Last week, check out the school board candidates, OUSD passes a distance learning policy– and gets it right– including local hire requirements, a youth piece on the importance of allowing 16 and 17 year olds to vote for school board, Madison Park’s new building is ready, and lots on the digital divide and starting to get to some solutions. Please read share and get involved
Oakland:
- Candidates For Oakland’s District 5 Share Their Platforms
- Who Gets Paid and Who Gets Played in the Digital Gold Rush
- Getting Distance Learning Policy Right; How OUSD Can Bridge the Digital Divide and More
- Keep the Promise to Hear and Value Youth Voice, Vote Yes on Measure QQ and Give Them the Vote
- Madison Park Academy Ready To Open New Building On Campus
- Real Community Solutions to the Broadband Crisis
California:
- Parents Sue Over Distance Learning in Los Angeles
- Keeping Students Linked in California
- Ethnic studies requirement for California high school graduation is vetoed by Newsom
Other Stories:
- GreatSchools.org launches nationwide ratings update for public schools
- School Attendance In The COVID Era: What Counts As ‘Present’?
- The Federal Government Promised Native American Students Computers and Internet. Many Are Still Waiting.
Oakland:
- Candidates For Oakland’s District 5 Share Their Platforms
- Learn more about the platforms of Noel Gallo, Zoe Lopez-Meraz, and Richard Santos Raya, candidates for Oakland City Council.
- Who Gets Paid and Who Gets Played in the Digital Gold Rush
- Hundreds of millions of dollars will be coming in to Oakland to end the so called digital divide. Major infrastructure projects will grow, laying cables and otherwise extending access into Oakland’s internet deserts. Tens of thousands of devices and broadband subscriptions will be purchased annually, now and forever, and there will be an ongoing need for both technical software solutions and technical support that really meets the needs of families.
- Getting Distance Learning Policy Right; How OUSD Can Bridge the Digital Divide and More
- Tonight OUSD will vote on a plan to end the digital divide in Oakland. It’s a good first step and one we need. Despite a rocky road to the vote, it’s a good policy, that reflects the values of OUSD. Now we have to put it into practice.
- Keep the Promise to Hear and Value Youth Voice, Vote Yes on Measure QQ and Give Them the Vote
- Measure QQ is a reflection of a growing national movement to allow 16 and 17 year olds to vote in school board elections. Across the country, students are realizing that their lack of voice in their own school boards is not only harmful, but a failure of democracy. From Takoma Park, Maryland to our own neighbor of Berkeley, smaller cities have passed their own versions of Measure QQ, expanding certain voting rights to youth. Even our larger neighbor, San Francisco, has a similar measure on their November ballot. Youth Vote is a movement, and like many before, Oakland is at the front of it.
- Madison Park Academy Ready To Open New Building On Campus
- The Madison Park Academy is ready to open the doors of its campus’ new building in East Oakland’s Sobrante Park neighborhood, Oakland Unified School District officials said.
- Access Denied, Episode 12: Real Community Solutions to the Broadband Crisis
- This week, we are pleased to host a number of guests, all focused on bringing positive change to families through closing the #digitaldivide. Mark Hurty is a Product Manager at EducationSuperHighway, a nonprofit dedicated towards upgrading the internet access in every public school classroom in America. He is also running for a seat on the Oakland Schoolboard, and is a former public school teacher. We are also joined by three incredible members from The Oakland REACH: Michael De Sousa, Ericka Njumanze, and Pastor Guy Robinson. The Oakland REACH is a parent-run, parent-led group committed to serving families in the most underserved communities to demand high-quality schools for children. Ericka Njumanze is a Oakland REACH Family Liaison, and a parent of 6 Oakland public school students. Pastor Guy Robinson is a pastor and is also an Oakland REACH Literacy Liberation Center participant, and is a grandparent to 3 Oakland public school students. Michael De Sousa is a Managing Director at the Oakland REACH.
California:
- Parents Sue Over Distance Learning in Los Angeles
- Nine parents filed a lawsuit Thursday alleging that the Los Angeles Unified School District’s distance learning program implemented during the pandemic fails to meet state educational standards and disproportionately harms Black and Latino students.
- Keeping Students Linked in California
- Across California, 1.8 million children live in homes without high-speed internet, and nearly 690,000 do not have a computer. Moreover, these disparities in access disproportionately impact children of color. Nearly one-quarter of Black families in California and almost one-third each of California’s Latino and American Indian/Alaska Native families do not have high-speed internet access at home. Meanwhile, one in ten each of Black, Latino, and American Indian/Alaska Native families do not have a computer.
- Ethnic studies requirement for California high school graduation is vetoed by Newsom
- Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill Wednesday that would have required all high school students in California to take an ethnic studies course to graduate — a move he said was driven by concerns that the draft curriculum was biased.
Other Stories:
- GreatSchools.org launches nationwide ratings update for public schools
- GreatSchools.org, the leading provider of school information, is launching updated Equity and Summary Ratings for K-12 public schools across the nation today. The new methodology gives parents, advocacy organizations, and other community stakeholders a view of school quality that prioritizes equitable outcomes. The new Equity Rating will now include student growth and college readiness metrics in addition to proficiency rates. The Summary Rating will also shift to emphasize student growth relative to test score performance in order to focus on how well schools are helping students learn each school year.
- School Attendance In The COVID Era: What Counts As ‘Present’?
- From shiny red pencils reading “My Attendance Rocks!” to countless plaques and ribbons and trophies and certificates and gold stars: For as long as anyone can remember, taking attendance — and rewarding kids for simply showing up — is a time-honored school ritual. Yet now, like so many other aspects of education, that simple measure — “here” or “absent” — is not so simple anymore. States are having to update their attendance policies to cover the realities of virtual learning. And where school is being held in-person, strict coronavirus health protocols mean students must now stay home at the slightest sign of illness, or to quarantine in case of a potential exposure.
- The Federal Government Promised Native American Students Computers and Internet. Many Are Still Waiting.
- Native American students in BIE operated schools were forced to start the school year without adequate technology, sometimes sharing a single computer among siblings, because the agency disbursed funding late and failed to purchase equipment in time.
What do you think?