Monthly Archives: March 2013

Local

Oakland Local: Martin Luther King Jr. Oratorical Fest presents 1st place winning poetry

Castlemont Orators
MLK Oratorical Fest award winning poet D’Angelo Crosby, far right with blue ribbon, and his Castlemont High School classmates

March 18, 2013By

D’Angelo Crosby

Oakland’s Castlemont High School student D’Angelo Crosby won first place for original poetry with this poem about his life during the Martin Luther King Jr. Oratorical Fest Regional competition 2013.

 

 

 

 

The Struggle

Mommy and daddy died

When I was young

Felt a lot like losing one of your two lungs

And sister was all I had growing up

She gave me things

But to some people that was a bit much

But I can’t complain

Because things happen for a reason

All the pain and struggle was the best part of my season

And even though sometimes I felt like leaving

It was their love and support that was keeping

Me away from the edge

And leaping

Into darkness

Seeking something that I couldn’t find that was leading

Me down the wrong path

Un-succeeding

Pleading for healing

But only getting a worse beating

Inside it was like not knowing the plays while in the huddle

Or a drug dealer

That couldn’t find their bundle

I tried so hard to understand why

But I guess it’s just the way it is in the struggle
~Copyright 2013 D’Angelo Crosby

To learn more.

Local

The Education Report: Still Seeing High Numbers for African American Male Student Suspensions

Source: Oakland LocalMarch 15th, 2013
By Serena Valdez

At Wednesday night’s school board meeting, Superintendent Tony Smith and a small panel, including two principals, presented the Balanced Scorecard Accountability Report. The topic: suspensions.

One major focus of the report is to work toward reducing suspension rates overall, but specifically with African American male students.

In the 2011-12 school year, African American students accounted for one-third of enrolled OUSD students and 63 percent of the students who were suspended. Of the male students, African Americans make up 16 percent of all OUSD students and 41 percent of suspended students. Compared to other ethnicities in the district, this figure is disproportionate and raises a few red flags.

Latino students, for example, have proportionate suspensions compared to the total students enrolled in the district. They make up 38 percent of all OUSD students and 27 percent of suspended students. Latino males in the district and those who were suspended make up 38 percent and 27 percent respectively.

The report also details possible root causes of student suspensions and strategies schools are and should be utilizing to reduce the number of suspensions and be more proactive to all student success.

The strategies are laid out on a pyramid structure with three tiers of action. The first tier addresses almost all students with early intervention and developing social and emotional learning for all students; tier two focuses on restorative justice and developing manhood for students at risk of suspensions; tier three helps the troubled students on an individual basis.

Read rest of article.

Local

Oakland Local: Join us March 20 for release of study on teaching practices in Oakland (Community Voices)

Teaching Matters PlainMarch 14, 2013

By Marc Tafolla

As a community, we know that no other in-school factor affects students as much as effective teaching. Therefore, Oakland’s parents, teachers and community leaders have expressed a strong desire to help the city’s children access effective teaching in their classrooms. We also know that our children will do best when we work in deep partnership with their teachers to support their work in the classroom.

On March 20, our coalition will be gathering for Teaching Matters: The NCTQ Study Release to talk about the release of a study by the National Council on Teacher Quality, and actions we all can take to support effective teaching in every Oakland classroom (see below for more info).

The Effective Teaching Coalition — which includes Oakland Community Organizations (OCO), SEIU Local 1021, Youth Together, Youth Uprising, The Education Trust-West, GO Public Schools Leadership Center, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights — will host this event to highlight the importance of supporting our teachers.

Last Thursday night, more than 150 Oaklanders braved the cold and rain to join the Effective Teaching Coalition at its first event: “Teaching Matters, Series 1: “The Importance of Supporting Teachers So All Children Succeed.”

Around tables, we shared memories of our favorite teachers and what made them effective. We also talked about roadblocks to effective teaching in Oakland and heard from experts, and a representative from each of the coalition members.

View article.

Local

Oakland Local: Oakland teachers, students, community gather to discuss ways to provide ‘quality education’ for all

teachingMarch 11, 2013
By Barbara Grady

Studies indicate the main driver of student achievement is effective teaching. While poverty, trauma and starting kindergarten with no preparation put children at a learning disadvantage, students can catch up if they have effective classroom teachers for at least three years.

But effective teaching doesn’t just happen; it must be nurtured with mentoring, support and collaboration.

Such were among the findings discussed Thursday night when about 200 people gathered at an Oakland public school for a forum on “Teaching Matters,” hosted by seven community organizations led by Great Oakland Public Schools.

They were joined by Education Trust-West, Oakland Community Organizations, Youth Uprising, Youth Together, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and SEIU Local 1021. Spokespeople from these groups spoke of wanting to support improvements at Oakland Unified School District.

Timed to coincide with OUSD’s drafting and negotiation of a new teacher professional development and evaluation system with its teachers union, the Oakland Education Association, the forum drew scores of OUSD and charter school teachers as well as students, parents, community activists and a few administrators.

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Local

Oakland Local: Oakulture: Respect Our City helps bring peace to First Fridays; The Coup shadowboxes SF, Berkeley’s Birdland winds down

libationMarch 5, 2013
By Eric K. Arnold

The red outline of a neon cross from the nearby Korean Community Christian Church church emanated above 1-O.A.K.’s head like an electric halo, as the Oakland singer stood at the Telegraph and 24th St. Peace Stage, wearing a green RespectOurCity t-shirt and performing a cover of William DeVaughn’s R&B classic, “Be Thankful for What You’ve Got.”

The lyrics—you may not have a car at all, but remember, brothers and sisters, you can still stand tall—seemed thoroughly appropriate, considering the circumstances: Following the prior month’s First Friday celebration, gunfire erupted, leaving 18 year-old Kiante Campbell dead and several wounded, and causing event organizers (myself included), concerned stakeholders, and city officials, to rethink the future of the event, and institute numerous changes, the most salient of which was tightly-curated antiviolence messaging throughout the entire FF footprint.

***

Just moments earlier, District 3 City Councilperson Lynette Gibson-McElhaney led the Peace Stage crowd, which conservatively looked to number upwards of a thousand people, in observing a moment of silence in honor of Campbell, and other victims of gun violence in Oakland. Gibson-McElhaney called for everyone in the crowd to raise the peace sign in the air; a sea of hands followed suit. The hands remained held high for what seemed like an eternity, but was in actuality just a couple of minutes.

No one said a word.

“When that happened, I could feel, this city is still–from [24th st.] to [14th],” said Amber McZeal, a member of the FF organizing group. “It was a change… I didn’t recognize how many people were in the audience [because] all I could feel was stillness.”

The moment of silence was followed by an invocation led by Hub Oakland’s Ashara Ekundayo, who poured several libations into a large bowl, held by McZeal. The peace vibe had been set earlier in the day—aided by the widespread presence of ROC shirts, worn by community members, artists, DJs, event organizers, and Mayor Quan’s volunteer monitors—and was maintained throughout the night, which ended quietly and without incident, around 9 pm. (disclosure: I’m one of the ROC organizers as well.)
***

Even with the new guidelines and thematic programming, First Fridays was still a celebration of Oakland artists and homegrown culture, a point brought home by 1-O.A.K., and all the other inspired Peace Stage performers: Jennifer Johns, The Kev Choice Ensemble, Los Rakas, The Seshen, Chinaka Hodge, DNas, Do D.A.T., Chris Riggins, DJ Aebl Dee, DJ Tap-10, La Gente, and Candelaria. The music was a diverse mix of conscious hip-hop, reggaeton, jazz, funk, electronic, cumbia and R&B.

March 1’s event had less music programming overall; only two amplified sound areas were permitted by the city, the other one being the “Heal the Hood” stage curated by original First Fridays vendor Needa Bee, which featured DJs ((Local 1200)), Ras Ceylon, and numerous spoken word artists, poets, and youth organizers.

There was still lots of art on display, including the interactive paint wall at “the Art Zone,” along with local artisans and vendors. I did see less public drinking, though I wouldn’t say there was 100% compliance with zero tolerance. Overall, the event seemed less chaotic than in previous months, and the reduced number of sound systems resulted in less aural bombardment from every direction.

If heads can remain cool and calm, First Fridays might have a future after all.

View entire article.

National

This American Life: Harper High

488_lg_replaceFebruary 15/22, 2013

This American Life spent five months at Harper High School in Chicago, where last year alone 29 current and recent students were shot. 29. They went to get a sense of what it means to live in the midst of all this gun violence, how teens and adults navigate a world of funerals and Homecoming dances. We found so many incredible and surprising stories, this show is a two-parter.

Part One.

Part Two.

Local

The Education Report: Violence is Traumatic for Teachers, Too

81st March 4, 2013
By Serena Valdez

Stacey Smith is an Oakland school district parent and volunteer who has served on the District GATE Advisory Committee, the school board’s Special Committee on School Based Management, and the Community Advisory Committee for Special Education. What she writes about does not reflect the view of any group.

You may have caught the recent news about street violence near New Highland Academy. On January 10th, teachers and children were preparing to leave on their regular visit to the nearby 81st Avenue Public Library branch when gunfire broke out and about sixty shots were fired. After this traumatic incident, visits to the library ended completely because it was considered too dangerous. The Oakland Tribune’s Tammerlin Drummond wrote a column about the incident and the police-escorted “peace march” to the library a couple of weeks ago that the teachers and the Lincoln Child Center helped organize to create some closure for the second- and third-graders. The march was widely covered and news reports focused on violence the children experience daily both in and near school and at home. Many touched on the trauma counseling the students received and teachers spoke of the great need to support the children. But something seemed missing to me.

Who is helping the teachers and school site staff with their own trauma?

I tracked down Susan Andrien, MFT, who is a Program Manager at the Lincoln Child Center. She told me that her organization has both full-time and part-time staff working on-site at both New Highland Academy and RISE. Both school communities experience high levels of violence including while at school. Last year there were nineteen lockdowns at RISE and as one New Highland Academy teacher mentions in Drummond’s column, the school actually has color codes that indicate the severity of the frequent lockdowns. One teacher shared how the staff was “profoundly impacted” by their situation. The need for student mental health services in these schools is well beyond the available capacity. And for teachers, there is even less support.

“They’re holding so much,” Ms. Andrien says of the teachers. “They’re doing the best they can to manage it and many of them are traumatized themselves, from what they see or hear from the students and from experiencing the violence themselves. They’re doing a great job but they need more support.”

Ms. Andrien discussed the very real consequences of the trauma for adults, like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). And a quick internet search confirmed there are many other effects: greater risk for depression, substance abuse, general anxiety, and stress that gets in the way of healthy living. I wonder how many teachers and site staff are affected to the point that work and home life are impacted. My heart goes out to these folks, people who have taken on the difficult job of teaching plus the added challenge of navigating dangerous workplace environments to do their jobs.

The good news is that there is some recognition that the adults need mental health support too. Ms. Andrien told me that in addition to the work Lincoln Child Center is doing to provide some coaching and support to teachers and principals, the Oakland Unified School District is looking at a mental health support model that grew out of 9/11 and the lessons learned from treating the mental health needs of responders in New York City. I’m going to look into this and hope I have something to report on in the near future.

The bad news is that it sounds like any substantial plan to provide support for school staff who experience violence is still only in the planning stages. In the meantime, we have a lot of teachers and other site staff out there who continue to be exposed to violence every day and who may not be getting the support they need to cope with the issue. As one teacher confessed, “I worry that the District will lose many great educators if their fears aren’t addressed.”

Of course, violence and its related trauma are not limited to these two schools. Are you a teacher or staff member facing this problem at New Highland Academy, RISE or another site? How does the violence affect you and your colleagues? Are you getting the support you need and, if not, what do you think would help?

View article.