The Oakland Education Week in Review: 3/10-3/17

Last week, lots of coverage of the budget, post strike conditions, and the continuing fiscal crisis in OUSD and layoffs, congrats to our girls’ state basketball champions, new charter transparency rules, good look at vocational ed in OUSD, the need to reform Prop 13, all that and much more with links, please read, share, and get involved

Oakland:

California:

Other Stories:

Resources:

 

Oakland:

  • Legislature Should Cancel the School District’s $40 Million Debt, Says Senator Skinner
    • A growing number of Oaklanders—joined by Senator Nancy Skinner—are calling on the State of California to cancel the balance of the $100 million loan that the state forced on the Oakland Unified School District in 2003 and then spent through a state receiver, with no democratic input from the local community.
  • An Update on Budget Reductions: Moving Toward Fiscal Vitality
    • At last Monday’s Board meeting, dozens of young people spoke passionately about school programs and supports slated for reduction. They demanded accountability and reprimanded the Board and me for not seeing or hearing them. The powerful student testimonials still sit with me, as they should. I am proud of our students for speaking truth to power.
  • Oakland Unified School District Says Layoffs Needed to Fund Teachers’ Raises
    • Teachers have a new contract in Oakland, but it comes with a big cost…The Oakland Unified School District said it has to lay off more than 100 people starting this month to get its finances in check and help pay for the teachers’ raise. Among the layoffs are case workers who help students in foster care. Now those workers worry about what that will mean for many at-risk students.
  • Two different Oakland high schools took home top honors at the CIF State Championship tournament
    • It had been more than a decade since any Oakland Athletic League basketball team had won a California Championship. But on Friday and Saturday, two different Oakland high schools took home top honors at the CIF State Championship tournament. The Oakland High School Girls team won the Division 3 Championship on Friday afternoon. Less than 24 hours later, Oakland Technical High School’s Girls team won the Division 4 State Championship.
  • Booklandia: One Oakland mom’s mission to provide bilingual books to children
    • In 2016, Maceo Cabrera Estevez, an Oakland mom, founded Booklandia. Maceo struggled for years finding bilingual books for her children so, she took it upon herself to create an online subscription service and traveling bookstore that goes all across the Bay Area.
  • After the Strike; Starting the Healing Process and Doing Better by Black Students
    • I was a student at Oakland’s Westlake Middle School in the 90’s during the five-week strike that occurred. While I survived that strike, I worry about how we’ll come together now that the dust has settled with this latest strike. I worry about how the strike has affected all students, Black students in particular.
  • Torian’s Death, Trauma’s Effects, and What We Could Have Done
    • The Town is a violent place. The reaper prowls the “murder mile” and regularly camps in Deep East and West Oakland. And he touches too many Oakland families.  Not even city councilmembers are immune, as we were reminded when Torian Hughes, grandson to councilmember McElhaney, was laid to rest, after yet another seemingly senseless shooting.
  • Charter Schools Are Public Schools and the Latest Transparency Laws Will Make All of Them Act Like It
    • Charter schools are public schools by law in California, and the new laws signed by governor Newsom around charter school transparency will make all of them act like it.
  • Bringing education closer to home helps vulnerable kids
    • Governor Newsom has set a bold vision for California, which includes alleviating child poverty, preventing homelessness and strengthening affordable housing. Taking on these issues may seem overwhelming, but there is good news: an existing model in our backyard can help make progress on all three of these challenges.
  • Beyond CTE: How Oakland Unified School District Empowers Youth for Life Through the Linked Learning Approach
    • Like many other American cities, Oakland segregated its populace by placing African Americans into overcrowded public housing units on the city’s west side and whites into government-sponsored suburban developments on the east side. But Oakland is a city that has been raising its voice for generations.
  • ELLMA: Wednesday, March 13, 2019
    • It can be hard for us to have perspective on how profound our work truly is when we’re in it day in and day out. This week, we invite you to take a step back and appreciate a  window into the exceptional impact teachers and leaders like you have on ELLs.
  • District 7 Report: March 2019
    • This is my report about what’s happening in and around Oakland’s District 7 and the Oakland Public School system.  In this edition, I write about my recent vote on the budget reductions, State Assembly Bills 1840 and 1200, and full and fair funding in the State of California.
  • Teachers of Oakland: Herman Brown
    • I am a native son of West Oakland. I was born in 1951, and I attended all Oakland public schools. Cole elementary, Lowell Middle, and into McClymonds…And I remember standing in line with a friend of mine for a movie theater one day, Lincoln Theater, and we were looking over there, and all of those houses and the barbecue joints and all of that stuff was was gone. Our neighborhood was destroyed.
  • Layoff notices to come after Oakland Unified budget cuts
    • Hundreds of Oakland Unified employees, including restorative justice facilitators, secretaries, librarians, job coaches and reading tutors, could either be out of a job or be assigned to a new one by the start of the 2019-20 school year, as part of a $21.75 million cut from the 2019-20 school year approved by the school board last week.
  • Tallying the Final Strike Costs In Oakland and Hoping for a Way Forward
    • Thankfully the Oakland teachers’ strike is over and kids and teachers are back in buildings. This was a painful time in Oakland for many of us, and there is still healing that needs to happen.  There are tangible and intangible costs to this all—and while we can calculate the lost revenue to OUSD, lost salary to teachers, and lost learning time of students, we may not be able to quantify the costs to the community so easily.  These losses are worth it if we take the next step, to Sacramento for more, and more equitable, funding.

California:

  • A charter school report card: They cause problems. But for many families they’re the solution
    • Echo Park resident Jackie Goldberg, a grandmother, great aunt and candidate for school board, says if she had school-age children, she would not send them to a charter school…Not even the one in her neighborhood that has been called one of the best in California.
  • Opinion: 17-year-old California voters? Nice, but flawed, idea
    • A bill has been introduced in the California state Legislature that would allow 17-year-olds to vote in all elections — federal, state and local. Sponsors say that young people, given the right to vote at an early age, would appreciate the value of the political process, thereby establishing early habits of meaningful citizen participation.
  • California: Did Tony Thurmond Give the Charter Task Force to the Charter Lobby?
    • In two recent teachers’ strikes, in Los Angeles and Oakland, teachers demanded a moratorium on new charters until the fiscal impact of charters on public schools was thoroughly studied. In response, Governor Gavin Newsom asked State Superintendent Tony Thurmond to set up a task force to examine the issues that charters raise and consider any needed revisions in the law.
  • California’s Teachers Are Finally Going After the Original Sin That Wrecked the State’s Public Schools
    • On February 20, just before Oakland’s teachers went on strike, Carmelita Reyes organized a carpool of 35 city principals to travel to Sacramento to meet with state lawmakers. Their plan: to urge legislators to spend more on schools, cancel the Oakland Unified School District’s $36 million in outstanding debt, and revise the state’s laws on charter schools.
  • What Linda Darling-Hammond’s Appointment Means for Education
    • When Barack Obama was first assembling his White House Cabinet in late 2008, one of his top candidates for education secretary was Linda Darling-Hammond, the Stanford University professor leading his education transition team. Her selection would have been a rebuke to the leading school reformers of the time — charter school supporters who fought the teachers unions to advance policies like merit pay based on students’ test scores.
  • Charter school supporters unveil battle strategy against push to restrict growth in California
    • Thousands of charter school supporters gathered on the steps of the state Capitol in Sacramento Wednesday for a high-powered rally meant to send a clear message to legislators: Don’t pass laws that harm their schools.

Other Stories:

Resources:

  • Important Upcoming Event for Educators; A Chronic Absence Working Session With the CORE Data Collaborative
    • Chronic absence is a key barrier to achievement for many students in Oakland and other undeserved communities. In this working session we will share tools and protocols for school teams to analyze the current year’s chronic absence data. Using this information, school teams will identify steps that can be taken between now and the beginning of the 19-20 school year to help improve overall attendance and decrease chronic absence.
  • US Census 2020 is Hiring!
    • Opportunities with the Census: Full and Part-time Positions Available
  • I Got My School Offer for Next Year, What’s Next for Families
    • Congratulations to all those families who applied early for charter or district public schools during the open enrollment period, you should have received your offer March 14th, but applying isn’t enough.  Families will need to accept or decline OUSD or charter school offers by April 2nd to assure their spot. And by responding quickly and also declining offers they don’t need, they can help the system work better for all families.
What do you think?

More Comments