June 17, 2019
Chula
Vista hits
a high
note
Dear Equity Champions,
Congratulations on another successful
school year. It has been so inspiring
to see all of the graduations, award
recognitions, and leadership trainings
taking place. ACSA’s Equity Office
celebrates and congratulates you for a
rewarding year of leading for excel-
lence through equity.
Elementary school district
earns national honor
For the second consecutive year,
the Chula Vista Elementary School
District has been honored with the “Best
Communities for Music Education” des-
ignation from the NAMM Foundation
for its outstanding commitment to music
education.
The Best Communities for Music
Education honor is bestowed upon school
districts that demonstrate outstanding
achievement in providing music access
and education to all students. To qualify
for the Best Communities designation,
CVESD answered detailed questions
about funding, graduation requirements,
music class participation, instruction time,
facilities, support for the music program,
and community music-making programs.
Responses were verified with school offi-
cials and reviewed by The Music Research
Institute at the University of Kansas.
“We are very proud of the efforts that
our arts partners, community leaders,
staff and Board of Education have made
to ensure music education is supported
throughout our District,” said CVESD
Superintendent Francisco Escobedo. “This
award is a shared achievement, involving
numerous arts organizations, students, and
families. We couldn’t be prouder. Winning
this two years in a row is no accident.”
In 2010, CVESD collaborated with
the San Diego Youth Symphony and
CHARTER
Continued from page 1
nor:
• Extend the timeline for approval or
denial of a new charter school petition
from 60 days to 90 days, to allow for more
thorough vetting and discussion (renewals
would still be 60 days).
• Create a statewide entity to develop
standards and provide training to charter
authorizers, who currently lack uniform
standards for providing oversight to char-
ter schools.
• Provide a “soft landing” to districts
for loss of average daily attendance due
to a student transfer to charter schools by
allowing them to continue to count that
student in ADA calculations for one year.
• Broaden the number of factors
authorizers should consider when making
a decision to approve or deny charter peti-
tions, specifically saturation (the number
of charter schools and overall enrollment
in those schools), academic outcomes/
offerings (at both traditional and charter
schools), and statement of need (based on
academic outcomes and offerings).
Zazueta said he’s particularly proud
that the group reached a consensus on the
last recommendation, which seeks to pro-
vide broader authority to evaluate charter
petitions based on need.
“It was not easy to get there, but we
played a critical role in getting all on the
same page,” he said.
Newsom announced creation of the
task force in early 2019 with a goal to
analyze the fiscal impact of charters
and inconsistencies in how they are
EDCAL 3
Chula Vista Elementary School was honored with a national NAMM Foundation award for its outstanding
commitment to music education.
Conservatory to establish an after-school
music program in two high-econom-
ic need elementary schools. Called
“Community Opus,” the program was
inspired by Venezuela’s El Sistema music
education initiative and was an immediate
hit in the pilot schools. Six more campus-
es followed with Opus programs of their
own.
By 2014-15, the Board of Education
announced the District would hire full-
time arts instructors and provide VAPA
instruction during the school day for all
students. Today, about 90 VAPA teach-
ers provide programs in Music, Dance,
Theater, and Media/Visual Arts. The
investment in VAPA was among the
services funded by the District’s Local
Control and Accountability Plan.
Chula Vista’s arts initiative has attract-
ed a host of high-profile partners, such
as the VH1 Save the Music Foundation
and Grammy Award-winning band Switchfoot, among others. Recognition
has flowed Chula Vista’s way as well, with
honors from the prestigious Yale School
of Music. Most recently, Guitars in the
Classroom has helped support music
teachers in utilizing ukuleles for students
with special needs. A grant from the
Rotary Club of Chula Vista Eastlake will
provide additional professional develop-
ment and training to help grow Guitars in
the Classroom.
“It is because of partners like Rotary,
like NAMM Foundation, like Guitars in
the Classroom, that we have been able
to really build our programs and foster
our growth,” said Lauren Shelton, the
District’s Coordinator for VAPA. “We’re
so fortunate our partners help us get what
our children really need and that we can-
not get ourselves. It makes for a deeper
impact when we know the community is
rallying for us, helping us serve and meet
our students’ needs and interests.”
authorized throughout the state. State
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Tony Thurmond convened the task force
and worked with Newsom’s office to
appoint its members, who met weekly
from March through May.
In the interest of transparency, the task
force also included in its report discus-
sions on issues where consensus “proved
more difficult.” Whenever task force
members could not reach a unanimous
agreement, a vote was taken to determine
majority support or opposition to an item.
Other proposals that were supported
by the majority, but not all task force
members, included a one-year moratorium
on establishment of new virtual charter
schools. The task force expressed concern
over the academic rigor and appropriate
full-time instruction of students at these
types of charters.
Another majority recommendation
would be to remove the State Board of
Education from hearing appeals to charter
petition denials. Some on the task force
believed that this would promote local
control and oversight, as currently charter
schools get three chances to be approved,
at district, COE and state levels.
A majority of the task force also want-
ed to prohibit districts from authorizing
charter schools located outside district
boundaries. A 2017 state audit found
that in 2016-17, 165 charter schools used
current exemptions to operate at least 495
locations outside of authorizers’ bound-
aries. Some on the task force felt this
prohibition would provide greater local
control, as well as limit the potential for
authorizers to use oversight fees as a “rev-
enue stream.” A majority also wanted to allow autho-
rizers to consider fiscal impacts as part
of the authorization process. While loss
of ADA is one fiscal impact, the task
force discussed others such as inability to
reduce expenses proportionally without
impacting students, obligations to keep
schools open and available in commu-
nities, disproportional special education
costs, and marketing for students in a
newly competitive environment.
The task force also discussed ideas on
how to manage the growth of charters,
such as putting limits based on geography
and time, however the task force could not
agree on conditions for limiting growth
and the item did not move to a vote.
A majority of the task force opposed
changing Education Code language,
which currently states that “the governing
board of the school district shall grant a
charter.” They opposed changing “shall”
to “may.” This was a “significant topic of
discussion,” according to the report, with
proponents of the language change saying
it implies that authorizers must approve a
charter unless there is a specific reason to
deny it.
Zazueta said that while he was disap-
pointed the group could not find more
common ground on the recommendations
supported by the majority, he was pleased
that ACSA was a voice at the table.
“At the end of the day, we represent
the individuals that are having to make
decisions in the field based on shifting
landscape in public education,” he said.
“As with most policy issues, we represent
the individuals who have to implement
various changes in schools once policy is
enacted.”
Why equity? Recently, I read an
article by Paul Gorski titled “Avoiding
Racial Equity Detours.” The article
really talks about goodwill, our desire
for justice and depth of knowledge,
and going beyond our goodwill to a
deeper knowledge that can make
equity possible. He asked several
questions posed initially by Wayne Au,
which I paused to reflect upon (and
you might consider doing the same):
“Are we driven by authentic desires
for racial equity? Or are we content
with rearranging inequities, hiding
them behind multicultural fairs and
diversity clubs?”
Gorski stated that in far too many
schools, the pace of equity progress
prioritizes the comfort and interests of
individuals who have the least interest
in progress. As educators, I am sure
we all agree that our students can’t
wait for schools to move at their own
pace and comfort level. We entered
the field of education because we
have a heart, passion and commit-
ment to educating all students. I
personally got into education because
I wanted to make a difference, I
wanted to give back to ensure that
all students get a high-quality edu-
cation, regardless of their ZIP code,
social-economic status or gender (just
to name a few).
Even with a strong pledge to educate
all students and close the achieve-
ment gap, the data show that only
20 percent of our African American
students and 27 percent of our His-
panic students meet or exceed state
standards in math, and 32 percent
of African American students and 39
percent of Hispanic students meet
or exceed state standards in English
language arts, based on Smarter
Balanced Assessments. Yes, we see a
downward trend on suspension rates,
however African American students
are suspended at the highest rate
— more than three and a half times
greater than other ethnic groups. I ask
you to reflect on how we address this
equity dilemma keeping in mind that
more and more students of color are
lagging behind their counterparts.
Our theory of action: We believe
that if ACSA supports district and site
leaders to create a strong network
of school teams trained to lead their
communities toward more equitable
practices, we will noticeably improve
administrator leadership capacity
and increase equity efforts. To that
end, we are excited to offer several
equity-related opportunities to build
your professional capacity: Equity
Administrator Academy offered
in Kern County of Education, San
Bernardino County of Education, and
Solano County of Education; Un-
conscious Bias Training, a two-day
training available to all members upon
request; and a 5-day Equity Leader-
ship Institute that will be customized
to meet the needs of your district or
ACSA Region. Please visit www.acsa.
org/equity for more information on
these and other opportunities.
– Marguerite Williams