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 resident and a public school teacher, I am writing in support of the resolution to have Oakland USD urge the passage of the California model curriculum in Ethnic Studies with the inclusion of Arab-American Studies, Pacific Islander and Central American studies.
We have never seen adequate representation of the narratives of people of color in our textbooks, despite the enormous diversity of the community we live in. As a public school teacher at a high school with Ethnic Studies and a strong Puente Project I have witnessed how these studies benefit the entire school and enrich the learning environment for all students. One of the goals of Ethnic Studies is to empower our students to be leaders and to be critical problem solvers. Another goal is to create a safe learning environment for all.
Current attacks on Ethnic Studies promote a racist agenda which has no place in Oakland. Please send a message of support for justice. Vote yes on the resolution.
Dear Members of the Board of Education,
Will you be proud to tell your children and grandchildren that you approved a curriculum that denigrates Jews and Israel under the guise of ethnic studies? You are educators! Teach truth! All Sides! Future generations need to be able to understand the depths of this complicated issue, ugly as they may be, so that they may find a path to peace and bring it to the world. Don't put them at a disadvantage be presenting only one side to their young minds!
Dear Board Members,
As an active parents at Skyline HS, Edna Brewer, and Crocker Highlands, I urge you to REJECT Resolution No. 1920-0246. While I believe that ethnic studies is crucial for our children's education, this resolution is excluding major populations of students in your districts because it is based on a flawed state Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum. We need this curriculum to represent all people, all faiths, all ethnicities and all races. I support the process that began with AB 2016 and let it proceed before adopting a curriculum that will exclude many our your students ethnicities, races and religions. Coalitions of faith leaders and ethnic groups agree with this opinion. I also want to acknowledge the great work of your educators that are already implementing curricula at Skyline HS and EBMS. Please give our children the best opportunity to learn about their peers and the great diversity in our city and state.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Mates-Muchin
Proud OUSD Parent of 4
I'm an Oakland resident and non profit immigration attorney. I previously was an Arabic language/culture educator at Midwestern public schools due to high demand by parents there. I've witnessed the impact cultural literacy has on students. Not only do those students of such ethnic backgrounds feel a stronger sense of belonging in the classroom, they feel understood and confident in their unique cultural identity, students learn and connect with each other's experiences. I think this resolution is vital in times like these, students feeling alienated and invisible due to the environment propagated by the Trump admin. From banning Middle Easterners from entry into the United States to minimizing their cultural contributions to this rich and diverse country, i fully support this resolution as a means to alleviate the toxic environment and instill a sense of connectedness. It is through education and collective cultural understanding that we can eliminate bigotry in all its forms.
I've lived in Oakland over 28 years and am an active synagogue member. I've taught an anti-Semitism/anti-Arabism class for 12 years, at City College of San Francisco, with a Palestinian colleague, and I've published an award-winning book, “Hope into Practice, Jewish women choosing justice despite our fears."
I support the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, including Arab American, Pacific Islander and Central American Studies.
I'm thankful the Nazi Holocaust is taught in Oakland schools, especially given the rise of white nationalism and the corresponding rise of violent anti-Semitism. Likewise, it’s vital that the Palestinian narrative be taught – so that Arab American students can see themselves and their histories reflected. In my diverse classroom, it’s thrilling to see students excitement at learning about the Jewish AND Palestinian narratives. They thrive from inclusion. This is what true education, transformative education, is about-- please don’t deny them this opportunity.
As an Arab Jew and World History teacher in OUSD, I fully SUPPORT the OUSD Board of Ed resolution in favor of the draft Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC). Our Arab American students have faced far too much Islamophobia and far too little positive representation in our classroom curriculum. I have seen this first hand in what resources are available to me as a World History teacher. Our Arab students need to be taught their history in classrooms precisely because of the negative representations they and their peers absorb from TV and pop culture. As a Jew, I feel that I have been taught about Jewish issues, including the diaspora, resistance and the Holocaust, throughout my K-12 education, and the ESMC continues this trajectory. As an Arab Jew, we need to unite our struggles for justice with other people of color and historically marginalized groups. The Ethnic Studies draft curriculum does this and then some, which is why we need the Board of Ed to SUPPORT this resolution!
I strongly urge you to reject the resolution as it stands. It is being reworked on at the state level to be more inclusive and eliminate biases. Oakland students deserve better and will benefit from a bit of patience.
I am in support of promoting & implementing Ethnic Studies that represent the diverse populations of Oakland and California. Current resolution AB1920-0246 lacks sufficient broad based coverage of "marginalized voices, stories and cultures." Meanwhile AB1920-0246 refers support for a draft CDE legislation that is being called for changes because it does not meet the goals to be “accurate, free of bias, appropriate for all learners in our diverse state, and align with Gov. Newsom’s vision of a California for all." I urge our Board members to please take a moment to refine our local effort so that good intention does not lead to creating unintended harm.
As a long-time teacher of Ethnic Studies, both at the high school and teacher credential levels, I strongly support the proposal. As a white woman of Jewish heritage, I know that Jewish history is represented throughout the K-12 curriculum, and am outraged by right-wing attacks that conflate any content about Arab, Arab American, and especially Palestinian history and current realities with anti-semitism. All my students have benefited greatly from Ethnic Studies, including units on Arab, Arab American, Muslim and Palestinian issues.
As an Arab American living in the Bay Area. I strongly urge you to adopt the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum. I've lived in the bay area for 30 years and to this day I feel that my identity as an Arab, Palestinian, Muslim is either under or ill represented in popular culture, despite the size of our communities and wealth of culture and contributions to life in this country and Bay Area in particular. Obscuring our identities from public life and education in particular will only further the state of ignorance of who we are and continue to exacerbate xenophobia and marginalization of our communities. The opposition voices are unfortunately reiterating the same old fear mongering of antisemitism simply because we ask that we are allowed to be represented and tell our stories.
The California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, rather than celebrating diversity, has turned into a biased cudgel that disregards many ethnic experiences and favors a narrative that minimizes the Jewish experience.
I strongly oppose the adoption of BOE Resolution #1920-0246 as it is inaccurate and misleading that reflects an anti Jewish bias. It erases the American Jewish experience, fails to mention Antisemitism, denigrates Jews, singles out Israel for condemnation. Quite simply it will do the opposite of what you purport to promote: alleviate prejudice and bigotry. The effort by the drafters to include BDS in the curriculm is directly contrary to California law and policy and is apparently an effort to promote a very narrow political viewpoint.
At the State level they have said this draft is not ready and they are correct. Ethnic studies can be a way to broaden the educational experience, increase understanding one another but this ethnic studies curriculum fails badly. Please vote to oppose
I am a supporter of the rights of marginalized and oppressed groups throughout the globe, including the Palestinians who were displaced by the formation of the State of Israel in 1948. However, the ESMC as currently drafted will attempt to replace one hatred with another. I'm a 20-year Oakland resident. This is not what our city stands for.
I grew up in the east bay and went to Berkeley High School where I covered ethnic studies and the African American Studies department as a reporter for the BHS Jacket. I learned that ethnic studies is a charged issue but that it is important to respect and teach diverse perspectives in an inclusive and positive environment. This curriculum is biased by omitting the Jewish experience in America and vilifying it in Israel. It’s thinly veiled Palestinian propaganda which is presented without sufficient context or balance. The contributions of American Jews are countless, can’t we celebrate just a few? I am raising my children in Oakland and plan to send them to public schools because I believe in the potential for us to create a city and schools where we can disagree about some things but respectfully listen to each other and treat each other as neighbors. I also know we can raise ALL of our children to be proud of where they come from and their diverse community. This is not the way.
As an Oakland resident and Arab-American, I strongly SUPPORT the resolution in favor of the draft ESMC. The content of this ESMC centers communities who are often left out of "diversity" initiatives, namely Arab-American, Central-American, and Pacific Islander communities. As an Arab-American who grew up in the US South, I know the impact that vile, racist, narratives about my culture have on young Arab students. California has long been a progressive beacon on education for much of the country, particularly with respect to its Ethnic Studies programs. This curriculum will go a long way to uplift the lived experiences of young Arab Oaklanders and other communities of color, and incorporate long overdue curriculum on Arab history and culture into our Ethnic Studies programs. OUSD has an opportunity to yet-again lead California towards more progressive and inclusive education. Let's not allow right-wing opposition and scare-tactics keep Oakland, and California, from leading the country.
Hello,
I am a student of color at Fremont High School and I deserve to see myself in my school curriculum. OUSD and the State of California should include Arab American, Pacific Islander and Central American Studies in the curriculum. We need to be able to learn about each other, our peers, and all of our communities for a better Oakland. Please move the resolution forward and vote yes! The California Department of Education needs to know that Oakland will not stand for censorship. Please don’t let them censor me and my community!
Thanks,
Socorro Lopez Frasco, a student at Fremont High School in Oakland California.
As a parent and member of Oakland's Jewish community, I am vehemently opposed to the resolution to adopt the 2019 Ethnic Studies Curriculum that was rejected by the State Legislature, State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, and even the two legislators who proposed the original bill that Ethnic Studies be a requirement in California.
This draft curriculum reinforces negative stereotypes about Jews, and would institutionalize the teaching of antisemitic stereotypes in our schools at a time when assault, harassment, and vandalism against Jews are at near-historic levels in the U.S.
I fully support Ethnic Studies, but this draft curriculum divides ethnicities rather than bringing them together. It also leaves out dozens of ethnic groups who are part of the fabric of California. I implore the OUSD board to reject this resolution and wait for a revised curriculum that is inclusive, fact-based, and promotes critical thinking.
I am writing to strongly urge the OUSD Board of Education to vote against supporting the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Draft.
I am an educator, I know the value of high quality ethnic studies curriculums to middle and high school students. In this matter, I am taking my lead from experts such as Linda Darling-Hammond, who said “the current draft model curriculum falls short and needs to be substantially redesigned" noting that "a model curriculum should be accurate, free of bias, appropriate for all learners in our diverse state, and align with Governor Newsom’s vision of a California for all." (CDE August 12, 2019 Press Release) and “The draft does not yet fully align with the statutory requirements or the State Board of Education’s guidelines....there is considerable work yet to do" so that the Model Curriculum "fully aligns with California’s values of inclusivity, empathy, accuracy, and honesty." (EdSource September 29, 2019). Why spend time on this divisive issue right now?
As an Oakland resident and a public school teacher, I am writing in support of the resolution to have Oakland USD urge the passage of the California model curriculum in Ethnic Studies with the inclusion of Arab-American Studies, Pacific Islander and Central American studies.
We have never seen adequate representation of the narratives of people of color in our textbooks, despite the enormous diversity of the community we live in. As a public school teacher at a high school with Ethnic Studies and a strong Puente Project I have witnessed how these studies benefit the entire school and enrich the learning environment for all students. One of the goals of Ethnic Studies is to empower our students to be leaders and to be critical problem solvers. Another goal is to create a safe learning environment for all.
Current attacks on Ethnic Studies promote a racist agenda which has no place in Oakland. Please send a message of support for justice. Vote yes on the resolution.
Dear Members of the Board of Education,
Will you be proud to tell your children and grandchildren that you approved a curriculum that denigrates Jews and Israel under the guise of ethnic studies? You are educators! Teach truth! All Sides! Future generations need to be able to understand the depths of this complicated issue, ugly as they may be, so that they may find a path to peace and bring it to the world. Don't put them at a disadvantage be presenting only one side to their young minds!
Dear Board Members,
As an active parents at Skyline HS, Edna Brewer, and Crocker Highlands, I urge you to REJECT Resolution No. 1920-0246. While I believe that ethnic studies is crucial for our children's education, this resolution is excluding major populations of students in your districts because it is based on a flawed state Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum. We need this curriculum to represent all people, all faiths, all ethnicities and all races. I support the process that began with AB 2016 and let it proceed before adopting a curriculum that will exclude many our your students ethnicities, races and religions. Coalitions of faith leaders and ethnic groups agree with this opinion. I also want to acknowledge the great work of your educators that are already implementing curricula at Skyline HS and EBMS. Please give our children the best opportunity to learn about their peers and the great diversity in our city and state.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Mates-Muchin
Proud OUSD Parent of 4
I'm an Oakland resident and non profit immigration attorney. I previously was an Arabic language/culture educator at Midwestern public schools due to high demand by parents there. I've witnessed the impact cultural literacy has on students. Not only do those students of such ethnic backgrounds feel a stronger sense of belonging in the classroom, they feel understood and confident in their unique cultural identity, students learn and connect with each other's experiences. I think this resolution is vital in times like these, students feeling alienated and invisible due to the environment propagated by the Trump admin. From banning Middle Easterners from entry into the United States to minimizing their cultural contributions to this rich and diverse country, i fully support this resolution as a means to alleviate the toxic environment and instill a sense of connectedness. It is through education and collective cultural understanding that we can eliminate bigotry in all its forms.
I've lived in Oakland over 28 years and am an active synagogue member. I've taught an anti-Semitism/anti-Arabism class for 12 years, at City College of San Francisco, with a Palestinian colleague, and I've published an award-winning book, “Hope into Practice, Jewish women choosing justice despite our fears."
I support the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, including Arab American, Pacific Islander and Central American Studies.
I'm thankful the Nazi Holocaust is taught in Oakland schools, especially given the rise of white nationalism and the corresponding rise of violent anti-Semitism. Likewise, it’s vital that the Palestinian narrative be taught – so that Arab American students can see themselves and their histories reflected. In my diverse classroom, it’s thrilling to see students excitement at learning about the Jewish AND Palestinian narratives. They thrive from inclusion. This is what true education, transformative education, is about-- please don’t deny them this opportunity.
As an Arab Jew and World History teacher in OUSD, I fully SUPPORT the OUSD Board of Ed resolution in favor of the draft Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC). Our Arab American students have faced far too much Islamophobia and far too little positive representation in our classroom curriculum. I have seen this first hand in what resources are available to me as a World History teacher. Our Arab students need to be taught their history in classrooms precisely because of the negative representations they and their peers absorb from TV and pop culture. As a Jew, I feel that I have been taught about Jewish issues, including the diaspora, resistance and the Holocaust, throughout my K-12 education, and the ESMC continues this trajectory. As an Arab Jew, we need to unite our struggles for justice with other people of color and historically marginalized groups. The Ethnic Studies draft curriculum does this and then some, which is why we need the Board of Ed to SUPPORT this resolution!
I strongly urge you to reject the resolution as it stands. It is being reworked on at the state level to be more inclusive and eliminate biases. Oakland students deserve better and will benefit from a bit of patience.
I am in support of promoting & implementing Ethnic Studies that represent the diverse populations of Oakland and California. Current resolution AB1920-0246 lacks sufficient broad based coverage of "marginalized voices, stories and cultures." Meanwhile AB1920-0246 refers support for a draft CDE legislation that is being called for changes because it does not meet the goals to be “accurate, free of bias, appropriate for all learners in our diverse state, and align with Gov. Newsom’s vision of a California for all." I urge our Board members to please take a moment to refine our local effort so that good intention does not lead to creating unintended harm.
As a long-time teacher of Ethnic Studies, both at the high school and teacher credential levels, I strongly support the proposal. As a white woman of Jewish heritage, I know that Jewish history is represented throughout the K-12 curriculum, and am outraged by right-wing attacks that conflate any content about Arab, Arab American, and especially Palestinian history and current realities with anti-semitism. All my students have benefited greatly from Ethnic Studies, including units on Arab, Arab American, Muslim and Palestinian issues.
As an Arab American living in the Bay Area. I strongly urge you to adopt the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum. I've lived in the bay area for 30 years and to this day I feel that my identity as an Arab, Palestinian, Muslim is either under or ill represented in popular culture, despite the size of our communities and wealth of culture and contributions to life in this country and Bay Area in particular. Obscuring our identities from public life and education in particular will only further the state of ignorance of who we are and continue to exacerbate xenophobia and marginalization of our communities. The opposition voices are unfortunately reiterating the same old fear mongering of antisemitism simply because we ask that we are allowed to be represented and tell our stories.
Waeil
The California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, rather than celebrating diversity, has turned into a biased cudgel that disregards many ethnic experiences and favors a narrative that minimizes the Jewish experience.
I strongly oppose the adoption of BOE Resolution #1920-0246 as it is inaccurate and misleading that reflects an anti Jewish bias. It erases the American Jewish experience, fails to mention Antisemitism, denigrates Jews, singles out Israel for condemnation. Quite simply it will do the opposite of what you purport to promote: alleviate prejudice and bigotry. The effort by the drafters to include BDS in the curriculm is directly contrary to California law and policy and is apparently an effort to promote a very narrow political viewpoint.
At the State level they have said this draft is not ready and they are correct. Ethnic studies can be a way to broaden the educational experience, increase understanding one another but this ethnic studies curriculum fails badly. Please vote to oppose
Dear Board Members,
I am a supporter of the rights of marginalized and oppressed groups throughout the globe, including the Palestinians who were displaced by the formation of the State of Israel in 1948. However, the ESMC as currently drafted will attempt to replace one hatred with another. I'm a 20-year Oakland resident. This is not what our city stands for.
Sincerely,
Noam Birnbaum
Montclair
I grew up in the east bay and went to Berkeley High School where I covered ethnic studies and the African American Studies department as a reporter for the BHS Jacket. I learned that ethnic studies is a charged issue but that it is important to respect and teach diverse perspectives in an inclusive and positive environment. This curriculum is biased by omitting the Jewish experience in America and vilifying it in Israel. It’s thinly veiled Palestinian propaganda which is presented without sufficient context or balance. The contributions of American Jews are countless, can’t we celebrate just a few? I am raising my children in Oakland and plan to send them to public schools because I believe in the potential for us to create a city and schools where we can disagree about some things but respectfully listen to each other and treat each other as neighbors. I also know we can raise ALL of our children to be proud of where they come from and their diverse community. This is not the way.
As an Oakland resident and Arab-American, I strongly SUPPORT the resolution in favor of the draft ESMC. The content of this ESMC centers communities who are often left out of "diversity" initiatives, namely Arab-American, Central-American, and Pacific Islander communities. As an Arab-American who grew up in the US South, I know the impact that vile, racist, narratives about my culture have on young Arab students. California has long been a progressive beacon on education for much of the country, particularly with respect to its Ethnic Studies programs. This curriculum will go a long way to uplift the lived experiences of young Arab Oaklanders and other communities of color, and incorporate long overdue curriculum on Arab history and culture into our Ethnic Studies programs. OUSD has an opportunity to yet-again lead California towards more progressive and inclusive education. Let's not allow right-wing opposition and scare-tactics keep Oakland, and California, from leading the country.
Hello,
I am a student of color at Fremont High School and I deserve to see myself in my school curriculum. OUSD and the State of California should include Arab American, Pacific Islander and Central American Studies in the curriculum. We need to be able to learn about each other, our peers, and all of our communities for a better Oakland. Please move the resolution forward and vote yes! The California Department of Education needs to know that Oakland will not stand for censorship. Please don’t let them censor me and my community!
Thanks,
Socorro Lopez Frasco, a student at Fremont High School in Oakland California.
As a parent and member of Oakland's Jewish community, I am vehemently opposed to the resolution to adopt the 2019 Ethnic Studies Curriculum that was rejected by the State Legislature, State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, and even the two legislators who proposed the original bill that Ethnic Studies be a requirement in California.
This draft curriculum reinforces negative stereotypes about Jews, and would institutionalize the teaching of antisemitic stereotypes in our schools at a time when assault, harassment, and vandalism against Jews are at near-historic levels in the U.S.
I fully support Ethnic Studies, but this draft curriculum divides ethnicities rather than bringing them together. It also leaves out dozens of ethnic groups who are part of the fabric of California. I implore the OUSD board to reject this resolution and wait for a revised curriculum that is inclusive, fact-based, and promotes critical thinking.
I am writing to strongly urge the OUSD Board of Education to vote against supporting the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Draft.
I am an educator, I know the value of high quality ethnic studies curriculums to middle and high school students. In this matter, I am taking my lead from experts such as Linda Darling-Hammond, who said “the current draft model curriculum falls short and needs to be substantially redesigned" noting that "a model curriculum should be accurate, free of bias, appropriate for all learners in our diverse state, and align with Governor Newsom’s vision of a California for all." (CDE August 12, 2019 Press Release) and “The draft does not yet fully align with the statutory requirements or the State Board of Education’s guidelines....there is considerable work yet to do" so that the Model Curriculum "fully aligns with California’s values of inclusivity, empathy, accuracy, and honesty." (EdSource September 29, 2019). Why spend time on this divisive issue right now?
I am against this.
Please think about all of the diverse families who attend OUSD schools and do not pass this!! I tutor in the Oakland Schools for 10 plus years.
Thank you.