What happens when a district has too many schools, and a growing grassroots community wants start a new one. We are about to find out as the Santa Fe community, after a robust outreach process, is going to push on the District to open a new school, when many feel that schools should be closing.…
School Choice
Redefining the School Bus to Redefine the School; Bringing Mobile Classrooms to Opportunity Youth
What do you do if you have students who can’t safely get to school? If you are Steve Good and 5 Keys Charter School you bring the school to the students, with a mobile classroom inside a renovated bus. It’s a thoughtful and much needed innovation and should have us thinking hard, not just about…
Student Voices: A Step Closer to Achieving My Goal and Finding My Motivation
By Mario Castellanos My name is Mario Castellanos and I am an 11th grader at Lighthouse Community Charter. I like to write down whatever pops into my head. In my free time I like to sit down and watch Netflix, and I am curious about many things like archeology and historical events. I’m interested in…
2 Big Takeaways in the Latest Charter and District Comparisons in Oakland
If you haven’t seen Informing Equity: Student Need, Spending and Resource Use in Oakland’s Public Schools, you should. It is a critical first step in understanding what is happening in the difference public education sectors in Oakland and across the range of schools. I will excerpt the reports own big takeaways, but there are two critical…
Celebrating Beginnings and Endings: SEEDS of Literacy Success at Urban Montessori Charter School!
By Kristin Burke Kristin Burke is a TK/K Lead Montessori Teacher at Urban Montessori Charter School in Oakland, California. I look up at the clock. It is Friday afternoon at 2:40 pm at Urban Montessori Charter School. As I stand and observe small bodies moving with voices exploding in chatter, the tiredness in my body reminds me…