last week, a solidarity event with our API family, trying to live anti racism, A powerful forum on Black male teachers, 10 million meals served by OUSD (wow), a look at the experiences of Arab students, offers are out for next year, its time to register, a look at the family survey on return to school, all that and more, please read share and get involved
Oakland:
- Black X A/PI/MENA Student Solidarity Event
- Two Bay Area news outlets show how not to cover an attack ad
- From Raising Anti-Racist Kids to Being an Anti-Racist Family
- Black Male Teachers Matter, Practical Steps to Get, Keep, and Develop a Precious Resource
- OUSD Nutrition Services Team Surpasses 10,000,000 Student Meals in Supporting Student Health & Well-Being, Plus Nearly 3,000,000 Pounds of Food from ACCFB
- Being Arab and Female in These Hallways
- Offers Are Out, You Have Two Weeks to Accept-OUSD Enrollment Office Sends Offer Sheets to Thousands of Incoming Kindergarteners, Rising 5th and 8th Graders on Thursday
- Survey: Majority of Oakland Unified families want their students back in classrooms this spring
- Learning pods and hubs, a pandemic innovation, thrive and evolve
California:
- UCLA report shows voting pattern variations across racial groups in California
- Nurse shortage could make reopening school campuses more difficult
- California teacher shortages could make reopening schools for in-person instruction difficult
- Rising costs of CalSTRS debt takes money from students, classrooms
- Pushed Out: How excessive school discipline against Black girls leads to drop out, incarceration
Other Stories:
- Critics Say Abuse, Harassment Cases Cast a Cloud Over Marten’s Nomination
- In the Stimulus Bill, a Policy Revolution in Aid for Children
Resources:
- Look at Bay Area ZIP codes receiving extra vaccines under state’s new equity plan
- AASAE 2021 Nomination Form
- Elementary Schools that Showed Progress with Black Children, You Should Have Gotten Your Offers, Now Make Your Choice
How You Can Help:
Oakland:
- Black X A/PI/MENA Student Solidarity Event
- Office of Equity High School interns are organizing a 3-Workshop series for Black & Asian, Pacific Islander & Middle Eastern Student Solidarity on March 24, 25 & 26 from 3-5pm for students to discuss how we can build stronger solidarity, in light of recent violence and tensions that have arisen in the last year and that have existed in Oakland historically.
- Two Bay Area news outlets show how not to cover an attack ad
- Some Bay Area news outlets can’t figure out what to do with a viral video accusing a teachers union leader of COVID hypocrisy.
- From Raising Anti-Racist Kids to Being an Anti-Racist Family
- Last summer, so many white families took to the streets to express our outrage over the murder of George Floyd (and so many before him) at the hands of police. For many, it was a first: first time protesting, first time explaining racism in any kind of detail to their white kids, first time posting about police violence on Facebook or Instagram. The significance of this widening circle of white Americans willing to take physical and emotional risks against racism—in the midst of a pandemic, no less—is worth celebrating. The New York Times posited, based on the turnout, that Black Lives Matter had become the largest protest movement in US history. But more than half a year later, it’s critical that we look soberly at that widening circle of white families.
- Black Male Teachers Matter, Practical Steps to Get, Keep, and Develop a Precious Resource
- Join the esteemed Dr. Travis Bristol (UC Berkeley), Sharif El Mekki (CEO, The Center for Black Educator Development), Jason Terrell (ED, Profound Gentlemen), Coron Brinson (The Black Teacher Project) and Dirk Tillotson, to look at the research and effective practices for increasing the number of Black male teachers. We will hear from experts, take questions, and give some practical steps for supporting Black teachers.
- OUSD Nutrition Services Team Surpasses 10,000,000 Student Meals in Supporting Student Health & Well-Being, Plus Nearly 3,000,000 Pounds of Food from ACCFB
- As the Nutrition Services Team in Oakland Unified School District continues to support thousands of students across the city with healthy and nutritious meals everyday, their work has reached an incredible milestone. Since the first day of campus closures last year, which was March 16, the team distributed 10,145,937 breakfast, lunch and supper meals through the end of last month
- Being Arab and Female in These Hallways
- As an Arab, especially a female, you experience differently. It’s kind of rare if you feel safe in the community and sometimes they don’t feel like they belong or fit in anywhere because they look different than others.
- Offers Are Out, You Have Two Weeks to Accept-OUSD Enrollment Office Sends Offer Sheets to Thousands of Incoming Kindergarteners, Rising 5th and 8th Graders on Thursday
- In the middle of planning for an opening of school campuses in the spring 2021 semester, OUSD is also focused on next school year. One of the major milestones for students and families in the District’s open enrollment system is receiving their offers for OUSD elementary, middle and high schools across the city. On Thursday, March 11, the OUSD Enrollment Office is sending offers to the incoming and rising students.
- Survey: Majority of Oakland Unified families want their students back in classrooms this spring
- A majority of elementary school families in the Oakland Unified School District want the option of sending students back to physical classrooms this spring, according to a district survey.
- Learning pods and hubs, a pandemic innovation, thrive and evolve
- Learning pods popped up like mushrooms after Covid struck as the answer du jour for wealthy parents who could afford private tutors. But across the nation, nonprofits on their own or with districts, began creating more inclusive forms serving low-income families. They’ve provided tutoring, social and emotional support, and, in the case of Oakland REACH’s City-Wide Virtual Hub, martial arts, science activities, summer school, K-2 literacy classes and family liaisons for hundreds of children and parents.
California:
- UCLA report shows voting pattern variations across racial groups in California
- Asian American and Latino voter decisions in California are not as predictable or progressive as previously thought, UCLA faculty said.
- Nurse shortage could make reopening school campuses more difficult
- School nurses could play a key role in helping school campuses reopen and keeping students and staff safe during the Covid-19 pandemic, but many California schools don’t have one. In districts that have nurses, most divide their time between multiple schools.
- California teacher shortages could make reopening schools for in-person instruction difficult
- The ongoing teacher shortage, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, means more under-prepared teachers will be in California classrooms when school campuses fully reopen, according to a study released today by the Learning Policy Institute.
- Rising costs of CalSTRS debt takes money from students, classrooms
- The California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) recently reported a 26 percent increase in early teacher retirements in the second half of 2020 relative to the previous year. CalSTRS officials suggest that the COVID-19-driven spike in retirements will not affect the pension plan’s long-term solvency. But even if that holds true, CalSTRS is currently only 66 percent funded and has $100 billion in unfunded benefits. The costs associated with paying off this pension debt are skyrocketing and siphoning hundreds of millions of dollars from classrooms each year.
- Pushed Out: How excessive school discipline against Black girls leads to drop out, incarceration
- The perception of Black girls being more adult-like is one of the contributing factors to higher rates of harsher punishment in schools. Black girls are disproportionately expelled, suspended, and arrested.
Other Stories:
- Critics Say Abuse, Harassment Cases Cast a Cloud Over Marten’s Nomination
- The Senate is set to weigh San Diego Unified Superintendent Cindy Marten’s nomination as U.S. deputy secretary of education. Critics say the district mishandled harassment and abuse complaints on her watch and worked to keep cases hidden from public view.
- In the Stimulus Bill, a Policy Revolution in Aid for Children
- The $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package moving through Congress advances an idea that Democrats have been nurturing for decades: establishing a guaranteed income for families with children.
Resources:
- Look at Bay Area ZIP codes receiving extra vaccines under state’s new equity plan
- Vaccine equity has been one of the focal points of the rollout. In short, it is the state’s attempt to reach the most vulnerable populations and underserved neighborhoods.
- AASAE 2021 Nomination Form
- The African American Regional Educational Alliances® (AAREA®) will host the 17th Annual African American Student Achievement & Excellence Awards for students of African American/African descent on May 15th, 2021. Nominations are due by March 19th 2021.
- Elementary Schools that Showed Progress with Black Children, You Should Have Gotten Your Offers, Now Make Your Choice
- Where you send your child to school is one of the most important decisions you can make. We haven’t had new school quality data from the state due to distance learning, so the data is from the 2018-19 school year and I wanted to highlight some of the schools making progress with Oakland children, and encourage families to visit. Every child is different, and I will break it down into subgroups (schools showing progress with Black, Brown and low income students) in the next few weeks and highlight these schools that have open seats for next school year. You can also take a look at the schoolfinder tool to find local schools.
How You Can Help:
- Oakland Town Hall on Literacy
- NAACP Petition to OUSD: “8 Steps to Success” and Q&A Session
- Tell the FCC to Update E-Rate: Get Children and Families Connected Now
- With schools forced online, the pandemic has exposed just how unfairly access to broadband internet is in our country. Even as government and business have scrambled to close this gap, 12 million students are still disconnected, and they are disproportionately low-income, rural, or students of color.
What do you think?