The Oakland Education Week in Review: 8/17-8/23

Last week, predictable disparities in online learning, and OUSD budget update, some thoughts on improving distance learning, digital exclusion, the pandemic and the need to InternetForAll, OEA and OUSD agree on terms, removing barriers to access in tech, an opportunity to listen to foster youth, all than and much more, please read, share and get involved

Oakland:

California:

Other Stories:

Resources:

How You Can Help:

Oakland:

California:

  • Special education teacher appears shirtless during virtual class
    • A California family is sharing a shocking remote learning scene. A teacher at a local high school logged onto a virtual class while shirtless on Friday.
  • As school starts, California districts try to improve virtual special education
    • As schools in California begin re-opening virtually, state education officials have taken steps to improve distance learning for a group of students who were largely left behind in the spring: Those in special education.
  • California Approves Onsite Instruction for Children with Disabilities
    • Students with disabilities in California will be able to receive face-to-face instruction at schools this fall. Gov. Gavin Newsom and State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond made the announcement Friday and acknowledged that some students with special needs are unable to adjust to distance learning. Families and students with learning disabilities and autism as well as students in foster care struggled when schools shut down last spring. We’ll hear about the unique challenges of remote learning for students with disabilities and what solutions are in the works.

Other Stories:

  • 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.  
  • A Telehealth Project in Cleveland Combines Hair Care and Healthcare
    • A handful of urban barbershops in Cleveland are using telehealth to test patrons for hypertension, part of a new program designed to bring mHealth monitoring directly to an at-risk population.
  • Closing the digital divide requires a coalition on reform of the Universal Service Fund
    • COVID-19 has exacerbated the digital “haves” and “have nots” through remote work, learning, and telehealth, yet our government’s main agency to support greater access and adoption is inadequately funded and functioned to meet this moment. AT&T recently published a blogpost lamenting the rise in contributions to the Universal Service Fund (USF) and arguing for funding reform. The USF funds a series of subsidy programs aimed at ameliorating the digital divide. It is bankrolled by contributions from telecommunication companies in the form of a levy on telephone bills. That amount has risen to 26 percent, up from 14 percent a decade ago. This means that 26 percent of profits earned on interstate and international phone calls goes to the USF. These contributions are passed down to consumers’ bills as an additional surcharge.
  • Barbers and beauty shops with broadband poise to offer telehealth services
    • Craig Settles is an original thinker. I recently saw him talk about a project to get barbers and beauticians involved in telehealth. Being honest I first thought of the Medieval Barber from SNL, and then I remembered how everyone – male and female, all walks and ways of the world – were so happy when the salons opened after quarantine. And I realized it was a pretty genius idea.
  • As pandemic painfully shows, Kentucky desperately needs a ‘New Deal’ for internet access
    • A group of Kentucky leaders, including former education commissioner Wayne Lewis, State Senator Max Wise, and non-profit president Peter Hille, called for a “New Deal” on broadband access in Kentucky last week at a press conference held by the Walton Family Foundation. With more than a third of students lacking access to high-speed internet at home, their case is strong. Kentucky ranks among the worst states in the nation for connectivity.

Resources:

How You Can Help:

  • We Demand Free Internet for ALL Low-Income Families During COVID-19
    • Children are being forced to learn from home due to school closures, and as many as 12 million do not have access to internet. Internet providers have signed the FCC’s Keep Americans Connected Pledge, promising to provide internet to families in need. However, the children who face the most challenges are actually left out of this pledge. 
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