last week, enrollment changes in OUSD and decreasing segregation, some great work from Castlemont staff, candidate forums, a powerful conversation with Dr. Charles Cole, OUSD considers using its vacant land for housing (duh), info on school reopening from the county, some progress on facilities in OUSD, a great interview with Rachel Latta on equity and choice, the SOBEO voter guide, lots on the digital divide and more, please read share and get involved
Oakland:
- How can Oakland schools fight school segregation? One middle school may have an answer
- Castlemont coaches create refuge for students as athletic programs stall
- Fighting for Our Futures: Youth Candidates Forum
- OUSD Highlights Numerous Major Facilities Projects and Thanks Voters for Approving Measure J Which Funded the Projects
- East Bay teachers issue list of demands before reopening schools to avoid ‘yo-yo’ effect
- A Conversation with Dr. Charles Cole
- OUSD’s Opportunity on Housing, Public Lands for Public Uses
- Statement from Alameda County Superintendent of Schools L. Karen Monroe on a Timeline for Reopening Secondary Schools
- Girls from Across OUSD Set to Come Together on Thursday for an Online Pre-Halloween Science Event Called Spooky Science Night
- OUSD Celebrates Unique New Central Kitchen with Capacity to Create 35,000 Meals Per Day, and Serve as Farm and Educational Facility
- Making the Equitable Choice the Easy Choice, Five Questions for Midwife, Mother and Activist Rachel Latta
California:
- Academic testing looks very different in California during distance learning
- California student activists push to lower voting age to advocate for change
- Report estimates that up to 500,000 students across California — and 1 to 3 million kids nationwide — have been missing from schools since March
- When School Boards Diversify, Spending Priorities Shift. Here’s How
- California districts hoping voters will allow them to borrow $13 billion
Other Stories:
Resources:
- Oakland Pre-Registration
- Charter Schools with Open Seats as of October 27th
- Cash grants for current/former foster youth!
- SOBEO Voter Guide
How You Can Help:
Oakland:
- How can Oakland schools fight school segregation? One middle school may have an answer
- Edna Brewer Middle School in Oakland’s Glenview neighborhood is one of the district’s most diverse schools. Teachers and parents have a plan to keep it that way.
- Castlemont coaches create refuge for students as athletic programs stall
- On July 10, the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) announced that the fall semester would begin online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ten days later the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) delayed sports seasons until December at the earliest. For the first four months of the school year, usually peak high school football season, Castlemont players will be without official practices or games.
- Fighting for Our Futures: Youth Candidates Forum
- Recording of the zoom forum co-hosted by the Oakland Youth Advisory Commission and OUSD’s All City Council
- OUSD Highlights Numerous Major Facilities Projects and Thanks Voters for Approving Measure J Which Funded the Projects
- Over the past month, OUSD has been showing off facilities projects that came to fruition largely because of the support of Oakland voters. Measure J enabled the District to totally rebuild the Glenview Elementary School campus, create a new high school building at Madison Park Academy, rebuild much of the Fremont High School campus and add an academic building, and build a new Central Kitchen that will create tens of thousands of meals a day and provide educational opportunities for students across Oakland.
- East Bay teachers issue list of demands before reopening schools to avoid ‘yo-yo’ effect
- Almost three months into distance learning because of the coronavirus pandemic, nearly two dozen teachers organizations in the East Bay publicly announced on Monday their demands before they’d consider offering in-person classes.
- A Conversation with Dr. Charles Cole
- I had the opportunity to sit with Dr. Cole in an intimate Zoom conversation about his experiences navigating shelters and housing insecurity as a young person. And I also needed his policy advice as I introduce new legislation that would compel OUSD to build accessible housing for the thousands of unsheltered youth and their families. Creating workforce housing to help combat the gentrification and astronomical cost to live in the Bay Area is another goal of this policy.
- OUSD’s Opportunity on Housing, Public Lands for Public Uses
- Oakland Unified is one of the cities largest landowners. They own over 500 acres, have 6 sites that are completely unoccupied, 49 acres of totally undeveloped land and hundreds of acres of outdoor space that is used as parking, playgrounds, and gardens. They also have 11-12,000 empty seats in buildings they use, but have suffered from declining enrollment. Meanwhile our City has an immense housing problem.
- Statement from Alameda County Superintendent of Schools L. Karen Monroe on a Timeline for Reopening Secondary Schools
- Today’s health order update by the Alameda County Public Health Department outlining the timeline for the reopening of secondary (middle and high) schools is another important step forward.Our school leaders and I approach this announcement as we have with others – with a sense of cautious optimism, knowing the significant challenges that lie ahead and the obstacles still to come in bringing our students and staff, particularly in our public districts, back into classrooms.
- Girls from Across OUSD Set to Come Together on Thursday for an Online Pre-Halloween Science Event Called Spooky Science Night
- Scientific Adventures for Girls, Chabot Space & Science Center and the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department at Stanford University are co-hosting an exciting Family STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math) Night for students and their families. On Thursday night, a virtual, yet hands on event called Spooky Science Night is aimed at giving girls a deeper appreciation for science with jaw-dropping science demonstrations such as blowing up marshmallow monsters in a vacuum chamber and activities including making “Dancing Ghosts” with balloons. Students from numerous OUSD elementary schools will be taking part, including Emerson, Esperanza, Hoover, Madison Park, Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary, Peralta and Sankofa United, along with girls from other school districts.
- OUSD Celebrates Unique New Central Kitchen with Capacity to Create 35,000 Meals Per Day, and Serve as Farm and Educational Facility
- During a year in which Oakland Unified School District had to completely rethink school meals because of the pandemic, OUSD is proud to show off its new and unique Central Kitchen that’s approaching completion. The facility, which is located at 29th and West streets in West Oakland, will serve up to 35,000 student meals per day once it’s operational. But it’s not just a kitchen capable of feeding all OUSD students who receive student meals, it will also be a one-acre urban farm and school facility that educates students in farming, nutrition and the culinary arts, among other topics.
- Making the Equitable Choice the Easy Choice, Five Questions for Midwife, Mother and Activist Rachel Latta
- We have been thrilled by the reaction to our panel, Beyond Nice Parents, a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to everyone who tuned in–both live and later (we’ve had over 9k views to date), and all of those that have reached out to encourage us to keep the conversation alive.
California:
- Academic testing looks very different in California during distance learning
- Even simple quizzes aren’t immune to the challenges brought on by the pandemic. Some teachers are finding it difficult to replicate in-person assessments in an online classroom during distance learning.
- California student activists push to lower voting age to advocate for change
- California student activists are mobilizing to try to lower the voting age in some elections so their views can be heard more forcefully from the polling booth.
- Report estimates that up to 500,000 students across California — and 1 to 3 million kids nationwide — have been missing from schools since March
- Between 1 to 3 million students in the U.S. possibly haven’t attended school since pandemic-related closures began in March, according to estimates released last week by Bellwether Education Partners.
- When School Boards Diversify, Spending Priorities Shift. Here’s How
- The connection between school boards and student academic growth has long been a black box. It’s difficult for researchers to tease out the impact of a board policy to a particular outcome, considering all the factors that interact to affect a student’s experience in school. But a new working paper offers a peek inside the box. It examines one element of school boards—their ethnic makeup—and how that affects spending decisions and potentially student achievement.
- California districts hoping voters will allow them to borrow $13 billion
- Sixty school districts throughout California are doing the unthinkable — asking homeowners to vote to impose a property tax for school improvements in the middle of a pandemic when many have lost jobs.
Other Stories:
- Beyond ‘Nice White Parents,’ Lessons From NYC’s Battles Over Privilege and Equity
- Many of us listened to the “Nice White Parents” podcast, and wrestled with the challenges of school equity and how privileged parents can contribute to equity…or undermine it. We will be taking the discussion beyond New York, talking with Miriam Nunberg, the featured guest on the last episode, along with her son, one of the youth leaders in Teens Take Charge. We’ll be joined by advocates from Oakland who will share some of the lessons they are learning and how community members can fight for equity locally.
Resources:
- Oakland Pre-Registration
- Reconstruction is offering 750 Oakland students free unapologetically Black courses on a first-come, first-served basis!
- Charter Schools with Open Seats as of October 27th
- 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.
- Cash grants for current/former foster youth!
- Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, is giving away $1 Billion in response to the pandemic. Some of that relief funding has been given to Think of Us, a small nonprofit that is distributing cash grants of up to $1000 to current and former foster youth. Current and former foster youth ages 14-29 who have spent at least one day in foster care after their 14th birthday are eligible to apply for this flexible funding. Applications are due November 18th – apply now using this link: https://thinkofus.typeform.com/to/TmcWJsIi
- SOBEO Voter Guide
- A few Propositions and Measures we think will make a different in education pathways for Black students, families, and educators, and are good for Oakland and the state
How You Can Help:
- Relaunch of Fall Family Survey
- We are writing to relaunch the Fall Family Survey. Please follow this link where you will find the survey, background video and presentations, and summary of Alameda County health and safety standards. If you have already taken the survey, your answer has been recorded and there is no need to take it again.
- Save the Reach Institute
- We demand a stop to the dismantling of the Reach Institute Instructional Leadership and Masters (ILA/MA) program. We demand the removal of Mallory Dwinal-Palisch from the leadership of the organization and the reinstatement of the ILA/MA faculty. Finally, we demand answers to our repeated concerns that, to date, have been met with deafening silence.
What do you think?