We have to do what’s right—when it’s right! - SF PUBLIC SCHOOL MOM

We have to do what’s right—when it’s right! - SF PUBLIC SCHOOL MOM

We have to do what’s right—when it’s right!

A parent speaks on reopening schools

Families right now are struggling to balance working from home, homeschooling their children during crisis distance learning, and the demands of parenting during shelter-in-place. Latoya Pitcher is one such parent.

This past Tuesday, at the October 20, 2020 Regular Board Meeting, SFUSD staff presented progress on school reopening plans. The Board Meeting had a packed agenda with many other items to discuss, and families had to wait a long time in order to hear and comment on this part of the agenda.

Superintendent Matthews went over the dashboard and explained the plan (The presentation is linked here). After the plan was presented, many families and educators spoke and shared their concerns for the safe reopening of our schools.

Lately, I’ve been hearing the refrain that equity work should be reprioritized in favor of reopening schools. The very idea of this is troubling to me. One of the reasons the Board has continued its commitment to this work is because we know it is integral to educating our kids. When folks say antiracist teaching is “extra”, or that taking the time to plan WITH Black families, instead of FOR them, CONTINUE READING: We have to do what’s right—when it’s right! - SF PUBLIC SCHOOL MOM

Arizona: Gov. Ducey Blasts Referendum to Increase $$$ for Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

Arizona: Gov. Ducey Blasts Referendum to Increase $$$ for Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

Arizona: Gov. Ducey Blasts Referendum to Increase $$$ for Education

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, who is often called a Koch puppet because the Koch network donated heavily to his elections, denounced Proposition 208, which would increase taxes to raise teachers’ salaries. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos stood by his side, presumably pleased with his attack on higher wages for the state’s teachers. He made his remarks while visiting a charter school and lauding charter schools for innovation.

Gov. Doug Ducey delivered a scathing rebuke of Proposition 208, the Invest in Education Act, while visiting a school on Thursday with U.S Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

The proposal on November’s ballot would add a 3.5% surcharge on income tax for individuals with taxable income of $250,000 or more or couples making $500,000 or more. The revenue would go largely to raising school staff salaries.

“It would make us the equivalent of Bernie Sanders’ Vermont, or New York state or Washington, D.C.,” he said in response to a question about U.S. Sen. Bernie CONTINUE READING: Arizona: Gov. Ducey Blasts Referendum to Increase $$$ for Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

Sacramento Area School Districts All Taking Different Paths To Reopening - capradio.org

Sacramento Area School Districts All Taking Different Paths To Reopening - capradio.org

Sacramento Area School Districts All Taking Different Paths To Reopening

When Sacramento health officials gave schools the green light to re-open for in-person instruction on Oct. 13, administrators with the county’s 13 school districts went into a planning frenzy. Twin Rivers Unified School District Superintendent Steve Martinez was one of them.

“Boy, this is one of the few times since I’ve been at Twin Rivers that I haven’t been able to identify the right path that’s going to satisfy the majority of people,” Martinez said to the district’s board during a special Oct. 20 meeting devoted to deciding when to return.

“You have folks who want to return, and you have folks that don’t want to return," he said. "And at the end of the day, I think about our kids.”

Twin Rivers Unified’s board voted to reopen schools doors in a hybrid model on Jan. 19, 2021. The district is just one of many that have decided to return to in-person schooling, or are in the process of doing so. And there’s wide variation in how and when districts will be re-opening their doors as counties in the Sacramento region loosen restrictions.

Sacramento City Unified School District has not set a date to resume in-person schooling, but it has opened six “learning hubs” where kids of essential workers and students with special needs can learn online while being supervised. They’re also given breakfast and lunch.

Folsom Cordova Unified School District decided to re-open to elementary school students in early November. Middle schoolers will return later that month, and high schoolers will come back in January. 

San Juan Unified School District will have in-person instruction starting Jan. 5, but students can choose to remain in a distance-learning option. Students with special needs will return in early November.

Yolo County’s five school districts don’t have any plans yet to bring back the majority of CONTINUE READING: Sacramento Area School Districts All Taking Different Paths To Reopening - capradio.org

Sacramento: Vote for the Pro-Public School Candidates! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Sacramento: Vote for the Pro-Public School Candidates! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Sacramento: Vote for the Pro-Public School Candidates!

If you live in Sacramento, you have an opportunity to flip the board because four of seven seats are up for grabs.

Fortunately, there is an excellent pro-public school slate with four outstanding candidates, each of whom has been endorsed by Sacramento City Teachers Association, SEIU Local 1021, the Sacramento Central Labor Council and the Sacramento County Democratic Party.

The billionaire boys (and girls) club wants to buy the school board. Don’t let them.

Vote for :

Lavinia Grace Phillips for District 7

Lavinia Grace Phillips, a social worker for Sacramento’s Child Protective Services and the president of the Oak Park Neighborhood Association is running for SCUSD school board in Area 7. The incumbent is Jessie Ryan.

Jose Navarro for District 3

Jose Navarro, is an information technology specialist who works for California’s Franchise Tax Board. He is a member of SEIU Local 1000. He is running for the SCUSD school board in Area 3. The incumbent is Christina Pritchett.

Chinua Rhodes for District 5

Chinua Rhodes, is a community organizer with Mutual Housing California. He currently serves on the City of Sacramento’s Parks and Community Enrichment Commision and the SCUSD LCAP. He is running for the SCUSD school board in Area 5. The incumbent is not running.

Nailah Pope-Harden for Area 4

Nailah Pope-Harden, is a community organizer and statewide climate policy advocate. She is a Sac City schools graduate. She is running for the SCUSD school board in Area 4. The incumbent is not running.

Sacramento: Vote for the Pro-Public School Candidates! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Big Education Ape: SACRAMENTO TEACHER LORI JOBLANSKI SAYS: CHANGE THE SCUSD BOARD 2020 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/10/sacramento-teacher-lori-joblanski-says.html

glen brown: Dear Retired Teacher: Imagine You Are a Teacher Today

glen brown: Dear Retired Teacher: Imagine You Are a Teacher Today

Dear Retired Teacher: Imagine You Are a Teacher Today

Dear Retired Teacher:

Imagine you are a teacher today. 

You are afraid that you cannot teach effectively because you are afraid: You are afraid of contracting the coronavirus and infecting your family and others. You are afraid of your students contracting the coronavirus and infecting their families. You are afraid for students who ride buses and for bus drivers who bring them to school and home each day.

You are afraid that frequent hand-washing is impossible for students to do throughout the entire day. You are afraid there is not enough space in your classroom for proper distancing. You are afraid of sharing classrooms. You are afraid social distancing and wearing cloth masks for hours is impossible for students. You are afraid of students eating lunches without masks, passing in hallways, and congregating in bathrooms or by their lockers. You are afraid your students cannot safely "socialize" in a pandemic despite the irrational push to send them to school. You are afraid some parents will undermine your safety concerns.

You are afraid of airborne transmission of the coronavirus that thrives indoors, especially in closed spaces. You are afraid the windows cannot be opened or will not be opened in inclement weather. You are afraid your school's ventilation system is antiquated or poor (where air is not properly filtered, diluted and exchanged); that the HVAC system has not been CONTINUE READING: glen brown: Dear Retired Teacher: Imagine You Are a Teacher Today

NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY

NewBlackMan (in Exile)

NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY

Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK WITH NEWBLACKMAN (IN EXILE) - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/10/saturday-october-17-2020-this-week-with.html

Misty Copeland's Children's Book

by Mark Anthony Neal / 10h

'Ballerina Misty Copeland , who in 2015 became the first African American woman to be promoted to principal dancer in the American Ballet Theater's 75-year history, joins us to discuss her new children's book Bunheads , the first in a series of picture books inspired by Misty's own early experiences in ballet.' -- All Of It

Sociologist William I. Robinson: Global Capitalism, Global Police State

by Mark Anthony Neal / 10h

'Sociologist William I. Robinson examines the rise of the global police state - as transnational capitalist power dominates the planet and concentrates wealth into the hands of a shrinking number of elite hands, the surveillance, control and repression of surplus populations becomes another frontier of wealth accumulation and brutality. Robinson is author of The Global Police State from Pluto Pre

Danielle Purifoy: Greenwashing Environmental Racism

by Mark Anthony Neal / 10h

'Lawyer and geographer Danielle Purifoy on her reports " Knock on Wood: How Europe's wood pellet appetite fuels environmental racism in the South " and " As the wood pellet industry grows across the South, Enviva targets Alabama and Mississippi for future expansion " for Scalawag .' -- This is Hell! This is Hell! · 1249: Greenwashing environmental racism / Danielle Purifoy

Left of Black S11 · E1 | Keith Knight on Hulu's New Series: 'WOKE'

by Mark Anthony Neal / 11h

Does being a Black artist necessitate being 'woke' and thus influencing the work that they produce? Cartoonist Keith Knight has attained newfound success with the new Hulu original series, Woke , starring rising star Lamorne Morris as Keef, an artist whose confrontation with the police causes him to question the comic strips he's been creating. Somewhat autobiographical, the series adds humor whi

Devon Gilfillian Re-Records Marvin Gaye's 1971 album 'What's Going On'

by Mark Anthony Neal / 11h

'Nashville-based artist Devon Gilfillian has released a brand new track-by-track cover of Marvin Gaye 's 1971 album What's Going On . Featuring a number of guests, the album was made during quarantine in Nashville. Devon joins me in this session to talk about why he wanted to re-record this album from start to finish, why this music is still so relevant, plus he tells the story of how Chaka Khan

Ben Harper's New Instrumental Album

by Mark Anthony Neal / 15h

'Three-time Grammy winner Ben Harper joins us to discuss his life and career, and previews his first entirely instrumental album, Winter Is for Lovers .' -- All Of It

Friending Thanatos: Richard Seymour's The Twittering Machine

by Mark Anthony Neal / 15h

' Richard Seymour , author of The Twittering Machine , joins Eric and Kate to discuss the “social industry" — online platforms that monetize and manipulate our need to share our lives online. Seymour moves beyond the negative effects social media has on us as individuals and as a community, bringing into view a bigger picture: the social, economic, and political perils that are now at our fingert

A New Picture Book Reminds Black Sons: You Are 'Every Good Thing'

by Mark Anthony Neal / 15h

'When Derrick Barnes began writing children's books 15 years ago, he didn't see Black kids — boys in particular — depicted in positive, affirming ways. His latest book is called I Am Every Good Thing. ' -- Weekend Edition Saturday

NewBlackMan (in Exile)