Death by a thousand cuts is what the headstone of OUSD will say if we can’t get our fiscal house in order. We have current deficits and huge deficits looming, 20 and 60 million dollars roughly in each of the next two years. And so far the approach has been to keep trimming the edges…
School Choice
The Growing Epidemic of PCSCSS in Oakland
Medical authorities have seen a recent spike in Oaklanders with Post Charter School Confusion Stress Syndrome (PCSCSS). And it is growing fastest among White affluent families. Experts describe the symptoms as a mix of anxiety, confusion and hypocrisy. You can spot someone suffering from the disorder as they sit in their BMW waiting to pick…
The Statistic Every Educator Needs to Know Before School Starts
14% of your students have a suicide plan. 31% report suicidal thoughts, but 14% of them actually have a plan. 1 in 10 females reports being forced to have sex, 1 in 28 males. These numbers are all trending in the wrong direction. And they are bleak. They make your heart hurt and your chest…
Moving Beyond What is Required to What is Right in Charter Schools, The Quest for a Better Sector
Charter schools fiercely defend their promised autonomies, sometimes too fiercely. I get it, the never ending unfunded mandates alongside “we are the government and we are here to help” regulation makes you defensive. Not to mention the poison pills and outright hostile measures designed to hurt charters under the guise of serving children. All that…
If You Only Care about “Segregation” in Charter Schools and Not Neighborhood Schools, Please Shut Up
As a Black man, who works hard to support Black children and families, there are a lot of choke on your own vomit moments watching the public school wars. Neither public school sector serves Black kids well consistently, not the districts and not charters. We need to acknowledge that and own that truth. But there…