Community Schools to Build Power and Transform Education in Our District

At the culmination of last year’s Recover, Rebuild and Rise Together contract campaign, we were able to win a new community schools contract article (Article 36) that enshrines an ongoing and expansive commitment to community schools in San Diego Unified School District. The new community schools article is the product of five years of continuous advocacy by SDEA union educator leaders in partnership with the San Diego Community Schools Coalition. Our SDUSD transformative community schools model is now supported by a legally binding agreement that provides accountability and resources to sustain the initiative. 

To be designated as a community school by the SDUSD Community Schools Steering Committee, each school community must demonstrate its readiness and commitment to implementing the equity strategy. After starting with an initial cohort of 5 community schools during the 2022-23 school year at ALBA, Hancock Elementary, Hoover High, Millennial Tech Middle and Mountain View Elementary, 10 new community schools were designated and came on board this school year:

10 more schools were designated to begin their community schools transformation next school year:

The new contract article delineates how we are implementing the proven community schools model that advances racial justice and quality education in our highest need school communities. In addition to articulating school site and district processes such as conducting needs and assets assessments with deep engagement, hiring full-time community schools coordinators and establishing shared decision-making that meaningfully involves all partner groups, the contract article specifies several other items to ensure success:

• Community school funds can be used for ongoing investment in, among other things, parent/community/youth organizing, outreach, and training; and curriculum planning time for educators, specifically around culturally-responsive and community-based instruction
• Establishment of community schools site coach project resource teacher positions, educator leaders who work with school staff, Site Governance Teams (SGTs), and community schools coordinators to support expanded and enriched learning and collaborative leadership
• Establishment of community schools district coach positions, who build the capacity of site coordinators, site coaches and SGTs

While it took awhile to get transformational community schools off the ground in SDUSD, our deliberative process sets up schools for success by 1) requiring collective commitment to the model 2) providing supports to transform our curriculum inside the classroom and 3) establishing partnerships with community organizations to implement solutions developed by inclusive problem-solving teams designated by SGTs. SDUSD Community Schools, powered by SDEA educator leaders collaborating with community school coordinators, families, students, and administrators, continue to expand our notion of what is possible with education in our district, both within and beyond our classrooms to ensure that our students in historically underserved communities have everything they need to thrive.