The Oakland Education Week in Review: 11/9-11/15

Last week, a parent critique on Tech’s minimesters, an Oakland native wins VP, housing solutions in Oakland and how OUSD can help, an interview with Toni Cook, looking at enrolment reforms for equity, the actual role played by cops in schools, the recent elections, and so much more please read, share and get involved

Oakland:

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Oakland:

  • Oakland Tech Distance Learning Model of minimesters fails to meet academic expectations
    • Students need consistent exposure to core courses in order to scaffold learning.  The current minimester system has an almost 3 month break during the school year, when students will not get Math, Science, History or Foreign language.  As a parent, my voice is vital, but I have not been able to get any satisfying answers, and parents were not involved in negotiating this “solution.”  We should be.
  • An Oakland Native Has Shown Us We Can Reach the Highest Levels of Power
    • Since California Senator Kamala Harris has now been deemed Vice President-elect along with President-elect Joe Biden, Ruby Bridges appears as a shadow of Ms. Harris in an image of her walking. As the first African American woman ever elected as President or Vice President, Harris would be the first to acknowledge that she stands on the shoulders of people like Ruby Bridges and Rosa Parks.
  • BART Builds Housing on Its Land While OUSD Builds Debt on Theirs
    • While OUSD sits on empty land, and empty and half empty buildings it was encouraging to see BART actually do something with its property for the community, putting forward plans to build 525 units of market rate housing and 242 units of affordable housing in West Oakland.  This is a lesson that OUSD could learn from and should encode into policy.
  • Avoiding False Choices in Enrollment Reform; Yes on Sequoia, Chabot and Brewer
    • OUSD has incredibly segregated schools, and in gentrifying neighborhoods, it is getting worse.  So I was encouraged to see some school communities taking up the challenge of looking at their enrollment rules and how they either furthered segregation or interrupted it.  Unfortunately, after months of meetings and debate across these school communities, their enthusiasm for equity was met with cold shower and delay at the Board meeting.  A delay that may end up killing the plans, at least for this year, because enrollment opens on 11/16. 
  • Homeless Youth Build Transitional Housing; A Model and Opportunity For OUSD
    • While OUSD sits on empty land and empty buildings, and the streets fill with Oakland families, Youth Spirit Artworks is providing a glimmer of hope, and an example we, and OUSD should learn from.  These folks worked with homeless youth and volunteers to design and build 24 tiny houses, that should soon house these burgeoning architects and construction engineers.
  • The legendary Toni Cook opines on Housing for All
    • The Honorable Toni Cook is a legend in the education landscape of Oakland from the cradle to college.I had no idea who Ms. Toni was — the Honorable Toni Cook, School Board member from District 6, the school board member who made the equity-minded appeal for adequate and additional resources for students who spoke African American vernacular. Infamously known as the “Teaching kids Ebonics policy.” I saw Ms. Toni as one of the always-present black women on campus supporting all the students and teachers. She visited often to admire her daughter’s mastery of teaching the babies — within six months they knew how to read! West Oakland is home to a generation of Black Excellence in Black Education.
  • OUSD Board of Education to Vote Thursday Evening on Declaring November Indigenous People’s Heritage Month
    • On Thursday evening, November 12, the OUSD Board of Education meeting will see the seven Directors vote on a resolution to declare November Annual Indigenous People’s Heritage Month across the District. This is an effort to honor the history, culture and impact of Indigenous people in this nation and the city of Oakland, and support indigenous students, staff and families in OUSD. It’s also about supporting current regional efforts to preserve Native historic sites.
  • Study: Of 2,200 visits, only 6% required response by Oakland schools police
    • The Oakland Unified school board of education on Tuesday will hear the first ideas about what the “George Floyd District Safety Plan” will entail, including the hallmark of the program: Replacing school police officers with professionals who will be more focused on mental health and restorative justice, not punishment and handcuffs. 
  • The Passing of Oakland’s Measure QQ and the Future of Our Democracy
    • In 1971, the national voting age in the United States changed from 21 to 18. “I believe the time has come to lower the voting age in the United States, and thereby to bring American youth into the mainstream of our political process,” said Senator Ted Kennedy on March 9, 1970, while testifying before the Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments. 

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