El Dorado County Education Digest

A graduate student workers union and the University of Southern California have agreed to a three-year labor contract that averts a looming strike. The deal calls for pay increases each of the three years.

State officials passed a 1,000-page document in July outlining new guidelines for teaching math in California. Funding has not been allocated, though the state superintendent intends to introduce legislation that could change this.

Two members of the Sunol Glen Unified School District board have been served with recall notices. This came after the board approved a resolution that banned schools in the Alameda County district from flying the LGBTQ+ pride flag.

George Wheeldon, a legendary figure in El Dorado County education who taught science to generations of students, died Oct. 20 following a lengthy illness.

Lacking power at the state level, conservatives are leaning into local governance to protest California’s progressive politics. The fight in Huntington Beach could be a harbinger of what’s to come.

Assembly Bill 1096, taking effect Jan. 1, will let community colleges in the state provide courses in non-English languages, regardless if a student is also taking ESL. Previously, a student had to sign up for the latter to qualify for the former.

California’s community colleges are seeing enrollment gains for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Older students—those over 50—are some of the first to return.

Young people are stuck earning low wages, working long hours—often while going to school—and often without benefits or work protections. Their hardships may hamper the state’s economy for years to come, researchers say.

UC Berkeley, Stanford and UC Davis are among the schools that have had incidents related to the Israel-Hamas war. Schools are working to keep students safe and prevent disputes escalating to violence.

Tribes like the Muwekma Ohlone have been asking UC Berkeley for decades to give back ancestral remains from burial sites around the Bay Area. The school is in the process of repatriating 4,400 remains and 25,000 tribal items.

Women are nearly twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, but among boys and girls, the likelihood is the same.

State law requires community colleges to spend at least half their general fund on instructors. But administrators say they want more flexibility to pay for the growing need for student services.

Some advocates believe the state should expand the Cal Grant program for low-income students next year, even if that means pulling money from a financial aid program that benefits middle class students.

Signed by the governor in September 2022, AB 2881 aims to help student parents in California by offering them priority registration. Advocates are optimistic the law will formalize data collection, allowing them to better serve this student population that represents 1 in 5 students nationally.

Continuing the El Dorado County Office of Education’s commitment support for Native youth and their families, EDCOE introduces Antoinette Del Rio as the new coordinator of Indian Education.

After multiple years on hiatus, the Watershed Education Summit once again brought together local high school students, teachers and resource specialists to participate in a watershed monitoring project.

Despite an influx of money to counter learning loss during the pandemic, English language arts and math test scores remain low.

With the growing use of AI, campus officials are trying to set clear guidelines for college application essays.

The El Dorado Community Foundation has launched a Scholarship Giving Circle. Anyone can contribute and all funds collected will go toward scholarships at five local high schools.

Capital Public Radio’s board of directors voted to hire a new general manager on Oct. 3, but Sacramento State said it opposes the move for the financially troubled broadcaster and will not fund the position.

Student workers at the 23-campus system say their pay is low, their hours are restricted and they get no sick pay. They are hoping to join the employees union to fix that.

To qualify for financial aid, students must maintain a certain grade-point-average, but many don’t. A bill on Gov. Newsom’s desk would make it easier for students to keep their aid and stay in college.

After a historic decline in community college enrollment during the pandemic, students are returning to school again, according to the state’s most recent data. But students between the ages of 20 and 30 are lagging behind.

Dr. Charles Ware took the Oath of Office and officially assumed the position of trustee for Area 1.

The tuition increases were forecast earlier this year, when a Cal State task force concluded the system needs at least $1.5 billion annually in new revenue to afford student services and bolster its academic offerings.

California State Parks has launched the enhanced PORTS: Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students website, an innovative initiative that connects K-12 classrooms with the wonders of California's diverse state parks through virtual field trips, live interactive sessions and comprehensive digital resources.

Eight community colleges in California are testing out a new education model, one that defines success by the skills a student learns, not the time they spend in a classroom. But changing the traditional education system isn’t easy.

The plan, if approved, would begin at UCLA, with other campuses added later. But not everyone is on board with the latest version of this bill.

Elected for a second year to lead the branch is Deborah York, who will return as Branch President. The other 2023-2024 AAUW Nevada County Branch elected officers are Ann Gould, Secretary; Jennifer Wilkerson and Peg Flanders, Co-Finance Officers; Diane Kellegrew and Karen Hull, Program Co-Vice Presidents (VPs); Carol McMillan and Mari Kobus, AAUW Funds Co-VPs; and Deb Cubberley, Membership VP. Also serving on the Executive Committee is Past President Katherine (Bup) Greenwood.

Nearly a third of K-12 students statewide were chronically absent in 2020-21, more than three times the pre-pandemic rate. Some school officials fear that pattern is becoming the new normal.

A June budget deal required community colleges to raise their own money to build affordable student housing. Some campuses said that plan prevented them from building the dorms, even with help from the state to pay the debt.

Assemblymember Buffy Wicks proposed legislation to help get around a court's rejection of a UC Berkeley housing plan. But even if the law is approved, its fate is in the hands of the state Supreme Court.