Teachers and staff share their hopes and concerns

Knowing that our educators are central to the student experience, we have been working to connect with the staff at every elementary school.

Over the past month, Superintendent Dr. Rob Anderson and Deputy Superintendent Dr. Lora de la Cruz have met with all of our elementary school principals. 

They have also visited over half of our elementary schools. Over lunch, they’ve sat down with teachers and staff to listen to their concerns; understand what they need most to effectively teach and support students; and hear about their hopes for what new supports could come from the process.  

Naturally, many of the educators voiced their love for their schools and programs. At the same time, many recognized the impacts already being felt in their schools from declining enrollment.

While each community has unique characteristics, here are some of the themes we heard during these conversations:

• Instructional quality depends on manageable class sizes and adequate supports
  • Enrollment numbers do not reflect the complexity of student needs. High concentrations of students with IEPs, multilingual needs, trauma, and behavioral challenges require additional support.
  • There is a need for continued support for special education programs, including Intensive Learning Centers (ILCs), moderate-needs, literacy, and multilingual programs.
     
• Need for fully staffed, well-resourced schools rather than diluted services
  • Teachers desire full-time school administrators, counselors, psychologists, and specialists in each building.
     
• Community cohesion and program integrity matter
  Whenever possible, we should:
  • Preserve neighborhood school identity
  • Avoid fragmentation of strong school communities
  • Maintain established staff teams and relationships
  • Protect distinctive program models (e.g., IB, Montessori, PK–8, inclusive ILC environments)

• Staff emphasized that stable teams and manageable conditions are essential to student success
  They are worried about:
  • Job security and forced transfers
  • Loss of experienced staff
  • Burnout due to increased demands without added support
  • The long-term sustainability of current workload expectations
     
• Process and Transparency is crucial
  Including:
  • Clear and early communication
  • Transparent criteria for decision-making
  • Meaningful teacher voice in implementation
  • Thoughtful planning before final decisions are made.
     
• Equity must guide both decisions and implementation

Not surprisingly, what we know to be true has been confirmed—our people are our strength. It is our wonderful staff that make our schools the incredible places they are and create amazing learning experiences for students. As we move forward, a focus of our work will be to ensure that our educators have the resources needed to continue to serve students at the highest level.