Last week, the need for tech support for families, a better way to roll out vaccine, some great work at Lighthouse on dyslexia screening, a look at the enrollment system changes and reopening plans, plus the statewide efforts to get open, and the statewide enrollment drop, and its enrollment season for all Oakland public schools, so please pick the best school for your babies, all that and more, please read share and get involved
Oakland:
- Families find throwing laptops and Wi-Fi at students isn’t enough to bridge digital divide
- Why Alameda County’s Vaccine Rollout is Bound to Fail the Most Vulnerable, and How We can Fix That
- Lighthouse steps up to screen students for dyslexia
- OUSD holds info night on returning to school in person
- Three Quarters of Oakland Families want One Enrollment System, Why Is OUSD Changing That?
- Reopening schools: Oakland Unified hopes for in-person learning within next few months
- OUSD could remove mention of charters from enrollment materials
- OUSD Budget Update
California:
- Cases of COVID-19 and New Syndrome on the Rise Among Kids, Especially Latinos
- Newly formed California-wide parent group turns up the pressure to reopen schools
- California public schools suffer record enrollment drop
- California schools report fewer homeless students, alarming advocates
- Initial data for California confirm early grades, low-income children hit hardest by ‘learning loss’
- With Gov. Newsom’s back-to-school plan all but doomed, what might it take to salvage it?
Other Stories:
Resources:
- THE HIDDEN GENIUS PROJECT: 15-month Intensive Immersion Program
- Broadening Access to the STEM Pipeline Round Table
- Elementary and Middle Schools that Oakland Families Should Consider Based on the Data
Oakland:
- Families find throwing laptops and Wi-Fi at students isn’t enough to bridge digital divide
- When schools switched to virtual learning, there was a huge effort to get students in need connected online. But parents in Oakland, California, found they needed more than just technology.
- Why Alameda County’s Vaccine Rollout is Bound to Fail the Most Vulnerable, and How We can Fix That
- Mam speakers in Oakland had a 27% positive antibody test rate. The highest of any subgroup, but unless they have internet, and email, and speak English, there is no practical way for them to get in line for vaccine. And they are not alone, the County’s current process relies on signing up on a website, that does some auto translate (which is notoriously inaccurate) for a few languages. The process itself excludes our most vulnerable families.
- Lighthouse steps up to screen students for dyslexia
- Mam speakers in Oakland had a 27% positive antibody test rate. The highest of any subgroup, but unless they have internet, and email, and speak English, there is no practical way for them to get in line for vaccine. And they are not alone, the County’s current process relies on signing up on a website, that does some auto translate (which is notoriously inaccurate) for a few languages. The process itself excludes our most vulnerable families.
- OUSD holds info night on returning to school in person
- The Oakland Unified School District on Monday evening will host an informational session for families about plans for re-opening schools for in-person classes.
- Three Quarters of Oakland Families want One Enrollment System, Why Is OUSD Changing That?
- OUSD is embarking on a fundamental change to the way that families enroll in public schools. One that will make it even more complicated, requiring families to go to two separate websites to apply to district schools and charter schools. Before it makes a move, it should ask families what they want, because last time they did, when they set up the current system, 73% of families wanted a single system.
- Reopening schools: Oakland Unified hopes for in-person learning within next few months
- Jan. 25 was the day Oakland schools were initially supposed to re-open following the COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020 — but that did not happen… “Based on what was going on in the community and, really across the nation, we could not afford to open on the 25th,” says John Sasaki, with the Oakland Unified School District. “We really want to get our students back into as normal an education model as soon as possible.”
- OUSD could remove mention of charters from enrollment materials
- After years of gradually declining enrollment in Oakland Unified School District, one school board member has proposed a policy meant to stave off future drops—but it has caused some families and school leaders to question whether the proposal will perpetuate divisions between charter schools and district schools in Oakland.
- OUSD Budget Update
- Oakland Community,With the release of the Governor’s preliminary budget, OUSD’s annual budget development cycle is in full swing. Like everything else, this will be made more complicated by COVID. Some important budget takeaways to begin:The latest projection for the 2021-22 year is that we are projected to receive a 3.84% Cost of Living Adjustment. This is much better than expected.Our ongoing expenses continue to rise faster than our ongoing funding.We have one-time funds we can use to address short-term needs, but not our longer-term operational needs and financial challenges.
California:
- Cases of COVID-19 and New Syndrome on the Rise Among Kids, Especially Latinos
- At least seven California children have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began, more than 350,000 have tested positive for the virus and the number of kids diagnosed with a new, rare inflammatory syndrome continues to grow.
- Newly formed California-wide parent group turns up the pressure to reopen schools
- Citing campus closures’ “devastating effect on students’ learning, mental health, physical health and social and emotional well-being,” a coalition of more than a dozen parent groups has launched a public campaign to pressure the state to reopen school campuses as soon as safely possible.
- California public schools suffer record enrollment drop
- California’s K-12 public-school enrollment has precipitously declined during the pandemic, dropping by a record 155,000 students, according to new state projections.
- California schools report fewer homeless students, alarming advocates
- After years of steadily rising numbers of homeless youth in California, schools saw a significant drop during the last school year in the official tally of homeless students — leading some advocates to warn that thousands of students may have gone uncounted during the pandemic and are not receiving services they need.
- Initial data for California confirm early grades, low-income children hit hardest by ‘learning loss’
- The first California study measuring declines in learning during the first months of the pandemic parallels findings nationally: There has been a significant drop in test results in the early grades, with low-income students and English learners showing the least progress in learning.
- With Gov. Newsom’s back-to-school plan all but doomed, what might it take to salvage it?
- Odds are increasingly remote that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to provide financial incentives for districts to reopen schools in February and March will get off the ground. During two hearings on the proposal, legislators repeated districts’ complaints that the initial Feb. 1 deadline to apply was unrealistic and should be pushed back.
Other Stories:
- The first Indigenous Caldecott Medal winner
- The American Library Association announced winners of the nation’s outstanding children’s books this week. At the top of the list is “We Are Water Protectors,” a picture book created by two Indigenous women. It was illustrated by Tlingit artist Michaela Goade and written by Carole Lindstrom, Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe.
- A moment for humility and a new path forward on reading
- Steven Brill’s new tome Class Warfare: Inside the Fight to Fix America’s Schools hits the shelves just as millions of schoolchildren head back to the classroom. Throughout much of the book, Brill’s account of American public education’s woes casts an ominous shadow over the new school year even as he concludes that the good guys just might prevail.
Resources:
- THE HIDDEN GENIUS PROJECT: 15-month Intensive Immersion Program
- Our Intensive Immersion Program is a 15-month holistic mentorship experience that provides computer science, software development, entrepreneurship, and leadership training to Black male high school students entering 9th-11th grade.
- Broadening Access to the STEM Pipeline Round Table
- Join Envision and special guests, including engineers Shane Zackery and Kelvin Lightner, for an important conversation about bridging the gap between the STEM industry and the Black, Indigenous, & People of Color (BIPOC) community!
- Elementary and Middle Schools that Oakland Families Should Consider Based on the Data
- We should be back at school in the Fall, and now is the time for families to choose their school for the upcoming year. February 5th is the deadline to apply. Where your child goes to school can have a huge influence on both their academic and social growth. So, I have some advice for folks based on the data, some changes in OUSD, and my own opinion. But first and foremost, do your homework and find the right fit for your babies.
What do you think?