2nd Annual LCAP Community Dialogue on Education

By Lucia Acevedo
Program Director – Crawford Community Connection

On Saturday, February 24^th, over 150 City Heights parents, students, school principals, and district leaders came together at Monroe Clark Middle School for a morning gathering to participate in a unique effort to dialogue on the complex and varied factors affecting our schools and provide direction to the district on how it should budget to address these factors. The 2ND ANNUAL LCAP (Local Control Accountability Plan) COMMUNITY DIALOGUE ON EDUCATION was hosted by SAY San Diego’s Crawford Community Connection – Parent Student Resident Organization (PSRO), in partnership with SDUSD, The Global Arc, Hoover Wellness Council, United Women of East Africa, Comite Organizador Latino de City Heights, the International Rescue Committee, Karen Organization of San Diego, Sterlington Consulting, and the California Endowment. Attendees collectively reviewed data regarding student chronic absenteeism, school suspension rates, English Learner progress, college and career preparedness and other issues. They were then invited to explore and identify ways to address these pressing issues.

Mr. Tang, the principal from Mann Middle School said “It was great to see so many community members and parents having a voice in the budget process.  I valued the dialogue, how we were talking with each other instead of at one another. And I really appreciated the involvement of the students there from Crawford High School.”

One of the participating parents said “Our community as parents, schools and community have to work together for our kid’s well-being. We have a lot of great ideas and leaders in our community, we have to take advantage and do it.”

Another parent from Crawford High School noted “It helped me know that most parents are finding the same hardships and we can work together to solve them together for our children’s good.”

At the end of the day all of the feedback was collected and folks were invited to be a part of the process to compile the information and develop a document to be presented to the SDUSD in the next month.