News updates

At least two Central Valley school districts are changing their graduation ceremonies due to dangerously high temperatures expected across the San Joaquin Valley, according to emailed media releases. The National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning for temperatures up to 109 degrees for the region from Wednesday until Friday evening. 

Clovis Unified on Tuesday announced its plans to change the June 5 and June 6 high school graduation ceremonies for Clovis West and Buchanan by 30 minutes. 

The change means attendants benefit from the later evening’s lower temperatures and from the stadium being shaded longer, district spokesperson Kelly Avants said about Clovis Unified’s response to temperatures expected to exceed 105. 

On Wednesday, due to the forecast of excessive heat, Madera Unified also announced a 30-minute adjustment to its graduation start times for Madera South’s June 5 ceremony and Madera High’s June 6 ceremony. 

“This change in graduation ceremony times is a response to the forecast high temperatures in the Central Valley,” district spokesperson Desiree Aragon said. “It ensures that students, families, and staff can celebrate this momentous occasion in a safe, comfortable environment.” 

Adolescents with internet addiction may experience changes in the architecture of the brain that could lead to other addictive behaviors and tendencies, one study suggests.

Some experts have long warned that a heavily phone-focused childhood could alter how the teenage brain gets wired, perhaps including cognitive control and reward valuation.

Adolescence is a critical developmental stage during which people undergo key changes in biology and cognition. It is also a stage marked by intense neural plasticity, which allows youth to cope with the numerous physical and emotional changes that occur during puberty but also promotes vulnerability to risk-taking and sensation-seeking impulses.

“We hypothesize that internet addiction has widespread neurological alteration effects rather than being limited to a few specific brain regions,” says the study, whose lead author is based at University College London. 

While much of public education is still reeling from the fallout of pandemic disruptions, the National Institute for Early Education Research’s new preschool “yearbook” shows a rebound in early education with record-setting pre-kindergarten levels for the 2022-23 school year, The 74 reported.

Following sharp declines during the pandemic, experts say, participation in preschool is back on the upswing. More than 1.6 million children attended public pre-K last school year, with the percentage of 3- and 4-year-olds hitting new highs. California, for instance, has been expanding its transitional kindergarten program to all 4-year-olds. 

Expanding access, however, doesn’t mean states have to cut back on quality by lowering training requirements for teachers or increasing class sizes, the report’s authors note, The 74 reported.

After a second attempt by the University of California to end a strike of academic workers at five campuses failed, UC officials say they will file a breach of contract action in state court.

Academic workers from campuses in Santa Cruz, Davis, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Diego walked out in May in protest of the university’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian encampment crackdowns. UC Irvine workers are expected to join the protest on Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

The workers are members of United Auto Workers, Local 4811, which represents nearly 50,000 graduate teaching assistants, researchers and other academic workers. Union representatives said members’ rights were violated during pro-Palestinian encampment crackdowns.

Monday the California Public Employment Relations Board ruled against the university, saying it had not shown that the strike is causing “irreparable harm” to the university – the legal standard required to approve an injunction, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“We are disappointed that the state agency dedicated to the oversight of public employment could not take decisive and immediate action to end this unlawful strike – a decision that harms UC’s students who are nearing the end of their academic year,” said Melissa Matella, associate vice President for Systemwide Labor Relations in a statement. “While PERB has not agreed to act immediately through an injunction, it has issued a complaint against UAW about its strike.” 

In May the state board initially refused to issue an injunction, but allowed UC officials a chance to submit additional evidence to prove its case. Monday the board ruled that the evidence was not enough, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“Now that UC has exhausted the PERB process for injunctive relief, UC will move to state court and is hopeful for quick and decisive action so that our students can end their quarter with their focus on academics,” Matella said. 

California State University will celebrate Juneteenth on June 13 and June 14 with “Let Freedom Ring: Breaking Chains and Elevating to New Heights,” a live-streamed symposium. 

Juneteenth celebrates the day in 1865 that Union soldiers arrived in Texas to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the last Black people enslaved in the United States. 

The symposium will feature award-winning investigative reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones, scholar and activist Yaba Blay, author and director of the Boston University Center for Anti-Racist Research Ibram X. Kendi, CSU Chancellor Mildred Garcia, CSU Deputy Vice Chancellor Dilcie Perez and university students, alumni and staff.

The symposium will highlight the contributions of the African American community, showcase work taking place on CSU campuses and open dialogue about the steps universities can take to ensure the success of Black students, according to a press release from the university.

The live-streamed event is from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 13 and from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on June 14. Register at Calstate.edu/Juneteenth. 

 The first Juneteenth Symposium in 2022 led to an action plan to close equity gaps and advance social mobility for Black students. In 2024 the CSU conducted a systemwide inventory and asked each university to identify strategies to support Black student success. In April, university officials announced $4.6 million in one-time funding to campuses to help them implement the strategies. In May, the CSU also announced the launch of a statewide central office for Black Student Success at Sacramento State. 

Academic workers at UC San Diego will go on strike on Monday — in opposition to the UC system’s response to pro-Palestinian protests across the system, according to a City News Service story published by KPBS. 

United Auto Workers Local 4811 represents roughly  8,000 workers at UCSD — and roughly 31,500 at the six campuses home to strikes. 

“For the last month, UC has used and condoned violence against workers and students peacefully protesting on campus for peace and freedom in Palestine,” Rafael Jaime, president of UAW Local 4811, said in a statement, KPBS reported. 

“Rather than put their energies into resolution, UC is attempting to halt the strike through legal procedures. They have not been successful, and this strike will roll on. We are united in our demand that UC address these serious ULPs, beginning with dropping all criminal and conduct charges that have been thrown at our members because they spoke out against injustice.”

The union is specifically asking the UC to grant amnesty to academic employees and students who have been disciplined. They are also advocating for freedom of speech and expression. 

Members of the Merced City School District expressed they wanted a superintendent with a strong sense of morals and an ability to hold officials accountable, according to a report conducted by the firm, McPherson & Jacobson, The Merced Focus reported. 

The firm was hired in June 2023, and subsequently fired, and the district did not publicly release the report, which sparked outrage in the community. The Merced Focus eventually obtained a copy. 

Last week, the district’s trustees said they selected Julianna Stocking — who previously worked as Tracy Unified’s associate superintendent of educational services — and will vote on a contract during an upcoming meeting. 

If Stocking’s employment moves forward, she will be the fifth person to lead the district since 2020. 

The report compiled by McPherson & Jacobson — which represents the California School Board Association — relies on feedback from 77 individuals who spoke in small-group meetings, including school administrators, principals, educators, staff and members of the community. The firm also received feedback through an online survey, which received almost 250 responses. 

Responses included allegations of an affair involving a district official and a subordinate – as well as allegations of bullying, surveilling and retaliation. 

In the report, many claimed that district leaders lacked integrity and that office jobs had been padded with individuals’ friends. 

Members of the school board were also criticized — with many claiming they should be recalled from their positions. 

“In these past few years, our school board has not seemed to understand their role,” one comment read, according to The Merced Focus. “In many ways, it has felt like it has hindered our forward motion and made many teachers and community members question why they are serving.” 

On the other hand, respondents pointed to Merced’s location, diverse community and the district’s many veteran teachers and staff as positives. 

“The community of Merced has a great group of community members that are friendly and willing to help out other community members,” one respondent said in the survey. 

The president of the district’s school board, Allen Brooks, told The Merced Focus that he has no intention of reading the report. He also claimed that the district had addressed the report’s allegations and that there is no need for further investigation. 

“For the record, these issues that were raised, the issues that we’ve heard, they were addressed,” Brooks told The Merced Focus. “Once again, I haven’t seen that report. I don’t know the issues that were raised in the report, but I know the issues that the search firm verbally told us. And those things were definitely taken care of.”

Academic workers at UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara and UC Santa Cruz will go on strike next week, joining workers at three other UC campuses, the union representing the workers announced Friday.

The strike is escalating at a pivotal point of the spring quarter at the six campuses. Next week is the last week of classes, and final exams are the following week. Union members play a key role in grading papers and administering exams.

The union, United Auto Workers Local 4811, has alleged that UC has violated its members’ rights by retaliating against them for participating in pro-Palestinian protests across the system’s 10 campuses. The union represents 48,000 workers across the system, including teaching assistants, researchers and other student workers.

Workers at Santa Cruz were the first to walk out as part of the strike, which allows union leadership to call on different campuses at different times to strike. They were followed this week by workers at UCLA and UC Davis.

“For the last month, UC has used and condoned violence against workers and students peacefully protesting on campus for peace and freedom in Palestine,” said Rafael Jaime, president of the union. “Rather than put their energies into resolution, UC is attempting to halt the strike through legal procedures. They have not been successful, and this strike will roll on.”

Responding to the strike escalation, UC said in a statement Friday that the expanded strike would disrupt the end of the quarter.

“We are disheartened that UAW continues publicly escalating its unlawful strike in violation of its contracts’ no-strike clause and encouraging its members to disrupt and harm the ability of our students to navigate finals and other critical year-end activities successfully. UAW’s goals of ‘maximize chaos and confusion’ have come to fruition, creating substantial and irreparable impacts on campuses and impacting our students at a crucial time of their education,” UC said.

The University of California, Santa Cruz said police arrested many people Friday morning as demonstrations have blocked campus access for weeks, The Associated Press reported. 

Campus, local and state police removed an encampment of pro-Palestinian demonstrators, according to AP. Following the arrests of hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators at UCLA and the suspension of dozens of protesters at UC San Diego, academic workers started a strike at UC Santa Cruz on May 20 because of how the UC system has handled pro-Palestinian protests this semester. The strike continued this week. 

“For weeks, encampment participants were given repeated, clear direction to remove the encampment and cease blocking access to numerous campus resources and to the campus itself,” Scott Hernandez-Jason,a university spokesperson, said in a statement Friday. “They were notified that their actions were unlawful and unsafe.” 

On Friday morning, according to the statement, protesters were also given multiple warnings to disperse. 

AP reported that officers instructed people to leave before taking away their signs. There appeared to be pushing and shoving between police and demonstrators. 

Friday’s arrests add to at least 83 incidents since April 18 in which police have made arrests at campus protests, according to AP,  which has recorded that more than 3,025 people have been arrested at 62 colleges and universities.

Across the country, as some colleges shutter, nearly 23,000 new academic programs have been added in the last 20 years, suggesting that higher education is growing, not shrinking, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported.

Federal data from over 2,000 institutions of higher ed showed a 40% growth in bachelor’s degree programs between 2002 and 2022, a Chronicle analysis found. 

According to The Chronicle, certain disciplines spearheaded that growth, including: health, visual and performing arts, business, education, multidisciplinary studies, biology, computer science and communications/journalism. Each of those disciplines added more than 1,000 programs over the last two decades. For example, colleges added 2,700 health and clinical science professional programs, such as nursing, public health and physical therapy. The health professions represented the largest growth out of 38 areas of study that The Chronicle analyzed. 

As programs have grown between 2002 and 2022, undergraduate enrollment grew by 8% with bachelor degree completion rates increasing by 56%, The Chronicle found. 

The arts may well be crucial to a comprehensive education, research suggests, but many American schools still don’t make it a priority. That’s why five of the nation’s key arts education associations have banded together to spread the word, even as California begins to roll out its own arts ed initiative. 

The Educational Theatre Association (EdTA), National Art Education Association (NAEA), National Association for Media Arts Education (NAMAE) National Association for Music Education (NAfME), and National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) are officially teaming up to highlight the value of arts education through a joint advocacy work.

Amanda Karhuse, NAfME assistant executive director for advocacy and public policy, will lead this coalition to build a shared federal legislative agenda on arts education and lobby congressional staff and U.S. Department of Education officials. 

“We want to see every art form emphasized in educational policy so more students have equitable access to the discipline of their choice,” said Karhuse, who has more than 25 years of experience in federal policy and advocacy, in a release.

California State University campuses in Bakersfield, Channel Islands, Chico, Dominguez Hills, East Bay, Fresno, Humboldt, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Cal Maritime, Pomona, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San José, San Luis Obispo, San Marcos and Sonoma will share $6.4 million to support each school’s Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Achievement Program.

Awards ranging from $200,000 to $460,000 will contribute to culturally responsive learning communities, advising services, mental health counseling, career development services and supplemental instruction, according to a news release from California State University.

“The CSU AANHPI Student Achievement Program will have an indelible effect on the success of underserved and first-generation AANHPI students and other underrepresented students,” said CSU Chancellor Mildred García. “This funding is a significant milestone in supporting our universities’ efforts in strengthening their diverse campus communities and increasing opportunities for all students to attain the life-changing benefits of a CSU degree.”

The state has budgeted $8 million annually for the program, including the development of a statewide central office for the AANPHI Student Achievement Program. The office will be located on the Sacramento State campus.

The California Department of Justice will monitor how Redlands Unified School District handles claims of sexual harassment and abuse for the next five years, after an investigation found critical shortfalls in the district’s policies and practices.

The district violated laws in place to protect against and address complaints related to sexual assault, harassment and abuse, according to California Attorney General Rob Bonta in a news release Wednesday. 

The investigation followed a number of high-profile cases involving sexual abuse of students by district staff, several of whom have been convicted of related offenses, according to the Department of Justice.

The school district spent more than $45.5 million to settle lawsuits alleging sex abuse of students by school staff since 2016, according to The Press Enterprise.

“As a parent, and as attorney general, protecting our kids is my most important job,” Bonta said. “It is absolutely unacceptable that any child should be put at risk of sexual harassment or abuse while at school, where they should be free to learn and grow in a safe and supportive environment. ​​California law guarantees each and every child the right to a public education free from sexual harassment, assault, and abuse, and today’s stipulated judgment holds Redlands Unified accountable for failing to abide by the laws in place to protect our kids. ”

The state oversight is part of an agreement between the district and the state Department of Justice that requires the district hire an assistant superintendent of compliance and sexual harassment prevention; revise policies for responding to complaints; develop a database to track complaints, which also must be provided to the Office; provide staff and student training on how to report sexual assault; and offer mental health services to victims, among other things.

Redlands Unified School District Superintendent Juan Cabral said the district is committed to complying with the terms of the judgment. 

“We take the findings seriously and are dedicated to making necessary improvements to ensure a safe and equitable learning environment for all students and staff as this continues to be our number one priority,” Cabral said in a statement. “We are actively working with the Department of Justice to implement the agreed-upon measures, as well as continue the many safety practices the district implemented prior to this agreement.”

Child care providers suffer from high levels of anxiety and depression, according to the latest RAPID Survey Project at the Stanford Center on Early Childhood.

This project, which has been surveying child care providers since 2021, found that about half of providers experienced moderate to high levels of anxiety symptoms, such as nervousness. Depression was also common, with roughly half saying everything feels like an effort and a third reporting moderate to high levels of sad, hopeless or worthless feelings.

The survey aims to assess caregiver well-being, given that child care providers serve a vital function in society and shape the formative development of children. 

Parents of young children felt a significant drop in their monetary health last year, according to an annual study of American household finances recently released by the Federal Reserve, NBC reported.

The Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking saw a decline in the percentage of parents living with children under age 18 who felt financially secure, falling from 69% in 2022 to 64% in 2023. This is markedly down from a record high of 75% in 2021. The current numbers are the lowest on record going back to 2015, the Fed survey data shows.

The Fed notes that the monthly child care expenses some families are grappling with have soared to nearly as high as the cost of rent. Two recent events have also destabilized many American families’ finances, experts say: the end of the pandemic-era child tax credit and the expiration of financial support for child care organizations, NBC reported.