STOCKTON, Calif — In what was believed to be an unprecedented education summit at the University of the Pacific in Stockton Wednesday morning, educators, non profits and more put their heads together to brainstorm.
The three-hour summit was meant to look ahead at how to better educate students moving forward out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"To have a broad conversation about what is the current state of affairs for education in San Joaquin County and what does that mean for all of us given the work we do and how we support our kids and returning back to school and being successful," said Erika Hermosillo, of Stockton Service Corps, which helped organize the event.
Hermosillo says the summit had been in the planning stages as far back as the early winter of 2021. Among the issues on the table was how to spend $500 million in federal stimulus funds among the county's five largest school districts. The money will be dispersed over the next three years.
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"An intense amount of money, for sure, to deal with learning loss and to provide social, emotional care for our kids. The pandemic has really taught us a lot about education. It's kind of given us an opportunity to reset education," said Brian Biedermann, director of education services with the Stockton Unified School District.
"All of it seems to be coming back to how do we meet students where they are. Because each student is coming to us, different needs, different things going on in their families," said Troy Brown, San Joaquin County Superintendent of Schools.
For students like Vannia De Lao, a second grader at Spanos Elementary School in Stockton, virtual learning was difficult at times.
"It was pretty hard because, if I needed help with the homework and my mom didn't know what to do, I didn't either," Vannia said.
Still, Vannia, an aspiring astronaut, has done out of this world, according to her mom.
"She's happy to be back. She loves coming to school everyday," said Esmeralda De Lao.
But not everyone has fared so well. Some students have fallen below grade level during the pandemic, and lots of ideas were discussed at the summit as to how to help students get back on track or keep them on track.
"Early literacy, that was big prior to the pandemic. It's still there. Dealing with a lot of equities in our system, the racism that exists in our systems, making sure we have equity and access for everybody - a lot of policy development to ensure that all kids have access," added Biedermann.
Parents have their own ideas as well to help students who have fallen behind, such as tutors and home visits.
"Have staff members to give those home visits who are able to help the students that need a little push," said parent Nancy Amaya.
Stockton Service Corp wants to hear more from communities around San Joaquin County by holding similar summits. They are calling it a "roadshow."
They want to hear from a diverse group of perspectives as to what happens next. Anyone interested can contact Kai thru email at: kai@sjaplus.org.
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