San Diego Education Association (SDEA) represents more than 7000 certificated district educators in San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD). The union has a long history advocating for the schools their students deserve, especially in historically marginalized communities in a racially-segregated city.

Community schools are an evidence-based strategy for school improvement. They provide services and support which fit each neighborhood’s needs, created and run by the people who know our children best: families, educators, community organizations, local governments, and the students themselves. All working together.

Sound familiar? In teacher-powered schools, educator teams share power with students, families, and communities. And teacher unions can also play an important role supporting teacher-powered schools.

Since 2018, SDEA and the San Diego Community Schools Coalition have been organizing for transformational community schools that feature a few key pillars:

• Integrated student supports
• Expanded and enriched learning
• Family and community engagement
• Collaborative leadership

The foundational pillar for community schools is collaborative leadership that empowers all groups within a school community to have a significant voice in key decisions that impact student achievement.

Since the 1990s, SDEA contracts have enshrined Site Governance Teams (SGTs) with robust shared decision-making that incorporates diverse perspectives to design and implement effective strategies to promote student academic, social and emotional well-being.

SDEA continues to advance transformational community schools today, establishing policies, structures and practices that elevate the critical educator role within community schools.

Policy wins for community schools implementation

In 2020, the SDUSD board passed a Community Schools Resolution that established community school shared decision-making at the district and site levels. A team was formed to design the application and designation process for community schools and the roles of school personnel. The team included students, families, educators, classified school employees, community organizations, a site administrator and district leadership.

More recently, SDEA won a new contract article that enshrines an ongoing and expansive commitment to community schools. The SDUSD transformational community schools model is now supported by a legally binding agreement that provides accountability and resources to sustain the initiative.

The new contract article defines the educator role within community schools, including:

• Funds that can be used for parent/community/youth organizing, outreach, and training—and curriculum planning time for educators
• Site coach positions—educator leaders who work with school staff, SGTs, and coordinators to support expanded and enriched learning and collaborative leadership
• District coach positions, who build the capacity of site coordinators, site coaches, and SGTs

In teacher-powered schools, educator teams secure autonomy through various arrangements, many similar to San Diego.

Building collaborative leadership structures

Last year, the SDUSD board put forth a new resolution that recommits the district to prioritizing collaborative leadership at the school and district levels. A district community schools steering committee is charged with reviewing applicants.

Each applicant school must demonstrate its readiness and commitment to implementing the community school problem-solving process. Application teams include school administrators, SDEA site representatives, classified staff, parents, and students in secondary schools. SDEA and the other members of the steering committee support this process, coaching each school’s application team.

This deliberate designation process sets up schools to be successful, by making strong collaborative leadership structures a necessary prerequisite for community school designation.

After an initial cohort of five community schools during the 2021-22 school year, 20 additional community schools have been designated by the SDUSD Community Schools Steering Committee in the subsequent two years.

Lifting up the educator role within community school practices

Collaborative leadership is implemented through SGTs, with significant decision-making roles for educators in all areas of implementation—especially classroom integration of culturally-responsive and community-based instruction. This process is spearheaded by site coaches who serve in hybrid teacher/leader roles.

Site coaches are jointly determined by SGTs and principals, and can leverage relationships of trust with colleagues at their sites to drive continuous improvement of the instructional program.

District coaches are central office resource teachers, who support site coaches and full-time, site-based community school coordinators with implementing the community school strategy. There is one district coach for every five community schools, and these educator leaders apply their experience from varied grade spans and instructional models.

District coaches work with SGTs to coordinate community schools practices—such as conducting needs and assets assessments with deep engagement, and forming inclusive community schools problem-solving teams that propose partnerships with local organizations.

Expanding what’s considered possible

SDUSD Community Schools, powered by SDEA educator leaders collaborating with coordinators, families, students, and administrators, continue to expand what is considered possible both within and beyond the classroom in their district’s historically under-resourced communities.

By establishing a foundation of collaborative leadership at the school and district levels through policies, structures, and practices that uplift the vital role of educators within community schools, this district creates the conditions to sustain and grow its equity strategy and accomplish the union’s goal of transformational change for their highest need students.

Kyle Weinberg is president of the San Diego Education Association.

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