Remarks As Prepared
Good morning, colleagues and friends.
What incredible performances. The best part of starting a new school year is seeing first-hand the tremendous talent of our students and employees. When I moved here, I knew I was arriving in the entertainment capital of the world. The spectacular student performances I've seen indicate that our schools' arts programs will produce some of the biggest stars of the next generation. Let’s give them all one more round of applause.
I would like to thank our partners at the Microsoft Theater for opening their doors and inviting us into this magnificent venue. The Microsoft Theater is a thread in the larger fabric of venues in our city, and it serves our community by bringing together students, staff, families and community members and providing an intimate, front row experience of amazing live performances.
I also want to extend a very special, heartfelt thanks to our parents for their constant support of our students and schools. Their commitment and dedication is indispensable. Los Angeles Unified’s mission to provide students with the world-class education they deserve, without our parents, would be more impossible than the Miami Heat trying to reunite LeBron and DWade. You are your children’s first and forever teachers. Over the past few years, you have bravely served as a force of stability in the lives of our students, in and outside of the classroom. Thank you for all that you do.
It is a privilege to be here with you and to serve as your Superintendent. It is my distinct pleasure and honor to join you, some of you in person, some of you remotely, on my first Opening of Schools address. On behalf of our Board of Education President Kelly Gonez, Vice President Nick Melvoin, Dr. George McKenna III, Mónica García, Scott Schmerelson, Jackie Goldberg, Tanya Ortiz Franklin, and all of the elected officials who are with us today, thank you for coming. On that note, I want to highlight someone who will be departing later this year. You may know her as a soft spoken advocate, maybe the quietest on the board. If you know who I am referencing, you also know that is a joke. Ms. Garcia is a tireless advocate of Los Angeles Unified’s students and staff, and public education as a whole. Ms. García, I am incredibly inspired by your voice, by your joy and by your persistence. You will be greatly missed, but your legacy will live on and our students are better because of your service.
I hope each of you are returning to school on August 15 energized and ready for a new year after a refreshing summer break. Many of you undoubtedly traveled during the summer months to experience new sites, visit old friends or reconnect with family members after the pandemic lockdowns. Maybe you channeled Daphne Bridgerton vibes and ventured to your childhood home to take in the customs and festivities (and maybe the family gossip). Personally, I think Daphne should’ve stayed with the Viscount to dodge the uninteresting second season.
I’m sure others took the opportunity to remain local and take in the beauty of a Los Angeles summer, a season I myself am experiencing for the first time. And let me tell you, I don’t think there’s another place like Los Angeles. Or, you may have opted to literally stay local, holed up in your home to binge the latest installment of Stranger Things. If that was you, maybe we can talk after this because I have several questions about Vecna and all of this season’s plot holes.
Given that I’m the new guy, I’m still making sense of the culture and what people are interested in. So, I’m going to conduct a quick poll. Show of hands: do we have any Grace and Frankie fans? How about Ted Lasso? Where are my Marvel fans? Did you watch Ms. Marvel? Who just craves blockbusters and was ready for 60-year-old Tom Cruise to dominate the skies again in a new Top Gun? If you have an intense love of Squid Game, I suggest you try some of our great social-emotional exercises and maybe speak with a loved one.
It is with great pride that I welcome all of you to a new school year. More importantly, welcome to a new day.
I’m thrilled to begin my first full year at Los Angeles Unified and join a District that is woven into the fabric of Los Angeles, the entertainment industry, scientific discovery, the arts and business. The traditions and excellence that have been built over many decades are remarkable, and we have many things to celebrate. This is a preliminary figure so the exact number may change slightly, but our graduation rate for the 2021-2022 school year was over 85%—that means, more than 8 out of 10 students completed their requirements for graduation and are now headed to college or into their careers! That is an incredible achievement and continues an upward trend from the past several years. A round of applause for you all—the ones in classrooms and on campuses making an impact.
According to US News & World Report, we had nine schools nationally ranked among the top 1,000 schools in the US last year—including seven schools in the top 600, and two schools in the top 200. Richard A. Vladovic Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy was ranked #62 in the nation last year! US News also had nine of our schools ranked among the top 100 schools in California—Harbor ranked number four in California. There is a tsunami of choices for families, so, in order to survive, we must outcompete them. This is a great start.
We also have a strong Adult and Career Education program that is preparing adults to contribute to the workforce. Last year, we had a 77% job placement rate which includes 90% in agriculture and natural resources, 87% in manufacturing and product development, 86% in building and construction trades and 84% in marketing, sales and service. You are doing an excellent job of sending out individuals who will make an indelible mark in numerous job sectors.
While we rightly celebrate what has come before, we must now turn our focus to the future and address the challenges at hand. It’s no secret that Los Angeles Unified has navigated difficult years, some of which resulted from the pandemic and the transition to virtual learning, hybrid modalities, contact tracing, weekly testing, prolonged student absences, families moving to less expensive parts of the country, and the list goes on. Every school in America was grappling with this new reality and no one escaped the tribulations of a global public health crisis. Our teachers and employees, you, put in countless hours of work to care for students. Your dedication pushed us through some of the darkest periods of the pandemic, successfully returning to campuses in the fall…and then after Christmas…and then after Spring Break…and now to kick off the 2022-23 school year! Along each step of the way, we learned what was working, what wasn’t working, which learning initiatives were valuable for us to hang onto after the pandemic receded and which initiatives we intend to leave behind.
Some of our challenges existed long before the pandemic. We’ve had years of declining enrollment. In fact, a 2.8% decline in student enrollment in 2020-21 that is estimated to accelerate to over 3% in the next few years. Immigration policies that forced many of our families fleeing to other cities and countries, unhoused families decimated by the ever increasing cost of living in California, and the plight of the lost students throughout Los Angeles: those who are no longer registered for schools in Los Angeles Unified, but who aren’t registered anywhere else. As if that weren’t enough, we are looking at a much different, potentially darker future as it relates to investment in public education. Though we’ve recently had the opportunity to make unprecedented investments into our students, many of our resources were short term, which will impact the District’s long term financial outlook. As we’re all gathered in the Microsoft Theater on August 8, 2022, this is our reality.
But… change is coming. Possibilities are on the horizon. Or, as the event today is aptly named: imagine the possibilities.
I am a person of science. I am driven by science, driven by fact. And that’s it. My formal training is in biomedical sciences and physics so I thought I’d walk you through a physics concept relevant to the work you do each day as instructional leaders, community leaders, teachers and mentors. You may not know this, but the laws of physics are very similar to the tenets of leadership. I was recently on a flight taxiing down the runway. When the plane was ready to take-off, we were speeding down the runway until we lifted off, defying gravity, and then accelerating to climb to 30,000 feet. Acceleration is defined as the rate of change in velocity over time. According to Newton, it is the net result of any and all forces acting on an object. The only way for a plane to fly is acceleration, a force that enables the aircraft to counteract the gravity pulling down on the vessel to achieve lift and, ultimately, flight.
I think you might see where I am going with this but acceleration is crucial to enact change in circumstances and context. Let me state this another way: we must counterbalance the negative forces and pressures confronting Los Angeles Unified. The only way to do that is by accelerating change. By implementing change rapidly. Just as a plane will stall if it does not maintain or increase its speed, we must accelerate change to achieve excellence. We are not slowing down.
Most view reform at an institution like Los Angeles Unified as necessarily protracted. Have you ever heard a leader use the analogy of a supertanker that, in order to turn around, must do so gradually, deliberately and slowly? I don’t agree with that mindset. How many students are we willing to lose while we try to perfect ourselves? Those days of sluggish change went the way of the Walkman. Oh wait, I think I’ve seen some of our students walking around listening to Olivia Rodrigo on their Walkman, so maybe I can’t use that example. How about this, viewing change in that manner went the way of bell bottom jeans. Nevermind, if Selena Gomez is wearing flared jeans, just watch: we’re all going to be wearing bell bottoms. This whole era of nostalgia is really cramping my examples. Okay, I’ve got it… outdated views of change ended quicker than Kylie Jenner’s recent three minute flight from Camarillo to Van Nuys. Nailed it.
Anyway, you get my drift. Will we be deliberate? Of course. Must we be intentional? Yes! But community reform by nature does not have to be protracted or slow, it can be quick. And we will be making changes and reforming the way Los Angeles Unified conducts business in a swift and unapologetic manner. Do you know why? Because our students cannot wait. Our society cannot wait. The world cannot wait.
When a child is born in Los Angeles they deserve the best we have to offer. Every single day students enter our buildings and deserve a world-class education that prepares them for the world that will be rather than the world that was. Now is the time to change and there may not be another opportunity. Or, as President John F. Kennedy once said, “For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.” To quote another powerful voice of consciousness, Ferris Bueller tells us that “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” We shall not miss the moments or the opportunity they bring.
I want to tell you how we’re going to build onto the incredible legacy of Los Angeles Unified. A legacy many of you helped shape. A legacy some of you benefited from as students yourselves. But this moment calls for us to build something new, something innovative, something that will reshape the fabric of public education and position Los Angeles Unified as the most successful district in the United States. I believe that an incredible opportunity lies ahead.
I accepted this position knowing we have many challenges in front of us. When I arrived, we set out an ambitious 100-Day Plan to immediately begin changing our trajectory and lay the foundation for the work ahead. It is time for us to intensify the focus on what is most important to our students, and those who support them every single day, to inspire a theory of action that turns the impossible into the inevitable. Not just for some, but for everyone in the Los Angeles Unified family. I challenged our team to be bold, innovative and focused, and they responded with vigor and excitement.
Throughout my first 100 days, we engaged nearly 6,000 stakeholders in person and virtually about what must be prioritized to support student success and close gaps, and over 14,000 individuals shared ideas and feedback via surveys. We then combined this invaluable qualitative data and conducted necessary quantitative analyses to better understand the landscape of our challenges and areas for opportunity.
Following this, we acted. And, friends, we have accomplished a lot. We filled all in-school vacancies with fully credentialed individuals, launched a pilot data dialogues program with priority schools, safely welcomed central office employees back to our headquarters, identified key strategies to address the learning loss and negative impacts of the pandemic through an incredible array of summer school, enrichment offerings and acceleration days this school year, instituted the All Families Connected initiative which will help close the digital divide among our students, expanded early education, unveiled the nation’s largest school-based air quality program, increased arts education and expanded dual-language programs. All of that in the first 100 days. Now, I have another 1,000 left on my contract.
Finally, and equally importantly, the Board unanimously approved the 2022-2023 budget, which incorporates an additional $1.9 billion in new investments that strengthen our commitment to academic excellence, joy and wellness and supporting students and employees. The budget, however, is not a static document. It is dynamic and will adapt and pivot strategically in accordance with emerging trends in our school system, which include an alignment to the final California state budget later this year.
Okay, you with me? We’ve accomplished tremendous things together. We did this. You did this. We set the high-level challenge and you delivered. But, and I am sure this comes as no surprise to any of you, there’s more work to do. The 100-Day Plan was just the start. Shall we call it...the hors d'oeuvres? An appetizer for bigger and bolder things to come.
So where did we move after the 100-Day Plan? Well, we are accelerating forward. We’re headed straight into the main course, and this one doesn’t come in the beautiful pre-packaged boxes provided by food services during today’s lunch.
In June, we launched our 2022-2026 Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan is our guidepost, laying out exactly how we will position Los Angeles Unified as the premiere urban school district of choice. Our plan establishes a clear and inspiring vision moving forward, not only for the future of our District over the next four years, but for the future of all our students on their journey forward as lifelong learners. Our Strategic Plan is designed to leverage our important work to date and build upon our strong foundation in bold and innovative ways. Then, we will be even more responsive to the needs of our students and school communities. We have been extremely thoughtful and strategic in our approach, carefully considering the drivers we think will be most impactful to improve student achievement and close historic opportunity gaps. We must now focus our efforts intently on the things our research, data and community engagement tell us will set our students on a path of joy and success.
The Strategic Plan is the map by which we will emerge from the darkness of the past few years and find the light of success that lies on the other side. Now I know this will not be easy. I’m not going to try and convince you that there will not be hardship along the way. These are difficult, deliberate choices we will have to make.
I want to walk through this plan so we are all on the same page, of the same mindset and working in concert toward the same goals. If you take nothing else away from today, remember this one thing: For the next four years, Los Angeles Unified will focus singularly on ensuring all of our students graduate ready for the world. Let me repeat that. Everything we do, everything we implement, everything we strive for is in the name of preparing our students to graduate ready for the world. We believe that by outlining a singular focus, and a vision for achieving it, we can ensure that everyone who is part of Los Angeles Unified will be able to support and uplift our District together.
Let’s start with the foundation of this plan. What does being ready for the world mean? Being ready for the world means many things, but first and foremost, it means that all students graduate from our District fully prepared and inspired to thrive in college, career and their lives beyond our classrooms. We believe that each and every student is capable of making a lasting and positive impact on the world, and that it is the District’s job to help them realize their full potential. Being ready for the world means our students are advocates for themselves and others, and that they are open-minded, adaptable and effective communicators.
The bottom line is that our students will be ready for the world and prepared to serve as the next generation of changemakers and problem solvers: artists, pioneers, scientists, surgeons, activists and public servants. Because it’s not a question of if we will need their intellect and talents, it’s when. While in Miami, I witnessed firsthand how students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School reshaped public consciousness around school shootings and started the March for our Lives movement—primarily over social media and with a turnout of almost 2 million people in 2018. Their work elevated the importance of gun restrictions and was reflected in the historic gun safety law recently adopted by Congress. Our students are, and will be, global citizens, mindful of others’ perspectives, educated about the world around them, and aware of how they can meaningfully contribute to it.
Let me state this another way. One of the parents who participated in our listening sessions said, “Every child deserves to have an education that helps them achieve their dreams.” In a country obsessed with performance indicators, whether public education is indoctrinating students with Critical Race Theory, book bans and which political party has the better understanding of what public education needs, we often forget the basic premise of why we teach our students. This parent captured the essence of why all of us get up in the morning. We wake up each day to help our students make sense of the world, to help them find their place and to help them follow their dreams. Period. Every single child that walks through our doors deserves that opportunity no matter their race, their religious doctrines, their socioeconomic status, their sexual orientation, their gender identity, their housing situation or their neighborhood. Being ready for the world means our students will graduate with the skills and knowledge they need to live out their dreams.
Being ready for the world is Vinton Cerf who graduated from Van Nuys High School and is considered one of the “fathers of the Internet” after writing the first TCP protocol, the foundation of the modern Internet. Ready for the World is Grant High School alumnus Julio Cortez who just won the Pulitzer Prize in photojournalism. It’s Rosario Marín who graduated from Huntington Park High School and was the first Latina Secretary of the Treasury. It’s Ray Bradbury, a Los Angeles High School graduate and Fahrenheit 451 author. It’s the numerous actors, Carol Burnett, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mila Kunis, Robert Redford and Regina King. It’s musicians like Red Hot Chili Peppers, who met at Fairfax High School, Etta James, will.i.am, Sal Rodriguez or Ice Cube, who put words and music to the ethos and sociocultural moments of our time.
The list of impressive graduates with powerful roles in culture and society goes on and on. We have a rich legacy of students who attended our schools, walked through our halls, sat in our classrooms, laughed with their peers, cried with our teachers and changed the world. But not all heroes are in the past. That’s why every child deserves the chance to follow their dreams right now. And we’re here to ensure that happens.
Now let’s talk about the pillars and strategies outlined in the 2022-26 Strategic Plan. Though I’m going to discuss each part of the plan, the different elements in it are not intended to stand alone. They are interconnected and influence or support one another. While the priorities and strategies may be categorized in a particular area, as you’ll see, each piece will work together in a coherent system to provide an exceptional education program. This is the key to ensuring all students graduate ready for the world.
As we go through this, rather than simply providing an oral recitation of the plan, I want to demonstrate how each pillar of the strategic plan will benefit you, our students and our community.
The first pillar may seem fairly obvious as an institution of public education and upholding Academic Excellence. We are first and foremost an institution that is dedicated to providing a world-class education and academic experience for our students. Otherwise, what are we doing here? This is the most important component to ensuring students are ready for the world. We believe we must support our students in developing the foundational knowledge and necessary skills to graduate and succeed in college and the workforce, and we must also offer them opportunities and tools needed to grow into excited and inspired lifelong learners. Importantly, we will ensure that we achieve this for all students, and that students who have historically been underserved by the public education system will receive the instructional support and the services they need to thrive in our schools.
We have set out ambitious goals for this pillar and will work steadfastly to ensure they are met. Goals like increasing our graduation rate to 93%, increasing the percentage of students who meet early literacy benchmarks, increasing the district-wide percentage of students identified for gifted/talented education programs to 14.8%, and increasing the percentage of high school students who are "On Track" to graduate, meeting all A-G requirements with a grade of C or better, to 70%.
We’re also announcing new products and offerings to coincide with each pillar to better achieve those goals. We’ll discuss the products and their correlation with each pillar throughout our time together. For Pillar 1 and Academic Excellence, the new offerings include: Triple E: Early Education Expansion, Career Labs for Middle Schools, National Education Equity Lab, and a host of other new offerings.
This is for James A. Garfield High School alum Mila, who just graduated from Dartmouth College as one of 13 valedictorians for the Class of 2022. She is a first-generation student from East Los Angeles and defied the odds to graduate as valedictorian with a 4.0 GPA from an Ivy League college.
And this is for Jay. Jay just graduated from John F. Kennedy High School with a full scholarship to the Southern California Institute of Architecture. Jay was a CTE Architectural Design student in the school’s Architecture/Digital Design/Filmmaking Magnet, and his teacher described Jay’s creativity as an inspiration to those around him. Our classrooms are filled with Mila’s and Jay’s and we must see our students, affirm them and invest in them to lead them toward success.
I want to welcome students into a system where exceptional teaching can be found in every classroom, and knowledgeable, critical thinkers can be found in every seat, and congratulate them after they’ve landed successful careers.
The second pillar focuses on creating safe and healthy environments to promote Joy and Wellness. When I think of the importance of this focus, I think about a mom I recently met at Starbucks. Through life’s difficult circumstances, this woman was living on Skid Row with her family. I met this mom the day after her daughter received a letter notifying them of a second option for a meaningful program in Los Angeles Unified, one that can better meet her individual needs. The mother was elated for luck breaking their way. It’s serendipitous that I met her, but her story is a demonstration of the intentionality we must deploy to identify the indicators that are negatively working against our students and their success.
The only way our students will thrive in our schools and fully engage in their academic experience is when they feel safe. When they feel welcomed. How many of you have often felt like this? Sometimes it feels like the world is burning and there’s not much we can do. But that’s why many of us enjoy hiking, going to the beach, reading, listening to music, going to Dodgers, Rams, or Lakers games…sorry to you Chargers and Angels fans, and don’t get me started on the Clippers. We have a number of ways we manage stress pressing against us. Similarly, we must address the student experience and help them cope with their daily reality: realities like constantly hearing about mass shootings across the country, or maneuvering dangerous crosswalks, or feeling the pang of anxiety but not being equipped to process or manage it, or not feeling like their true self is accepted. This pillar represents our commitment to fostering a safe, inclusive and supportive school culture on every campus and minimizing disruptions or barriers to learning.
We will do things like increase the percentage of students that feel safe at school to 82%, increase the percentage of students in elementary, middle and high school demonstrating growth in each of the social-emotional learning competencies by 8% and decrease the percentage of chronically absent students, those whose attendance rate is 91% or less, for we cannot teach the absent child.
To address the whole child, we’re implementing new offerings like iAttend LAUSD Campaign, Elevating School Nutrition, Outdoor Learning Spaces Projects, Telehealth in Schools, All Kids Bike for Kindergarten & Middle Schoolers, and Cat in the Hat for all. That last one isn’t an actual offering, but Dean Tagawa has been pitching hard for it.
This focus is for every student in our LGBTQ community who never felt accepted and never felt comfortable in their own skin. It’s for every student who has felt defeated by mental health struggles and didn’t know how to escape or find help. It’s for every student who came to school hungry and couldn’t focus on schoolwork because they lacked nutritional sustenance. It’s for every student who is neurodivergent or disabled who never felt like they mattered. It’s for every student who comes from a neighborhood, or background, or culture who has been told the world doesn’t care about them.
This pillar is about cultivating trust with our students and families so they feel connected to a safe space, and we must listen to them as they describe what that space requires. For, as Brené Brown has said, “It turns out that trust is in fact earned in the smallest of moments. It is earned not through heroic deeds, or even highly visible actions, but through paying attention, listening, and gestures of genuine care and connection.”
But we can’t do this alone. Children do not exist in a vacuum. They are part of our larger society and education helps them become informed citizens. That’s why our third pillar focuses on Engagement and Collaboration. Providing an exceptional learning experience for our students during the pandemic brought our priorities and opportunities for growth into sharper focus and highlighted one of our greatest assets: the strength of the Los Angeles Unified community. Our families and communities are critical partners in preparing students to be ready for the world and in building a world that is ready for them.
We will strengthen relationships between families, students and their schools by increasing the percentage of parents who report they feel welcome to participate at their school to 94%, averaging thousands of participants on parent academy webinars, and increasing the percentage of parents who report their school provides coherent information to 96%. Our new products for this pillar include universal wifi through All Families Connected, the Parent Mobile App 3.0, and the Parent Academy. We aim to serve 100,000 parents in the academy’s inaugural year. Difficult, yes, doable, no doubt.
We will also provide consistent and accessible information to the community, honor and act upon the perspectives of students and everyone we serve and leverage our role as crucial members of local, state, national and global communities to make an impactful difference.
Our partners play a significant role in this effort. From Fender Play to Junior Achievement, Amazon to Baby2Baby, our supporters provide students with additional options and assistance. They broaden our capacity and expand the array of opportunities for students, such as a competition Spotify hosted where students created original music and a winner was selected and given the chance to have their music featured on Spotify platforms. Logitech also gave the students recording equipment.
I also want to introduce you to another incredible organization here in Los Angeles, one that provides tens of thousands of families with life-saving medical treatment and world-class service. Without them, many families would have no other options. They’ve sent a special guest to speak with us. Everyone, please say hi to Pepper.
Thanks to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for sending us a wonderful message via Pepper. I am thrilled to be partnering with CHLA and leveraging their incredible medical technology as a service to the Los Angeles Unified community.
These examples are only possible with incredible partners willing to invest in our students.
These are great aspirations and wonderful ideas, but they can only be achieved if we do the hard work of maximizing our Operational Effectiveness. To create opportunities for our students to become ready for the world and develop into future leaders of change and progress, we must demonstrate that same leadership, courageous leadership, through innovative approaches to managing our organization.
We have set out to modernize our IT infrastructure in at least 66% of schools, increase the annual four-year cohort new student enrollment to at least 16% and increase enrollment in thematic and choice learning options to at least 65% of all students.
This also includes improving and maintaining state-of-the-art facilities, providing access to the latest technology and establishing powerful new ways to look at data and District budgets so that we make the best decisions to serve our students. We must also differentiate our recruitment strategies to meet the needs of specific communities. Finally and most importantly, we must further promote and improve access to the District’s leading-edge programs so our families are excited to stay and continue learning in our schools. We must make Los Angeles Unified the district of choice for families in our community.
I want us to begin thinking about academic excellence and the Los Angeles Unified community, not just K-12, or even our EECs. Through our “Born to Learn” Outreach Campaign, our framework will shift so that our pillars extend to birth. People from my team will be just outside of the delivery room, ready to welcome new babies into the world with pacifiers and swaddling blankets. Speaking of, how about we start a new merch line for babies. Someone check if Gap needs a new line…Gap Baby by Los Angeles Unified. All of a sudden, Los Angeles Unified transitions from a K-12 possibility to a B-14 promise. Birth through 2 years of college or career technical education.
We also have $6B in facilities improvements at nearly 1,000 schools that are in design or under construction. Additionally, we have 120 campus upgrades, including seven major modernization projects in planning and development totaling an investment of $1.2B. That’s over $7B in bond-funded or new modernization projects! These are multi-phased projects that will provide 21st century general and specialty classrooms, address earthquake safety and failing building systems, provide accessibility and site upgrades and remove portable classrooms.
We are accelerating campus greening at schools with the greatest need for safe and sustainable green spaces and outdoor learning environments. In fact, we developed a Greening Index that identifies which schools are most in need of greening resources. The Greening Index will inform and direct new efforts to address inequities through over $80 million in targeted investments. There are so many more examples I could share with you, but the point is this: positioning Los Angeles Unified as the district of choice for families requires serious and intentional investment for the spaces in which our students are building the foundations of their future success.
Let’s be clear, this isn’t an episode of Oprah where “you get a new building, you get a new garden, you get a new magnet program.” Although that does sound like fun. We will be strategic and intentional with how new investments are divided so we maximize the overall impact.
This is energizing stuff, right? The final pillar is where this will hit home for many of you. The fifth pillar is all about Investing in Staff. Our commitment to upholding students’ joy and wellness, as well as their academic success, must be mirrored in our investments to sustain staff wellness and to build pathways for ongoing professional development, growth and opportunities to excel. We can only advocate for our students, push them to succeed and invest in their dreams when we recognize, empower, reward, and support our employees. Most importantly, we must fairly compensate our staff…Los Angeles Unified must help our staff keep up with the growing cost of living in Los Angeles. We recently did so by continuing to offer the Gold Standard in health and welfare benefits to employees. We must also commit to just and swift negotiations of collective-bargaining agreements that address the economic conditions in our community. It is our goal not only to be the district of choice for families, but for our employees as well.
The ambitious goals we’ve been discussing for ourselves and for our students require a clear focus on the recruitment, development and retention of our talented and dedicated staff. Goals like ensuring at least 50% of new applicants are members of under-represented groups, increasing the number of promotional pathways in nursing, mental health and instructional assistance, increasing the percentage of teachers in micro-credentialing programs who come from high-needs schools to 80% and providing competency-based, rigorous and relevant professional learning.
We will also provide a Career Ladders Guide for Classified Employees, a Classified Growth & Development Tool, Executive Management Evaluation, Wellness Wednesdays for School Leaders and a Staff Retention Toolkit.
It’s for people like Southeast High School academic counselor Ruby Ramirez who was instrumental in guiding Maria and Jordan through college applications. Because of Ms. Ramirez’s stellar work and Southeast equipping them, Maria was accepted into Harvard and Jordan into UC Berkeley on full academic scholarships.
It’s for people like Timothy Sweeney, the principal of Miller Career and Transition Center, who is committed to developing young adults with disabilities into employable, self-advocating members of the community who are ready for the world after they leave Miller. I met Tim a few months ago. His passion and his dedication are truly inspiring.
It’s for places like Glassell Park Elementary STEAM Magnet that is expanding its early education program. Every child deserves access to those earliest opportunities for education and engagement at a cultural oasis, a greening oasis, an academic oasis. Yet, how many don’t have that opportunity?
And it’s for people like Bridge Street Elementary robotics and math coach Anna Marie Garcia, who coached the school’s inaugural robotics team, invited to compete in the 2022 VEX Robotics World Championship in Texas
Because of the dedicated employees at Bridge Street and Glassell Park, who exposed youth to incredible STEM programs, students are considering future careers in aerospace and engineering. And I don’t have to tell you that our world—humankind—is on the precipice of significant discoveries. I mean, who saw the James Webb Space Telescope photos? It may have looked like a black granite countertop, but some of our greatest minds spent years developing tools so precise, so perceptive, that we are now peering into the oldest depths of our universe. Our students are the next generation who will join the ranks of innovators, and will discover the secrets of the universe and answer questions we can’t yet conceptualize.
These are just a few of the many stories of staff going above and beyond for our students. Rather than our Strategic Plan looking like a simple graphic, it really looks like this: a structure, where educators, you, are the foundation.
You are the reason our students succeed. You are the heartbeat of Los Angeles Unified. You are the lifeblood of this exercise we call public education. Without you, this doesn’t exist, and we are committed to investing in your professional success.
Friends, we are at an inflection point in history. What we once knew about the world is forever changed. This was true before the pandemic, but COVID-19 accelerated the changes in our world. Our health system is in crisis. Our politics are broken. Our world is being ravaged by climate change. Our national discourse seems eternally fractured. Our youth are suffering under the weight of isolation, anxiety and depression.
We can no longer teach students in the old ways, or the old customs, or the old mindsets. That world is forever gone. We must overcome the gravitational pull of the status quo because it’s no longer sufficient, if it ever was. We must train students to be changemakers for the world they’re stepping into, not the one they’re leaving behind.
My charge to you, as we come back from several years that taught us the importance of education and our role as a school system, is to remember the basic hope of education—that all students matter, and the future needs them now more than ever. The world needs them ready to contribute to it, to change it, to step into spaces that need them most. My charge to you is to look beyond the test scores, look beyond the grades and look into the hearts and souls of our students to help them find their place in this world. For we cannot teach the mind of the child whose heart we don’t first touch. Help them identify their strengths and explore their passions. Feed their imaginations, their curiosity, their questions and their hearts as much as you equip their minds. Support them. Challenge them. Encourage them. Help them dream. Help them dream big dreams.
I know this is going to be a difficult year. It has been several difficult years. But it will be especially challenging to right the course of an altered future while confronting the obstacles before us. I know you will correct the trajectory and then some. You will succeed when success seems beyond your grasp. And, when you feel particularly discouraged—and that day will come, maybe even several times throughout the year—remember why you got into this profession. What brought you to this work? What keeps you up at night? What gets you up in the morning? For when we remember our purpose, we will always find our sustaining resolve. At the end of everyone’s why, at the end of everyone’s purpose, are students. They are the reason we’re here.
I’m thinking of Nancy, a student I met who was understandably angry and very doubtful about me and the work we’re doing. But I got the chance to get to know her. We visited the roof of Beaudry so she could see Los Angeles in its vast beauty, and we stayed in contact after she left my office. Nancy had been accepted to a number of colleges but didn’t think there was a way she’d be able to attend because of cost. She literally cried in my office. So we did what we do best, we connected her with student services and we found a solution. She is attending college this fall. You see, good systems have universal solutions. But those macro solutions can and should be individualized to address the specific needs of our students so they can experience the fullness of opportunities before them.
I’m also thinking about students like Thomas, the millionaire high schooler, who just graduated with a 4.3 GPA and A.S. and A.A. degrees from Los Angeles Harbor College, where he also maintained a 4.0 GPA. Thomas took advantage of the opportunities available to him and graduated high school after the first semester of his senior year, accepted into 30 universities, which include Ivy League schools. And on top of that, Thomas has scholarship offers adding up to over $1 million. He will attend UC Berkeley this fall.
I’m thinking about students like Miranda, who overcame housing instability while raising her GPA from 0.8 to 3.8 alongside raising her younger siblings. And she did this while working. Miranda’s goal is to gain custody of her two younger siblings and reunite them.
I’m thinking about students like Manny, who is currently experiencing homelessness, and has navigated the world on his own for the past two years. He lived in a group home until he turned 18, then recently transitioned to a homeless shelter. Even though Manny was dealt this hand, he remained committed to succeeding, even traveling one-hour each way by city bus to continue high school. Manny just graduated with his high school diploma.
This is why we teach. Even on your worst day, you are your students’ best shot. Even when you don’t feel capable or adequate, you are their best opportunity. Even when you feel like you have nothing left to give, you are their gateway to possibilities.
You are a constant. You are there to help students see within themselves all of their unique attributes, all of their gifts and abilities, everything that makes them who they are, those talents that make them powerful beyond measure. You are there to show them that, regardless of their current circumstances, they possess the will and determination to achieve their wildest dreams. You are their guide moving them forward to help them realize that they can, in fact, find their place in this community, in this world. You are there to help them actualize their dreams and be the change this world so desperately needs. A world that needs extraordinary people. Extraordinary people to meet the challenges of these unprecedented times.
I believe in you.
I have full faith and hope that you will continue to go above and beyond for your students and our school communities. I have no doubt that we will make this a school year full of possibilities. Our legacy and your work has already proven that we will do whatever it takes…whatever it takes.
I want to take one last opportunity to thank the amazing student performers who were with us today. They were absolutely wonderful!
Those who know me, know my love for Tupac. I want to leave you with some of his words of wisdom: “I know it seems hard sometimes, but remember one thing: through every dark night, there’s a bright day after. So no matter how hard it gets, stick your chest out, keep ya head up, and handle it.” My friends, a new day is here. Are you ready? Let’s go handle it. Let’s get down to business.