The Oakland Ed Week in Review: 8/10-8/16

last week, lots on the chaotic and challenging back to school in OUSD, some great work from community to support, the challenges of being a Black teacher, lots on the digital divide and how you can help, the challenges faced by children with special needs, schools with open seats and more, please read share and get involved

Oakland:

California:

Other Stories:

Resources:

Oakland:

  • Office Depot donates over 800 backpacks to Oakland students at drive-through event
    • Office Depot is teaming up with the Oakland Unified School District to make sure students have the resources necessary to start the new school year. Organizers say 875 brand-new backpacks will be filled and distributed to students at East Oakland Pride Elementary School during a drive-through event.
  • Undocumented families face immense challenges as virtual school year looms
    • Even as Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Superintendent of Schools Tony Thurmond, along with OUSD, have been scrambling to bridge the digital divide by allowing schools to apply for a total of $5.3 billion for distance-learning funding, there are hundreds of thousands of children across California who still don’t have the proper access to technology and Wi-Fi. 
  • OUSD shares information ahead of first day of school on Monday
    • Officials with the Oakland Unified School District Friday said students will be learning from home for the foreseeable future as the new school year begins Monday.  
  • Building a Better Bay Area: Back to School
    • Going back to school looks a lot different this year. ABC7’s Building a Better Bay Area Back to School week confronts the many challenges Bay Area schools, students and families are facing during the coronavirus pandemic.
  • How to Get to 100: KIPP Bridge
    • Oakland’s charter schools are engaged in a historic 100% voting campaign to make the voices of charter school communities heard in this election, especially with 4 of 7 seats open on the Oakland school board. Families in Action for Quality Education (FIA) is excited to lift up the voices of our stakeholders across Oakland charter schools! With this blog, we hear from students, parents, educators and staff who are working to educate their community around the importance of the election and register folks from their school community to vote.
  • The True Cost of Being a Black Teacher
    • There is no shortage of statistics that highlight how few Black teachers there are in public schools (just 7 percent, according to a study by the National Center for Education Statistics) or how significant an impact that Black teachers can have on Black students; so, if the benefits to students are so clear, why are there so few Black teachers?
  • The Oakland REACH Virtual Family Hub in Action #REACHforMore
    • For the past four weeks, the Oakland REACH has been doing something that has never been done before: opening and operating a virtual summer school for Black and Brown kids through a Virtual Family Hub. 
  • Oakland Unified schools to start Monday without teachers union agreement on distance learning model
    • We are now less than 24 hours away from the start of the school year for thousands of kids in Oakland. The Oakland Unified School District will start on Monday but without a deal between the district and educators on a distance learning school model.
  • Oakland students went back to school today. Here’s how the first day of distance learning went
    • “It is definitely unprecedented; it’s a unique way of starting and just plain weird,” said Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell. “You know it’s the first day; there’s kind of the butterflies, but you’re still at home.”
  • Mixed reviews for Oakland’s first day back to school
    • Some parents say the first day of school in Oakland went better than expected. Others say it went worse. But they all agree, it was a challenge.
  • Pet puke on the laptop and chem class from the car: scenes from Oakland’s first day of school
    • On the first day of school, students usually fret about their outfits, their class schedules, or what teachers they have, but Monday brought a new set of challenges for the Oakland Unified School District’s 35,000 students. The county and state are requiring distance learning until coronavirus cases in Alameda County recede, so teachers once again taught through Zoom calls while parents tried to troubleshoot technology issues and teens FaceTimed with their friends between classes. The Oaklandside followed two parents, two students, a teacher, and a school principal, as they navigated the first day of school. Here’s what happened.
  • Oakland Unified opens virtually with thousands of students lacking computers and hotspots
    • Acitywide campaign in Oakland raised $12.5 million to purchase computers and Wi-Fi hotspots to equip students for distance learning, but school began on Monday and many students did not have what they needed to join in virtually.
  • Oakland Unified School District reaches tentative agreement with teachers’ union
    • The Oakland Unified School District has reached a tentative agreement with the teachers’ union. The two sides have been negotiating logistics related to distance learning.
    • “This is definitely the most unusual school year,” OUSD Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell said.

California:

  • Los Angeles is ground zero for the interpretation of California’s new charter schools law
    • L.A. Unified’s school board is expected this week to approve a policy detailing how the district will implement AB 1505.
  • How should California define student success in 2020?
    • What does it mean for young people to be prepared for future success? How can we anticipate their needs in a world that is so unpredictable, as we have learned over the past few months? Can existing knowledge provide educators and communities with confidence that we can equitably and holistically prepare young people for future success?
  • Amid Pandemic, Young Kids With Special Needs Missing Out On Services
    • The danger, advocates for children with special needs said, is that these kids are missing out on interventions at a critical moment in their lives. For all children, the period between birth and age 5 is a time of rapid physical and neurological development that lays the foundation for future well-being. For children with special needs and other health conditions, intervening early with supports such as socialization programs and occupational, speech, behavioral and vision therapy can dramatically improve their ability to navigate their challenges.

Other Stories:

  • Access Denied Ep. 5: How We Make #InternetForAll a Real Thing (ft. Chris Lewis of Public Knowledge)
    • As a country, we were able to bring phone lines, electricity, and running water to households across America no matter how rural, far apart, or congested homes may be. We did it once, and we must do it again for internet connectivity. 
  • This Black-owned telecom company is making sure people stay connected through the pandemic
    • Entrepreneur and inventor Freddie Figgers says he’s already spent millions to help people during the pandemic. And he’s just getting started.
  • Closing the Digital Divide
    • Digital equity is no longer a theoretical problem in these days of at-home learning. If students don’t have computing devices or internet access at home, they won’t be getting the same education as their classmates who do. They can’t hand in assignments to the LMS; they won’t be taking the latest gaming or flashcard challenge; and they certainly won’t be attending web class.
  • FCC Commissioner and Former Ed. Secretary: We Need a National Policy on Internet Access
    • Many local officials across the country are balancing the advice of public-health experts against the administration’s reckless demands to open all schools everywhere with in-person instruction, regardless of the threat to the health of students, families, teachers, and staff. Some of the largest school districts across the nation already have announced that their schools will rely on remote instruction or a mix of in-person and distance learning. The simple truth is that remote and hybrid learning will be with us for the foreseeable future, as we continue to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic.
  • Want to Support Black Students? Invest in Black Teachers
    • Growing up with Black teachers as mothers, we lived in households where discussions of education were ever-present, involved and sometimes, to our annoyance as children, inescapable. Both of our moms spent their years in the classroom fighting to replace outdated and racially biased curricula, clashing with colleagues who substituted punishment for pedagogy, particularly when dealing with Black students, and struggling against the low expectations of administrators with limited visions of Black potential. 
  • Access Denied Ep. 6: Rural America Has a Serious Internet Access Problem (ft. Garris Stroud and Christina Trosper)
    • Today, the internet is a necessity. Particularly during this global pandemic, the internet is a life-saving resource that connects students to their education, families to doctors, and more. Currently, over 15 million students are locked out of the school house because they do not have reliable access to the internet. During this pandemic, schools across the country are closed, forcing students to learn from home through online instruction. When internet access is poor, students are mailed packets of lessons and are expected to self-teach. This is unacceptable. We need internet for all. Our students deserve better.  

Resources:

  • Advancing Equity in an Era of Crisis: A Guide to Equity in Remote Learning
    • In 2020, the education landscape was dramatically impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. As of June 2020, there were more than 7 million reported cases of COVID-19 worldwide, and over 2 million in the United States. Because the respiratory disease is spread through close contact, many jurisdictions throughout the country issued “stay at home orders” discouraging non-essential travel and contact with individuals outside of one’s household. These orders have required educational institutions to rely on technology as a means of communicating, connecting and learning. Remote instruction requires students to have access to the Internet and to computers or e-tablets, and teachers who are skilled in delivering distance instruction. This requires a district-wide commitment to maximizing academic achievement for every child by guaranteeing access to all of the tools needed to succeed, regardless of the mode of instructional delivery.
  • Charter Schools with Open Seats as of August 10th, You Can Still Apply
    • There are still many great school choices in both the district and charters, if you are still looking, please apply and find the right spot for your child.  Go to Oakland Enrolls to submit your application.
  • Resources for Oakland Families
    • Although the beginning of this school year looks different than most, Oakland schools, families, teachers, and organizations are showing up to provide support and solutions when necessary through this unique school year. A huge THANK YOU to Oakland educators as they’ve worked so hard to prepare for another school year, and adapted their lesson plans to meet our students where they are. We wish you all a school year filled with learning, laughs, imagination, inspiration, and creativity!
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