May 27, 2019
Creshena White helps distribute crowns during a
presentation by Patricia Brent-Sanco.
EDCAL 7
Attendees pose for a photo outside the Almansor Court venue in Alhambra, which played host to the Sisterhood Leadership Symposium on May 18.
Queens of Sisterhood
Left: Attendees don paper crowns for an exercise identifying “Queenly Privileges.” Above: Attendees pose
for a social media photo.
SISTERHOOD
Continued from page 1
such as addressing high school graduation
and teen pregnancy for girls, and offered
the honest advice that every woman in the
room should simply, “Take a leap of faith
and just be brave.” Breunig showed no
shortage of faith in the abilities and pas-
sion for change shown by the women who
gathered together for the event, encourag-
ing all with the idea that, “Powerfully dis-
covering, connecting and taking action …
that’s how you change the world!”
After the keynote session, participants
broke into groups to attend a variety of
breakout sessions following three strands:
Leadership in an Era of Accountability,
which focused on leadership and equity
courage; Advancing and Excelling in Your
Career, focusing on career advancement in
the educational leadership field; and finally,
Personal Branding and Self-Care, which
focused on work-life balance and building
executive presence.
One session titled “Branding Like A
BOSS” and presented by Donna Marie
Hunter, focused on the power of presence
and personal branding. Participants were
asked to deeply think through an essential
question for all leaders — “Why should
anyone follow you?”
Another focused on the specific chal-
lenges women seeking leadership positions
face. “Smashing the Glass Ceiling with
Purpose and Determination” by Rosa
Coronado addressed the disparities in rep-
resentation for women in educational lead-
ership. “Women in particular sometimes
have to make tough choices,” she said,
outlining some of the challenges women
face in explaining employment gaps and
choosing careers while balancing family
concerns.
The well-attended session focused on
practical tools for women actively seeking
to move forward in their leadership jour-
ney, including document preparation, net-
working and social media presence.
The “Equity Through Community
Partnerships” workshop presented by
Antoinette Gutierrez, Joseph Williams,
Donna Martin and Claudia Lopez focused
on San Bernardino High School’s data and
equity programs to highlight ways to work
with the community to improve equity
indicators. The presenters also detailed
efforts to create the San Bernardino High
School Community Collaborative, whose
mission is to empower students holisti-
cally with real-world applications of core
academics and life skills. The collaborative
seeks to achieve specific equity targets,
while analyzing equity data and communi-
ty efforts to meet those targets.
“We have a lot of kids that fall through
the cracks … one of our goals is to have
100 percent of our students having a
positive relationship with an adult,” said
Gutierrez. “What we want is a welcoming
environment where community members
know that they will receive fair and equita-
ble treatment and that we love their kids.”
Another leadership-focused session by
Renee Hill, former assistant superinten-
dent of Riverside Unified School District,
focused on the essential tools of leadership
including meeting facilitation, securing
vital input, conquering time crunches, and
the vital process of developing and mentor-
ing new leaders.
Patricia Brent-Sanco, director of
Lynwood Unified School District, and
Leslie Lockhard, superintendent of the
Culver City Unified School District,
teamed up to present “Recognize, Respond,
Redress, and Re-create: Using the skills of
an equity literate leader to ensure equitable
school and work environments,” which was
designed to provide an understanding of
The Four Skills of Equity Literacy using
the works of Paul Gorski.
Participants engaged in an interactive
workshop that provided an opportunity to
reflect on implicit biases in the workplace,
as well as the ways in which race and gen-
der intersect to create different workplace
“A ceiling — glass or
otherwise — cannot
exist without the walls
that hold it up.”
Judy White
County Superintendent,
Riverside County Office of Education
experiences for every woman. Attendees
used small group discussion time to focus
on learning to respond to micro-aggres-
sions, understanding the concept of redress,
and recreating traditional school structures
into equitable school environments.
After handing out paper crowns, Brent-
Sanco led the group in an exercise designed
to raise awareness of the different challeng-
es women, especially women of color, face
in the workplace. Participants were asked
to list their “Queenly Privileges,” “Noble
Struggles,” and “Royal Responsibilities”
before debriefing the exercise. She then led
a discussion on code-switching and tools
designed to improve equity literacy for
educators.
The day ended with a panel discussion
featuring Kim Lawe, director, Corona-
Norco USD; Heather Griggs, superin-
tendent, Oro Grande School District;
Judy White, county superintendent,
Riverside County Office of Education;
May Sieu, superintendent, ABC USD;
and Antoinette Gutierrez, principal, San
Bernardino City USD. The panel was
moderated by Rachel Monarrez, assistant
superintendent of continuous improve-
ment, San Bernardino USD, and focused
on the day’s theme “Our Voices are Vital.”
The panel discussed a range of topics
including the value of authenticity and
telling your story as a component of advo-
cacy, code-switching, working with male
allies, the difference between mentorship
and sponsorship, and how to educate each
other on celebrating and supporting the
differences among women.
“I joined ACSA and went to my first
Women in Leadership Forum, and my
male colleagues asked me how the Powder
Puff conference was,” said Lawe. “I sought
out my allies and developed relationships
with people who would help amplify my
voice.”
The discussion included views on how
to maintain cultural identity while over-
coming the barriers that may exist more
strongly for women of color and immigrant
women and how to develop and sustain
networks of allies.
“If there are not enough seats at the
table … pull up more,” said Gutierrez.
White confirmed this strategy, saying,
“Oftentimes many of the people standing
behind me and helping me were women.”
The conversation included an in-depth
discussion of the systemic barriers facing
women seeking leadership positions and
strategies for overcoming some of those
barriers. “A ceiling — glass or otherwise —
cannot exist without the walls that hold it
up,” said White.
The response to the day was extremely
positive as female education leaders gath-
ered together to strengthen their network
and to celebrate each other.
“I felt like the event really brought
together a lot of things that people need to
focus on right now,” said Angela Dorough
of El Rancho USD. “I’m an aspiring
administrator, so the tools and information
were very useful for me.”
Her sentiments were echoed by Jennifer
Bourgeois, director of research, evaluation
and school improvement, at Corona-Norco
USD.
“Today’s event was inspiring and ener-
gizing,” she said. “It was great to network
with female colleagues from across the
central and southern California area and to
talk about how to help all students achieve.
The village around us to lift us and support
us is incredible.”