At a community meeting in 2008, Carl Pinkston watched parent after parent stand up to say that whenever they brought their concerns to the school board, they were not being heard. So he and others got together to start a Black Parallel School Board — a place where parents could express themselves and organize together to improve education for Black students.

The organization has made small, but significant changes in schools, like getting posters of Black role models on the walls. It’s also involved in bigger changes, pushing to remove police officers from schools and to stop discipline practices that disproportionately target Black students. Recently, the organization sued the state over this. This week we look at how this organization began, and why Black parents felt it was needed.

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Some students can’t attend in-person school because they are at high risk for Covid-19. Nine-year-old Liam in Long Beach, for example, has chronic lung disease. But Liam’s school district told his family he couldn’t enroll in independent study either, because he has special needs that couldn’t be accommodated.

So Liam — and thousands of other special education students – are in limbo. His mother and other parents have joined a civil rights complaint to try to push the state and school districts to help their students.

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When Anaya Zenad researched her school’s namesake, she uncovered a history that upset her. The school was named after Juan Crespi, a Spanish missionary who helped pave the way for the brutally oppressive California mission system in the 1700s, where Native American children were forced to work. Anaya and her peers decided they wanted their school to recognize someone who stood up for civil rights, rather than someone who played a part in taking rights away. So they renamed it after Betty Reid Soskin, a local civil rights icon and the oldest National Park ranger. This week we explore the story of how Anaya and other students made this change happen.

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California’s juvenile justice system is at a crossroads, with state-run youth prisons shutting down in less than two years. Many of the 3,600 youth held in county-run juvenile halls, camps and ranches are former public school students like Kent Mendoza, who was incarcerated when he was 15. He’s now part of a growing movement to reimagine juvenile detention facilities and the education provided in them.

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California is making big strides towards offering a free year of public pre-kindergarten to all four-year-olds by 2025.

A teacher shares why she loves transitional kindergarten – the joy of learning and the chance for play so often lost in kindergarten nowadays. Host Zaidee Stavely and EdSource reporter Karen D’Souza discuss the hopes and challenges posed by this enormous expansion.

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As California school districts face a substitute shortage so severe that some officials fear temporary school closures, some district staff are playing musical chairs to fill positions. We speak with a superintendent who now also fills in as classroom teacher, health aide, or administrative assistant, depending on the day.

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About 1 in 8 of California’s school children have an undocumented parent. This week, we take a look at three siblings, all U.S. citizens, who had to put their college plans on hold, when their stepfather took steps to obtain a green card – only to be separated from his loved ones for more than two years. Also, a school board member and advocate for students from immigrant families shares how schools can support these students.

Guests:

Armanda Ruiz, José Luis Ruiz Arévalos, and their kids Elena, Nathan, Ignacio and Priscila

Xilonin Cruz-Gonzalez, Deputy Director, Californians Together; School Board Member, Azusa Unified School District

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This episode was produced in collaboration with The California Report Magazine and KQED.

Jennifer Molina contributed to the reporting.

Studies have shown that the mere presence of books at home can help foster learning. But after 18 months of the pandemic, California’s youngest learners may be at most risk of falling behind.

This week, the story of a Berkeley school bus driver who started giving away books on her bus and realized that the book gap was much larger than she thought. She shares how she joined up with Dolly Parton to bring even more books to kids, and how parents and teachers can help kids get excited about reading.

Guests:

Karen D’Souza, Senior Reporter, EdSource

Seena Hawley, Executive Director, The Berkeley Baby Book Project, an affiliate of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library

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Upcoming EdSource Roundtable | Universal Transitional Kindergarten: What parents need to know

Join EdSource’s Karen D’Souza and Anne Vasquez for a roundtable discussion with providers, advocates and policymakers to explore the importance and impact of early education and how transitional kindergarten fits into the journey between preschool and kindergarten. Learn more and register.

California is set to launch the nation’s largest college savings program, CalKids, later this year, opening college accounts for all newborns in the state and low-income students in first through 12th grade.

Long before California’s college savings account program, an Oakland woman “adopted” her own class of first graders and promised to pay for their college educations if they graduated from high school. What did she learn? And what can California learn from her?

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With Covid cases surging again, tens of thousands of students across California have chosen independent study rather than in-person classes. But school districts are struggling to provide independent study for all students who want it, with some students waiting weeks to get assigned to a teacher.

Host Zaidee Stavely talks with reporter Betty Márquez Rosales about the frustrations shared by parents and district officials. A parent from Mojave Unified School District in Kern County shares the heartbreak she feels after her sons’ struggles with distance learning seem destined to repeat in independent study.

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