Rebuilding Hope: Innovation, Not Closure
We hold one unifying mantra: promote innovation for the future of public education within our democracy. As a life-long parent of color, I recognize the value of public education as a key part of our democratic institution, an agent of change that has the power to close opportunity gaps for so many children. And right now, we must do school differently for all our kids to make that a reality.
San Francisco has and is facing a future of school closures and alarming deep school staffing cuts. Parents, caregivers, and community members are deeply concerned about the impact this will have on learning amongst the diverse population of San Francisco.
PPS is no stranger to difficult conversations – and this will be a difficult conversation whether it is followed by action or inaction. As the leader of our organization there is a wide scoped array of difficult conversations from extremely diverse constituencies. To add, serving education for over a decade, ranging from K-12 school districts, community colleges throughout California, I have witnessed existential threats to how it prevails. Under my appointment from the United States Department of Education, former Secretary Cardona, our needs assessment revealed that opportunity gaps were a transparent barrier to student learning and progress. Simply put, what surrounds our classrooms is a digital economy, a dynamic world for which the model we currently have for how we build schools must meet.
However, reminding ourselves what we are centering our conversations on what helps to further the conversation regardless of your side.
Among all the threats, our schools have an opportunity to create learning hubs, the center of the community, which provide both material services and learning opportunities that drive upward mobility for children. Our children are facing record numbers of not being able to afford to live in the very city they were raised in. The wealth gap is real, combined with structures over a hundred years old, and our duty to serve for public good is to rebuild how public schools look for our children.
We are parents whose children attend public schools who have experienced first-hand the opportunities that can come with an innovative public education. School closures are the subject of every conversation regarding public education. But they are no secret.
How do we handle school closures while still addressing the impacts of said school closures, and committing to providing quality, innovative community-centered public education?
Public education is a necessary institution for equitable educational resources that lead to life-course outcomes, and it is beholden on all of us to bring forth solutions to address our most pressing issues. Schools are not just for academic learning; they are a community within a community that fosters relationships and a developed sense of belonging and a place of innovation. By ensuring that children feel heard and seen, we are moving the needle towards progressive learning outcomes where children feel that they are setting themselves up for success, academically and socially.
Imagine if our curriculum also consisted of courses on social media integration, financial planning, local and federal policies; we would be nurturing the next generation of change makers on all fronts to be fully fledged active citizens.
When considering school closures, we must also ensure that we are acknowledging how this will affect chronic absenteeism and learning loss. Whole hubs of communities will suffer due to longer travel times and a lack of access to consistent transportation.
None of these issues are new – we have learned from our youth that the pressing issue of school closures is a serious threat to their education. However, we have never offered them a seat at the table to discuss alternatives when they are the ones who are in a constant state of threat. What if we provide our children with a Shark Tank-like experience, leverage our resources, and create schools that meet the times? That is a different conversation, and the ones we can have, it only takes will.
It does not matter where you stand, left or right. We can all agree that our children are our future, our legacy of what we pour into our communities. If we acknowledge their place in this, we can guarantee that we will see a shift in how our communities and districts work together.
As your fellow public-school parent, I see we are at a time of opportunity where we can change the narrative by a commitment to ensuring adamant and clear communication with district officials and that students are kept at the center of the conversation of building forward innovative community schools. We must uphold our duties as parents and community members and ensure that we are ready to partner and offer solutions for the future. We both (parents and school district) strive to model how we can have conversations to improve our schools' progress. That progress will only be achieved when we use our limited resources to build forward community school hubs that ensure public democratic institutions and innovative learning that meet the times.
Dr. Marrero recently published a magazine called Board Elevate designed to simplify and summarize school board docs. It serves as a bridge between the board’s complex reports and the community’s need for clear, accessible information-making district progress more transparent.
Read Volume 1 here
