The Oakland Education Week in Review: 5/24-5/31

Teens may get to vote in school board elections, graduations and honor rolls are starting, critical cuts to foster youth support, the fault in the City’s plan to address the digital divide, tough cuts are coming to budgets, looking at virtual special education and more, please read, share and get involved

Oakland:

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Oakland:

  • City Council Places Oakland Youth Vote Measure on November Ballot
    • The Oakland City Council voted unanimously at its Tuesday meeting to place an Oakland Youth Vote measure on the November ballot, which would give 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote in Board of Education elections.
  • 2nd Annual Middle Eastern Honor Roll 2020
    • The number of high achieving students we are honoring has grown from 250 last year, to almost 300 this year with GPAs of 3.0 and above.  Recognizing our culture and traditions gives our students a sense of pride, and motivates them to aim high and achieve their goals. This Second Annual celebration is historic. It is, of course, not how any of us imagined any graduation, promotion, or honor roll celebration would look. We wish we could celebrate together but the universe had other plans. Regardless, we are thrilled we can celebrate our students under any and all circumstances.
  • A Special Message from the Foster Youth Advisory Committee: At a Crossroads in our Support for OUSD Foster Students
    • Join us tomorrow, Tuesday, May 26th at 5:30 pm for a most important meeting of the OUSD Foster Youth Advisory Committee.As the 2019-20 school year ends and the Covid-19 crisis continues to bring us closer together, we ask for a renewed commitment to the success and well-being of foster students.
  • Connecting With Kyla-Moving Forward and What to Expect in the Fall
    • Thank you all for working through these incredibly stressful times with such grace, compassion, and care for each other. Our lives have been profoundly changed and I am inspired by the acts of kindness I have seen throughout our community.  Below you will find information about how we will approach the work of reopening our schools, the teams that are being assembled, information about some possible scenarios, and the financial challenges complicating the work.
  • McClymonds High School Class of 2020 Graduation
    • Virtual Graduation Video for McClymonds High School
  • Youth Beat to Host Virtual Screening Party to Celebrate and Support OUSD’s Aspiring Filmmakers
    • Tonight, May 28, Youth Beat will host Creating In Place, a virtual screening party and fundraiser to showcase and support OUSD’s aspiring media makers. The event will include “Quarantine Creations” which are short films, animations and photography all created by Youth Beat students working on class projects from home — either alone or in virtual teams since the quarantine began.
  • Who Gets Paid and Who Gets Served, Why Oakland’s 12 Million Dollar Plan Wont Close the Digital Divide
    • I appreciate the generosity of those that gave to the so called “Oakland Undivided” campaign.  There are literally thousands of underserved Oakland students who cannot get into the digital school house door.   It was encouraging to see the fundraising goal met in less than a week.  I am a lot less encouraged by the actual plan to spend the money, and I doubt whether it will provide a sustainable solution or whether it will actually serve the families it is intended for.

California:

  • Proposed budget cuts threaten safe opening of California schools, leaders say
    • State education leaders on Thursday said proposed budget cuts to education would threaten their ability to reopen safely next fall and that confronting the COVID-19 pandemic calls for more nurses, counselors, custodians and teachers.
  • The African American Achievement Gap and COVID-19: Family Voice and Reimagining What Comes Next
    • COVID-19 has changed everything and education as we know it will forever be changed. We are astutely aware of how it is bringing disparities and inequities within our community to full view. Of course COVID-19 didn’t bring them about as much as expose the institutional trauma of racism and anti-blackness of the institutions we rely on. Our liberation through education has always been at risk within these systems, some say now more than ever. Yet we can be sure our ancestors experienced worse when it came to guaranteeing the civil right to access a quality education. We are at a moment of reflection and re-invigorating our struggle to quality education and the liberation of our people.
  • Virtual special education meetings popular in some districts, but a major hurdle in others
    • In the wake of a federal order for schools to keep providing special education during school closures, one of the trickiest parts of those services — mandatory parent meetings — has proven to be an unexpected boon in some districts but almost impossible in others.
  • Why repealing Prop. 209 won’t engineer a more equitable California
    • One day after the California Legislature reconvened this month, the controversial Assembly Constitutional Amendment 5 was approved in committee, 6-1, under the moralistic appeal of “hope for all.” While purporting to increase diversity and representation, ACA-5 fails to meaningfully address structural issues behind achievement gaps and racial discrepancies for both political and philosophical reasons.

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