November 13, 2017
WILSON
Continued from page 1
access to the resources they need to promote
successful learning. Families are intention-
ally engaged, eager and ready to join other
stakeholders through such projects as the
African American Parent and Latino Parent
advisory councils.
“When I interface with young people,
I am reminded why I accepted the call to
become a public school teacher and admin-
istrator,” Wilson said. “I am inspired when
I look into the eyes of an English learn-
er, a special needs student or an African
American young person who responds to
our efforts.”
Wilson ensures the equity message is
infused into all professional development.
She is proud to have brought together
a committed group of “Equity Warriors”
within the district, who know their purpose
is not only to provide the equality of a “pair
of shoes” but the equity of a “pair that fit.”
“I realize that this most important work
is not easy, nor is it immediate,” Wilson
said. “But with consistency and unrelenting
tenacity, it can be accomplished!”
Wilson said she believes that when stu-
dents are expected to achieve, they do. “I
believe that when we add to our expectation
the necessary ‘navigation tools,’ students
wil l meet our expectations,” she said. “Our
intentional work to provide prevention,
intervention and acceleration opportunities
to meet individual student need and readi-
ness, creates spaces to truly ensure every
student can achieve.”
When she looks into the future, Wilson
said she is ambitious to continue to be an
advocate for all students. “I am committed
to opening up horizons for all students,
meeting them where they are and taking
them to where they could be and beyond,”
she said. “I see myself working with school
districts throughout the state to assist with
their LCAP efforts to reflect the equity
message.”
In her current role, Wilson brings an
encouraging message of “hope and pos-
sibility” to her district, division and schools
that challenges existing limits that are often
brought by society and some school officials.
She often uses her own story to communi-
cate that hope and possibility – to define
her “why.”
“Growing up in Los Angeles in the late
1960s and 1970s, most people who looked
like me were not expected by society to
achieve much or go too far,” Wilson said.
“I am quick to explain that because I had
Mrs. Williams as a third grade teacher; Mrs.
Willa Rose Jarrett, fifth grade; Mr. Loving,
Mrs. Price and Mrs. Diggs in sixth grade
at LaSalle Elementary School; along with
Mr. Edward Alonzo Robbs and Dr. George
McKenna, counselor and assistant principal
at Horace Mann Junior High School, and
Mrs. Andrea Pruitt, Ms. Judy Mays and Dr.
Willard Love, algebra II/trig teacher and
counselors at Los Angeles High School, as
my chief advocates outside my family, there
was little chance that I would not achieve.
“These educators expected me to do well
and they provided the navigation tools to do
so. They did so against the ‘societal norms,’
which more often than not communicated
brown, black or poor children could not suc-
cessfully achieve in university or the career
workforce. I came to believe that limits only
exist in our heads. That we impose these
limitations onto our students, and guess
what, they meet that expectation.”
Wilson said her counter-thinking is to,
“Be intentional: Expect and believe that all
kids can achieve, and guess what, they will!”
“Students look to us for this affirmation,”
she said. “We make the difference – or not.
The choice is always ours. I know this is
true. Look at how easily I named signifi-
cant teachers, counselors and administra-
tors in my K-12 school experience, and I
am 58 years old. How many people can do
the same?”
Realizing the spirit of Local Control
and Accountability Planning and changing
the environment for students is important
to ACSA’s Valuing Diversity Award win-
ner. It ensures the equity focus extends far
and wide into classrooms and on campuses,
where it is needed.
“We have intentionally provided access
and support to our underserved student
populations,” Wilson said.
“This comes in the form of additional
sections of support for students taking
advanced coursework for the first time,
elementary intervention teachers, academic
intervention sections to retake courses pre-
viously not passed, programs to supple-
ment standards and curriculum in ELA,
math and for our English language learn-
ers, additional counseling services at the
high school level, provision of CTE three-
course sequence career pathways, alliances
with San Marcos, University of California,
Riverside and College Bound, and the
creation of robust advisory councils with
parents and high school students.”
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