Champions for Children

Champions for Children is in just nine days away.
Have you signed up yet?

Here is some inside information:
The top fundraiser will get an ipad 2.
There will be a local marimba band to play fun music at the event.
Some students will be diligently walking to raise money so they can go to science camp this year!
There will be lots of goodies just for showing up: magnets, snacks, prize drawings--courtesy of local businesses.
Costumes are definitely welcome--watch out for Grecian runners and other pedestrians in disguise!

Keep checking back for more details and updates!

Growing Hunger in the Bay Area

The New York Times recently published an article about the growing demand for food in Alameda County. The article mentioned the Alameda County Community Food Bank (ACCFB), one of Faith Network's direct partners: "In September, the Alameda County Community Food Bank received 3,770 calls to its emergency food helpline — the highest volume of calls to date."

Many schools in Oakland have increased their nutritional programs, and now 90 schools offer free breakfast to all students. Some even allot some class time so that all students can eat together. A handful of after school programs will begin offering dinner to students who stay after school.

The goal is to give students the option of nutritious food--fresh fruit, juice, milk, bread, etc.--so that they can focus in the classroom. Faith Network volunteers help the ACCFB bag weekend food for families so that children will be well-fed and ready to learn on Mondays.

There is no way that a single organization can meet the growing nutritional needs of Oakland's students and families. Please read the article to learn more about other organizations that are trying to meet the need for free food in Alameda County. Also, please click here to learn how you can be a part of Faith Network's partnership with the ACCFB.

The Office of School Transformation

With all the commotion about school closures and consolidations, the introduction of "The Office of School Transformation" for the 2011-12012 school year has slipped under my radar.

All public K-8 schools are grouped into three regions. Each region is headed by an executive officer and all the public high schools in Oakland are in a single network with an executive officer as head. The new change for this year is an added Office of School Transformation. The goal of this additional network of schools is to lead the "transformation of the District's most challenged schools into high quality learning centers." The network, headed by Matthew Duffy, consists of five middle schools and six high schools that are mostly dispersed throughout East Oakland. All four schools that were named by the state Board of Education as "persistently low-achieving schools" are also in the network. Duffy, a former assistant principal from Harlem, served as principal of Elmhurst Community Prep, a school created from a small-schools initiative.

While I have not been able to find a publicized plan for how the OUSD intends to transform these eleven schools, I will definitely continue to update about this matter. This is a pivotal time for Oakland's public schools as the district seems to be taking on upper grade schools with the goal of transformation as well as the lower grades with the hope of consolidating resources.

ACCFB Recognizes Health4Kids

The Alameda County Community Food Bank (ACCFB) is featuring Faith Network's Health4Kids food-bagging program! Our faithful Health4Kids volunteers have packed over 100,000 weekend bags of food that go to children that receive reduced-price school lunches in Oakland's public schools. These children might not receive adequate nutrition during weekends because their families are relying on the schools for sustenance on the weekdays.
Also featured in the video is FedEx--the delivery service that transports the bags of food from ACCFB to local schools for students and their families to take home.
Faith Network is honored a proud to be a part of this team!
Watch the video here.

School Zoning and Population

Oakland is in the midst of its countdown to announcing public schools that will be closing. On October 26th, the board will make its decisions about which schools to close.
Decisions are based not just on API scores and average daily attendance but also on the percentage of students attending the school that also live in its respective neighborhood. This last factor can prove controversial as a high-performing school (like Kaiser elementary) can close because most of its students are outside of its zoning parameter.

Because Faith Network has been following this story for the last month, I did some research into where students are going and coming from for school. I was surprised to find that many students--often a majority--do not go to school in their neighborhoods. Schools such as Emerson, Fruitvale and Burckhalter Elementary, three schools that have had long-standing relationships with Faith Network, have an average of about 60% of their student populations from outside their neighborhoods. Emerson, which has the highest percentage at 70%, is on the list for potential closure.

To view all the maps for Oakland public schools as well as charter schools, click here.

Schools Named for Potential Closure

Oakland Unified is coming closer to deciding which schools to close. After following through with their proposed plan of action and acting upon their set criteria, board member have been presented the following schools for "possible closure consideration"
Burckhalter*
Kaiser
Lakeview*
Lazear*
Marshall*
Maxwell Park*
Santa Fe*
Sobrante Park
*Schools that Faith Network serves


Two middle schools (Claremont and Frick) were also put on the list, but it is unlikely that either will close.


Please read Katy Murphy's article for the Tribune to get a better understanding of the various voices, concerns, and opinions that have been circulating around these looming proposals.

Oakland to Announce School Closures

On October 26th, Oakland will publicize a list of recommended school closures and consolidations. According to OUSD's presentation on August 24th, the consolidation will serve these purposes:

• Reinforce neighborhood schools by focusing decision-making on where children live, attend school, and where facilities are designed to sustain quality programs long-term.

• Increase access to quality alternatives by prioritizing placement of displaced students, expanding capacity in existing quality schools, and further investing in existing quality school programs.

• Reduce displacement of students and families by considering innovative program designs and the possible relocation of some school programs in tact.

• Consider a variety of factors in decision‐making by taking into account multiple district priorities.

• Integrate school closure among multiple strategies to achieve goals by also expanding school grade configurations, transforming low performing schools in high density areas, increasing quality options, and consolidating multiple schools into high quality single‐school options in some cases.

Currently, Oakland has 101 public schools to serve its 38,440 students. This is a high ratio considering that Clovis has 36 schools serving 38,000 students. In its 6-step process, it looks as though OUSD is going to consolidate low-ranking schools that are in proximity with other low-ranking schools (based on performance, school choice and fiscal health). Perhaps with joint resources, these schools can better serve their students.

For more information, please read Katy Murphy's blog entry in The Education Report.