OCDE Education in the News

Monday, June 21, 2021

OCDE NEWSROOM

New superintendent announced for Fullerton Joint Union High School District

The Fullerton Joint Union High School District has found its next superintendent. The district announced that Dr. Steve McLaughlin has been tapped for the role, pending approval by the Board of Trustees at this week’s meeting. He succeeds Dr. Scott Scambray, who will retire at the end of the month after six years in the superintendency. McLaughlin has served as an educator for more than 20 years. For the past six years, he’s been the assistant superintendent of Educational Services for the Fountain Valley School District.

https://newsroom.ocde.us/new-superintendent-named-for-fullerton-joint-union-high-school-district/

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Plan to hold ethnic studies, critical race theory town halls in Rossmoor up for debate

Rossmoor’s elected leaders will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, June 22, to discuss, and possibly vote on, the Orange County Board of Education plan to hold town halls about ethnic studies in their small community later in the summer. The county Board of Education chose Rossmoor’s Rush Park auditorium as a town hall site at the suggestion of board member Mari Barke, a Rossmoor resident. Her husband, Jeff Barke, is president of the five-member Rossmoor Community Services District board of directors, who will review the board’s permit application. Jeff Barke declined to answer questions Friday about whether he has a conflict of interest, or if he would recuse himself from the permit debate because his wife sits on the school board.

https://www.ocregister.com/2021/06/18/oc-board-of-educations-plan-to-hold-hot-topic-town-halls-in-rossmoor-up-for-debate/

Black history is more than Juneteenth, Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks

Southern California educators and activists say Black students aren't learning enough about their own history in their classrooms. The first time Olani LaBeaud learned in detail about Juneteenth — a day in history that marks the end of slavery in America — was toward the end of high school, in an AP history class.

https://www.ocregister.com/2021/06/18/black-history-is-more-than-juneteenth-martin-luther-king-jr-and-rosa-parks/

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Can George Clooney and a new high school make Hollywood crews more inclusive?

George Clooney and a group of A-listers are working with the Los Angeles Unified School District to launch an academy that promises to provide education and practical training in the arts and sciences of filmmaking to marginalized communities.

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2021-06-21/caa-george-clooney-team-for-l-a-based-school-to-improve-inclusion-on-film-sets

SACRAMENTO BEE

School fall reopenings: The latest on masks, hybrid learning at Sacramento-area districts

While summer plans may still be uncertain for some families as COVID-19 restrictions are being lifted, most local districts have announced schools will largely be back on full, in-person schedules in the fall.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article252026138.html

SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE

Battle over critical race theory reaches San Diego school districts

In states across the country and now in San Diego, public schools are coming under fire from politically conservative activists and some parents who say the schools are spreading critical race theory.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/education/story/2021-06-21/battle-over-critical-race-theory-reaches-san-diego-school-districts

An online push in Tierrasanta urges district to keep Junipero Serra High’s name

Three months after San Diego Unified’s School Board voted to change the name of Junipero Serra High School to Canyon Hills High School, some Tierrasanta residents are calling it an unfair, rushed process.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/education/story/2021-06-20/an-online-push-in-tierrasanta-urges-district-to-keep-junipero-serra-highs-name

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Two Marin schools forced to integrate after years of segregation and funding fights

The Sausalito Marin City School District will merge its controversial charter school with its largely Black traditional public school, in what will be the state’s first mandated school desegregation effort in 50 years.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/education/article/Two-Marin-schools-forced-to-integrate-after-years-16256418.php

USA TODAY

LGBTQ students need inclusive sex ed – but less than 10% in US are receiving it, report says

With more Americans than ever coming out as LGBTQ, the need for inclusive sex education is more pressing than ever – but few students are getting it, according to a report released ahead of Pride Month. Less than 8.2% of LGBTQ students said they received inclusive sex education in school, a failure that could have lasting effects from adolescence into adulthood, according to "A Call to Action: LGBTQ Youth Need inclusive Sex Education,” published in May by several LGBTQ health and policy organizations.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2021/06/19/lgbtq-students-inclusive-sex-education-pride-month/5274134001/

SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS

Bay Area sees post-COVID summer school enrollment boom after year of distance learning

On the first day of summer school at Golden View Elementary in San Ramon, Madeline Pavon and her daughter, Kiana, were among a group of parents and children who showed up early hoping to get a last-minute spot inside a classroom. Pavon thought her first-grader had already locked down a seat, only to be told Kiana had been waitlisted.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/06/21/summer-school-sees-enrollment-boom-after-year-of-distance-learning/

EDSOURCE

How a California middle school’s history project led to name change

The name Juan Crespi never meant much to eighth grader Anaya Zanad and her classmates, other than it was the name of their middle school in El Sobrante. But after the students researched the Franciscan missionary — and his role in expeditions that paved the way for the brutally oppressive California mission system in the 1700s — they felt the name had to go.

https://edsource.org/2021/how-a-california-middle-schools-history-project-led-to-name-change/656664

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