OCDE Education in the News

Friday, September 23, 2022

OCDE NEWSROOM

Garden Grove school celebrates Mid-Autumn Moon Festival with community

With their glowing lanterns, the students and families of Murdy Elementary School celebrated as a community to welcome the full harvest moon — a symbol of peace, prosperity and togetherness. The Garden Grove Unified School District campus held its first Mid-Autumn Moon Festival on Sept. 16 with more than 700 people in attendance. Students, their families and school employees wore cultural outfits from Vietnam.

https://newsroom.ocde.us/garden-grove-school-celebrates-mid-autumn-moon-festival-with-community/

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Former OCSA student alleges he was sexually assaulted by school founder

A former Orange County School of the Arts student said the school’s founder, Ralph S. Opacic, sexually assaulted him on campus during the 2003-2004 academic year, according to a lawsuit filed this week. The lawsuit — filed in Orange County Superior Court on Thursday, Sept. 22 against the well-known educator and the Santa Ana Unified School District — alleges a “toxic” campus culture allowed Opacic to “prey” on vulnerable students. It was a campus that fostered “a cult-like mentality that idolized Opacic and his vision” among faculty and administrators, the lawsuit says.

https://www.ocregister.com/2022/09/22/former-ocsa-student-alleges-he-was-sexually-assaulted-by-school-founder/

LOS ANGELES TIMES

DAILY PILOT

Orange County student’s book on financial literacy draws attention of Anaheim Unified School District

Rahil Luthra’s “The Scam of the Sugar Farm” is loosely based on the Delhi Land and Finance land grab case of 2013 in India.

https://lat.ms/3BZDFLd

LAUSD to pay $9.5 million to parents of boy who died after running laps in P.E.

L.A. Unified has reached a $9.5-million settlement with the parents of a 12-year-old boy who died after running laps at Dodson Middle School in Rancho Palos Verdes, the attorneys representing the family said Wednesday.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-09-22/lausd-to-pay-9-5-million-to-parents-of-boy-who-died-after-running-laps-in-p-e

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Nearly 90% of kids at one S.F. school were chronically absent last year. What is SFUSD doing...

In San Francisco, 29% of the school district’s 49,000 students were chronically absent last year, according to district data, a historically high number. Before the pandemic the rate was 14%.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/school-chronically-absent-17460973.php

EDSOURCE

New program to give ineligible University of California applicants a path to admission

Students who don't complete their A-G course requirements in high school will be invited to a transfer guarantee program.

https://edsource.org/2022/new-program-to-give-ineligible-university-of-california-applicants-a-path-to-admission/678533

District LCAPs lack detailed goals for English learners, report says

School districts continue to lack detailed plans for how they will improve education for English learners, according to a new report from Californians Together and the Center for Equity for English Learners at Loyola Marymount University. The report is based on an analysis of the Local Control Accountability Plans for 2021-24 from 26 public school districts that serve either high percentages or high numbers of English learners.

https://edsource.org/news-updates#district-lcaps-lack-detailed-goals-for-english-learners-report-says

KPCC

LAUSD Will Distribute Narcan To Schools To Combat 'Epidemic' Of Opioid Overdoses

In response to a “devastating epidemic” of student overdoses, the Los Angeles Unified School District will begin rolling out life-saving opioid overdose treatments to junior and senior high schools.

https://laist.com/news/health/lausd-will-distribute-narcan-to-schools-to-combat-epidemic-of-opioid-overdoses

HuffPost

What Parents Should Know About The Drop In Kids' Test Scores During The Pandemic

Yes, kids are behind, and the most vulnerable were hit hardest. But we now have more evidence that schools work, and they can help all kids recover.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/test-scores-kids-covid-pandemic_l_632c7182e4b0572027b04c55

OTHER NEWS OUTLETS

Parents, teachers demand more action from LBUSD on classroom heat

At Wednesday evening’s Board of Education meeting, an emotional Sarah Roselli tried to underline the stakes of overheated classrooms in the Long Beach Unified School District. Roselli teaches special education students at Poly High School, and she said multiple students had seizures at the campus during the first two weeks of class while the region baked in an intense heat wave. “I spent much of the last month worried that a student could die in my classroom,” Roselli said. She explained that there are students with diagnosed heat triggers for their seizure disorders. “Students stayed home because parents were afraid for their safety.”

https://lbpost.com/news/education/hot-classrooms-lbusd-heat-ac-timeline

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