T.-4 20-1186 Discussion and possible Adoption by the Board of Education of Resolution No. 1920-0246 - Affirming Support of AB2016 California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Draft Created by Ethnic Studies Experts.
As an Oakland voter and Jewish-American, I strongly support the resolution in favor of the draft ESMC. The content centers the stories of marginalized communities in Oakland, particularly Arab American, Central American, and Pacific Islander communities who are often overlooked even in "diversity" programs. Arab American studies in particular is important for students to learn because of increased Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism since 9/11 and particularly in the past four years. As a Jewish American it is important for me to see this curriculum supported, and for OUSD's board to follow the lead of teachers' associations, faculty at the UC and CSUs, and other cities across the state in endorsing this model curriculum draft.
Dear Oakland School Board,
I am a parent in Oakland. I do not support the proposed resolution on adopting the first draft of the ethnic studies model curriculum.
Do not vote for this deceptive Resolution 1920-0246.
Do not support the first flawed and divisive draft of the California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum.
Consider a wide range of ethnic communities’ concerns on these topics.
Do support the ongoing process of the California Department of Education to create a high-quality revised draft that meets the statutory requirements of AB-2016, the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Guidelines, and California’s Education Code.
Education should not be biased, racist, anti-semitic, or anti Israel.
Thank you,
Norma A. Fiedotin, Ph.D.
Dear Oakland School Board,
I am a voter in Oakland. I do not support the proposed resolution on adopting the first draft of the ethnic studies model curriculum.
I ask you to do the following:
Do not vote for this deceptive Resolution 1920-0246.
Do not support the first flawed and divisive draft of the California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum.
Do not confuse general support for ethnic studies in high school and of anti-racism education with either this deceptive resolution, or with the first draft of the model curriculum.
Consider a wide range of ethnic communities’ concerns on these topics.
Do support the ongoing process of the California Department of Education to create a high-quality revised draft that meets the statutory requirements of AB-2016, the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Guidelines, and California’s Education Code.
Please DO NOT discriminate against the education of our minority communities. I am a Jewish community member that supports the model ethnic studies curriculum that includes Arab-American studies with Palestinian narratives. Your positive votes are VERY important to me.
Please vote yes to support the CA Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum draft! Ethnic studies was transformative for me as a student and has the potential to shape the lives of so many students in CA for the better. It is especially important for students to learn about Arab American history and culture given the historical and current reality of Islamophobia in this country.
At a time when Arab Americans are facing increased Islamophobia from the Trump administration, I applaud OUSD for taking the initiative to lend its voice in support of the CA Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum draft. The Model Curriculum was put together by a committee of experts from the Ethnic Studies field. Since its founding, Ethnic Studies has centered the experiences of racialized groups in the United States. It is unconscionable that outside interest groups are trying to remove Arab American studies from CA schools. The Arab American experience, including the struggle for social justice in Palestine, is essential to the advancement of Ethnic Studies and its mission to “prepare students for an international, multicultural society". A 2020 study by AROC's youth program indicates that over 60% of high school students spent no time learning about Arab American history or culture. This model curriculum could change that and have a tremendous impact on the lives of so many.
Oakland's students are wonderfully diverse, reflecting cultures and traditions from around the world. Depriving them of knowledge that could help them understand themselves or their community members better would be foolhardy and even damaging.
As an OUSD parent and teacher, I urge you to support our strong Ethnic Studies programs and curricula and not cave to backwards, rightwing, reactionary pressure.
I was lucky enough at Berkeley High School to have taken Ethnic Studies, Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies as well as African American History classes. They completely changed my life! I was prepared for college on a whole other level than my peers, I chose my college major due to those classes and they supported me later in life to be a youth organizer in Oakland. I'm not a successful Social Worker at Children's Hospital of Oakland. The trajectory of my life I owe in large part to the spark that was ignited in those High School classes. I support this item so that youth of Oakland can have their own experience of empowerment, knowing their history and the social justice legacy they can continue.
Deeper understanding of world politics is necessary for children (and all of us) to understand both sides. Greater understanding leads to less pathologizing of one group of people
I am a 23-year veteran teacher in OUSD always teaching Oakland’s children through an Ethnic Studies lens. I am currently the Comparative Ethnic Studies teacher at Madison Park Academy. I am also co-founder and member of the OUSD Ethnic Studies Design Team. Having worked in this district for 23 years, and knowing our political and cultural history as a home to one of the most diverse populations in the country, I would expect our school board to go the right thing by its students and families. I invite you to consider the expertise and careful consideration that went into the design of this MODEL curriculum as an inclusive framework that is meant to give voice to historically underrepresented third world communities of this city and of this world. Oakland youth need a space to develop their power and to challenge the suffering of people of color. Do the right thing. Approve the ES Model Curriculum for our students so they can learn and make their own history. #EthnicStudiesNow
As a parent who sees daily the negative impacts of a lack of representation and whole story telling for my children in the curriculum they are taught, I am in support of the school boards resolution. As someone who worked with High School students at Castlemont and Skyline for 8 years, I’ve seen the positive impacts of ethnic studies on young people’s development and sense of agency and am in support of this resolution.
Having access to an ethnic studies curriculum, especially during this era of racial conflict and violence, ensures that students of all backgrounds become critically conscious scholars. According to its mission statement, OUSD prides itself on "high academic achievement while serving the whole child" and "eliminating inequity". The reality is that current district prescribed teaching curriculums remain heavily Eurocentric while severely lacking opportunities for socioemotional development and cultural competency. Whether its a wealthy white student from the hills or an underserved student of color from the Deep East, society today is proving to us that cultural awareness and understanding is needed and sorely missed more than ever. Providing ethnic studies curriculum to students gives them an opportunity to learn about their own heritage, local history, the struggle of people throughout time, and become equipped with the skills and emotional competence to be positive community members.
Please vote YES on this Ethnic Studies resolution. Please know there are Jewish organizations, Rabbis, many members of the Jewish community who are in support of the draft with certain revisions, and in support of this important resolution, please also support. Thank You.
In Oakland we are proud of countering hatred and discrimination across groups. Communities of color, who are part of the global and state majority, cannot be marginalized - not here NOT NOW! Stand in solidarity with all oppressed people. Save ethnic studies and eliminate the threat of racism. Now!
I want my 1st grader to see herself and other students of color to be reflected in their classroom curriculum content, and certainly when she’s in high school I am hoping we are not left with our Eurocentric curriculum still in 8 years. The only way to move this work forward is to support our Ethnic Studies scholars to partner with the California Department of Education to help diversify our social studies, increase voices of color in history, and transform pedagogy to better engage our students of color. Please support the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum resolution & show that Oakland will stand up to the attacks on Ethnic Studies we have seen for 50 years!
There is actually vast support from leading Ethnic Studies educators and communities of color across the state, many of the attacks against it, are frankly, racist. Most of the controversy and attacks are over less than .02% of the curriculum Alicia, it's time to unite with leading educators and communities of color here, after 50 years of struggle for this moment. Reasonable revisions are part of the process, the creators of the 582 page draft have often said this, while wholesale attacks on the draft are unjust, continuing a legacy of censorship of people of color's knowledge and worldviews in curriculum, and must be considered as racist attacks at this point. Please do not be distracted by these outdated and racist attacks Oakland board members. Thank you for being on the right side of history here with your YES passage of this resolution, in solidarity with Ethnic Studies educational leaders and communities of color, from Oakland and across the state.
There is a reason this deeply flawed curriculum has been rejected as it currently stands and is being reworked at the state level. Please be patient and vote NO on Resolution 1920-0246 regarding the Ethnic Studies Curriculum.
As an Oakland voter and Jewish-American, I strongly support the resolution in favor of the draft ESMC. The content centers the stories of marginalized communities in Oakland, particularly Arab American, Central American, and Pacific Islander communities who are often overlooked even in "diversity" programs. Arab American studies in particular is important for students to learn because of increased Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism since 9/11 and particularly in the past four years. As a Jewish American it is important for me to see this curriculum supported, and for OUSD's board to follow the lead of teachers' associations, faculty at the UC and CSUs, and other cities across the state in endorsing this model curriculum draft.
Children need to feel - when learning about our country's history - that the ethnicities of ALL Americans are important.
Dear Oakland School Board,
I am a parent in Oakland. I do not support the proposed resolution on adopting the first draft of the ethnic studies model curriculum.
Do not vote for this deceptive Resolution 1920-0246.
Do not support the first flawed and divisive draft of the California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum.
Consider a wide range of ethnic communities’ concerns on these topics.
Do support the ongoing process of the California Department of Education to create a high-quality revised draft that meets the statutory requirements of AB-2016, the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Guidelines, and California’s Education Code.
Education should not be biased, racist, anti-semitic, or anti Israel.
Thank you,
Norma A. Fiedotin, Ph.D.
Dear Oakland School Board,
I am a voter in Oakland. I do not support the proposed resolution on adopting the first draft of the ethnic studies model curriculum.
I ask you to do the following:
Do not vote for this deceptive Resolution 1920-0246.
Do not support the first flawed and divisive draft of the California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum.
Do not confuse general support for ethnic studies in high school and of anti-racism education with either this deceptive resolution, or with the first draft of the model curriculum.
Consider a wide range of ethnic communities’ concerns on these topics.
Do support the ongoing process of the California Department of Education to create a high-quality revised draft that meets the statutory requirements of AB-2016, the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Guidelines, and California’s Education Code.
Sincerely Jeffrey Gillman
Please DO NOT discriminate against the education of our minority communities. I am a Jewish community member that supports the model ethnic studies curriculum that includes Arab-American studies with Palestinian narratives. Your positive votes are VERY important to me.
Please vote yes to support the CA Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum draft! Ethnic studies was transformative for me as a student and has the potential to shape the lives of so many students in CA for the better. It is especially important for students to learn about Arab American history and culture given the historical and current reality of Islamophobia in this country.
At a time when Arab Americans are facing increased Islamophobia from the Trump administration, I applaud OUSD for taking the initiative to lend its voice in support of the CA Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum draft. The Model Curriculum was put together by a committee of experts from the Ethnic Studies field. Since its founding, Ethnic Studies has centered the experiences of racialized groups in the United States. It is unconscionable that outside interest groups are trying to remove Arab American studies from CA schools. The Arab American experience, including the struggle for social justice in Palestine, is essential to the advancement of Ethnic Studies and its mission to “prepare students for an international, multicultural society". A 2020 study by AROC's youth program indicates that over 60% of high school students spent no time learning about Arab American history or culture. This model curriculum could change that and have a tremendous impact on the lives of so many.
Oakland's students are wonderfully diverse, reflecting cultures and traditions from around the world. Depriving them of knowledge that could help them understand themselves or their community members better would be foolhardy and even damaging.
As an OUSD parent and teacher, I urge you to support our strong Ethnic Studies programs and curricula and not cave to backwards, rightwing, reactionary pressure.
I was lucky enough at Berkeley High School to have taken Ethnic Studies, Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies as well as African American History classes. They completely changed my life! I was prepared for college on a whole other level than my peers, I chose my college major due to those classes and they supported me later in life to be a youth organizer in Oakland. I'm not a successful Social Worker at Children's Hospital of Oakland. The trajectory of my life I owe in large part to the spark that was ignited in those High School classes. I support this item so that youth of Oakland can have their own experience of empowerment, knowing their history and the social justice legacy they can continue.
Deeper understanding of world politics is necessary for children (and all of us) to understand both sides. Greater understanding leads to less pathologizing of one group of people
I am a 23-year veteran teacher in OUSD always teaching Oakland’s children through an Ethnic Studies lens. I am currently the Comparative Ethnic Studies teacher at Madison Park Academy. I am also co-founder and member of the OUSD Ethnic Studies Design Team. Having worked in this district for 23 years, and knowing our political and cultural history as a home to one of the most diverse populations in the country, I would expect our school board to go the right thing by its students and families. I invite you to consider the expertise and careful consideration that went into the design of this MODEL curriculum as an inclusive framework that is meant to give voice to historically underrepresented third world communities of this city and of this world. Oakland youth need a space to develop their power and to challenge the suffering of people of color. Do the right thing. Approve the ES Model Curriculum for our students so they can learn and make their own history. #EthnicStudiesNow
As a parent who sees daily the negative impacts of a lack of representation and whole story telling for my children in the curriculum they are taught, I am in support of the school boards resolution. As someone who worked with High School students at Castlemont and Skyline for 8 years, I’ve seen the positive impacts of ethnic studies on young people’s development and sense of agency and am in support of this resolution.
Having access to an ethnic studies curriculum, especially during this era of racial conflict and violence, ensures that students of all backgrounds become critically conscious scholars. According to its mission statement, OUSD prides itself on "high academic achievement while serving the whole child" and "eliminating inequity". The reality is that current district prescribed teaching curriculums remain heavily Eurocentric while severely lacking opportunities for socioemotional development and cultural competency. Whether its a wealthy white student from the hills or an underserved student of color from the Deep East, society today is proving to us that cultural awareness and understanding is needed and sorely missed more than ever. Providing ethnic studies curriculum to students gives them an opportunity to learn about their own heritage, local history, the struggle of people throughout time, and become equipped with the skills and emotional competence to be positive community members.
Please vote YES on this Ethnic Studies resolution. Please know there are Jewish organizations, Rabbis, many members of the Jewish community who are in support of the draft with certain revisions, and in support of this important resolution, please also support. Thank You.
Please oppose the current curriculum in ethnic studies.
Include accurate information regarding Jewish Americans.
In Oakland we are proud of countering hatred and discrimination across groups. Communities of color, who are part of the global and state majority, cannot be marginalized - not here NOT NOW! Stand in solidarity with all oppressed people. Save ethnic studies and eliminate the threat of racism. Now!
I want my 1st grader to see herself and other students of color to be reflected in their classroom curriculum content, and certainly when she’s in high school I am hoping we are not left with our Eurocentric curriculum still in 8 years. The only way to move this work forward is to support our Ethnic Studies scholars to partner with the California Department of Education to help diversify our social studies, increase voices of color in history, and transform pedagogy to better engage our students of color. Please support the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum resolution & show that Oakland will stand up to the attacks on Ethnic Studies we have seen for 50 years!
There is actually vast support from leading Ethnic Studies educators and communities of color across the state, many of the attacks against it, are frankly, racist. Most of the controversy and attacks are over less than .02% of the curriculum Alicia, it's time to unite with leading educators and communities of color here, after 50 years of struggle for this moment. Reasonable revisions are part of the process, the creators of the 582 page draft have often said this, while wholesale attacks on the draft are unjust, continuing a legacy of censorship of people of color's knowledge and worldviews in curriculum, and must be considered as racist attacks at this point. Please do not be distracted by these outdated and racist attacks Oakland board members. Thank you for being on the right side of history here with your YES passage of this resolution, in solidarity with Ethnic Studies educational leaders and communities of color, from Oakland and across the state.
There is a reason this deeply flawed curriculum has been rejected as it currently stands and is being reworked at the state level. Please be patient and vote NO on Resolution 1920-0246 regarding the Ethnic Studies Curriculum.