I agree wholeheartedly with this assessment. So, as educators, we must consider not only how we are spending our own time, but how that impacts the beneficiaries of our professional endeavors, California students.

Where do the children of this state spend most of their time, and the overwhelming share of their waking hours? In school. The average American spends 13 years in school, or about 16 percent of their lifespan. That’s a substantial amount of time and it’s far too valuable to spend ineffectively. So, as the stewards of public schools, how are we making the most of it? What long-term trends can we identify to improve our practice, and will we take the time to implement new solutions in a way that makes sense for our local circumstances? No one knows the local community better than those who work, live and go to school there every day — so no one has more responsibility for continuous improvement that makes a tangible difference for our students.

Board members’ use of social media scrutinized

n Garnier v. O’Connor-Ratcliff, a case of first impression, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held in July 2022 that two members of the Poway Unified School District Board of Education had violated the First Amendment rights of two members of the public when they blocked them from their official Facebook and Twitter accounts. (The trustees have requested that the United States Supreme Court grant an appeal to them on this case.)

These free speech and social media issues are slowly making their way through the courts, and in many ways, Facebook, Twitter and other social media is still the “Wild West” of the legal world. Board members should take notice of this case because it is the precedent that future courts in California will rely on, and it provides some guideposts for board members who use social media to inform and engage their constituents.

ince 2015, Ayala CTE Engineering Academy, part of the Chino Valley Unified School District and Baldy View Regional Occupational Program, has grown from one class with 35 students to a four-year Project Lead the Way Engineering Pathway with approximately 190 students per year and 30 career technical education completers each year.

The Golden Bell-winning, project-based STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] program has increased female participation in the engineering pathway by 50 percent. Since 2018, 89 percent of all eligible students have received college credit. In the fall of 2022, 96 percent of the program’s seniors will be attending college, with the remainder entering trade schools.

“I feel our engineering and architecture pathway as structured provides students several years to create an essential roadmap toward a field of interest,” said Michael S. Collins, Baldy View ROP and Ayala High School engineering and design instructor. “We often discuss how there is no one size fits all — it is about giving them options.”

This was, and is, especially true when considering student behavioral and mental health. To guide our thinking, I would ask four questions of my leadership team. These questions are especially pertinent now as districts have an unprecedented opportunity to enhance these programs through the Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding and the $4.5 billion in funding available through Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “Master Plan for Student Mental Health” initiative.

The following are questions that leaders should be asking to help build effective behavioral and mental programs for their students.

Five tips to protect your LEA’s data

ybersecurity is one of those topics that falls into the same category as writing a will or going to the dentist — you know it is something that must be addressed, but you’d rather deal with it later. That is the approach many K-12 entities have taken towards cybersecurity preparedness.

And, for many years, it worked. The financial industry, healthcare and even higher education have been hammered by cybersecurity bad actors for years. But now their attention has turned to K-12, and for good reason.

First, as student data moved from cumulative folders to the digital space, cybercriminals realized the treasure trove of information we have in our systems. Student records are easily sold on the dark web to people who steal identities for a living. With all the information available on students from our systems, all it takes is the changing of one digit in the student’s year of birth, and you now have an identity that can be compromised for years without anyone knowing. The Social Security numbers of minors cannot be monitored for credit purposes, not even by their parents. Thus, the first time a student may realize his or her identity has been stolen may occur only when he or she applies for a job, a student bank account or completes a FAFSA [Free Application for Federal Student Aid]. A student’s information may have been compromised for up to 10 years by that point.

ne educational challenge that has been weighing heavily on administrators around the nation is teacher shortages and staff retention overall.

One educational challenge that has been weighing heavily on administrators around the nation is teacher shortages and staff retention overall. According to a poll from the National Education Association earlier this year, more than half of teachers say they’re thinking about quitting. And although other reports have noted that the turnover rate has not changed dramatically in these past two years, a story in the Wall Street Journal points to 300,000 public school teachers and staff leaving the field. The reasons? Staff shortages that result in additional workload for those who decide to stay, political debates, and safety.

It’s difficult to read news from around the nation and know that education leaders, teachers, students, and families are struggling. Which is why I want to help provide a solution — so that every student’s needs are met, teachers feel supported and appreciated, and we can retain the incredible instructional talent that is out there. My solution? Online learning.