اینترنت

برچسب: Fresno

  • Hope for West Fresno now comes in the form of a college campus

    Hope for West Fresno now comes in the form of a college campus


    A student walks past the “You Belong Here” sign at Fresno City College’s newest campus, West Fresno Center.

    Credit: Betty Márquez Rosales / EdSource

    Brianna Knight can walk from her college campus down the street to her family’s home to check on her children when they need her, an option only recently available with the opening of Fresno City College’s latest campus in West Fresno.

    Her family, longtime residents of West Fresno, often takes care of her children while she’s in class or working as a tutor on campus. Knight, who is completing her associate degree in human biology, said that working toward her degree was more stressful before the new campus opened.

    She had planned to leave her hometown before the new West Fresno Center was built, she said, because she didn’t see a future there for her children. But her plans have changed now that the campus is open.

    “I’m big on: Where can I plant my seeds for my kids to grow? And if my kids can’t grow somewhere, why am I here? And so to be able to have this in the community I grew up in … if my kids don’t want to leave, they don’t have to,” Knight said about the new campus.

    For the West Fresno community that fought for this new campus, the college has come to symbolize hope for future generations like Knight’s children.

    Eric Payne, executive director of the nonprofit Central Valley Urban Institute, and Brianna Knight were both raised in West Fresno. Knight is currently a student at the new West Fresno Center campus of Fresno City College.
    Credit: Betty Márquez Rosales / EdSource

    “West Fresno is a phoenix rising out of the ashes because we can fundamentally zero out a lot of the systemic issues that we’re experiencing if we center the voices of young people in our community,” said Eric Payne, executive director of the nonprofit Central Valley Urban Institute. “And what better place than a college campus?”

    West Fresno is home to over 25,000 people in a historically marginalized section of the Central Valley’s largest city. It’s a region with one of the highest levels of concentrated poverty in the nation, higher rates of incarceration, and a lower life expectancy rate by about 20 years than their neighbors in wealthier sections of Fresno.

    These statistics have solidified over decades with strategic redlining practices, documented in detail, since at least the 1930s, and have led to limited opportunities and resources for those raised in the area.

    “Before, it was … just all about survival. There was no space to really grow. You don’t see a future, you don’t see yourself being a nurse,” said Knight, 33. “You hear about it, but you don’t actually get to see it.”

    It’s an area so deeply understood by locals as being underserved that a high school graduate made the local news this year because she was valedictorian, despite growing up within 93706, West Fresno’s ZIP code.

    “I can graduate with the highest honors despite the lack of resources and violence we endure on the West Side,” said Uzueth “Uzi” Ramírez-Gallegos during her speech, as reported by the Fresno Bee.

    This history is why the newest Fresno City College location was thoughtfully chosen to be constructed within a 1- to 2-mile radius of more than 10 K-12 schools.

    “We operated from a place of intention,” said Payne, who grew up in West Fresno and was elected trustee of State Center Community College District’s governing board in 2012. “How do we pull the greatest number of students into this community college?”

    The answer to that question was twofold: Build the new college campus within walking distance of those K-12 schools, plus reach out to the students and staff at those very schools to draw them onto campus and eventually enroll in the courses.

    The long-term vision for the college, Payne and campus leaders emphasized, is to create a space that not only disrupts the school-to-prison pipeline in the area but also more deeply connects West Fresno to the rest of the city.

    “I think the location is perhaps the best decision that was made by the community members and administration to make sure that 93706 is no longer left behind,” said one such campus leader, Gurminder Sangha, dean of educational services at the West Fresno Center.

    The 39 acres on which the school stands today were empty before its construction.

    Gurminder Sangha is the dean of educational services and pathway effectiveness at the West Fresno Center.
    Credit: Betty Márquez Rosales / EdSource

    The financial backing for the acquisition of the land and construction of the facility was secured in a combination of ways: partial funding from a $485 million facilities bond approved by voters in 2016, a $16.5 million grant awarded by the city of Fresno through its Transformative Climate Community program, and an additional $11 million directly from the city.

    Included in the mix was a donation of 6 acres from TFS Investments, a real estate investment firm that owned a portion of the land where the campus now stands.

    The land has since been transformed into an open campus, with an automotive technology center opening in the new year, where students will train for certifications in electric vehicle mechanics and in the field of alternative fuels such as diesel technology.

    The degrees and programs offered at the campus include access to medical assistant certifications, chemistry and biology laboratories, business administration courses, elementary teaching education training, and more.

    There is also a newly-established city bus stop at the front entrance of the school on the previously existing route 38, with service every 15 minutes between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays.

    Local community members have long expressed frustration over the unreliable public transit system. The new stop and the accompanying free bus passes available for students are meant to increase accessibility to and from the campus.

    Perhaps most clearly bridging the new campus to its local West Fresno community is the one-mile walking trail with exercise equipment circling the campus, which will be open to all once construction is finished.

    The amenities and services offered at the new campus are in contrast with the larger West Fresno community, where essentials like grocery stores, banks and even trees are uncommon. In light of this contrast, the school is becoming a haven for many. Knight, for example, noted that her children enjoy walking from their home up the street and onto the campus.

    Those who enter the campus’ main lobby are greeted by both staff and peers who are hired to work in the student services department housed on the first floor of the same building where many of the college’s academic courses are offered.

    From counseling to basic needs resources and financial aid to records, students can easily find the right person to speak with because those offices are one of the first things they see as they walk into the lobby. The clearest welcome might just be the large lettering above those offices, which reads: “You belong here.”

    George Alvarado is the Director of Counseling and Special Projects at the new West Fresno Center. He offered EdSource a tour of the campus during a recent visit.
    Credit: Betty Márquez Rosales / EdSource

    Barring the sections of campus remaining under construction through the beginning of next year — the automotive center and the walking trail — it is difficult to believe that the school opened just this fall; the facility has the typical hum of a college campus. Some students take their mid-class breaks in the main lobby, which doubles as a student lounge area, complete with snacks available for purchase and soft classical music playing in the background.

    Others study in the academic support centers on the second floor, where they also have a clear view of the greater West Fresno community.

    Sangha expects the available resources will expand as the school community grows.

    Conversations around building the campus began nearly two decades ago, said Sangha, with the actual construction taking about two years to complete.

    Payne noted that he remembers hearing about a college being established in West Fresno when he was in high school over two decades ago, but “it never materialized,” so he left Fresno at the time to attend Alabama A&M University.

    When he returned to his hometown years later, he began organizing with his former neighbors and joined a movement to push for what eventually became West Fresno Center. If it had existed when he was in high school, he said he may have chosen to stay in the city where he grew up and that more of his peers might have had better life outcomes and opportunities.

    “There are a lot of people that I graduated with that are deceased, that are incarcerated, and a lot of folks who are barely making it financially,” he said. “There was a thirst for this facility; there was a thirst for better outcomes.”

    That thirst is slowly being reflected in the number of students enrolling from the West Fresno community. Out of the 800 enrolled during this first fall semester since its grand opening, 130 students are exclusively taking courses at this campus, about 125 live in the 93706 ZIP code, and about 160 live in 93722, the ZIP code just north of campus.

    With their doors now open, plans are in place to offer college credit to local high school students. At three nearby high schools — Edison, Washington Union, and Kerman — students are already in dual enrollment courses held at their high school campuses. Sometime next year, according to Sangha, West Fresno Center plans to offer courses for high school students at the college campus so they may earn additional credits.

    “It is truly an academic village in a way, in that students can envision themselves walking from one school to the other school, then coming to us and going to Fresno State or wherever they want to go,” said Sangha.

    Knight graduated from high school about 15 years ago and moved to Los Angeles to enroll in Santa Monica College, but her move coincided with the 2008 recession and she couldn’t afford to remain in L.A. She returned to Fresno and enrolled in Fresno City College, but left shortly after becoming pregnant.

    The campus walking trail, seen in the distance, will open to all in the community after construction is complete.
    Credit: Betty Márquez Rosales / EdSource

    “My journey to school has been … it’s been very different,” she said. “I’ve tried to come back throughout the years, and I just don’t think I was ready.”

    During the pandemic, she enrolled in school once more. She said the support she has received at the center made a significant difference for her.

    “My professors actually care that I show up, whether I’m late or whether I have to leave and take care of my kids or come back — which doesn’t happen often, but the fact that I have that support is important,” she said.

    Knight, who is a Fresno Unified School District graduate and whose mother and grandmother worked at Fresno Unified schools, now plans to continue raising her children in West Fresno. She is completing her degrees in human biology, public health and pre-allied health this month and will be walking the graduation stage in May.

    “To live across the street and to see it being built from the ground up, that was everything to me,” said Knight, a mother of two who is pregnant with twins. “It changed my whole mindset on Fresno, to be honest with you.”





    Source link

  • Fresno Unified searches for ways to improve student, pedestrian safety

    Fresno Unified searches for ways to improve student, pedestrian safety


    San Juan Unified in Sacramento County implemented the Safe Routes to School initiative and other measures to address pedestrian safety, including the Charles Peck Elementary School “May the 4th be with you!” Walk to School Day.

    Credit: Courtesy of Civic Thread

    This story was updated to reflect Clovis Unified’s 2022-23 accident data that was provided after the story’s publication.

    As students waited for a bus in front of Roosevelt High School last September, a vehicle crashed into the bus stop, injuring 11 of them. The next day, a mom was walking her four children to school when a driver ran a traffic light, hitting the mom and dragging one of her children. They were using the crosswalk.

    These incidents represent a few of the many accidents involving students or pedestrians being hit by vehicles on or near Fresno Unified campuses between August and December. 

    “Those are the ones that made the news,” said Amy Idsvoog, executive officer for health services, safety and emergency response for Fresno Unified School District. 

    Many more incidents never made the news but can still be traumatizing for students and families, causing them to live in fear over their safety when getting to or leaving school. 

    “We saw a need even last year to try and do something,” Idsvoog said. 

    Fresno Unified district leaders, Idsvoog said, first noticed an uptick in the number of students being hit by cars in the 2022-23 school year when there were 17 incidents, including a death in October 2022. In the aftermath of the student’s death, board member Andy Levine acknowledged “the reality that our students are not safe when they step right off of campus,” and that the district needed to “make sure that never happens ever again.”

    Despite the district’s efforts to improve pedestrian safety, Fresno Unified is recording double-digit numbers of incidents for the second consecutive school year — nearing 20 incidents this school year with about six months of school remaining.  

    Fresno Unified, the state’s third-largest school district, with about 70,000 students, is trying to curb the frequency of accidents involving students being hit by vehicles by teaching students about pedestrian safety, displaying banners and materials on campuses and educating the wider community on the importance of the topic. 

    “It just seems to be something that is not stopping,” Fresno Unified Superintendent Bob Nelson said in late September after a student on her way to school was hit by a vehicle. “It just can’t continue to happen to our kids. Our kids deserve to be safe as they travel to and from school.” 

    Now the school district is working to implement the Safe Routes to School initiative to address pedestrian safety. 

    Fresno-area districts, organizations launched a campaign last school year

    Fresno Unified’s 17 vehicles vs. student/pedestrian incidents in the 2022-23 school year was up from seven in 2018-19, nine in 2019-20 and four in 2020-21. The district had zero reported incidents in 2021-22, when all students returned to in-person learning following the pandemic. 

    But there’s not a sole explanation for the increased number of incidents, Idsvoog said. 

    She explained that among many factors, possible causes include pedestrians not using crosswalks or doing so incorrectly, drivers not paying attention to a stop sign or traffic light in a school zone, as well as parents dropping students off in the middle of the street, rather than in a drop-off zone. The district has also seen a rising number of cases involving student drivers, including four this school year. 

    “No one can exactly come up with why yet,” she said. 

    Idsvoog said she learned from the Council of the Great City Schools, a coalition of 78 of the nation’s largest urban public school systems, that school districts across the nation have not found the answer either. 

    Nationally, some school districts have tried different methods to address pedestrian safety, including buying $20,000 speed monitoring displays, Idsvoog said. (Fresno Unified has at least two dozen schools with speed monitors requiring a battery replacement.) As of Jan. 1, thanks to new legislation across the state, six California cities will install automated speed cameras in school zones. 

    “I think everyone is trying to address the same problem,” Idsvoog said. “I don’t think there’s this magic ticket yet that says, ‘This is what you do.’”

     In April 2023, Fresno Unified, the Fresno County superintendent of schools, Central Unified, Clovis Unified, Sanger Unified, the Fresno Police Department and the city of Fresno launched Street Smart, a joint pedestrian safety campaign. 

    “They all wanted to get the message out and, hopefully, have a stronger impact on the community,” Idsvoog said. “But we know there’s more that has to be done.” 

    ‘It’s not enough’ 

    Despite the multi-agency campaign and other efforts, the number of incidents involving students or pedestrians being hit by vehicles on or near campus has remained stagnant in some districts.

    Central Unified, a district in Fresno that participated in the Street Smart campaign, reported one incident this school year of someone being hit while crossing the street near a school — a number that has not changed from the previous school year.

    The district has continually invested in crossing guards, monitored signage and crosswalk painting needs and advocated for infrastructure improvements, including a High-intensity Activated crossWalK (HAWK) grant near Herndon-Barstow Elementary, a four-way stop near Teague Elementary and additional sidewalks, according to a district spokesperson. 

    So far this school year, between August and Jan. 9, Clovis Unified has recorded 18 incidents of a vehicle striking a pedestrian or bicyclist in contrast to eight incidents last school year. No injuries were reported either year, said district spokesperson Kelly Avants.

    Still, the district continues to focus on pedestrian safety, Avants said, citing crossing guards at busy intersections, reminders to families to follow traffic laws and education of students and the community. 

    Fresno Unified also “isn’t there yet,” Idsvoog said about numbers continuing to rise year after year. As of Friday, the number of students hit as they traveled to or from school stood at 17 — already matching the total at the end of the last school year. 

    In the spring 2023 semester, Fresno Unified launched an age-appropriate pedestrian safety curriculum, which is available again this school year. The school district even sought additional volunteer crossing guards and conducted community outreach about pedestrian safety. 

    Idsvoog said that Fresno Unified’s education and outreach efforts to address pedestrian safety are not “enough to resolve the problem.” 

    “Everything we’re intending to do is still not enough,” she said. “It’s not enough because we’re not seeing a decrease in incidents.” 

    Safe Routes to School initiative

    The Safe Routes to School initiative pilot is assessing 15 schools in Fresno Unified, representing the seven high school regions: 

    • Bullard High 
    • Hoover High 
    • McLane High 
    • Roosevelt High 
    • Duncan High 
    • Cooper Middle
    • Computech Middle 
    • Kings Canyon Middle
    • Scandinavian Middle 
    • Tioga Middle 
    • Wawona K-8
    • Herrera Elementary 
    • Lincoln Elementary 
    • Roeding Elementary 
    • Vang Pao Elementary 

    Also a part of the Safe Routes to School initiative are community meetings.

    The next meetings will be at the Roosevelt High School cafeteria on Jan. 18 and at the Bullard High cafeteria on Jan. 22. The meetings run from 5:30 to 6:30 pm. 

    That’s why the district started the Safe Routes to School initiative this school year. 

    Through a pilot at some of the district’s schools, Toole Design — a company that assesses city infrastructure, develops pedestrian safety programs and improves school arrival and dismissal —  is assessing students’ routes to school.

    The assessments will help Fresno Unified find school and district practices to create safe routes to school for all students, whether they are using a scooter, walking, biking or being dropped off, Idsvoog said.

    Identifying the routes that students use to travel to and from school each day will allow the district to evaluate whether changes should be made. 

    In choosing the piloted campuses, the district considered whether students had been hit there, whether bus accidents had occurred and the proximity to another school. Idsvoog said the district hopes to assess 15 more schools next year through grant funding.

    The assessments will also determine how the city might be able to help the district. 

    For example, Herrera Elementary, Fresno Unified’s newest school, between Storey Elementary and Terronez Middle, has no curbs or sidewalks on one side of the school. 

    Besides creating safe routes for students, the assessments can lead to district events continuing the community’s education on the importance of pedestrian safety. 

    Such events, Idsvoog said, could help reduce incidents and extend dialogue and awareness. 

    What FUSD can learn from other districts that implemented initiative

    San Juan Unified, a 40,000-student district with 64 K-12 schools, implemented the Safe Routes to School initiative to address pedestrian safety. Located in Sacramento County, San Juan Unified comprises incorporated cities as well as communities such as Citrus Heights and Orangevale.

    In partnership with the nonprofit organization Civic Thread, the district developed classroom presentations, demonstrations and other activities on pedestrian safety, according to Natalee Dyudyuk, community safety specialist and Safe Routes to School coordinator in San Juan Unified. 

    The demonstrations encompass a pretend intersection with stop signs, traffic lights and crosswalks; student volunteers act out what happens when “safe crossing skills” learned in the presentation are used or not, Dyudyuk said. 

    Following the demonstration, groups visit a crosswalk near the school to practice their skills, she said. 

    “As I always like to mention to the students, the drivers on the street are not paid actors,” Dyudyuk said about the effectiveness of the real-world scenario. “They are folks who are driving throughout the community, trying to get from point A to point B. It’s a great way to practice because you don’t ever quite know how those drivers are going to react to our presence there.” 

    For its educational activities, the school district hosts bicycle rodeos, helmet giveaways and walk- or bike-to-school days, with students forming a “walking bus” or a “bike train,” Dyudyuk said. 

    “Parents get really excited about that,” she said. 

    According to Raj Rai, San Juan Unified district communication director, pedestrian safety efforts date back to at least 2010. District investments have grown from one liaison working with law enforcement to a safe schools department with eight community safety specialists. 

    In her role since 2021, Dyudyuk works with schools to evaluate student pickup and dropoff and to create checklists and visuals for families to use — education and outreach that continues beyond the initial Safe Routes to School assessments.

    Universities implement education, enforcement 

    Just as K-12 school districts locally and nationally have worked to address pedestrian safety, so have higher education institutions. 

    Each semester, Cal Poly Humboldt in Arcata displays signs “warning and reminding” pedestrians and bicyclists to stop at intersections and others to obey traffic laws, said Peter Cress, a lieutenant with the university’s police department.

    When education and warnings don’t work, the university’s police can turn to enforcement: ticketing drivers. Crediting the college’s approach of using education and enforcement, Cress said that the 5,700-student Cal Poly Humboldt averages one vehicle-pedestrian incident causing significant injury annually. In September, a student was hit while crossing the street.

    Enforcement — or the threat of enforcement — is the only proven way to change motorists’ behavior, Cress said. So, even though education is imperative to what schools do to address pedestrian safety, Cress encourages K-12 districts to implement enforcement through citations, possibly by partnering with local law enforcement. 

    That kind of enforcement isn’t an easy feat for K-12 school systems. 

    Idsvoog said that while the Fresno Police Department has worked to place more patrol officers at schools during student arrival and dismissal, police cannot be at Fresno Unified’s 107 schools every day at the same time while patrolling other parts of the city. 

    One way to fill the void and help with enforcement, Idsvoog said, is using volunteer crossing guards. With more crossing guards, Fresno Unified can strengthen pedestrian safety, she said. 

    But there’s never enough crossing guards, Idsvoog said, and the district usually relies on teachers for that role at schools’ multiple crosswalks used by students. 

    Kimberly Armstrong, second grade teacher at Kirk Elementary, became a volunteer crossing guard out of concern for her students. As a crossing guard, she said she still witnesses people disregarding traffic laws. 

    “There’s really no consequences for them to do any better,” Armstrong said during the Dec. 12 Safe Routes to School community meeting at Computech Middle School. She implored district leaders to find a way to add police at school arrival and dismissal, even if they have to rotate between schools or regions. 

    Fresno Unified school officials can report areas where high numbers of pedestrian safety concerns are occurring to police, Idsvoog said, but problems exist at each of the district’s more than 100 campuses. 

    “Having a police officer there is not just the answer,” Idsvoog said. “There is no quick resolution. There’s got to be a bigger plan: more education, more messaging to parents, yes, consequences.”

    ‘Everyone’s responsibility’

    While law enforcement can define social expectations and attitudes toward pedestrian safety on a higher ed campus, the school community of parents, school staff and community members can set the standard in a K-12 environment, Lt. Cress said. 

    When parents and community members witness or learn about pedestrian safety concerns, Cress said, they must have difficult conversations with each other, which will lead to “conversation after conversation after conversation.” 

    “Those types of informal conversations generate a community attitude,” he said. 

    Ensuring pedestrian safety

    “There’s so many things that we all can do,” Idsvoog said, including: 

    • Adhering to speed limits, crosswalks and traffics signs, including the stop signs that are deployed from school buses
    • Being aware of  one’s surroundings
    • Having conversations with students 

    District leaders and school staff in the Fresno, Clovis, Central and San Juan districts agreed that student and pedestrian safety is a community effort that requires everyone’s effort — not just parents and students. 

    “Pedestrian safety is everyone’s responsibility,” Idsvoog said. “And it’s going to take parents, community members and even students to really make a difference.” 

    Armstrong, the teacher and volunteer crossing guard, said she is optimistic about the district’s efforts, but “time is of the essence” to improve pedestrian safety. The importance of students arriving at and leaving campus safely is often overlooked and missing from the conversation about school safety, she said. 

    “We can’t just worry about kids and their safety once they’re inside of our school buildings,” Armstrong said. “We have to ensure their safety getting to and from. It’s just as important.”





    Source link

  • Fresno City College professors continue to speak out against colleague

    Fresno City College professors continue to speak out against colleague


    Fresno City College on Dec. 5, 2023

    Credit: Lasherica Thornton/ EdSource

    This story has been corrected to say that 50% of senators must be present and 75% must vote to remove the president, according to the bylaws.

    The Fresno City College community continues to reel from an EdSource report revealing that Tom Boroujeni, a tenured communication arts instructor and president of the school’s academic senate, was found to have committed an “act of sexual violence” against a professor and colleague at nearby Fresno State in 2015. 

    The fallout was laid bare during Wednesday’s academic senate meeting when several professors challenged the body’s leadership, criticizing the executive board and demanding change, despite a plea by the acting president that attendants not use the public comment period to “prosecute this (Boroujeni) case or any other case.” 

    Wednesday’s meeting was the first academic senate meeting since Boroujeni was placed on paid administrative leave on Nov. 30, following the EdSource story and subsequent decision by professors to cancel classes. 

    Because of his administrative leave status, Boroujeni, through a request handled by Fresno City College President Robert Pimentel, asked if, and or how he could speak during Wednesday meeting. 

    He didn’t show up, but the possibility that he would be at the meeting galvanized many of his colleagues. His absence did not prevent discussions about him, his case and the conduct of the academic senate, which he led. 

    “You are our faculty leaders; we look to you for guidance in matters related to us,” communication arts instructor Kherstin Khan said at the meeting. “Your silence in the face of controversy has exacerbated the division of faculty and left many of the people that you represent feeling alienated and marginalized.” 

    As Boroujeni remains on leave, Jackie Williams, president-elect and now acting president, asked those who wished to speak during the meeting’s open forum to focus only on concerns about academic and professional matters pertaining to issues concerning faculty, curriculum and their work.  

    “We are here to work on the matters that are on the agenda,” Williams said.

    She told EdSource that she believes in confidentiality for victims, whom she supports, but doesn’t believe that anyone’s personnel matters should be discussed in a public forum. 

    “I have witnessed firsthand how the investigations of assault can be revictimizing and traumatizing, not just to the survivor of that incident but to other survivors and those that are close to them,” she said. “I firmly support, for that reason, matters being kept confidential and being handled by the appropriate legal and human resource experts unless a survivor chooses to share their story.” 

    However, she did not stop people from speaking out about Boroujeni or the Fresno State case. She declined to comment on their criticism of the executive board. 

    What does Fresno State case entail? 

    Boroujeni has taught at Fresno City College since 2015, the same year he began his academic career at Fresno State while still a graduate student. The alleged victim is also a professor and Boroujeni’s colleague at the city college. The State Center Community College District, parent agency to Fresno City College, learned of the sexual misconduct investigation when the alleged victim requested a no-contact order, which was granted in the spring semester of 2022.

    Fresno State opened the investigation based on the federal anti-discrimination law known as Title IX, records show. The investigation determined that Boroujeni committed the sexual violence in 2015. At the time of the incident, Boroujeni was a part-time instructor at Fresno City College while finishing a master’s degree at Fresno State, records show.

    Fresno State couldn’t discipline him because he was a graduate student when the alleged violence occurred, Debbie Adishian-Astone, Fresno State’s vice president for administration, told EdSource. Boroujeni resigned from Fresno State in 2022 after officials said the act-of-sexual-violence report would be placed in his personnel file.

    The Fresno State case was not taken into account as Boroujeni was elected senate president at Fresno City College and achieved tenure in 2023, even after the community college district investigated the alleged victim’s request for a stay-away order and found that sexual violence occurred. 

    Fresno State released a redacted copy of the report to EdSource under the state’s Public Records Act, explaining, “Given that Mr. Boroujeni remains active in the educational community and is teaching at a local community college, there is strong public interest in knowing that a college instructor has been previously found to have committed an act of sexual violence at another university.” 

    Academic senate presidency 

    In May 2023, Boroujeni started a two-year term as Fresno City College’s academic senate president. In that role, Boroujeni works with the school’s administration in setting academic policy and hiring faculty. He assumed the academic senate presidency after a two-year term as president-elect — a rule that doesn’t seem to work, said Tiffany Sarkisian, Fresno City College’s program review coordinator and a communication arts instructor. 

    Sarkisian urged the executive board to create a task force to investigate the efficacy of its bylaws, which she said need to be updated by changing its nomination process, voting procedures and board duties. 

    Williams said the executive board has been reviewing its bylaws in light of the situation. 

    “We’re going through every line and addressing some things that we have found that were silent in the bylaws and came up because of this,” she said.

    The bylaws only address the resignation or removal of an officer, not what to do when an officer is on leave.  According to the bylaws, removing an officer requires a written petition detailing the rationale for the removal, with signatures from 25% of the academic senators; 50% of the senators must be present and 75% must vote to remove the president.

    Anthropology professor German Loffler submitted a petition in December, calling for Boroujeni’s removal, according to Williams. Loffler has since withdrawn the petition. 

    “We do not have an active petition; that’s one mechanism that would open the conversation,” Williams said. “We’re not aware of another mechanism, but if it’s appropriate to place it on the agenda as a discussion item, we can do that.” 

    Boroujeni’s case has divided Fresno City College community 

    Even though the community college district has placed Boroujeni on leave and launched an investigation, some faculty members expect more from the district, the college and the State Center Federation of Teachers, the union representing faculty. 

    For example, some professors in the district called for union leaders to be transparent about their knowledge of the sexual misconduct findings at Fresno State while others expected the union to take a position on the case.

    For instance, Liz Romero, an early childhood education instructor at Clovis Community College, told EdSource it was “disheartening” that the union, through its statement, said their responsibility was to “defend the contract” and “defend the faculty’s rights to due process.”

    There have been heated union discussions among a divided faculty. 

    On Dec. 4, the union censured Clovis Community College philosophy instructor Michael Stannard for his conduct during a discussion of the Boroujeni case at a Dec. 1 union meeting, according to union representative David Campos. The district also announced on Dec. 15 that it is investigating allegations of “inappropriate behavior” by many unnamed employees who allegedly made several female employees “feel unsafe” during union meetings. 

    Boroujeni requested to speak first during the public comment period on Wednesday and then be escorted off campus by police during a brief recess. The executive board declined the request, Williams said. 

    Boroujeni published a blog post on Medium focused on “reclaiming my narrative” on Jan. 10. The nearly 8,000-word post casts Boroujeni as the victim of sexual harassment at the hands of the alleged victim as well as racism and stereotyping because of his Middle Eastern background. 

    Some of his colleagues, including communication arts instructor Jerry Thurston, say they believe the alleged victim. 

    “When women share their experiences, I believe them,” Thurston said. 

    “I don’t gullibly swallow anything people say, but when women tell me that someone has behaved inappropriately toward them, explaining what happened, I believe that that thing happened to them. I believe my female colleagues when they tell me someone has mistreated them.” 

    EdSource reporter Thomas Peele contributed to this story.





    Source link

  • Community outrage leads to changes in Fresno Unified superintendent search

    Community outrage leads to changes in Fresno Unified superintendent search


    Community members attend a listening session on Feb. 21 at Duncan Polytechnical High in Fresno to discuss the search for a new superintendent.

    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    At a special meeting Wednesday, the Fresno Unified School District board bowed to community pressure and postponed already scheduled interviews of district employees vying for the superintendent job.

    The seven-person board was set to interview internal candidates during a closed session — an initial step in the process to select the next superintendent for the state’s third-largest district — before deciding whether to expand the search to candidates beyond the school district.

    The boardroom was packed, standing-room-only, with parents, students, staff and other community members. An overflow crowd watched the meeting on TV screens on the first and second floors of the district building. 

    Thirty speakers echoed support for one of three positions regarding the search process: that the board’s decision to start with internal candidates first was best, that the board should’ve conducted at least a statewide search from the start, or that the process has been plagued by politics, so far. 

    The meeting displayed a divided school system and raised questions about the school board’s ability to select a leader to guide a district that desperately needs to improve student outcomes.

    Outrage had been mounting among community members since the board’s March 20 closed-session decision on how to proceed with the search, which resulted in dueling board factions. 

    Trustee Claudia Cazares on Wednesday led a 5-2 vote, compelled by community feedback, to postpone the interviews until further deliberation. The “no” votes came from trustees Andy Levine and Veva Islas, who argued that the interviews had been scheduled. 

    Cazares said that “to make it cleaner for us and more transparent, that we take a giant step back and start fresh from the beginning, including additional community input, before we move forward with any interviews.” 

    Pausing gives the board an opportunity to further discuss the search process, correct misconceptions spreading in the community and ensure people are heard, trustee Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas said during the meeting. 

    “It’s ultimately about trust in Fresno Unified,” Jonasson Rosas said. “I want everybody to be absolutely clear about what we’re actually doing.” 

    Even with the board’s decision to change course, the unrelenting public clamor for transparency and the elimination of political agendas will likely shape how the search for superintendent proceeds. 

    “When people talk about misinformation and misrepresentation — when there is no transparency, that is what happens,” said community member Christina Soto. 

    ‘To ensure that FUSD staff are seen and heard first’ 

    On Jan. 22, Superintendent Bob Nelson announced his resignation to start a tenure-track position at Fresno State. During a closed meeting on March 20, the school board, tasked with hiring and firing the superintendent, decided to interview internal candidates first, before deciding how to proceed with the search. 

    Board member Keshia Thomas said she made her decision in order to ensure Fresno Unified staff are “seen and heard first.” 

    “These people have given their lives to the district,” Thomas said, “and they deserve that much.”

    Another reason given for wanting to interview in-house stemmed from the budget implications of launching a national search, which may be unnecessary, in the context of a $30 million deficit the district faces.

    The first phase of the search — eliciting community feedback and creating the job description — cost the district $40,000 in fees from the search firm Leadership Associates. Another phase, whether completed by Leadership Associates or another firm, could cost between $75,000 and $100,000, Thomas said. The second phase has not been determined by the board.

    “We’re shelling out all this money to search firms to do this work,” Thomas said. “And if we don’t have to, we really shouldn’t spend it.” 

    When Nelson was tapped as superintendent in 2017, the board conducted a costly national search that eventually chose an internal candidate. 

    After the departure of Nelson’s predecessor in 2017 and the uncertainty about who’d lead the district in the period until the new superintendent started, the school board implemented a plan for the resignation of the top district leader. The succession plan, formed in the early years of Nelson’s tenure, involved creating the position for and hiring a deputy superintendent who would be prepared to step in; it’s also a quasi-grow-our-own leadership model that ensures continuity during and following the transition of district leaders.

    When Nelson announced his resignation, he told EdSource he’d continue serving as superintendent until July 31, which will trigger the district’s succession plan. The school district confirmed in a media release about Nelson’s resignation that Deputy Superintendent Misty Her would be named interim superintendent. 

    The board has approved succession planning and grow-our-own programs at different levels across the district, said Annarita Howell, the district’s assistant superintendent for human resources. She was one of the district’s staff members and students who supported the board’s initial decision to interview internal candidates.

    “My wondering is why we question that succession planning now (that) you have been supporting for the last 10 years?” Howell asked. 

    Brown Act violations?

    Some board members blame the community outrage on information leaked from a closed session that has been misconstrued by those who accuse the board of a lack of transparency. 

    An update on the March 20 meeting for the search informed the public that the board had decided to interview in-house candidates. Details of the 4-3 decision and how each board member voted was leaked to GV Wire, a digital news site, which Thomas said violates the Brown Act, legislation guaranteeing the public’s right to attend and participate in meetings for bodies such as the school board. 

    “Only people in that room were privy to who thought what,” she said.  Only board members and representatives from the search firm were present at that meeting. 

    According to Bryan Martin, attorney for Fresno Unified, the Brown Act generally requires the board to report out final actions that the board makes in closed session, including reporting how each board member “voted.”  He didn’t consider the 4-3 decision to interview internal candidates as a final action. 

    Thomas confirmed that she was one of the four who chose to interview internal candidates first, a decision she stands by. But the leaked decision created a misconception that the four wanted to only interview and choose the new superintendent from staff. 

    District spokesperson Nikki Henry also said that what was communicated to the public was not what happened, and that the 4-3 decision was never about limiting the search to internal candidates only, but about starting with FUSD employees. 

    “The board has never said that they will only look at internal applicants,” she said. “There’s never been anything from the board that has said they will not go to a statewide or national search for the superintendent.”

    Skepticism of the process, Henry said, likely came because the board was taking the search one step at a time and allowing each step to inform the next step. 

    “The whole process is not going to happen out in the open because that’s not how it’s done,” Thomas said. “That’s not how you do any interviews or hire any person if you’re an HR person.” 

    And the school board is the human resources for the superintendent hiring, she said. 

    In a Tuesday news conference called by board President Susan Wittrup, community leaders, including those in the teachers union as well as city council representatives, called on Fresno Unified board members to conduct the search the “right way,” at least statewide and in an open and transparent way, led by and with community involvement. 

    Wittrup said the school board needed to change course with the way it decided to handle the search, an action that the board has now taken.

    Thomas said Wittrup’s actions have made matters worse.

    “Trustee Wittrup decided to fabricate the truth about what was said and what was requested by a majority of the trustees,” Thomas said about an editorial published in GV Wire that Wittrup wrote as well as other statements she made to the media. 

    Manuel Bonilla, president of the Fresno Teachers Association, said on Tuesday that there needs to be a public discussion about why the original decision was made.

    He said that the explanation that the process be conducted in closed session as an HR process is an excuse. 

    In other places across the country, applications and interviews of those applying for a superintendency are open to the public because of state legislation. 

    Even individuals not associated with education, such as Darius Assemi, publisher of the online news site GV Wire and CEO of Granville Homes, a real estate development company, which he admitted doesn’t build homes in the Fresno Unified area, joined Tuesday’s event.  

    Assemi said that the community deserves better than a closed-door selection and hiring process. 

    “It should be a transparent, open process so that the public sees what actually takes place,” he told EdSource before the board backpedaled its decision. “Not behind closed doors; not in secrecy.” 

    Many say their voices were unheard

    Another factor creating concern about the search process is related to the 24 listening sessions conducted in February and the search firm’s report on those sessions.

    The search firm’s summary, not even a full two-page document, lists and briefly details key themes deemed necessary for the district’s next leader, including: 

    • An educational background that includes experience as a teacher, an administrator and other roles, and administrative credentials
    • Experience and understanding of the district’s history, culture, complexities and diversity. According to the summary, the community preferred internal candidates and applicants with ties to the Central Valley
    • Effective communication skills and the ability to collaborate and engage with people in the school community
    • A strategic vision supported by data-driven strategies

    Wittrup said Leadership Associates’ report misinformed board members about what the community wanted, and that community members felt their voices went unheard during the listening sessions because they asked for a search beyond district personnel. 

    “I have heard overwhelmingly from parents and constituents across this city that their voice was not captured,” Wittrup said. “That would be a travesty if we used misinformation to make these decisions.” 

    Community member Soto said she invested at least five hours in attending various listening sessions, just to have that information “disregarded and misrepresented.” 

    “Communities stated that we wanted someone that was familiar with the Valley,” she said. She was one of at least 10 people who spoke at Wednesday’s meeting in support of a search not limited to internal applicants. “I’m sure there are many people across the state and maybe the nation who have Central Valley roots who would be qualified to be superintendent.” 

    Community members at board meetings, including Wednesday’s, and through conversations with trustees have recommended a national or statewide search as well as a districtwide search committee to interview candidates. 

    Board member Cazares said in an April 2 Facebook post that she had originally asked board leadership for a community committee to assist in the search. Cazares was named as one of the four who wanted to start with the internal search. She could not be reached to confirm. 

    “I hope that board president (Trustee Wittrup) would reconsider my recommendation,” Cazares said in her social media post. 

    Board member Valerie F. Davis, also named as one of the four who chose to start with the internal search but couldn’t be reached to confirm, said she has hired three superintendents, in which the board “always” had community members as part of the search committee. 

    The original board decision, Bonilla said, eroded the community’s trust because the closed-door decision came without community input. He added that now, after an outpouring from frustrated community members, the board is deciding to “take steps in the right direction.”

    What else complicated the process? 

    Wittrup is the sole board member who publicly challenged the board’s original decision. In the weeks before Tuesday’s news conference and Wednesday’s board meeting, Wittrup was the first of nearly 400 people to sign Break the Cycle of Failure at Fresno Unified, an online petition about the decision to start with internal candidates. She also penned an opinion piece about the matter. 

    “It’s the only way I know,” Wittrup said about the appropriateness of her actions to write an op-ed and host a news conference to challenge the board’s decision. 

    Board member Levine, though he’s remained quiet about the March 20 closed-session discussion, shared his position last week via Facebook and with EdSource. He supported inviting both internal and external candidates to apply and said that a process to consider all candidates at once sets up the board’s pick for success. The community would know the decision is based on a competitive and rigorous process. 

    He said he didn’t see the need to attend Tuesday’s new conference because the board must figure out how to move forward as a unit.  

    “We need to figure out, as a board, how to come together to get there, hopefully,” he said.

    So what happens next? 

    It’s still unclear how the process will proceed, even after the board met in closed session for about an hour Wednesday night. 

    Whether community members want the board to maintain its direction to interview internal candidates first, to redo the entire process or to eliminate political influence, “we can’t do stuff behind closed doors,” said community member Gloria Hernandez. 

    “We need to proceed in this process in the most transparent way,” Roosevelt High teacher Marisa Rodriguez said, “so that we can gain the trust of our community.”





    Source link

  • Politics, threats, agendas have permeated search for Fresno Unified superintendent, many say

    Politics, threats, agendas have permeated search for Fresno Unified superintendent, many say


    Fresno Unified School District board member Keshia Thomas speaks during a 2022 news conference.

    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    Among accusations of racism, intimidation and political play, ensuing from a March 20 decision by the Fresno Unified School District board to interview internal candidates first in the process to hire a superintendent, some district employees have faced harassment and threats, with some members of the Hmong community also citing attacks against them. 

    Sources, including district spokesperson Nikki Henry, told EdSource that board members and Deputy Superintendent Misty Her — a candidate for the open position and the presumptive interim superintendent — have been threatened. Her, specifically, has faced racial harassment, Henry said. 

    “It’s not fair to staff, and it’s not fair to the process,” school board member Keshia Thomas said.  

    During last week’s board meeting, Kao Xiong, CEO of the Hmong Business Incubator Center, a community-based organization serving the underrepresented Hmong community, said his group has been monitoring racial tensions related to the superintendent search.

    Community member John Thao spoke about the “painful” and “hurtful” words someone told him in the wake of the superintendent’s search: “‘Your kind will never be superintendent.’”

    On Jan. 22, when Superintendent Bob Nelson announced his plans to leave Fresno Unified, the district announced that if a permanent superintendent isn’t named by his final days, Her would be named interim superintendent. 

    Plans to name Her as interim superintendent put her at the center of the search as a favored candidate even though she’s not the only internal applicant. Her became the highest-ranking Hmong K-12 professional in 2021 when she was hired as deputy superintendent. 

    Stacy Williams, a community member who spoke at last week’s meeting, accused the board of favoring Her as the next superintendent for their own political gain. 

    “I know some of you have something to gain by using the Hmong community as your political pawn for when you want to run for something,” Williams said. A similar sentiment had been expressed in an opinion piece on news site GV Wire, which accused some board members of “pandering to the Hmong community for votes” in their November re-election bids.

    Process is compromised

    After the March 20 closed meeting of the school board, during which the board decided to interview internal candidates before deciding on how to proceed with the hiring process, details of the 4-3 decision and how each board member voted were leaked to the media, instigating community anger that propelled the board to reverse course in a 5-2 vote last Wednesday and postpone the scheduled internal interviews. 

    Beyond the threats, the search for the top leader of the state’s third-largest school system is engulfed in community angst about an alleged lack of  transparency as well as accusations that the process has been tainted by politics. 

    Simply put, some say the search process has become “compromised.” But the reason for that conclusion varies, depending on whom you ask.

    Trustee Thomas said the process is compromised because board members and staff are afraid but helpless to protect themselves and their families from threats and harassment, incited by the turmoil that the leaked information has caused. 

    “I don’t know what the next steps are going to be because everybody is uncertain, scared and wants to protect their families and protect employees from the nonsense,” Thomas told EdSource before the board voted to cancel the interviews of in-house candidates. “So now, we may have to pivot and try to figure out: how do we stop the unnecessary nonsense?” 

    Manuel Bonilla, president of the Fresno Teachers Association, on the other hand, said the process was compromised from the moment the board decided to prioritize district employees rather than conducting an “extensive search to find the best candidate … creating the appearance that politics matter more than students.” 

    Fifteen community members who spoke at last Wednesday’s board meeting agreed that politics has permeated the process one way or another. 

    “Is this politics as usual?” asked Terri Kimber-Edwards, who attended Fresno Unified schools, is a parent to former students, and was a teacher and school and district administrator. “Is there some agenda? Are there backroom deals?” 

    Accusations of a personal or political agenda

    A recently launched political action committee, Moving the Central Valley Forward, sent mailers to Fresno residents, asking them to run for a seat in the Roosevelt and Hoover High areas, represented by Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas and Claudia Cazares, who are up for re-election in November. Both trustees’ names were leaked as part of the board majority that voted to start the superintendent search with internal candidates. 

    Jonasson Rosas did not confirm or deny her part in the March 20 decision because it happened in a closed-door session, and Cazares could not be reached for comment. Both have since voted to cancel the internal candidate interviews. In fact, Cazares led the charge to change the scope of the search at last Wednesday’s meeting. 

    Board member Andy Levine, who represents the Fresno High area, is also up for re-election but was not included in the mailer, although the area is listed on the political action committee’s website. Last week, Levine stated on Facebook and told EdSource that he supported opening the search to both internal and external candidates from the start. 

    Board members are not the only ones being accused of having a political agenda in the superintendent search.  

    Thomas, who says she stands by her decision to interview internal candidates first, questioned the teachers union’s involvement in the April 2 news conference called by board President Susan Wittrup to challenge the board’s decision. 

    At that news conference, community leaders, including members of the teachers union, urged Fresno Unified board members to conduct the search the “right way,” with a scope that includes at least statewide candidates, and in an open and transparent way, led by and with community involvement.

    Thomas said the labor union’s top leaders want to apply for the superintendency, which they couldn’t have done under the board’s original plan to interview internal candidates first. 

    District leaders, principals, teachers and other staff would be considered internal candidates who could apply. 

    Union presidents are district employees and could have applied; however, other union leaders and representatives would not have been able to unless the search was expanded to include external candidates. 

    Fresno Teachers Association leaders Louis Jamerson, pictured in the center, and Manuel Bonilla sign a tentative labor agreement between the teachers union and Fresno Unified School District last October.
    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    The teachers union’s executive director, Louis Jamerson, said he’ll apply to be Fresno Unified’s superintendent if the process is opened to external candidates, but added that questions about the union’s involvement in the search process are “ridiculous.” 

    The union’s executive board endorses Jamerson’s plan to become superintendent and Bonilla, FTA president, as deputy superintendent. 

    “We have some support from our executive board and from our teachers to pursue this,” Jamerson said, referring to his public announcement in February to 200 educators who gave him a standing ovation.

    “But that assumes that that’s possible. I don’t know, ultimately, how the board is going to decide on this process,” Jamerson said. “There could be another hurdle that prevents me from being able to apply. But if there are no hurdles, in terms of the ability for me to apply to become the superintendent, I will apply.” 

    FTA involvement isn’t unique to this search

    The teachers union has been involved in the superintendent search process dating back to 2005, when Mike Hanson was hired, and 2017, when Nelson was selected.

    Jamerson said that ensuring that the right superintendent is selected isn’t the only action the union takes to improve the education of students in Fresno Unified, where most students are still not meeting state standards. 

    “In my almost 10-year tenure at FTA, we have been involved in trying to do our best, from where we are, to try to … move this rock up a hill in terms of our students: our student safety, our student academic outcomes, our students’ ability to learn, read, do math — all of that,” Jamerson said about work the union engages in.  

    In  April 2022, the teachers union proposed classroom-centered ideas for academic and social-emotional student support. Contract negotiations — as well as a strike threat — in 2023 led to multimillion dollar investments in students’ social-emotional support.  

    What does this mean moving forward? 

    Trustee Jonasson Rosas said the situation is causing uneasiness at the district’s many schools, where students are now preparing for testing and other end-of-year obligations, such as college applications. Students who spoke during the April 3 meeting confirmed their worry. 

    “It’s unsettling for our school sites,” Jonasson Rosas said, “and I’m concerned about the effects that our schools are having because of this.” 

    Edison High senior Yunah Vang was one of seven students who stood at the podium during last Wednesday’s meeting, though not all spoke. 

    ”Instead of preparing for my graduation or getting ready for my prom, my classmates and I are here addressing issues that we are supposed to trust adults with,” Vang said. 

    But regardless of how the search unfolds, the next superintendent must address the district’s struggles with student performance, including children’s ability to read and teens’ college readiness. 

    Based on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, or CAASPP tests, most Fresno Unified students failed to meet the state’s standards in 2023: 66.8% failed to meet English language arts standards, and 76.7% failed to meet math standards. 

    For third grade — the school year believed to be pivotal in determining reading proficiency and predicting future success — less than 1 in 3 third-graders are at grade level, a GO Public Schools 2023 student outcome report on Fresno Unified showed. 

    Of high school seniors in Fresno Unified, according to the report, under 20% are ready for college courses in English while less than 5% are ready for college math courses. College readiness is defined by a student exceeding standards on the 11th grade standardized tests.

    It’s still unclear how the superintendent selection process will proceed. It’s possible that the board will update the community about the next phase of the process at its meeting on April 10. 

    Many are wondering whether qualified candidates will risk applying and being part of a process that has questionable community support or to work under a fractured school board. EdSource found that less experienced superintendents are becoming common across the state as there is a rise in superintendents leaving the job; many who are leaving cite threats, stress and politics. 

    “Interested candidates are going to be looking at the process thus far,” said Henry, the district’s spokesperson. “They’re going to be looking at how the board operates, how district leadership operates, how our schools operate. They’re going to take a deep dive and decide if this is the right fit for them, so I think it’s yet to be seen if this has a positive or negative impact on a wider search.”





    Source link

  • Fresno Unified board names interim superintendent ahead of national search

    Fresno Unified board names interim superintendent ahead of national search


    Fresno Unified Deputy Superintendent Misty Her.

    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    The Fresno Unified school board on Friday appointed Misty Her, the district’s deputy superintendent, to lead the district on an interim basis while the board conducts a national search for someone to fill the permanent role.

    The decision came after closed-session discussions at a Monday meeting and during special board meetings about the interim position on Wednesday and Friday.

    As interim superintendent of California’s third-largest district, Her becomes the nation’s highest-ranking Hmong education leader and brings stability that the district needs, board members said at the news conference after Friday’s meeting. 

    Her appointment, which becomes effective on Wednesday when her contract is approved, allows Fresno Unified to “maintain momentum” without rushing the search process, board President Susan Wittrup told reporters. 

    “We need an interim superintendent who will continue to implement the important initiatives that the district is pursuing and who will ensure that we are fully prepared for the first day of school in the fall,” Wittrup said. 

    The school board said on April 10 that it would consider both internal and external candidates in the search for a new superintendent — a change in the search process that was spurred by weeks of community outrage. 

    The outrage followed a March 20 closed-session decision to interview internal candidates before deciding how to proceed with the search process. Details of the 4-3 decision were leaked to the media, sparking community anger that pushed the board to reverse course on April 3 and postpone already scheduled interviews.

    After the April 10 decision, the search process was supposed to include community participation with the board providing additional updates at other meetings. Although board members met on April 24 for a regularly scheduled meeting, the board president didn’t disclose a timeline in a seemingly stalled process, The Fresno Bee reported. 

    Superintendent Bob Nelson announced his resignation on Jan. 22; his last day is July 31. The school district confirmed in a media release about Nelson’s resignation that Her would be named interim superintendent, but naming her on Friday is a move that most likely won’t restore community trust, according to Fresno Teachers Association President Manuel Bonilla. 

    “The FUSD school board continues to erode community trust with its handling of the superintendent search process,” Bonilla said in an emailed statement following the announcement. “The board’s decision to announce the appointment of Interim Superintendent Misty Her during the Friday News Dump period, following two abnormally scheduled special meetings that effectively sidelined public input, undermines transparency and further erodes community trust in the superintendent selection process.”

    So far, the search process has been engulfed in community angst about an alleged lack of transparency and accusations that the process had been tainted by politics, EdSource reported. District employees at the center of the search, including Her, even faced racial harassment and threats.

    Reflecting on the last few weeks, board member Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas said on Friday that the board is now where it needs to be — united to find its next superintendent who can advance student achievement. Most Fresno Unified students failed to meet the state standards in 2023.

    The district leaders did not answer questions at Friday’s news conference but will host another one Wednesday before the board’s regularly scheduled meeting.

    “Moving forward, the board must demonstrate a commitment to inclusivity and transparency in its decision-making processes,” Bonilla said. “We urge the board to prioritize meaningful community engagement and input in the selection of the next superintendent to rebuild trust and ensure accountability to all stakeholders.”

    Nelson, board members say the appointment is what Fresno Unified needs

    The board’s unanimous decision to appoint Her is what the Fresno Unified community needs, district leaders said.

    “There is nobody I am more confident in leading our Fresno Unified family through this transitionary period than you,” Nelson said, addressing Her, at the Friday special board meeting.  “You have never apologized about your relentless focus on student achievement, and that’s what we really need at this time.” 

    Her’s entire 30-year career has been in Fresno Unified where she’s held many positions, including a bilingual instructional aide, a school leader and deputy superintendent in 2021. 

    “Most important to me,” trustee Veva Islas said, “Misty’s lived experience allows her to relate to our disadvantaged students that no other superintendent can.” 

    Born in a prisoner of war camp in Laos, Her’s family escaped to a refugee camp in Thailand after the end of the Vietnam War before eventually coming to the United States and settling in Fresno when she was a young child, Fresno Unified said in an emailed statement. That firsthand experience and her understanding of the challenges faced by students from diverse backgrounds have shaped her into a passionate and effective leader, the school district stated. 

    Based on 2022-23 state data, more than 92% of Fresno Unified students are minorities, and according to 2023-24 district data, 88% of students are living in disadvantaged circumstances. 

    The school board, which has yet to lay out a timeline, share a job description for the next superintendent or select another search firm to lead the search, will update the community about the national search at its May 8 meeting. 

    The board is “committed and unified” to not only find the next superintendent but to support Her in the meantime, board members said. 

    “Fresno Unified is my life. From elementary school through more than three decades as an employee and a current Fresno Unified parent, my commitment runs deep,” Her said in the district’s statement. 

    “I am proud to serve our students and their families as one of their own,” she said. “Our Fresno Unified family deserves a leader who is a successful Fresno Unified graduate, is committed to this community and truly believes in our students and staff.”





    Source link

  • Amid division, attempt to remove Fresno City College academic senate president fails

    Amid division, attempt to remove Fresno City College academic senate president fails


    Tenured communication instructor Tom Boroujeni, who is on involuntary administrative leave, spoke at the May 8, 2024, Fresno City College Academic Senate meeting, in which the senate voted on removing him as president.

    Lasherica Thornton/ EdSource

    This story has been updated with the exact number of yes, no and abstention votes counted. The membership secretary for the academic senate provided the numbers to EdSource Thursday evening. A statement about the votes has also been clarified.

    The Fresno City College Academic Senate on Wednesday failed to take action on tenured communication instructor Tom Boroujeni, who has been on involuntary administrative leave since Nov. 30 but has refused to step down as president. 

    During the final meeting of the semester, not enough members of the senate voted to remove Boroujeni as president, and not enough voted to table the removal until next semester in August. Many senators abstained from the votes. Even though more instructors voted to remove him as president than to table the matter, without a majority, the academic senate will end the semester and likely start a new school year under the leadership of the president-elect and acting president, Jackie Williams. 

    It leaves the academic senate in limbo, said theater design instructor Christina McCollam-Martinez, who had filed two petitions to remove Boroujeni as president.

    “We can’t move forward; we’re stuck,” McCollam-Martinez said during the meeting. “When you don’t get to choose anymore, you get stuck; you don’t have an option.”

    Members of the senate were divided over whether a removal impacts due process, speaks to one’s belief about the allegations, puts the senate back on track or sends a message about faculty rights — a contention made by Boroujeni. 

    “I’m not doing that (stepping down) because I’m an advocate for faculty,” Boroujeni told his colleagues during the meeting, at which he had permission to speak, not as a member of the academic senate but as a member of the public. He did not speak as a community member, though, but twice during discussions by the senators.

    Boroujeni was put on leave following a Nov. 29 EdSource report that revealed that a Fresno State investigation determined that Boroujeni committed an “act of sexual violence” against a professor and colleague who also works at Fresno City College. Some professors canceled classes. Boroujeni denied that any sexual violence took place. He also claimed that the Fresno City College suspension stemmed from disagreements with State Center Community College District over academic policies.

    With a recent change in Fresno City College senate bylaws, the executive board recommended the removal of Boroujeni because his administrative-leave status caused Williams to become acting president with no one serving as president-elect, a key post on the executive board. 

    ”Voting to remove the current president is not about whether they did or did not do what they are on leave for,” said Alana Jeydel, a history and political science professor. “It’s simply about the fact that our senate can’t go for a semester or possibly longer with someone who hasn’t been here. … We need the person who’s been here for the past semester to keep working for us.” 

    No longer “silent” about what to do when an officer is on leave, the bylaws now state that a leave of absence can trigger a process to fill the vacancy. The bylaws of many academic senates across the state reportedly have language requiring a senator to relinquish the seat for any leave. 

    A removal would have made Williams president starting next semester and led to elections for a president-elect. 

    Though no decision was made about Boroujeni’s role as president, the failed attempt to remove him is indicative of the division at the college. Eleven senators at the meeting abstained from the removal vote.

    Waiting on outcome of investigation?

    When the community college district put Boroujeni on paid leave in late November, the district also launched an investigation.

    Boroujeni told his colleagues that his administrative leave, which district and college administration hasn’t publicly disclosed details about, is not related to the Fresno State case but to three Fresno City College complaints filed months ahead of the district’s decision to place him on leave, following EdSource’s report on the Fresno State sexual violence investigation and subsequent decision by his colleagues to cancel classes. 

    Boroujeni said that the investigation was set to end this week but was extended until May 31. He has characterized the complaints as allegations of “gender discrimination.” 

    “The road map that you need is: Wait for the investigation to end,” Boroujeni told his colleagues before their vote. “If there is anything in the investigation, use that to remove me because that will give you the ammunition so you can preserve the power of the academic senate.” 

    Because the college has not yet concluded the investigation, some instructors said they preferred to wait on the outcome before voting on the removal. Nikki Visveshwara and Eileen Gonzalez, professors in the nursing department, said Boroujeni has the right to due process. 

    “I think we should’ve waited to find out what the judgment from the district was … so that we have full information when we’re making the vote,” said Michael Takeda, past academic senate president and member of the executive board, who did not support the recommendation for Boroujeni’s removal. 

    Expecting a judgment or specific details to be publicized or shared by the district may not be realistic. Over the last six months, district spokesperson Jill Wagner has not disclosed details of the investigation, stating that it is a personnel matter. 

    Even when it is resolved, “we don’t necessarily talk about it because it’s still a human resources matter,” Wagner told EdSource in mid-February. Wagner did not immediately respond to requests for additional information or comment on Wednesday.  But, when the investigation concludes, the findings will be subject to California’s Public Records Act which requires the release of personnel investigations when allegations are confirmed.

    “Unacceptable to have this cloud hanging over us”

    Boroujeni has taught at Fresno City College since 2015, the same year he began his academic career at Fresno State while still a graduate student. The victim of the alleged sexual misconduct is also a professor and Boroujeni’s colleague at the community college. The State Center Community College District, parent agency to Fresno City College, learned of the sexual misconduct investigation when the alleged victim requested a no-contact order, which was granted in the spring semester of 2022.

    Fresno State opened the investigation in 2020 based on the federal anti-discrimination law known as Title IX, records show. The investigation determined that Boroujeni committed sexual violence in 2015. At the time of the incident, Boroujeni was a part-time instructor at Fresno City College while finishing a master’s degree at Fresno State, records show.

    Boroujeni was never disciplined in the sexual violence matter because he was a graduate student when the alleged violence occurred. Boroujeni resigned from Fresno State in 2022 after officials said the act-of-sexual-violence report would be placed in his personnel file.

    Despite Boroujeni’s assertions linking the senate’s proposed action to the investigation, most of the professors who spoke in favor of the removal said their position had nothing to do with the allegations but the senate’s ability to perform its duties.

    Business instructor Robert Schmalle, who didn’t take a position on the allegations against Boroujeni, reminded his colleagues that the academic senate is a political body making political decisions. 

    Both he and anthropology professor German Loffler said keeping Boroujeni as president reflects poorly on the college and senate.

    “It’s just simply unacceptable to have this cloud hanging over us,” Schmalle said. 

    And a removal is not about the administrative leave, Jeydel, the political science professor, reiterated. 

    “It’s simply to replace somebody who is on leave — for whatever reason it is,” she said. “I don’t see the vote as about passing judgment on what one person has or has not done.”

    The academic senate president works with the college’s administration in setting academic policy and represents the senate and faculty at college, districtwide and public meetings. 

    Amended bylaws have been months in the making

    With an April 24 change in bylaws, Wednesday’s meeting was the first time that the senate has been able to vote on action to handle Boroujeni’s inability to fulfill the duties of president during his leave. 

    The academic senate amended its bylaws last month, but the process has been months in the making, dating back to before Boroujeni was placed on leave. 

    But Boroujeni accused the academic senate of changing the bylaws due to his leave. 

    The bylaws, according to Williams, were addressed the entire semester with proposed changes being brought to the senate for feedback.

    “It was not precipitated or initiated in response to President Boroujeni being placed on administrative leave,” she said. “There was already the plan for revise.” 

    She told EdSource in January that as the senate went line by line through the bylaws, members learned that the bylaws were silent on what to do when officers are on leave.

    Language on quorum, absenteeism, proxy attendance, officers and officer responsibilities were tweaked alongside the addition of: “In special circumstances, e.g., the removal/resignation of multiple officers, or leaves of absences of an officer, the Executive Board shall determine the process for filling the vacancies.”

    Before the bylaws were amended, the only way to remove Boroujeni was through a petition with at least 25% of senators signing to initiate a vote, during which 50% must be present, and 75% must vote for removal. The revision changed the voting requirement to two-thirds, or 66%.

    Since December, there have been three petitions calling for Boroujeni’s removal as president. 

    Under the added process in the bylaws, removing Boroujeni, who is on leave, required a majority vote of members present. Of the 62 members present, 29 voted to remove him and 15 voted to table the removal. Thirty-two votes would have constituted the majority. 

    Boroujeni: Stepping down hurts faculty

    Before McCollam-Martinez, the theater design instructor, started the second and third petitions to remove Boroujeni as president, she sought clarity from a past president of the academic senate for California Community Colleges about how most colleges handle a leave of absence. 

    She learned that most presidents step down because of the mere fact that he or she cannot fulfill the duties of the role. 

    “Normally, that’s what would happen,” she said. 

    Boroujeni said during the meeting that stepping down would have been the “easy thing” to do. 

    “Let me explain to you why I haven’t stepped down. Stepping down would send a very specific message to the administration — that you can put the president on leave and that the president will step down,” he said.

    He spoke not once as a community member as he had permission to but twice during the senators’ discussions, which further fractured the already splintered community college community, said a college employee who attended the meeting but asked for anonymity.  

    The community college district counsel and Fresno City College president confirmed to EdSource that Boroujeni requested permission to speak as a community member, not as a senator. 

    “It reflects his character of manipulation and bullying,” the college employee said. 





    Source link

  • From Fresno Unified to Fresno State: Bob Nelson finds another way to serve

    From Fresno Unified to Fresno State: Bob Nelson finds another way to serve


    Bob Nelson, outgoing superintendent of Fresno Unified School District

    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    In almost seven years of superintendency, Bob Nelson focused on “grow-our-own” initiatives that include 18 teacher pipeline programs for Fresno Unified students, aspiring teachers and current educators. 

    Seventy-nine percent of new teachers joining Fresno Unified come through one of the district’s teacher pipeline programs, but there is no “similar thing on the leadership side,” said Nelson, the district’s outgoing superintendent. There’s no pipeline program to recruit, retain or support educators or school leaders hoping to become district administrators.  

    In summer 2023, a cohort of 19 district leaders, most of whom are people of color, graduated from the doctoral program at San Diego State — a result of collaboration between the university and school district which has ignited Nelson’s vision to develop a “grow-our-own” administrator program in the Fresno and broader Central San Joaquin Valley area. 

    Nelson says that the cohort of administrators graduating from San Diego State is one of the highlights of his superintendency as well as the reason for leaving Fresno Unified for a tenure-track position at California State University, Fresno. 

    Fresno Unified’s outgoing Superintendent Bob Nelson and interim Superintendent Misty Her
    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    Fresno State offers a doctoral program in educational leadership, but Nelson wants to strengthen it to draw more Fresno and Central Valley leaders into a Fresno-centered program that can develop administrators for the region.  

    “I feel it’s my responsibility to go and try and build a cadre of leaders here locally that can come and lead Valley schools,” Nelson said in a sit-down with EdSource in May.  

    On May 3, the Fresno Unified school board appointed Misty Her, the district’s deputy superintendent, to lead the district on an interim basis while a national search for a permanent replacement is conducted. Her started the interim superintendency on May 8 with Nelson moving into an advisory role until his last day on July 31.  

    Ahead of his last day, Nelson talked about his seven-year tenure as the leader of the state’s third-largest district and the importance of the new role he’s about to embark on. 

    Why leave now? 

    “I’m leaving because I feel really comfortable leaving the district in the hands of my deputy (Her). (I’m) stepping aside so that the first woman in 151 years can come and lead the district,” Nelson said. “It’s time. Leaving on my own volition feels good; I mean, that’s powerful.”

    ‘Pinnacle of my career’

    “Serving as the superintendent in the district where I initially taught elementary school and first served as a leader has been the pinnacle of my career thus far,” he said in his Jan. 22 resignation announcement. 

    Prior to his appointment as superintendent, Nelson had served the district for over 23 years, holding various positions, including teacher, vice principal, principal, human resources administrator and chief of staff, according to the school district. 

    What is greatest accomplishment as superintendent? 

    Nelson said he is most proud of the “visible changes” across the district, including career technical education (CTE), a guaranteed college admissions program, an increase in district-sponsored scholarships, more diverse staff and the pace of student growth. 

    CTE pathways

    “When I came into the district, people were running for the board on a platform that there were no college/career options for kids,” he said. “I think that’s changed demonstrably.”

    The changes, he said, include: the heavy truck and diesel maintenance facility and the pharmacology school at Duncan Polytechnical High School, opening the sports medicine complex and setting up an agriculture pathway at Sunnyside High School, and buying land at Chandler Air Force Base to train private pilots and to teach people to fix planes, making the public service pathway — police, fire, EMT — out of Roosevelt High School.

    Other accomplishments Nelson mentioned include: offering heating, ventilation and air conditioning certifications at Fresno High School; building teacher pipelines at Hoover and five other high schools, opening a law pathway at Bullard High School, and expanding social justice at Edison High School.

    “Kids have access to more than they’ve ever had over the course of seven and a half years,” he said.

    Bulldog Bound

    Nelson developed a partnership with Fresno State to offer Bulldog Bound Guaranteed Admissions, which provides students college and career prep throughout their entire high school career as well as a guarantee that, once they graduate, they’ll have a spot at Fresno State. 

    “I was on the front end of authoring the Bulldog Bound initiative in collaboration with Fresno State, making sure every single one of our kids has guaranteed enrollment,” he said.

    A foundation

    During Nelson’s tenure, Fresno Unified also established the Foundation for Fresno Unified Schools, which now has a $20 million endowment that funds up to $800,000 in scholarships annually — “which is more than we’ve ever given away,” he said. 

    Diversity

    Nelson recalls that in 2017, only two of district’s nearly 100 schools were led by Black principals — although African American students made up at least 8% of the student population. That’s no longer true. Now with over 10 Black principals, school leadership is a more accurate representation of the student enrollment. 

    Nelson’s senior leadership team is much more diverse, he said, pointing out a rise in Hmong and Latino leaders as well.

    “It’s true diversity,” Nelson said. “Every single year of my tenure, and actually several before I got in, the staffing is more reflective of the students that we serve. In every respect — teaching staff, leadership staff, professional staff, including classified personnel — it’s all more indicative of the students that we serve.” 

    Based on 2022-23 state data, more than 92% of Fresno Unified students are minorities. 

    “Kids need to see visual images of people who look like them, talk like them, sound like them, have their lived experience,” Nelson said.

    A faster pace

    Nelson said he is thankful for student academic growth, which outpaces the state’s. 

    Based on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, or CAASPP tests, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards statewide improved by 6.87% in English and 6.07% in math from 2015 to 2019.

    While Fresno Unified is still below state percentages in students meeting standards, from 2015 to 2019, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards outpaced the state’s improvement — by 11% in English and 11.85% in math.

    “If you only look at the bar of proficiency, we’re always behind,” Nelson said. “But we’re always gaining distance from standard at a rate that’s faster than other people across the state.”

    Because of the pandemic, students statewide, including those in Fresno Unified, experienced learning loss that dropped test scores. 

    Following the pandemic, from 2022 to 2023, there was a statewide decrease in students meeting or exceeding English standards and a 1.24% increase in math.

    Fresno Unified scores increased by 0.96% and 2.49% in English and math, respectively, meaning students are again improving at a faster rate, as they were before the pandemic. 

    “The same thing (a faster pace of growth) is happening right now with chronic absenteeism (when students miss 10% or more days in one school year),” Nelson said. “Like we’re closing chronic absenteeism at a rate that’s faster than anybody.” 

    From the 2021-22 school year to the 2022-23 school year, Fresno Unified reduced chronic absences by 14.9% in contrast to the state’s 5% reduction. 

    “I’m really proud of that,” Nelson said.

    Were all his goals met for the district? 

    “Our kids have needs that are greater (because they) come from abject poverty; you start from a different starting line,” Nelson said. 

    According to 2023-24 district data, 88% of students are living in disadvantaged circumstances.

    “So, the level of systemic change that is needed to help kids thrive is just a higher, deeper, more robust level of change,” he said. “Did I crack that nut in its entirety? No. There’s always room for improvement.” 

    What does Misty Her inherit?
    Fresno Unified’s outgoing superintendent, Bob Nelson, during his tenure, launched a literacy initiative aimed at getting every child to read by first grade.
    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    “What I am leaving, hanging over, is I launched this literacy initiative, wanting every child to read by first grade,” Nelson said.

    In late May, the school district finalized the Every Child Is a Reader literacy plan, a comprehensive five-year plan to achieve first-grade reading proficiency for students, according to a media release. 

    “The actual digging in and observing the curriculum around that initiative is going to be left for my successor. That is something that’s being held over (for Misty Her),” Nelson said.“I think she is a stronger academic leader and will help move the literacy work in ways that I have not. (As an early learning teacher), she knows very clearly what it takes for kids to read, understands all the complexities of the science of reading — is it phonemics or is it whole language —and balancing those approaches to make sure that kids have what they need.” 

    How does superintendent experience help at Fresno State?

    Nelson will join the educational leadership division at the Kremen School of Education and Human Development. Although he’s leaving K-12 education as a leader, he’ll take his experience and knowledge into the role at Fresno State, which, this year, accepted 2,150 Fresno Unified students — the highest number ever accepted.

    If all the accepted students were to attend, Fresno Unified graduates would make up around 20% of the university’s enrollment, based on Fresno State enrollment data that shows over 2,800 FUSD alumni. 

    “Higher ed needs to better understand what’s going on in Fresno Unified,” Nelson said. “Understanding who we are and what we represent and what we’re trying to do, I think, is critical.”

    In applying for the role at Fresno State, Nelson had to teach a lesson, in which he demonstrated his ability to bridge the gap between Fresno Unified and Fresno State, he said. 

    “I compared their mission, vision, core values and statement of purpose against the lived experiences of the district that they serve (Fresno Unified) and said, ‘If you’re going to say these things, then that has to mirror the lived experiences of the districts that you’re in,’” he said. “’I think I can help you get from here to here. I can bridge that gap.’”

    Nelson’s responsibilities at Fresno State?

    A tenure-track position will give Nelson the opportunity to continue serving Valley educators. 

    “I have master’s degree students who are probably teachers, working full time every day, that want to become vice principals and principals and then, potentially, district leaders and on and on … and then helping master’s students get their master’s projects completed too,” he said of the position. 

    Why back to the classroom? 

    Before becoming superintendent of Fresno Unified, Nelson taught at Fresno State and “loved every minute of it.”

    “I’m really, really excited to just go back to teaching,” he said. “Almost every school counselor that we brought in our system (Fresno Unified) were my former students from Fresno State. You find the best leader, siphon them out and then try to get them into the places in the Valley where they can serve kids.”

    What about the goal of a local ‘grow-our-own’ administrator program? 

    In 2021, Fresno Unified won an $8.2 million grant from the Wallace Foundation to develop and support a pipeline of equity-centered leaders with which the district developed a collaborative relationship with San Diego State. This led to the district’s first cohort of leaders matriculating through the doctorate program. The partnership allows Fresno Unified leaders and faculty — who model what the graduate students are looking to become — to teach the courses in Fresno.

    Many of the district leaders who obtained their doctorate from San Diego State in 2023 are now teaching the new cohort of Fresno Unified administrators coming up behind them at San Diego State.  

    “San Diego State has a really robust infrastructure to take leaders and help them kind of go to the next level,” Nelson said. “Most of what San Diego State is doing is they’re taking existing leaders and getting them their doctorate, and those leaders are ending up in district positions. I’m not sure Fresno State is there yet.”

    Nelson’s goal: grow and develop administrators through Fresno State in a way similar to the partnership at San Diego State. 

    Fresno State has a doctorate program for educational leadership in preK-12 schools and districts, community colleges and universities. 

    Prior to 2018, Fresno State allowed Fresno Unified leaders and instructors to teach graduate-level courses to prospective leaders, according to Nelson. Now only Fresno State faculty can teach the courses. 

    “The tenure-track faculty members at Fresno State — the vast majority of them have an emphasis on higher ed, so perpetuating other collegiate leaders,” Nelson said. 

    “Meanwhile, there’re 150 districts that are all clamoring to find leaders.”

    A local program geared toward leadership of K-12 schools and districts is also important to create a collaborative space for them, Nelson said. 

    “There’s people that I deeply respect in the Valley who also sit in the superintendency,” Nelson said. “I think of Todd Lile in Madera. I think of Yolanda (Valdez in Cutler-Orosi Joint Unified). And there’s no space for us to be together to jointly plan or even talk or collaborate because we’re in three different counties.” 

    That’s a problem, he said. 

    “There needs to be a structure by which people who are on the same journey in the same region can collaborate with one another,” he said. “I think Fresno State is uniquely positioned to be able to bring those leaders together. … If you’re in a cohort of people who are on the same journey and have the same goals and you’re trying to strive together, (such as) in your doctoral program, it matters.”

    His goal to strengthen the program at Fresno State doesn’t quite fit into his role as professor, but he wants to build and support an effort to reach that goal. 

    “Fresno State has what’s called the Welty Center for Educational Leadership, and they organized that with the intent of doing exactly this work as a collaborative space for leaders across the Valley,” Nelson said. “(I’m) trying to use that Welty Center as a jumping off place to just provide support for leaders across all of the 150 districts that feed into Fresno State.

    “There’s just a high degree of need, and the focus cannot be solely on higher ed. It has to focus on the K-12 experience.”

    Is there interest in joining district leadership? 

    EdSource found that there’s been a rise in the number of California superintendents leaving the job, with many blaming stress, threats and politics. 

    “I am not going to cop to that. I think that (narrative is) what I’m out to fix,” Nelson said. “I actually think leadership is not only critical, it is a wonderful blessing, and I need people to understand that. We have to change the counterculture narrative that leadership is not possible or not sustainable or a dead-end thing. 

    “Finding superintendents who actually want to serve is harder than it’s ever been, and there’s a lot of reasons why that’s a factor, but we have to actually push back against that.”





    Source link

  • Fresno Unified adopts weekly early release schedule, joining other large California districts

    Fresno Unified adopts weekly early release schedule, joining other large California districts


    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    Starting this school year, Fresno Unified is adopting an early release schedule, joining a dozen of the state’s other largest school districts as well as its neighbors in Fresno County who’ve embraced the practice for years. 

    Now, students enrolled in the state’s third-largest district with nearly 70,000 students will be released about an hour early every Tuesday of a five-day school week. The district’s schools began notifying families in the weeks leading up to the first day this coming Monday. 

    Many districts utilize early release days each week for teacher and staff professional development, such as training and/or planning. 

    In Long Beach Unified, the state’s fourth-largest district with around 65,000 students, the early dismissal days are known as “prep days.” The 49,000-student San Bernardino City Unified dubs its days “Collaboration Day” while others such as Elk Grove and Kern High School District simply classify them as “early out” days. 

    No matter the name, the practice provides “much-needed time for our teachers to plan, work together on professional learning and engage with our parents and families,” said Misty Her, Fresno Unified interim superintendent at a Wednesday press conference about the 2024-25 school year. 

    That’s not the only reason for the shift. 

    Based on the district’s Frequently Asked Questions page about early release, the change also stemmed from 2023 contract negotiations with teachers which brought more than a year of negotiating to an end and prevented a divisive strike that would’ve harmed the Fresno community and the district’s students. 

    “In October 2023 when the Fresno Teachers Association and the district reached a new contract agreement, the agreement included more time for teachers to engage in professional learning during their workday,” according to the FAQ page. “Early release every Tuesday provides this time for meetings and other forms of professional learning.”

    What does it mean for students, staff?  

    Districts bordering Fresno Unified employ early release days as well, including Clovis and Central Unified located in Fresno County. 

    Clovis Unified, for instance, has used the early release days for at least 25 years. 

    According to the district’s FAQ page, while each campus will follow the Tuesday early-release schedule, the actual time of dismissal may vary, depending on a school’s bell schedule. Students attending Design Science Middle College High School who take classes at Fresno City College will get their early-release day on Friday, and the district’s child development and preschool programs will continue to follow a schedule outlined by the state. 

    Parents in the Bakersfield City School District have long been accustomed to their children getting out an hour early on Wednesdays. 

    “As a stay-at-home mom, it doesn’t affect me,” said Vicki Ramos, a mother of three students who attend Evergreen Elementary in Bakersfield. “For people that have jobs, it’s kind of inconvenient because they have to get childcare.”

    After-school programs usually provide that care for enrolled students. 

    The after-school programs throughout Fresno Unified will still start immediately after dismissal on Tuesdays to offer extended learning and support to students.  Buses will also run early. 

    Even though early release means students are spending one less hour in the classroom on Tuesday, Her said they will not be missing out on instruction because the time subtracted is made up every other day of the school year. She added that the opportunities to involve families and collaboration among teachers will improve the way educators serve their students. 

    Teachers can connect and engage with parents more often, especially if their students are struggling, Her said. For example, rather than waiting until parent-teacher conferences weeks or even months into the school year, the early release provides the opportunity for intervention on a weekly basis. 

    Superintendent Her’s No. 1 goal for Fresno Unified is to improve student outcomes by decreasing the distance from standards by 15% in the next two years. Distance from standards measures how far students are from meeting proficiency. So as part of the professional development offered during early-release schedules, teachers will work together and with school administration to target the goal of bettering student academic gains, she said. 

    “We’re really hoping that with teachers working closely together, planning together, coming up with their lessons together, it starts to impact what we … get for students.” 





    Source link

  • Fresno Unified names Misty Her as superintendent

    Fresno Unified names Misty Her as superintendent


    Fresno Unified Superintendent Misty Her

    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    Top Takeaways
    • Most board members said Her, out of applicants from across the nation, was the best candidate to improve student outcomes.
    • The year-long selection process may have eroded community trust. 

    Fresno Unified, the state’s third-largest school district, named interim superintendent Misty Her to the permanent role Wednesday, ending more than a year-long, contentious process to select a leader for a school system that many say needs to improve student outcomes and rebuild trust in the community. 

    The board voted 6-1 in closed session to select Her, keeping her at the helm of the 70,000-student district with over 15,000 employees. Trustee Susan Wittrup who cast the sole “no” vote said Her does not have a “proven track record of action, urgency and accountability with accelerating academic achievement.”

    Late last school year, the school board picked Her, who was then a deputy superintendent in the district, to lead the district on an interim basis while the search for the permanent position went on. The board will approve Her’s contract at the April 30 meeting.  

    “We are not waiting for change to happen,” Her said after her selection. “We are leading it, and I am proud to be the leader at the helm of this critical work.” 

    An urgency to improve student performance

    For years, the district has struggled to bring students to proficiency. For example, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) didn’t show significant growth from 2023 to 2024. 

    Despite a 1.52 percentage point improvement from the 2022-23 school year, 34.72% of students met or exceeded the state’s English standards in 2023-24. 

    For third grade – the school year hailed as being pivotal in determining reading proficiency and predicting future success – less than one in three students were on grade level in English standards, a GO Public Schools 2024 student outcome report showed. According to the report, the numbers are closer to one in five English learners, students with disabilities and Black students meeting standards. Specifically among the English standards, 30.7% of third graders were below the standard in reading and 43.3% were below the standard in writing, the report detailed. 

    In math, 25.14% of students met or exceeded standards, a 1.83 point increase from the previous school year.

    “Nobody should be even remotely satisfied with where we are,” said board member Andy Levine. “Selecting Misty as our next superintendent is our best bet to seeing Fresno Unified significantly improve academic outcomes for all students in the years ahead…”

    As interim superintendent, Her established two district-wide goals: improving student outcomes and achieving operational excellence, “recognizing that our district was not progressing because we lacked focus and clarity districtwide,” board president Valerie F. Davis said.

    In January, the school board expanded on those by setting five-year student achievement goals to:

    • Increase the percentage of first graders proficient in literacy
    • Support elementary and middle school students with underachieving reading test scores to accelerate their reading skills and close achievement gaps
    • Raise the percentage of students graduating from high school who are considered college and career ready
    • Build and equip students with essential skills, such as communication, collaboration and critical thinking

    Moving forward, the district will align its actions with those board-set goals, monitoring programs’ and initiatives’ “academic return on investment,” Her told EdSource during an interview in early April. 

    So far, Her’s own plans have included implementing, measuring the effectiveness and monitoring the progress of the district’s recently-launched Every Child Is a Reader literacy initiative to achieve first-grade reading proficiency for students, two years before third grade, when future success is predicted. 

    Also a part of her tenure, Fresno Unified gathered state, district, school and student data to identify and prioritize ways to enhance learning for each child while also focusing on historically underserved student groups, such as English learners and students with disabilities, who have significant achievement gaps compared to other groups. 

    This school year, educators have been able to adapt teaching and leadership strategies based on real-time data via a district dashboard, including data-informed and data-driven instruction. 

    But Her has had to hand down a tough decision by deciding to eliminate a nearly $30 million program that provides additional instruction to students but shows inconsistent results. 

    ‘I am this district’

    Her’s entire 32-year career has been in Fresno Unified where she’s held many positions, including a bilingual instructional aide, teacher, school administrator, districtwide leader and deputy superintendent in 2021.

    She became the nation’s highest-ranking Hmong education leader as deputy superintendent, then as interim superintendent — and now as superintendent.

    “I know this district because I am this district,” Her said. “My story, like so many of our students, began in hardship, but it is fueled by hope.” 

    Born in a prisoner-of-war camp in Laos, Her’s family escaped to a refugee camp in Thailand after the end of the Vietnam War before eventually coming to the United States and settling in Fresno when she was a young child. Both her parents worked as custodians cleaning Fresno Unified classrooms where she, as a student, later “learned to read, to dream and to lead.”

    “As an immigrant who overcame language and cultural barriers,” according to the district, “Misty understands the challenges many of our students face and is committed to ensuring every student has the opportunity to succeed.” 

    Of the more than 92% of Fresno Unified students who are from ethnic minority groups, around 6,500 are Hmong. Behind Spanish, the Hmong language, which was only developed in written form less than 75 years ago, is at over 10%, the second most common home language of Fresno Unified’s English learners. 

    “My lived experience — the struggles, the barriers, the perseverance — are not liabilities,” Her said. “They are my greatest leadership strengths.” 

    Wednesday’s selection concludes a long process

    While members of the Hmong community thanked the board for its “care” and “diligence” in the search process and commitment to diversity with Her’s hiring, some criticized the board for making closed-door decisions without community engagement.

    The search process in its early months was engulfed in community angst about an alleged lack of transparency and accusations that the process had been tainted by politics, EdSource reported.

    Respondents to a Fresno Teachers Association survey of teachers and school staff indicated that they’ve lost trust in the school board, “not because of the person you chose but because of the process that you led,” said Manuel Bonilla, president of the teachers union.

    “This isn’t just about process; it’s about trust,” Bonilla said. “It’s about a pattern of closed-door decisions.”

    In January 2024, then-superintendent Bob Nelson announced his resignation to start a tenure-track position at Fresno State after his last day on July 31. 

    The school board considered both internal and external candidates in the search for a new superintendent — only after weeks of community outrage. 

    On March 20, 2024, the board’s 4-3 decision to interview internal candidates before deciding how to proceed with the search process sparked community anger. Details of the closed session were leaked to the media, pushing the board to reverse course on April 3 and postpone already scheduled interviews. 

    In May 2024, to avoid rushing the search process, the board named Her to the interim role, to “maintain momentum.” 

    Qualities the community asked for

    The district conducted 24 listening sessions. 

    Key themes deemed necessary for the district’s next leader included: 

    • An educational background that includes experience as a teacher, an administrator and other roles
    • Experience and understanding of the district’s history, culture, complexities and diversity
    • Effective communication skills and the ability to collaborate and engage with people in the school community
    • A strategic vision supported by data-driven strategies

    “Those are the qualities we found 100% in Misty Her,” board member Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas said.

    Fresno Unified’s Misty Her and district leaders
    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    Naming Her as interim superintendent wouldn’t restore community trust, Bonilla warned. 

    “You had the chance to build public trust through transparency and inclusion,” he said. “Instead, you allowed what many people thought was a secretive process.” 

    While the superintendent’s job description and criteria as well as other aspects of the search process were presented at public meetings where community members could comment, some people expected more participation in the search process, especially following last year’s alledged lack of transparency. 

    The teachers union, for example, requested a community forum for finalists, which didn’t occur. Candidate applications and interviews have remained confidential behind closed-door sessions. 

    In other places across the country, applications and interviews of those applying for a superintendency are open to the public because of state legislation. 

    According to the district, the board in its national search accepted applications from candidates from several states, in which Her’s “depth of experience, unparalleled skills and dedication to the students of Fresno Unified make her the ideal person to assume the top leadership role for Fresno Unified.”

    “This next chapter is not about politics,” said board president Davis during a press conference announcing Her’s selection. “It’s about our 70,000 students and their families. It’s about building on the progress we have made while boldly charting a new path forward: one that demands excellence out of every student, every classroom, every teacher, every school, every neighborhood we serve.” 





    Source link