ByZack Haber Former site of Lakeview Elementary School, a majority Black school which OUSD closed in 2012. Lakeview Elementary was a majority Black public school. Currently American Indian Charter School, a majority none Black school, has taken over its campus. The Reparations for Black Students Resolution would protect schools like Lakeview, who have at least 30% Black students, from facing closure. Photo by Zack Haber on March 9.
During a Oakland School Board meeting last month, the Board decided to delay a vote to approve The Reparations for Black Students Resolution until March 24, preventing the resolution from being approved during Black History Month and frustrating many who had organized and advocated for the bill’s passing.
As recall threat grows, California Gov. Gavin Newsom shifts his governing style, pushing reopenings
Taryn Luna
Throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Gavin Newsom has often talked about his desire to reopen schools. It wasn’t until the final days of last year, however, that he introduced a plan to speed up a return to the classroom.
Facing the very real possibility of a recall election in the fall, getting children back to class and stemming growing frustration among parents has emerged as a top priority for Newsom.
“Parents want to know when their kids can go back to school safely,” said Robin Swanson, a Democratic political consultant, who added that safeguards such as vaccines for teachers and personal protective equipment are important to many parents. “If you lose parents, you lose California.”
Supporters of an effort to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom are poised to put the matter on the ballot. Here are the details.
The governor unveiled his proposal just one day after news that a $500,000 donation had been made to the GOP campaign working toward a recall election this year. Newsom’s public image had been battered for weeks after he attended a lobbyist’s birthday party at the upscale French Laundry restaurant in Napa Valley despite advising Californians to avoid similar gatherings.
With his plan bogged down in the Legislature, Newsom announced last week that California would reserve a portion of its weekly vaccine supply for teachers and school staff in an attempt to return educators to campus. Even so, the political pressures have continued to mount.
The State Board of Education in California voted unanimously to prepare to apply for more flexible standardized testing options this year as nearly 80% of students across the state continue with distance learning.
States are required to conduct standardized tests every year in math, English language arts and science, according to both state laws and the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. When schools shut their buildings in March last year due to the pandemic, however, state officials said districts did not have to administer the tests, pending getting a waiver from the U.S. Department of Education under then-Secretary Betsy DeVos. The department quickly granted waivers to all states relieving them of their testing obligations.