Issues

As a SJUSD Trustee, retired teacher, community leader and proud CTA/NEA member, students are at the center of everything I do. I am deeply committed to the success of every student!

1. Health & Safety First

Expanding Transitional Kindergarten
Transitional Kindergarten (TK) offers 4-year old students an opportunity to build skills they will need for kindergarten through hands-on, interactive learning. Our TK curriculum is designed to provide a social and academic foundation to prepare students for kindergarten. TK is a full-day program offered at our elementary schools, giving our youngest students the opportunity to get to know the school campus and school staff, practice routines and social skills, and learn to work collaboratively with other students through dramatic play and small group instruction. TK teachers are fully credentialed in accordance with California credentialing requirements.

Entering the 3rd year of the COVID pandemic, we are incredibly proud of our laser focus on the health and safety of students, families, and staff. Whether we’re feeding families, wearing masks, social distancing, contact tracing, testing, and vaccinations, SJUSD will continue to follow the science and do what's best for our entire community. Learn the latest here

2. Board Actions

Equity Grading Policy
- Ensure that grades are based on student achievement, knowledge, and skill proficiency demonstrated in the classroom and are separated from work habits.
- Promote ongoing formative feedback to students and practices that encourage student engagement in learning.

- Provide parents and students ongoing, credible, and useful feedback that conveys the expectations and achievement of identified standards of knowledge included in the curriculum.
- Ensure that grading policies are transparent and easy to follow and to the extent possible, consistent within content areas. Read more here

 

Ethnic Studies

Racial and ethnic studies shall be integrated into the curriculum for all students in the district. Individual schools should be assisted where special emphasis in this area will promote enhancement of self-image in the students of these particular schools. The school board is committed to investing in ethnic studies and exposing students to a broader perspective. Its curriculum team is adding book selections for all grades featuring a wide diversity in perspective, culture and authors, she said.

It’s beneficial for all students, but also gives a voice to student groups that traditionally have maybe not seen someone who looks like them and is represented.

SJUSD is developing an Ethnic Studies course pathway in high school that will allow students several options for completing the state-mandated graduation requirement. All comprehensive high schools are currently offering the year-long Introduction to Ethnic Studies course with additional courses being developed for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years.

 

3. Family and Community Engagement

 
 

Parents and family members are an integral part of a child’s education. Educators should have time to
communicate regularly with parents to develop a shared vision for student learning. Public schools
should serve as centers of community and adult learning.

Programs

San José Unified is a nimble educational resource, providing the inspiration, tools, and guidance each student needs to become an active and engaged lifelong learner.

We believe:

  • Lifelong learning starts with an unstoppable curiosity about the world around us;

  • Every student has the right to be inspired, excited, and successful at learning;

  • The right tools make even the most challenging obstacles surmountable; and

  • There are as many paths to education as there are students.

    Get the latest here

Health & Wellness

The mission of our Health and Family Support Department is to support San José Unified’s vision of preparing today’s students to be the thinkers, leaders, and creators of tomorrow. We do this by providing students and their families with services and access to community programs that will optimize the health, wellness, and safety of our students for them to be successful in the years to come. Read more here

Fully Fund Education
Public education continues to be the great equalizer and the cornerstone of our democracy. California is the eighth largest economy in the world, but continues to rank well-below the national average in per-student funding. Investing in public education is an investment in our future.

Find out more about our advisory committees and groups here