from many BayTech families that they have appreciated the phone calls, emails and texts that they have received encouraging students and connecting with families.
  • On National Teacher Day, District Announces 2020 OUSD Teachers of the Year
    • The 2019-20 school year is anything but normal, with schools still shut down more than seven weeks into the coronavirus closure. But what is normal is that OUSD continues to celebrate the outstanding work of our staff. Through all the uncertainty, teachers have continued to support our students and their families. Today, National Teacher Day, the District is proud to announce the 2020 OUSD Teachers of the Year.
  • Protesting Oakland teachers say COVID-19 crisis has amplified students’ woes
    • On Friday morning, a caravan of over 300 cars and 50 cyclists gathered at the Port of Oakland for a socially distanced protest. The group included a variety of activists, including housing-rights advocates, prison abolitionists and essential workers in the health-care and grocery industries. But one group was especially vocal: Oakland public school educators, who say their students are facing compounding social pressures that make learning under lockdown impossible.
  • The Learning Loss of COVID-19 will be Devastating: La pérdida de aprendizaje de COVID-19 será devastadora
    • The sudden school closures and new reality of distance learning has impacted every student, parent, and educator in our city. In addition, the education opportunity gap is only widening for the most vulnerable communities – low-income students, students of color, students with special needs, and English learners – and those communities represent at least 70% of Oakland’s student population.
  • CRUNCHED: Understanding Our Digital Divide and Pushing for Better Locally
    • We’ve known for ages that there is a digital equity issue in America, between those who have easy and stable access to computers and internet and those who do not — the digital divide. The federal E-Rate program has been around since 1996 to increase connectivity in schools and libraries in areas that were underserved, mainly low-income and/or rural. Although the E-Rate program has made some progress, there’s still a lot more work that needs to be done. It’s 2020, and this inequity has been thrust to the forefront for families since 90% of the U.S. has transitioned to online distance learning.
  • The coming storm: big budget cuts, rising costs for California schools
    • State officials insist it’s too early to predict the size of the fiscal hole in the 2020-21 state budget. The filing deadline for the income and capital gains taxes for last year has been pushed back to July, and the path of the coronavirus remains unpredictable.
  • OUSD and Oakland Latino Educators Set to Honor Thousands of Students Virtually in 20th Annual Latino/a Honor Roll Celebration on Friday
    • The OUSD Office of Equity Latino Student Achievement (LSA) and Oakland Latino Educators (OLE) will celebrate 3,321 Latino students in grades 6 through 12, who have maintained a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher and who are on track to go to college. This is the 20th Annual OUSD Latino/a Honor Roll Celebration for students across the District.

California:

  • Dr. Shirley Weber on Her Family’s Journey to California and the Teachers Who Paved Her Path
    • As Gov. Gavin Newsom orders the closure of Orange County beaches, Scott and Marisa talk with Assemblywoman Dr. Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, about the ongoing stay-at-home order and the timeline of the Legislature’s return to Sacramento. Weber also shares the story of her father fleeing a lynch mob in Arkansas, and discusses the influence of her elementary school teachers and her hopes for education and criminal justice reform in the coming years.
  • California parents of special education students find ways to cope with unique challenges during school closures
    • Seeing his behavioral therapist used to be the best part of the day for Jesse, a 5-year-old in Lake County with moderate autism. Now it’s his worst. For thousands of students like Jesse enrolled in special education in California, the school closures in response to the coronavirus pandemic have been especially burdensome. Accustomed to routines and close relationships with their teachers and therapists, students — and their families — are now trying to cope with a confusing, frustrating new reality — with no end in sight.
  • 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. 
  • 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.  The Department of Education recently announced its digital divide task force, which had about as many teeth as George Washington.  Here’s how they describe its powers,
  • California school funding formula has a spending loophole; is a recession the time to fix it?
    • A battle is looming in California that is likely to test school districts’ commitments to serve students who are struggling most. Call it the conflict between scarcity and equity.

Other Stories:

Resources: 

  • OUSD Family Central
    • This website is for OUSD parents and guardians to find information and resources, with updated support for distance learning.
  • Schools You Still Might Get Into, and the Latest Advice from Oakland Enrolls
    • Even though the first round of school offers has been sent, there are many schools doing a great job with open seats, surprisingly many.  So if you are still looking, please take a look at this recent Q and A from Oakland Enrolls, and you can see the schools with empty seats in Schoolfinder.

How You Can Help:

  • Help Covid-19 Stroke Survivor Jorge Walk Again
    • Jorge Flores aka Jorge Fp on Facebook is a living miracle. Life was normal just 3 weeks ago until Covid-19 attacked his lungs leaving him on a ventilator while breathing at a 40% capacity. The community prayed and he survived not only the virus, but a 3-day coma, and a stroke. The stroke has left Jorge without the use of his legs, so Jorge requires rehab to walk again. Jorge is best known in the community for his work with OCCUR and as office manager of the David Glover Media Center serving East Oakland. He has served the organization for many years with his talent, commitment and kindness. He is grateful to God for saving his life and hopes you can support him during his time of need. At Eden Hospital in Castro Valley, Jorge says he saw many die and “had the blanket placed over the body” but God spared his life and strengthens him daily. He appreciates being alive and your help will be a blessing to him so he can focus on being able to walk again.
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