Back in July 2020, the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) Board of Trustees voted unanimously to adopt our Community Schools Coalition Resolution. Since then, CPI and our partners in the San Diego Community Schools Coalition have been working hard to implement the plan laid out in the Resolution towards transforming SDUSD public schools into community schools.
In 2021, one of our coalition’s priorities was to raise awareness of the community schools model and encourage SDUSD schools to apply to become community schools. We held over 20 info sessions and forums and have already had over 10 schools express interest in formally applying to become a community, exceeding our goal of 5 schools. The deadline for schools to apply is February 28, 2022.
Other major priorities in implementation was supporting the hiring of a District Community Schools Coordinator and the formation of the Community Schools Advisory Committee, both of which we were able to accomplish:
- Please join us in welcoming Aronn Peterson, the newly hired District Community Schools Coordinator at the SDUSD who will oversee the development of community schools across the district. The San Diego Community Schools Coalition is excited to be working with Aronn, who comes from Madison, Wisconsin where he was the Community Schools Manager for the Madison Metropolitan School District since 2017. In his previous role, Aronn led the implementation of community schools, supported needs assessments and asset mapping processes, and assisted Parent Liaisons in creating parent affinity groups.
- The Community Schools Advisory Committee (CSAC) held their first meeting this month. The CSAC is comprised of community members with a commitment to public education and building schools that serve the needs of the community. The CSAC is the shared decision-making body that ensures the district’s processes and procedures adhere to best practices while schools transition and operate as a community schools. The CSAC will work to implement community schools within SDUSD using the roadmap developed by the Community Schools Implementation Team (CSIT). The roadmap will be a “SDUSD Community Schools Manual” that outlines the design, development, implementation, and continuous evaluative processes that the CSAC will use to help facilitate the community schools designation and implementation processes.
We are looking forward to working with Aronn, the San Diego Unified School District, and CSAC to designate community schools in the SDUSD this year.
Related Resources:
- Learn more about the San Diego Community Schools Coalition here.
- Read our Community Schools Resolution here.
- Check out this article about community schools from the California Teachers Association.
