Alliance teaches how to help Black AV youth
Annual parent conference educates everyone
Throughout the school year, test results come out that detail how well California students are doing in math, language arts and other subjects.
Inevitably, when the statistics are taken apart and looked at by ethnic group, African American youngsters are not doing well. That is the case on a state-wide basis. It’s the case in the nation’s second largest school district—Los Angeles Unified School District; and it is the same in the Antelope Valley.
Lisa Oates, head of the High Desert Alliance of Black School Educators (HDABS), which is an affiliate of the National Alliance of Black School Educators, said her organization recognizes the challenges African American children face by holding a parent symposium every January, and by inviting people to come to their monthly meetings.
“We meet the second Tuesday of each month at the Greenhouse Cafe in the Antelope Valley mall starting at 6 p.m. We order dinner, and usually have a different workshop presenter at each meeting,” explained Oates. One goal of the monthly meetings is to help parents, teachers and administrators connect with the resources available.
The alliance will hold its fourth annual parent symposium Jan. 29 at Eastside High School, and the event is an opportunity for parents to discuss concerns about their offspring, to get information about their rights and what they can expect. Additionally Oates said teachers, administrators and classified personnel can attend to gain information on how to work with African American pupils.
Students are also give techniques to help them better engage in school.
“The workshops include how to teach students (who) can be reluctant to participate in the process. They haven’t figured out yet why this is relevant to them,” Oates explained.
She continued that there is also a need to learn how to take into account the baggage students bring to school and unload and unpack at their desks. “We talk to teachers about ways they can help their students filter that and put it into perspective so the learning they need takes place.”
The platform the High Desert Alliance is utilizing to try to change the educational direction of Black youngsters in the Antelope Valley comes from the national alliance’s educational blueprint that says education is a civil right.
In addition to all of these activities, Oates said her group gives away scholarships to deserving youngsters from the area, and will hold its next fundraiser business breakfast meeting Tuesday beginning at 7:30 a.m. at the Embassy Suites Palmdale. The cost is $30 for non members and $24 for members.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Six people were killed on Los Angeles County streets and highways during the first 84 hours of the Thanksgiving holiday period, said the CHP.
That compares to five people who were reported killed on local roads during the same period last year.
There were 276 arrests for suspicion of drunken driving on the CHP-patrolled highways in Los Angeles County, one more than last year's total of 275.
LOS ANGELES, Calif,—More than 60 children have died from abuse or neglect in the past 32 months after being under the supervision of Los Angeles County's Department of Children and Family Services.
The deaths have occurred despite assurances by county officials that the problem was getting better, according to county documents cited by the Los Angeles Times.
In addition to her full time job as a mother, Holly Mitchell is also the CEO of Crystal Stairs, the largest childcare development non-profit organization in California, and sits as a member of the board of directors of the Liberty Hill Foundation, Verbum Dei High School in Watts, and the national advisory council of Breast Cancer Action.
Mitchell has dedicated her life to helping working families in California and hopes to do more of that as the 47th District Assembly representative. Following are her views on key issues in the state.
Proposition 23, the ballot measure that would suspend California’s progress toward a clean-energy economy, would be very bad news for California’s low-income and minority communities. It would stifle job growth, an effect especially harsh in minority communities, where unemployment is among the state’s highest. It would also stymie efforts to clean up some of the state’s most toxic facilities, areas where a disproportionate number of California’s minorities live.
Black students in Los Angeles are struggling to improve their academic achievement, and there are a number of efforts under way to provide the resources needed to help them succeed.
One such effort is being pushed by Los Angeles Unified School Director Board of Education member Marguerite LaMotte and the others comes from the Coalition for Black Student Equity and the African American Education Alliance.
