Monterey County Education Digest

Despite a few improvements, results show students are still struggling on several fronts.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has formally backed an August motion by two law groups to keep the Temecula Valley Unified School District from being able to notify parents about transgender children or censor instruction about race. A hearing for the motion is scheduled for Jan. 24.

Salaries for school superintendents in California have risen as much as 60 percent in the past decade. This comes as good superintendents have become more difficult to hire and retain.

A Cal Poly Humboldt professor is partnering with USDA researchers to study biochar, which results from heating dry plant-based materials at high temperatures without oxygen. The CO2 in the charcoal then stays in the soil for hundreds of years, rather than in the atmosphere.

Homeschool students in San Diego County are up by 88 percent since the 2017-18 school year, based on Washington Post data analysis. This tops an overall increase in the United States of 50 percent for this same timeframe.

Oakland School District teachers planned lessons for students related to the history of Gaza. District superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell emailed parents and staff to say the teaching isn’t approved or sanctioned by the district.

The California Faculty Association is seeking a 12 percent pay increase, while university officials counter with 5 percent in each of the next three years.

Faculty at four California State University campuses are striking this week for higher pay as part of contract negotiations. Walkouts at the first campus, Cal Poly Pomona, began Dec. 4.

In 2020, the state agreed to a settlement in a lawsuit that claimed too many students were not learning to read. As part of that agreement, the state spent over $50 million on 75 schools with the lowest reading scores.

Students and teachers alike are decrying the actions of the Temecula Valley Unified School District board, which became conservative in majority following the recent elections of three members. The board’s actions include banning critical race theory and mandating parental notification if their child is transgender.

Most undocumented college students in California are not eligible for DACA anymore, creating new dilemmas for students and colleges around employment, financial aid and the threat of deportation.

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.

Congressman Jimmy Panetta was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Community College League of California, which recognizes individuals whose attendance at a California community college assisted them in achieving their goals.

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.

After a year of administrative changes and controversy over sexual harassment and assault allegations, Carmel Unified School District leaders have taken steps toward change in an effort to restore the community’s trust.

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.

The faculty union of the California State University plans to hold one-day strikes at four campuses in early December, pushing the nation’s largest four-year public university to secure 12% raises and other key concessions.

Monterey Peninsula Unified School District has launched a new bus driver cadet training program with the hopes it will incentivize new drivers to join the district.

Monterey Peninsula College announced Jacinto M. Salazar III as the college’s inaugural director of inclusivity, equity, anti-racism and accessibility. “This appointment underscores the college’s dedication to addressing systemic inequalities,” the college stated.

About 150 students, staff and faculty had a chance to ask questions about California State University, Monterey Bay’s budget for the 2023/24 fiscal year at a Nov. 9 meeting.

Hartnell College Faculty Association members organized a rally at the Main Campus on Oct. 25 to protest against working conditions for part-time teachers and to ask administrators for improvements.

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.

CSUMB will close the program following a loss of accreditation. The physician assistant degree program kicked off in 2019 and 29 students graduated in 2021.

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.

California State University, Monterey Bay’s parking technology is about to get an upgrade, and maintenance that was halted due to COVID-19 will also begin to roll out across campus.

The Pacific Grove Unified School District’s board of trustees unanimously approved Linda Adamson as the district’s next superintendent.

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.

North Monterey County Unified School District’s governing board appointed Angelo DiMarco to fill the vacant Trustee Area 3 seat. Five residents submitted applications for the open seat.