Teacher layoff notifications okayed
The Board of Education undertook the grim task Tuesday night of approving notifications to dozens of teachers that they could be laid off at the end of the school year.
The district could cut the full-time equivalent of up to 102.7 teaching positions for a savings of more than $6.2 million. Some 46 temporary teachers could [...]
Getting ready for The Academy
By Stacy Lawrence
At today’s Board of Education meeting, Alameda Unified School District officials will provide an update on The Academy of Alameda Middle School. That’s the charter school approved by the School Board late last year as a replacement for Chipman Middle School, and it will open this fall.
Due to the mandates of the federal [...]
Otis considers staggered mornings next year
By Ani Dimusheva
Teachers at Otis Elementary School are proposing to stagger the start of the school day for the school’s K-3 students in an effort to preserve small group instruction time they fear they’ll lose when class sizes increase next year.
Around 75 parents packed Otis’s multipurpose room Thursday night to get information on the proposal, [...]
Proposed anti-bullying books available for review
School district officials have released a list of books they’re considering to complement the district’s existing elementary school-level anti-bullying curriculum.
The 39 books on the list, which includes books from the California Department of Education’s recommended K-12 reading list for 2009 and books from private collections, include tomes intended to teach tolerance for students with different [...]
Teachers protest state cuts; dozens of layoffs possible
Alameda’s teachers gathered in front of schools Thursday to ask parents to call their legislators and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to demand the not make further funding cuts to education. The gatherings were part of a statewide day of action set up to protest state budget cuts to education.
The gatherings come two days after Alameda’s Board [...]
Eve Pearlman: Swim together, right now
As you may have heard, come next fall there will be a new charter school opening its doors in Alameda.
The Academy of Alameda Middle School will almost certainly be housed in the current site of Chipman. The West End middle school is right now in its fourth year of ‘program improvement,’ a designation given to [...]
Alameda schools in brief
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Alameda High student wins national Girls Inc. scholarship
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Alameda High School senior Anjuli Sastry has been selected as a Girls Incorporated National Scholar, earning a $15,000 scholarship. Sastry was one of just two dozen students selected for the honor, which was sought by 11th and 12th grade students from more than 90 Girls Inc. affiliates across [...]
School Board okays teacher contract
The Board of Education has okayed an agreement with the teacher’s union that will allow the district to shorten the next two school years and to temporarily suspend limits on K-3 class sizes, which will mean layoff notices for some teachers. The vote was 4-1, with Trustee Trish Hererra Spencer casting the “no” vote.
The agreement, [...]
School board holds special meeting today
Alameda’s Board of Education is holding a special meeting today in the superintendent’s conference room at the district’s offices, 2200 Central Avenue. On the agenda: Approval of a contract with Alameda’s public school teachers, approval of an all-mail ballot in case of parcel tax, and closed-session consideration of a lawsuit, subject unnamed, against the state.
Carla [...]
School board okays master plan
The Board of Education has okayed a five-year master plan for Alameda’s public schools that seeks to create more specialized educational options while maintaining neighborhood elementary schools. The plan also calls for increased class sizes and more off-Island students.
The plan is predicated on securing philanthropic funding and on voter approval of a parcel tax that [...]
Today’s must-read: Lauren Do on AP at Encinal
Local blogger Lauren Do had an interesting post Tuesday about Encinal High School losing funding it had to cover the cost of Advanced Placement exams for the school’s lower income students and on the school’s efforts to recoup the loss.
In a nutshell, the school just learned it isn’t getting the $16,000 or $17,000 in state [...]
