Last week, working to save a swim program, teachers of the year, OUSD’s efforts to increase equity in college access, a COVID vaccine mandate, a podcast on How Oakland is closing its digital divide and what is next, the independent study law needs updating during COVID, looking at district lines and redlining, all that and more please read share and get involved.
Oakland
- Oakland high school teacher makes plea to help save her schools swim program
- Oakland Tech P.E teacher Patricia Brandt has launched a GoFundMe campaign to provide funding for a lifeguard, allowing Oakland Tech to continue its long standing swimming program at Temescal Pool.
- Celebrating our Educators: 2021 Teachers of the Year in Alameda County
- Alameda County Office of Education recognizes the talent and dedication of seventeen honorees who have demonstrated individual excellence in the classroom, and represent thousands of other educators across the county
- Action on Fighting Anti-Blackness; OUSD’s Promising Policy Change that Can Equalize College Access
- OUSD may adopt a new “Drop the D” policy, eliminating the grade which allows students to graduate, yet not be eligible for state colleges and universities. Eliminating this grade would give families a clearer picture of their students educational trajectory, and ensure that all OUSD graduates would be eligible for CSUs and UCs.
- Oakland Unified could be the next to mandate COVID-19 vaccination for students
- School Board Directors Sam Davis, Gary Yee and Clifford Thompson have introduced a resolution that would require OUSD students 12 and up to be vaccinated, citing the necessity of vaccination to curb COVID-19. Detractors, however, worry that this may be outside the districts legal authority.
- OUSD elementary school absenteeism: a slow-motion train wreck?
- Though OUSD has recently been highly focused on high school absenteeism, parent Brandon Wall worries that the problem of chronic absenteeism is being overlooked in elementary schools, and could have disastrous consequences.
- From 12% to 97%, How Oakland is Bridging the Digital Divide and How We Close it Forever
- When the pandemic first hit, only 12% of low income students had sufficient internet access. Now, this figure has grown to 97%. What has made Oakland so successful in bridging this gap, and how can we close that last 3%?
California
- Who will follow L.A school district in mandating vaccines for students?
- As Los Angeles school district mandates vaccines for its students, it raises questions of if, and which, school districts will follow suit.
- COVID in schools: California to clarify independent study law
- Students unable to attend classes due to the delta COVID variant may now be able to take classes via independent study, as state lawmakers seek to amend independent study bills from this summer. Additionally, schools will not lose state funding as a result of COVID induced absences.
- ACLU Files Suit in Pittsburgh, CA, Alleging Black, English Learners, and Disabled Students Denied Constitutional Right to Public Education
- The ACLU has filed a suit against the State of California and Pittsburgh School District, alleging that Black, English learning, and disabled students were separated into substandard educational environments.
- Why California teens need mental illness education
- According to the California Healthy Kids Survey, 19% of ninth graders, 18% of 11th graders and 26% of non-traditional students in the state endorsed seriously considering suicide in the previous year. A new bill could mandate education on the all too common, and under discussed, topic of mental health.
Other Stories
- Getting to Reading; a Discussion with Decoding Dyslexia on the Class Action Suit in Berkeley, and How the Settlement will Help Children There and Elsewhere
- Join Decoding Dyslexia for an in depth conversation with Deborah Jacobson, one of the lead attorneys for the plaintiffs of the Berkeley USD class action lawsuit. The discussion is focused on the terms of the settlement, and the positive changes that will be made in its wake.
- School boundaries often reflect 1930s era housing discrimination
- New studies show that todays school boundaries reflect the geographic boundaries of 1930s era segregation, and these discriminatory lines may greatly affect quality of education.
What do you think?