last week, negotiations continue on back to school, OUSD needs your feedback on getting back, an amazing project for homeless youth, Berkeley unified start on staff housing, lots of drama in the reopening debate, the reparations debate, policies matter and some evidence of that, the FCC gives some needed help to families, all that and more, please read share and get involved. Please join our “Black Male Teachers Matter” Podcast as well.
Oakland:
- District and Citywide Monthly Attendance Challenge
- Sheltering dreams takes small village
- Labor Update: Working to reach an agreement, OUSD Press Release
- Do You Want Your Child Back in School this Year or to Keep Distance Learning? OUSD TK-5 Families: Please Submit the Student Preference Form by Mar. 2
- BUSD takes step toward building affordable housing for teachers, staff
- Oakland teacher points finger at ‘rich white parents’ in reopening debate
- All Black Children Matter: How We Can Fix the OUSD Reparations Policy to Include Every Black Child
California:
- California’s Black students benefited greatly from college policy changes. Advocates have more ideas
Other Stories:
- F.C.C. Broadband Plan Includes $50 Monthly Subsidy for Millions
- The virus can sicken children in very different ways, a new study finds.
- As Harlem Children’s Zone moves to export its model nationwide, Obama’s Promise Neighborhoods offer cautionary tales
Week in Review: 2/22-2/28
Oakland:
- District and Citywide Monthly Attendance Challenge
- The Oakland Unified School District Attendance and Discipline Team is celebrating our community’s collective commitment to get up, show up and never give up through the Everyone & Every Day Counts Attendance Campaign.
- Sheltering dreams takes small village
- As Oakland and Berkeley struggle with steep increases in their homeless populations — up nearly 47% from 2017 to 2019 in Oakland and 11% during the same time period in Berkeley — nonprofit providers are intervening with innovative and lower-cost solutions to meet the demand. Meanwhile, the cities are working on their own projects. Oakland recently purchased a dormitory for nearly $15 million for homeless families and Berkeley has been in talks to open a city-sanctioned encampment.
- Labor Update: Working to reach an agreement, OUSD Press Release
- We have been negotiating in good faith with the Oakland Education Association (OEA) for months in the hopes of reaching a new MOU about the impacts and effects of returning to in-person learning. From the beginning of these negotiations, the District’s negotiating team has had full authority to reach an agreement.
- Do You Want Your Child Back in School this Year or to Keep Distance Learning? OUSD TK-5 Families: Please Submit the Student Preference Form by Mar. 2
- At this time, we are asking all TK-5 families to answer two questions in the Mandatory Student Preference Form for each of their TK-5 students by March 2, 2021. This will let us know if you prefer that your student continues with distance learning for the rest of the school year, OR if you prefer your student return to in-person learning, if it becomes available.
- BUSD takes step toward building affordable housing for teachers, staff
- The plan is to build about 110 units for teachers and staff in the parking lot of the Adult School.
- Oakland teacher points finger at ‘rich white parents’ in reopening debate
- An Oakland special education teacher who also serves as the secretary of the Oakland Education Association added fire to the growing school reopening debate with a pointed Tweet criticizing parent concern that distance learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their children’s mental health.
- All Black Children Matter: How We Can Fix the OUSD Reparations Policy to Include Every Black Child
- Momma taught me early on, Black folks need to stick together. We owe something to the race. We don’t really air our business in public for a smirking crowd. And as one of the founders of the State of Black Education in Oakland, I had somewhat stayed out of the reparations controversy, short of a conversation with someone from J4OS, where I let my disapproval be known.
California:
- California’s Black students benefited greatly from college policy changes. Advocates have more ideas
- Changing California’s college placement rules has dramatically helped Black students — whose four-year college graduation rate has doubled in the past decade to 20% — and advocates have more ideas about how to push racial equity in higher education.
Other Stories:
- F.C.C. Broadband Plan Includes $50 Monthly Subsidy for Millions
- The acting chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission on Monday announced a proposal to use $3.2 billion in emergency funds to significantly subsidize broadband service for millions of households, an attempt to narrow the digital divide that has punished low-income families during the pandemic.
- The virus can sicken children in very different ways, a new study finds.
- A large nationwide study has found important differences between the two major ways children have become seriously ill from the coronavirus. The findings may help doctors and parents better recognize the disease and understand more about the children who are at risk for either condition.
- As Harlem Children’s Zone moves to export its model nationwide, Obama’s Promise Neighborhoods offer cautionary tales
- Harlem Children’s Zone, the renowned nonprofit providing social and academic support to low-income families in Central Harlem, has announced a new initiative to replicate its community-based model of family and educational services nationwide.
What do you think?