August means "back to school" for a lot of the families in the neighborhood! I don't have kids (much less kids in school), but the general sentiment from the parents I know is "thank goodness". For me, what it mostly means is that there will be a parade of kids marching down Alcatraz every weekday morning – a bit of entertainment before my morning run.
It's pretty evident that the public school system is facing a lot of challenges, both here and around the country. Oakland Unified School District in particular ended the last school year with a couple different issues; a threatening budget deficit and lead in the water systems were at the top of the list (though both Sankofa and Peralta had negligble levels, so little to worry about here). After-school reading programs were nearly slashed until parents and community organizations stepped in to get that decision reversed. Teachers were on a strike for a day before reaching concessions.
With all that happening, it's important that we figure out how to support the families and teachers heading back! Send me ideas if you have them and I'll get back to everyone:
- If you know a teacher, they might still be crowdfunding for materials in their classroom!
- There's a Board of Education meeting on August 13. Our representative is Rachel Latta – she is also the board director. Honestly, the OUSD website has a bunch of out of date info, so I would just email rachel.latta@ousd.org if you're interested in attending.
- Healthy Black Families is organizing the Village Cultural Academy for middle school students to strengthen literacy and personal expression skills. Look it up if interested.
Also, if you are a student or have a student at home, know that there are free tickets to a Roots game up for grabs if you have perfect attendance for the first two weeks of school 👀
