Education

Pt. Loma Nazarene Students Contend With Mold in the Dorms

November 18, 2022 by Source

By Sofie Fransen / Lomabeat.com / Nov. 16, 2022

It is November, the time of year when cold weather and cold symptoms prey on students.

Some students, like third-year organizational communications major Bree Brandon, may not be so quick to peg the long-lasting cough as a cold.

Last October, Brandon got a cold that quickly turned into a two-month-long cough, stopping only when she went home to Colorado for Thanksgiving. Her roommate in Finch experienced the same thing. As soon as they returned to Point Loma Nazarene University’s campus, they got sick again. She then realized that her cold symptoms must be attributed to her living conditions.

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Point Loma Provides One of the Best Locations for a Marine Research Facility in U.S.

November 18, 2022 by Source

Quick access to deep water and a unique underwater topography make the Nimitz Marine Facility home to many key scientific expeditions by Scripps Oceanography and a collaborative Navy.

By Tyler Faurot / Pt Loma – OB Monthly / Nov. 13, 2022

For decades, Point Loma has served as home port to dozens of momentous research expeditions in the field of oceanography. The knowledge gained has led to military victories and medical breakthroughs and has taken mankind to realms once unfathomable. Those successes are owed to an amalgam of factors unique to the area.

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Thousands of Researchers and Student Workers Out on Strike at All University of Calif Campuses

November 14, 2022 by Source

Edited From KPBS

Thousands of researchers and student employees at the 10 University of California campuses have gone on strike as of 8 a.m. this morning, Monday, Nov. 14, in an effort to secure improved pay and working conditions.

Contract talks affect 48,000 workers, including 17,000 student researchers, at the 10 schools in the UC system, including UC San Diego. They voted to authorize a strike in October. UC officials are in contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers regarding four separate academic bargaining units

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Community Colleges Improving Lives of Families on Broadway

November 7, 2022 by Ernie McCray

by Ernie McCray

Just got back from
New York City,
still feeling the electricity
that wonderful town
always vibrates through me,
as I’ve never ended a trip there
without thinking
of better ways
for people to live
and this visit
was no different.

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Recommendations for Candidates to San Diego Unified School District Board

September 16, 2022 by Source

Here are Tom Ultican’s recommendations for the two races for the San Diego Unified School District Board, Area B and Area C.

By Tom Ultican / September 12, 2022

San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) Public school students 95,250 – Charter school students 19,217 – Percent charter 16.8%

Area B

Area B represents northeastern San Diego from Scripps Ranch to Normal Heights. And Godwin Higa is perhaps San Diego’s foremost expert on trauma informed education.

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Making Students Aware Could Get Me in Trouble in a Classroom Today

September 14, 2022 by Ernie McCray

by Ernie McCray

I might be in trouble
if I were in a classroom today,
approaching learning
as I did in the early 60’s,
trying to hip my students
to what was happening in their world,
first, letting them know who their teacher was
as a living breathing human being,
by telling them of my upbringing
as a Black boy
in a city

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‘Best Book of 2022’ – Left Behind

September 1, 2022 by Source

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican

Lily Geismer has performed a great service to America. The Claremont McKenna College associate professor of history has documented the neoliberal takeover of the Democratic Party in the 1980’s and 1990’s. In her book, Left Behind: The Democrats Failed Attempt to Solve Inequality she demonstrates how Bill Clinton “ultimately did more to sell free-market thinking than even Friedman and his acolytes.” (Left Behind Page 13)

When in the 1970’s, Gary Hart, Bill Bradley, Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, Paul Tsongas, and Tim Wirth arrived on the scene in Washington DC they were dubbed “Watergate Babies.”

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Cleaning up the Mess that John Deasy Left at Stockton Schools

August 24, 2022 by Source

By Thomas Ultican / Tulican

The infamous John Deasy resigned his post as Superintendent of Stockton Unified School District (SUSD) on June 15th, 2020. That made his tenure two weeks more than two years which further exacerbated the longtime administrative instability at SUSD.

He apparently steered the district budgets toward deficit spending and left a decimated finance department in his wake while other administrative positions multiplied. Concurrent with his two years in Stockton, money and leaders from organizations bent on privatizing public education were bolstered and became more active.

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A Good Time to Question the Militarization of Students in Our Schools

August 8, 2022 by Ernie McCray

by Ernie McCray

So sad
that law makers,
U.S. Senators,
with all the power
in their possession
to do wonderful things,
knowing
that there are ex-servicemen and women
who have fallen ill
from breathing in poisonous air
in the battles in Iraq and Afghanistan,
chose, instead of lending them a hand,
to play games,

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Teachers Unions Are Selfless

August 2, 2022 by Source

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican / July 27, 2022

Dr. Keith Benson wrote the research paper “Teachers Teach and Do the World Good ….” In this scholarly piece published by Scientific Research, Keith, an inspirational young man and community leader, described the world wide neoliberal attack on public education highlighting the often dangerous stand teachers take to save public schools.

In the introduction, Benson writes, “To be sure, teachers have a rich and valuable history of standing up and pushing for the best interests of their societies, and it is my intent to discuss just some of that here.” (Benson 218)

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Genuine Reforms by Real Education Professionals

July 13, 2022 by Source

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican

The tragedy of modern school “reform” is that it stopped education improvement. Politicians from the Democratic and Republican Parties agreed that government-run organizations were inferior to privatized ones and market forces were the path for lifting all boats.

Their economic theories led to charter schools and vouchers for private, mostly religion sponsored schools. Moguls and legislators, with no education training or knowledge decided that standards, modeled on business practices were, required. It has become a tool for privatizing public schools, controlling classrooms by politicians in capital cities, and is making learning dreary.

It is wonderful to learn of professional educators standing up to this folly and implementing practices promising to undo some of the damage.

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Agency that Oversees California School Districts’ Financial Problems Out of Control

June 10, 2022 by Source

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican

California Assemblywomen Delaine Eastin wrote legislation creating the Financial Crisis Management and Assistance Team (FCMAT) in 1991. Her legislation was in response to the bankruptcy of the Richmond School District and requests for financial help from four other districts.

In 1992, Governor Pete Wilson signed the legislation into law and located FCMAT (pronounced Fick-Mat) under the auspices of the Kern County Superintendent of Schools. Since then, its power has grown and portfolio expanded with little oversight. Today, there is a burgeoning chorus of critics calling for reform or even termination.

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Point Loma High School 2022 – News and Video

June 8, 2022 by Source

Point Loma High alumni have put together a video on the school’s grand re-opening. OB Rag readers have enjoyed previous peeks at the rehabilitated old school, nearly 100 years old, thanks to Peninsula News published online by the Point Loma Association. But now we have the official PLHS alumni video and news from their website:

From the PLHS Alumni News:

Hello Pointers!

Today is Monday June 6, 2022 and at long last the ribbon cutting for the modernization of PLHS is taking place. In honor of that event we have put together a sneak peak slideshow of the newly renovated campus.

Come inside for the video

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Persistent Shooting Questions

May 27, 2022 by Source

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Lessons From the Network for Public Education Conference in Philadelphia

May 19, 2022 by Source

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican

The Downtown Double Tree Hotel where the Network for Public Education (NPE) conference was held has great meeting facilities.

Over the May Day weekend of learning and being inspired, it was an easy trek from the five joint sessions in the large room to the six smaller breakout sessions. The difficult part was picking which of the eight panels available in each breakout sessions to attend.

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Fund uses Oligarch Money to Privatize Public Schools

April 29, 2022 by Source

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican

Born in 2018, The City Fund (TCF) is a concentration of oligarch wealth crushing democracy and privatizing the commons. John Arnold (infamous ENRON energy trader) and Reed Hastings (Netflix CEO and former California Charter Schools Association board member) claimed to be investing $100 million each to establish TCF. Their July 2018 announcement was delivered on Neerav Kingsland’s blog “Relinquishment” which recently started requiring approval to access.

The TCF goal is to implement the portfolio school management model into 40 cities by 2028.

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A Funny Thing Happened in Front of Point Loma High School

April 19, 2022 by Source

The folks at the Point Loma Association online newsletter have done it again. In their witty and irreverent way, they found out about a funny thing that happened in front of Point Loma High School last week. (If you’d like to get Peninsula News, click here)

Here’s their report:

As you cruise by on Chatsworth, we hope you notice the young Torrey Pine trees in front of the school. It will take many years for them to mature and replace those chain-sawed in June, 2019, when construction began on the new additions. So it’s good the trees arrived early in the landscaping process.

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‘My Experiences at Network for Public Education Conferences’

April 13, 2022 by Source

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican / April 9, 2022

In 2014, the first Network for Public Education (NPE) Conference was held at Austin, Texas. My first conference was the following year in Chicago. That was the year after the late Karen Lewis and the Chicago teachers union decided enough is enough and stood strong against a host of privatizers and education profiteers.

Their powerful teachers’ union victory sent ripples of hope to educators across America. That year, Diane Ravitch, Anthony Cody, Mercedes Schneider, Peter Greene, Jennifer Berkshire, Jose Vilson, Jan Resseger, Steven Singer and many other pro-public education activists started dominating social media.

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Petaluma Charter School Lessons

March 29, 2022 by Source

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican / March 23, 2022

A Petaluma Argus-Courier headline read, “Petaluma could soon welcome charter school.” Local prodigy, Gianna Biaggi, had come home to establish the Magnolia Global Academy for Leaders (MGAL). Biaggi had spent the previous year as a New School Creation Fellow at the High Tech High Graduate School of Education. She was exited to use her new training to establish a High Tech High inspired school where she grew up. Petaluma is a unique community with a lot of appeal.

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Suit Charges MAGA Majority on San Dieguito Union High School District Illegally Manipulated New Map Boundaries for Political Advantage

March 15, 2022 by Source

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican / March 10, 2022

Attorney Cory Briggs has filed a suit against San Dieguito Union High School District (SDUHSD) over their new Trustee Area map. California law requires school districts to rebalance the board member areas after each decennial federal census.

Led by Trustee Mike Allman three of the five district trustees apparently decided to use this requirement for political advantage. In the process, the suit claims they not only broke the spirit of the law but actually acted illegally.

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White People Have Noting to Fear About Critical Race Theory

February 22, 2022 by Source

By Joni Halpern

Today there is a raging controversy, especially on the part of White Americans, about “critical race theory.” There seems to be a belief commonly held among White Americans that critical race theory is being taught in K-12 schools, or that teachers who might have learned about it in the course of their academic education are going to use it to make White children feel guilty about their race and culture.

People who believe this do not know what critical race theory is. They are wrapped in rage without understanding the theory. In the process, they are making school boards and teachers afraid to engage in any legitimate teaching about the racial history of this country. The unfortunate truth is, most people who oppose critical race theory don’t even know what it is or how it came about.

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Schools Closings Creating Community Uproar in Oakland

February 8, 2022 by Source

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican

Alameda County has designated Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) with a “lack of going concern” label. Translation: They are going broke and must follow orders to save their district. However, many Oakland citizens are not ready to genuflect; leaving school board members in a trap. Twenty years of billionaires financing attacks on Oakland’s public school system has created a toxic political environment.

In October 2021, the OUSD board voted to end its policy of permanently closing schools every year.

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San Francisco Public Schools Under Attack

January 21, 2022 by Source

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican

San Francisco Mayor London Breed is leading a recall effort to replace three of the city’s seven school board members. Her neoliberal supporters would prefer to replace all seven but the four board members elected in the last election cannot be recalled. If they are successful, Mayor Breed will appoint the replacements. Along with board member Jenny Lam who Breed appointed previously, these new appointments would make four of the seven school board members Breed appointments rather than elected representatives.

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Teacher Complaints, Burn-Out and Turn-Over Roil High Tech Charter School in Point Loma

January 18, 2022 by Source

We’d heard things weren’t going well at High Tech High charter school and network in Point Loma for the teachers or students. And today’s San Diego Union-Tribune article by Kristen Taketa confirmed it.

6th grade teacher Ryan Luz spoke with Taketa and explained the teachers’ view. Here, in brief, are those complaints and issues:

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OB Elementary Teacher Spotlighted

January 3, 2022 by Source

By Rory Devine / 7SanDiego / December 31, 2021

During the pandemic I have been covering education, one of the most important issues of this time. When the pandemic started, I was privileged to be able to follow teacher Joanne Ensign through her experience, from when schools closed and on-line learning kicked off to when schools re-opened and in-person learning began.

It was inspirational.

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Trolley Extension Has Already Changed the Lives of UC San Diego Students

December 21, 2021 by Source

By Manu Agni / Op-Ed San Diego Union-Tribune / Dec. 13, 2021

The Mid-Coast Extension of the UC San Diego Blue Line Trolley rolled into campus for the first time just a few weeks ago, but it’s already making a huge impact.

For decades, UC San Diego has been a sleepy hollow for students — up on a mesa in La Jolla, isolated from the rest of San Diego. Since the founding of campus, the way to get up to the mesa was always to meander up La Jolla hills on old roads that date back to the time of Camp Matthews and when “biotech” wasn’t in San Diego’s lexicon. More recently, this has meant spending hours in a car, stuck in crippling traffic congestion, or crawling along on a bus subject to the very same traffic.

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Teacher Walk-Out at High Tech High School in Point Loma

December 9, 2021 by Staff

Apparently, on Wednesday 15 teachers and three education specialists walked out of their classrooms at High Tech Middle School in Point Loma.

Teachers have recently formed a union called the High Tech Education Collective and have been in contentious meetings with the administration over pay, late paychecks and other issues.

The CEO of the schools had a meeting with staff on Wednesday before school started and it did not go well.

The school claimed the walk-out was an “unlawful work stoppage” and that school kids were left unattended

The CEO of the schools had a meeting with staff before school started and it did not go well.

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The Pandemic and the Continuing Attack on Democracy and Public Education

December 6, 2021 by Source

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican / November 30, 2021

Nancy MacLean’s amazing book Democracy in Chains documents Charles Koch’s anti-democratic and anti-public education agenda plus his relationship with Nobel Prize winning economist James Buchanan (Democracy in Chains page 184).

She quotes Buchanan speaking about their shared libertarian agenda, “The project must aim toward the practical removal of the sacrosanct assigned to majority rule.” MacLean writes of Buchanan, “The collective enemy he was constructing included nearly everyone in education except academic economists” (Democracy in Chains page 119).

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Kudos to San Diego Unified for Naming New Mission Valley Elementary School After Kumeyaay Village

November 12, 2021 by Frank Gormlie

Kudos are certainly due to the San Diego Unified School District and its leadership for naming a new elementary school opening in 2022 in Mission Valley after the Kumeyaay village that was located in the vicinity long before the arrival of the Spanish.

The new school will be named Nipaquay Elementary (Nipaquay is pronounced ni-puh-kwai) and will open within the Civita development. Construction is 75 percent complete for the school that will have 500 students and 23 classrooms.

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Manipulating the Discourse Over Dyslexia in Public Schools

November 3, 2021 by Source

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican

An intricately connected network of organizations is controlling dyslexia discourse in the US and taking over dyslexia screening and remediation. Thirty-nine states now have adopted dyslexia laws. Most of these laws contain the International Dyslexia association’s (IDA) remediation recommendation of being “multisensory, systematic, and structured.” Researchers Jo Worthy et al state, “This approach is not well supported by research, but it is officially sanctioned through legislation in many states and has had a profound effect on policy and practice.”

IDA, the Academic Language Therapy Association (ALTA), and the International Multisensory Language Education Council (IMSLEC) are three big players.

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