Jerry Roberts
By Jerry Roberts of Newsmakers
Santa Barbara County Superintendent of Schools Susan Salcido frames her campaign for re-election as a choice between “bringing folks together” on local education concerns and a “national playbook” wielded by conservatives in the politically polarized culture wars.
A five-year incumbent, Salcido was elected without opposition four years ago, after being appointed in 2017 to serve the final year of her predecessor’s term. On this year’s June 7 ballot, however, she faces a challenge from outspoken Santa Barbara teacher Christy Lozano, who has used social media, plus interviews on Fox News, local TV and Christian and pro-homeschool niche online programs to capture attention for her aggressive attacks on “woke” education.
A contested race for the county school post, a job which is largely administrative, is rare in Santa Barbara; before Salcido’s 2018 election walkover, former Superintendent Bill Cirone was elected to nine – 9, count ‘em, 9 – consecutive four-year terms, consistently without opposition.
Now, however, local public school conflicts across the nation – most notably in Virginia and Florida — over Covid vaccines and masks, anti-racism instruction and curricula that includes discussion of transgender and LGBTQ issues have generated a volatile political atmosphere and revealed deep community divides over these and other hot button disputes. And Santa Barbara has not been exempt from heated and uncivil discourse over Covid safety measures and heated strife over sex and race in education.
“There is a political agenda that’s getting pushed into races and elections, like County Superintendent of Schools,” Salcido told Newsmakers in an interview.
While avoiding direct mention of her opponent, she added: “This is not the time for this politicization in education, the divisiveness. We’re seeing it. We’re feeling it. We’re hearing it. We’re experiencing it…
“It is not the time for a national playbook of aggressive agendas that have nothing to do with collaboration and working towards something actionable to support our students,” she added. “I’m about bringing folks together. Really, this is the time. We have been through such crisis..
In the first in-depth interview of her campaign, Salcido also provided a crash course in the duties, responsibilities — and limitations — of her office; discussed the overall poor performance on state’s standardized achievement tests of the county’s 70,000 public school students; and offered prescriptions for improving literacy and mathematical learning through “individualized instruction” and “expanded learning opportunities.”
Speaking in torrents of words, rippling with edu-speak and coursing with cross-currents of cautionary qualifier clauses, she also answered critical questions about the fall-out of Covid and school shutdowns during the past two school years — from a surge in absenteeism, increased behavioral problems and a spike in student mental wellness concerns, to “learning loss,” staff shortages, teacher “fatigue” and morale problems.
“We’ve lost time,” Salcido said, in describing the educational impacts of Covid. “The online environment, while it worked for some, was very challenging for many, or most. And so now we need to make up that time.
“So you’re going to see more summer school offerings, longer school days that aren’t required or mandatory, but they’re after school. Those are the ways in which we’re addressing supports for students that are going back and helping to accelerate learning…And so what’s happening, what needs to happen, is that individualized support.”
Christy Lozano is scheduled to be interviewed on Newsmakers TV this week.
By way of background.
In 1879, the California Constitution (Article 9, Section 3) established the elected office of County Superintendent of Schools in each of California’s 58 counties.
Key point: County Superintendents are separate and distinct from the superintendents of local school districts, each of which operates independently; think Santa Barbara Unified, Goleta Union and Carpinteria Unified, which are just three of 20 local districts in the county.
“I think that’s an area of need for explanation,” Salcido acknowledged. “So all the 20 school districts have a district superintendent and a school board. And there, at that local level, they’re making decisions around their schools. So for example, curriculum, materials, their goals for their schools, how they’re going to spend their funding, the budget, all of those are local decisions, including who they hire, what their salary schedules are. They hire their superintendent, for example, that’s part of what a local board does.”
In her post, the 48-year-old Salcido earns $278,000 in annual salary and benefits to manage a county educational bureaucracy that has 550 employees and a total budget of about $104 million.
Overseen by a low-profile, seven-member county Board of Education elected by district, the County Education Office in large measure is an administrative government agency, acting on behalf of local school districts as a clearinghouse, pass-through, analyst, interpreter and liaison with California’s maddeningly complex state public education system.
The California Education Code, longer than War and Peace and more stupefying than Moby Dick, contains 69 Parts, each with between one and a dozen Chapters, each with a multiplicity of Articles — and the Governor and Legislature never cease amending, adding to, deleting from, meddling with and tweaking it. Part of the job for the Superintendent and her staff, is to be familiar with the policies and regulations set forth in the Code, not only in support of the local districts, but also in pushing back on their behalf against Sacramento.
“The work that I do…..really requires experience and understanding of complex systems,” Salcido said. “We’re working with complex systems of goals and accountability, (and) we’ve got to have that experience in order to do that.”
Salcido and the Board have a raft of other executive responsibilities, such as reviewing and signing off on district budgets; making site visits; preparing annual required reports on some districts; completing the credentialing process for teachers, and providing professional development programs for them.They also adjudicate appeals of student expulsions and inter-district transfers, as well as charter school applications.
Further, the County Education Office identifies, applies for, disperses and oversees outside educational grants, often worth millions of dollars, that help support local districts with programs that range from mental wellness to technical, vocational education.
“We need to identify what’s really needed, know what the systems in the state are, so that we can go for those grants and then partner with regional partners in Santa Barbara County and provide them for our schools on behalf of our students,” Salcido said.
The role of the County Education Office in direct teaching and classroom instruction is relatively limited, but crucial. Perhaps most significantly, county professionals tend to the education of about 700 students with disabilities or special needs who attend classes in small school districts.
“My staff are serving within schools for students with disabilities from Cuyama all the way down to Montecito,” Salcido said. “That’s one area of direct student support. Another one is, we operate preschools…my staff are operating 10 preschools within Santa Barbara County for low-income families.
“And then a third one, that I think is very commonly known for county education offices around the state, is serving students who are adjudicated youth. So those in the Santa Maria Juvenile Justice Center, Los Prietos Boys Camp…that’s my principal, our team, our staff who are serving students there.”
Born and educated in public schools in Santa Maria, Salcido earned a BA and a Master’s degree at UCSB, followed by a Phd from USC’s School Education. She worked as a teacher and principal before joining the County Office of Education in 2006, working her way up to Deputy Superintendent under Cirone.
When he retired in 2017, the Board of Education followed his recommendation and appointed Salcido to fill out the final year of his last term, and she was elected to her own, four-year term the following year.
Now, for the first time, she faces an opponent.
“I really do hope our voters will rehire me,” Salcido told us, “because I have work I’d love to do on behalf of our students and districts in Santa Barbara County.”
You can watch our complete interview with Susan Salcido via YouTube below or by clicking through this link. The podcast version is here.
Some key quotes, edited for length and clarity:
On dismal test scores in SB County schools. “Well, we can look back and historically around the results of students in literacy and in mathematics and in science. But I want to say those are point in time exams. They’re happening right now in our schools, for example. They’re multiple days long. Students to opt to take them, or parents will opt them in or out to take them.
“And it is an indication, but it isn’t everything. I think it’s really important that we frame or reframe students and their learning. Let’s not use a sweeping generalization of, “They are failing” or “Teachers are failing,” or “Schools are failing.” I think it’s really important to say, ‘Let’s think about our classrooms.’..
“…But it’s really, really important that we individualize instruction. That’s what the sophisticated profession of teaching is all about, is to see how are our students doing in my class, on this subject, on this unit, and then understand how we can progress and support. But I’d say that literacy and reading, mathematics, essential. We’ve absolutely need to focus there.”
On strategies for literacy. “It really is dependent upon each district and what approach they adopt…Curriculum decisions, instructional models, are all decided upon by a (local) school district. And so Santa Barbara Unified School District will have implemented their approaches to reading and literacy different from (others)…They’ll have their own approach. And so it’s difficult from me to say… I really cannot say why they chose what they chose, but I can say that statewide, and including countywide, we’re really looking at literacy in a different way…
We really want to say, “Okay, what are the different approaches there are? What are the ones that are most successful? And let’s really dig into that learning, and work with experts in the field of literacy, and then implement that, and actually support the implementation of that with school districts. So it’s not that the county office would say, ‘Here’s how you all have to do it.’ That’s just not our role. That is just absolutely usurping a local school board’s role.
But what we can do is say, ‘Here are the methods that we know from the statewide research, the research we’ve done, that can support your district as you are thinking about implementation of literacy and reading in your district.”.
On pandemic “learning loss.” “When schools reopened, and they reopened in different spaces, time, it was very, very different across the county…Frankly, what I was hearing about mostly was the behavioral shifts of our students… What happened was, after being away from an in-school environment, students actually needed to learn again what it was like to be in person. And behaviors were really, really challenging to where we had to learn again how to go from class to classroom, how do you communicate in a classroom with others. It was a really huge… something that I think we didn’t expect, but needed to address is that those behavioral shifts needed to occur.
On what to do about it. “We really are focused as a school system around extended learning opportunities for students specifically for this purpose…What needs to happen is that individualized support. So there’s tutoring after school, for example. Really targeted supports for after school, before school….
“The special piece is to really focus in, as school systems across California, but in Santa Barbara county to say, ‘All right, (district) superintendent, school leaders, ‘how are we going to support our students in extra ways?’ And that’s really what we’re focused on. There’s expanded learning opportunity grants, really there’s extra funding for after-school supports. It’s not just only play time or extracurricular after-school supports. We’re talking about focused, focused literacy support, tutors in that are trained in support for students in mathematics specifically, or literacy specifically there…
“Right now we’re shifting to using the language of community schools so that we can have more resources at schools to support that, what you’ve been calling the learning loss. We really need to have more. We’ve lost time…so now we need to make up that time. So you’re going to see more summer school offerings, longer school days that aren’t required or mandatory, but they’re after school. Those are the ways in which we’re addressing supports for students that are going back and helping to accelerate learning…
On declining student enrollment and attendance. “I think in terms of the attendance rates decreasing, I’m reading the headlines as you are reading the headlines and it’s across California. I’m also speaking with our superintendents about the shifts in attendance, there’s unknown information and then there’s known information. We know that in public schools, many families chose to have their children attend private schools. The charter schools, which are public schools, their numbers increased as well. People moved away, moved out of California and out of the districts. We don’t have great tracking for when they move out of a district. Once they move out, we aren’t able to track from state to state. So there’s some unknown data as well.”
On spikes in chronic absenteeism. “I think the rates for COVID, people were not wanting to report that they had COVID so they aren’t reporting attendances. I think that is a bit bumpy as to an explanation there. We need to look more into what were the reasons for additional chronic absenteeism. That’s something we do track. We have great partnership with the District’s Attorney’s office as well with the truancy program. That’s something we can circle back and get more information about.
On the teacher shortage. “I am so concerned about the teacher shortage and the staffing shortage in our schools, because everything that we spoke about…what work we have done, are doing, want to do for our students, you have to have staff to do it. Every (economic) sector that I, well I don’t want to generalize, but I’ve heard from so many sectors that they also have shortages, but in teaching and special education, it is incredible…
“We have the money to hire individuals. We need the individuals to hire, in order to make a difference in our schools. It’s a bit of a catch -22 right here, because we need to have people that are trained and qualified to support our students. And we are lacking significantly.”
On teacher morale. “The morale right now is something that is tender. And I’m really, really mindful of that. . It is an absolute reality around teacher morale….We’ve been through a lot in the education system. Like it or not, we’ve been through a lot in the education system. And our teachers, when we first were on Zoom, boy, they got a lot of credit. You heard families and celebrities were coming out and saying, ‘Oh, these teachers are heroes.’
“And right now, they’re fatigued. They are expected to do so much more than in their classroom. And they’ve become COVID monitors, and they’re supporting their students in their emotions as well. The criticisms that we are hearing about ‘failing schools’ that we just talked about a moment ago, and ‘what are you all doing?’…That framing is really challenging for teacher morale.
And let’s hook it back to the need for more staff. We need to have more staff that are highly qualified, that are excellent individuals and instructional staff for our students. Is this the environment right now that individuals want to come into, that they want to enter into?”
On student mental health. “I don’t have this scientific data yet, but I think we’ll have that soon. I’m hearing from counselors at schools across the county that their referrals from teachers for mental wellness supports for their students has, in many cases, doubled. So there’s double referrals happening.
“Coupled with that is that we need to have places for the students and the families to go. So when I talk to the psychologists and support people and external providers like CALM and Family Services Agency, they are booked. They have many, many individuals on a waiting list so that they can serve these students really well. So it’s a traffic jam. The need is high. These individuals want to provide service, but they too are having a staffing shortage.
On the risks of too much student screen time. “I’m going to say this is a sensitive topic for a lot of families, really, because I think what’s happening is we’re experiencing way more screen time at home than we even want to admit in terms of our children being on screens. And I think what has happened is, and I speak for myself included, I have two kids at home, it’s we have our parameters around being on the screen, but it is hard. It’s so tempting. The students and youth are so tempted into being online, being on screen time, social media.
“We were so reliant on it two years ago. Everyone had to have these devices. And then we talked about connectivity as a utility, just like water and electricity. I mean, there was such a focus on it, and it was celebrated. ‘Ah, we have connectivity. We have devices.’ And so now we insisted our students, kindergarten, all the way up, use devices all day. I mean, we were saying, ‘That’s what you have to do.’ And now we’re at a place of, ‘Wow, there’s a lot of extra screen time.’
On social media and students. “Not every parent can sit right next to their child while they’re on the screen all day. Oftentimes, what’ll happen is the screen’s over there and the family’s over here, so it’s not being monitored carefully. And I say that, again, not generalizing, and I don’t want to accuse anybody, but what I’m saying is, what is on TikTok now, and what’s on Instagram now, and what’s on social media in Snapchat, are things that aren’t necessarily visible to all of our parents and guardians. And I think that’s an area where we’ve got to really, really watch.
And I know, for sure, that ways in which youth are enticed are through those social media modalities that we are not always on. Some of the grownups, we’re on Facebook. Children, youth, they’re not there. And so we’ve got to be really, really careful about the screen time, for sure, but also what is being watched, and what social media inputs there are external for our youth.”
On Fentanyl and other drugs in schools. “It’s a real crisis that we need to focus on right now. That is an area of crisis right now in the nation, in the state, and in Santa Barbara County, an absolute crisis of which we need to focus as a community. And this is an area where I think that having a broad understanding of the resources around the County are so, so important, in school, but also in many different sectors.
To me, it’s important that we educate. It’s really about educating our school people. I’ve already spoken with our superintendents to speak about, ‘Let’s get this education to our school folks, really, to our parents, to our community members.’ And that’s an area of focus that we really need to be looking at quickly.”
On the politicization of education. “This is not the time for this politicization in education, the divisiveness. We’re seeing it. We’re feeling it. We’re hearing it. We’re experiencing it. There were families who were genuinely concerned about the masks and vaccines. I completely understand that. I hear that. I hear it. I listen to it. I understand that they’re concerned. It’s gone beyond that. There is a political agenda that’s getting pushed into races and elections, like County Superintendent of Schools.
It is not the time for a national push playbook on agendas that have nothing to do with collaboration and working towards something actionable to support our students. We cannot have that national playbook push in these aggressive agendas in our schools. We need to focus on students, on teachers, on parents, listening to their voices, and making really good decisions so that our students can be, as we talked about, successful.”
What exactly was incorrect in SBLocal’s comment at 12:51PM?
SBLOCAL1967: So you are one of the 10% of voters on the South Coast who is a Trumper and registered Republican. I am not a Democrat but I am not an idiot either. Lozano is a pawn of the right wing group harassing the SB School Board with their Trump antics. This is not Florida. I will wager anyone who cares as much as you want to play, that Lozano gets less than 20% of the vote. That is what that “Agenda” has the support of in our Community. Lozano is an unqualified idiot who will not get elected.
refreshing? My children had Lozano for PE – they did not enjoy her class at all. Their peers did not either and some asked to be removed from her class. She was not friendly or engaging and at times completely unprofessional. My children should not know about her frustrations from her divorce, but she is talking on the phone about it while teaching! Fortunately, she went out on leave and stayed out. I’m not trying to demonize anyone or follow a playbook, but this is what I know.
I agree that competition is good, but one person has actual relevant experience in a very complex role and one has none. I’d prefer an opponent with a history of excellence who has earned the respect of their peers. With Lozano’s completion of the school administrative preliminary credential training, she has had years to get hired in a leadership position. Getting an offer of employment is the prerequisite for the credential she needs to run for this office. Yet, she has not had any offers… There are many amazing teachers at DP and some who are amazing teacher/leaders, but Lozano does not appear to have those traits.
12:04: ‘divineness’. Is this a Freudian slip? Oh, “the last thing she wants is to bring politics into the classroom”. And she goes on Fox News to do what????????? Glad to read she is temporarily out of the classroom.
Um Fitz, the entire reason she went on Fox News, where the adults are, was to point out and speak against how woke politics are getting into classrooms, where the kids are. She did not go on Fox News to try to bring politics into the classroom, exact opposite actually.
SBREADER – I am not a Dem or Rep – I am a pragmatist that is fed up with the extremes on both sides acting like complete idiots. Lozano is not a pawn – I think she has reached her tipping like many normal parents just wanting their kids to get an education. At this point in time a complete idiot is 1,000X better than what Salcido is offering. Putin is a very qualified leader – so much so he has convinced his fellow Russians that destroying another country is a good thing. That is what I liken the lefty dems to – they are to what Putin is to Ukraine – they have brainwashed the uneducated to destroy our next generation’s education. For what? To nurture another generation of uneducated people who rely of government handouts in exchange for votes. In the real world when people fail at their jobs they get fired. In the Dem led world they are rewarded with raises.
Incredible that SBLOCAL defends Putin and calls himself fed up with the extremes. I think SBLOCAL would have been a big fan of Hitler who also rallied “his” people to outrageous conduct. Leadership in the pursuit of evil is no virtue. .
I, as a registered Republican and Pro-Trump voter, will wager on this easily. This is a county election. Trump got 33% of the vote in SB county. Lozano will get more than 20% easily.
SBLocal: you lost me at “Putin”…
5:29@
Adults??? That was worth a belly laugh. The only people who believe the garbage spewed by the infotainment staff at that cesspool are senile or imbeciles.
@SBLocal, thanks for the laugh. “The last thing she wants is to bring politics into our education system..” hahahahahahahaha. She was on Fox News and is following the extreme right wing mantra based in misinformation and playing on the COVID frustrations of all parents. I hope our community is smarter than Florida but reading comments like yours make me unsure… and nauseated.
Coast, based on the past comments you’ve made on this website (many of which were deleted or removed for racist sentiments), you’re the LAST person who should be quoting MLK.
Also, CRT is NOT being taught in schools. Stop with the lies.
Ooof, SBlocal, your Tucker Carlson is showing.
With education matters, my opinion is very simple. We need to vote for whatever option is least aligned with the folks currently in charge.
There’s no ideology there, just an honest recognition that our current approach in California public education is getting really, really bad results. The players and interests who made the mess (and continue to make it) are the last folks I’d trust to clean it up.
I don’t see where he said CRT is being taught in our schools.
He’s not wrong though at 7:58
What is the misinformation SB local wrote?
@7:05, you just called 1/3 of the US senile imbeciles and your supposed to be speaking for the rational and good intentioned side? Please….
Whatever happened to teaching the “Three-R’s”?
Teach the Scientific Method, teach critical thinking, teach how to discern crap from reality.
Be taught how to recognize a con before you fall for it.
Somewhere along the way, schools have abandoned their traditional role of providing basic education of us talking monkeys and instead have been pushed into touting the social trend de jour and tho the students may be woke or aware or whatever adjective floats your boat – the outcome are mostly dysfunctional idiots who fall for whatever scam crosses their Instagram feed.
And the test scores across the board reflect CA public education and all the money we throw at it is not providing results for the children of California.
Per the article, the County Schools provides services to many of the other districts, education to many highly special needs/disabled kids, and staffs a number of preschools. It does not develop or mandate curriculum or really get involved in any of those types of decisions, that is the purview of the local school boards. I don’t know why what is essentially administrative position should be even thought of in political terms.
exactly
What makes you think they’re a “he”?
It’s nice to know there is a choice.
Christy Lozano will get my vote.
8:31 – Go with the evidence. People voted for the Orange Moron and are spouting QAnon nonsense here. I know you think that stuff is rational, but it isn’t.
There’s usually an obvious good choice, and an obvious bad choice. Sorry you’ve chosen the bad one.
What evidence should we go with? What is the QAnon nonsense being spouted here?
Agreed. Her challenger does not and is everything wrong with how a certain political party is trying to overthrow our governmental institutions.
I don’t understand, running for office in an election is an attempt to overthrow our governmental institutions?
It depends what party you’re registered with Chip.
Typical woke liberal lefty playbook – demonize your opponent and call them divisive. The fact is parents are sick and tired of those democratic leaders (especially those in Santa Barbara) being more focused on creating uneducated woke future voters vs educated productive workers who see through all of their BS. People like Salcido want the status quo and a fat paycheck – so they just pander to their financial backers. Our educational leadership in Santa Barbara is failing on all fronts – both test scores and racial harmony are down. When elected people go unopposed it is a very bad sign. Leaders become apathetic and polarizing. I had a chance to speak with Lozano to better understand where she was coming from. It was very refreshing. She is a common sense educator. The last thing she wants is to bring politics into our educational system – which is a stark contract to how the left is going to portray her in the hopes to sway voters. Salcido is delusional by thinking that focusing on reading, writing, and STEM is a divineness playbook.
” I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today….”
When are the “left” going to realize that we should ALL drop the “race card” and treat one another as equals…? CRT does exactly what Dr. King did NOT want… There should be NO difference between teaching math, science and english to white, black or brown children. (period). Teaching a social “ideology” is NOT the job or place of public education. Teaching them to take personal responsibility, getting along with others and treat others as you wish to be treated is what was and should be taught- It’s called “citizenship”…. THAT IS IT…. Dump the “woke-isms” that are destroying our society by creating DIVISION.
A perfect example of the kind of indoctrinated ignorance that Salcido is talking about.
12:59 – Yes, it’s quite good, considering how little support it gets.
There are 200 languages spoken in California.
Are we going to do dual language for all 200?
I recently read this:
“Programs to teach English to children whose parents speak another language at home have shown little success. Only 10 percent of students in English acquisition programs display grade-level proficiency. That’s a significant problem in a state with 1 million English learners among a student population of about 6 million.”
We’ve paid Governor, Administrators, Educators, professionals in their fields, all highly credentialed for multiples of years to figure this out. We spend $14,100 per student still finish behind Mississippi in literacy and they spend $5,100 per student.
Partisan politics aside, isn’t that embarrassing?
There are two sides to this debate. One side led by people like GT who want our educational system to fail and produce more lazy uneducated liberal voting lefties who rely on government handouts. The other that just wants kids to learn so that they can grow up and become productive adults regardless of their political affiliation. Anyone who thinks the current K-12 leadership in CA is doing a good job is completely delusional. I think Trump is an orange idiot as are many of the idiots that stormed the capital and that think Corona Virus vaccines has micro-chips. Salcido started this debate by slamming parents who just want their kids to be educated and calling this some divisive “national playbook”. What a clown. I will take an inexperienced person like Lozano with common sense over someone like Salcido anyday.
SBLOCAL -“uneducated liberal voting lefties” – Yeah, it’s the left that is widely uneducated….. lol
Unfortuanly facts get in the way of your comment @ 1:12. CA is about in the middle of public school spending per student among all states, and when combined with political clout CA teachers unions have, to say CA public education gets “little support” is grossly inaccurate. Misinformation some would say…
now you’re just regurgitating propaganda @12:46, it goes both ways.
VOICE at 1:41 – how is it “propaganda?” Are there no moves by any republicans to ban books? Is the “Don’t say gay” bill not being pushed by a Republican Governor? Is there no Republican opposition to teaching racism and white privilege? Do tell us how all this is just “propaganda.”
Yes. You can add College institutions to that list.
Nice personal comments and putting words in other people’s mouths. It’s actually the Republican states asking for the most help and not giving back. You say that Saucedo is divisive but are perfectly ok with her going on Ingraham.
Red states = poor masses on the dole
Red states = under educated
Red states = more obeseity
Top 10 least educated states. But oh yeah – blame it on the lefties
1 Mississippi
2 West Virginia
3 Louisiana
4 Arkansas 29.45
5 Alabama
6 Kentucky
7 South Carolina
8 Nevada
9 New Mexico
10 Tennessee
The ignorant will always envy the educated.
This nonsense being spouted by Lozano and supporters is straight out of the playbook of DeSantis and his Maniac Kingdom.
Christy could teach the kids the nuances of dodgeball…
More propaganda… “when I say it, it isn’t propaganda…..”
Whenever anyone says “There are two types of people” or “there are two sides to this debate,” it’s clear they do not know what they’re talking about. Real experts or informed individuals understand it’s always more nuanced.
@1:41/Voice – How is it propaganda when these are things that are actually happening? Laws have been passed on these topics, events have been held, speeches have been made.
Republicans are too busy banning books in school libraries and crying about transgender bathrooms to give a flying you know what about actually educating children or supporting thw most vulnerable learners.
Sacjon, you realize how much little self-awareness you have when in the same comment you call it the “Don’t say gay” bill and then question how it’s propaganda (it’s a short read, just read it) @2:42, because as Sacjon made an example of, regurgitating one-liners heard on TV with little to no knowledge of the actual bill, issue, whatever is propaganda. Are you for sexually inappropriate books in middle schools depicting sex scenes (either straight or gay)? What about ones that say some students are born oppressors and some are born oppressed? Are you in favor of kindergarten teachers talking to their students about sexual preferences and gender identity? Because these things are actually happening, events have been held, speeches have been made….
VOICE at 3pm – who cares what I called it. Does it or does it not aim to prevent discussion of sexual orientation and/or identity in elementary schools? How about teaching about American history and the role racism and privilege played? You didn’t address that “propaganda.” Look, you can complain about names of bills all you want, but you can NOT sit there and say all these issues brought up by 12:46pm are just “propaganda.”
Learn the difference between facts you don’t like and “propaganda.”
VOICE – and more importantly, you COMPLETLEY failed to address the FACT that these “propaganda” is IN fact being pushed by only one party…..
12:46 claimed these facts and you call them “propaganda.” Explain how it’s “propaganda” that conservatives are pushing these issues.
2:40 – No nuance here. Just bigotry and ignorance masquerading as a concern for education.
Wow, “Don’t say gay bill” + “who cars what I called it” + “learn the difference between facts you don’t like and ‘propaganda'” = you all over the place and me thoroughly confused with where you’re going other than to try and argue with me. But, you did make it clear you support public school teachers discussing sexuality and sexual identity with 6 years old’s, I am 100% against you there. The parents, or someone with the parents blessing, are the only ones who should be covering those topics with such young children and frankly, am shocked anyone with children would disagree with me on that.
ThirdTimesACharm, you bring up an excellent and very often overlooked point, watch/read/listen to things in full vs. making an assumption based on 10 second clip and 2 minutes of commentary/opinion from a source with a monetary and/or political agenda.
It is just more of the far right’s continual assault on children of color.
@Voice, you are successfully parroting what certain GOP lawmakers are saying this bill is focused on. But, you’re ignoring the vague language of the bill that could have a teacher fired or fined or penalized for merely talking to a student about their weekend with their gay parents. That’s the issue here, but it’s repackaged as this “Save the children” B.S.
Last I checked the dictionary, the opposite of “woke” is “slept”, “lay dormant”, “dozed off”, or “vegetated”. Slang definition or not, the opposite of “woke” also seems to imply “un-educated”, “unwilling to get an education”, “racist”, homophobic”, “facist”, and “mysoginistic”, you name it. Message to all of you un-wokers, there is still time to get your GED, get a university degree, travel and to learn how to experience the world with your eyes open.
Just more of the far lefts propaganda trying to divide us again… see I can do it to, easy!
The only difference being VOR is I don’t defend extremism on either side…. and you do
Pushing back on one sides extremism doesn’t equal defending the other sides extremism as the far reaches of both parties are out of touch with the average American. If you could set aside your bias and remove the disdain for everything right of left-of-center, you would see that. This approach you and others here take of rejecting anything associated with the right by calling it racist, bigoted, corrupt, fascist, etc. is simply inaccurate and a manifestation of your own extremism. At least I can recognize neither side has all the right solutions and bipartisanship will yield the best results for the most Americans.
She is a traitor to the USA
This comment reeks of racism and white supremacy.
VOR, you regularly defend far right policies . Sorry bud, fact and in the record. And mind you I typically use the term far right which is substantially different than right or typical conservative so your assumption that I feel everything on the right is bigoted or fascist is incorrect. The far right are fascists. I agree that both parties have lost touch with many of our needs. I have many friends on the right who are still angry about the January 6th assault on the seat of government and peaceful election transition.
Educated in what?
Many college degrees these days aren’t worth the booties your “uneducated” plumber uses to keep your carpet clean.
If you want to pursue a trade, if you go to university, you will be 4 years behind people who went into apprenticeship at 18.
Your credential as a Social Justice Major may actually reduce your ability to compete. and excel in an apprenticeship.
If you don’t want to pursue a trade and instead get a degree in Social Justice, go to work for a non profit (where all the “profit” goes to the CEO and VP’s) you go to work there for $50K a year and can’t afford the $125HR the plumber who didn’t go to college charges
What you are describing is not education, it is a credential.
Lozano is a far right parrot. Her campaign is running on the idea of school not being partisan – yet she staged a problem where there was none, created a youtube video to inspire outrage about nothing, and then went on the Laura Ingraham show. She has also never taught an academic class in her life.
Coast – from your statement it doesn’t sound like you have ever actually read anything by King…….”There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. **We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: “For Whites Only.”** We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.””
“Common sense educator” who has only taught PE.
When were you last in a classroom? I can assure you, my elementary child is learning reading, writing, and math. (Also science, music, art and PE). The critical thinking instruction that my high schooler has gotten (particularly starting in middle school), is far more than we got in the 80s, when many were educated to join the military or go work in a factory.
GT the lack of quality public education, ESPECIALLY in the larger cities, is not helping.
What about the quality of education in poor red states. Southern states are amongst the poorest states. They are, in fact, takers. They get much more from the federal government than they pay. Republicans talk a big talk about bettering education – but won’t appropriate one cent to those who need help.
6:50 – As is your wont, you’re projecting. Obviously, you see education as some sort of credential that entitles you to a certain salary. Education, especially higher education, has as its purpose exposing you to new ideas and honing your critical thinking skills. That’s why an advanced degree in basketweaving may qualify you for a satisfying job in many fields – by achieving it, you show discipline and an ability to think. A plumbing credential won’t get you there.
Money isn’t everything, you know? At least not to people who think.
Agree.
When will public schools transition to full dual language programs? These children are not illiterate, they just aren’t as familiar with English. It’s time to follow the lead of other European countries and dually teach our children English and Spanish. The language spoken at home will be the child’s dominate but educate them in the other language as well. It would be win-win all around and help children from both backgrounds in future job markets.
Parvopup. The childish comments and name calling from the left on this forum fully support your statement.
@sbdude you are correct!
Folks, please direct your vitriol towards the school districts themselves.
The county ed office does not develop or mandate curriculum, they are simply an administrative supportive organization.
This is not a “drain the swamp” situation, and “infiltrating” that office will not help with any of the contested issues.
I have done the research and Salcido has the qualifications and reputation to continue her position; the other candidate is a detested substitute PE coach with no qualifications.
Vote SB, and reject hysterical propaganda.
Seeing a lot of name calling from the extremist right on here….
LCP – so kids are now just “dysfunctional idiots” because they were taught social issues? Are you really saying Parvo’s rant is accurate?
I was not making this political and signaling out one state or another, especially based on it’s color, but generally focus on CA as this is where we live. Since you bring it up, with public schooling being funded by the state, how exactly are the poorest state “takers” as it relates to public education? Why do many of those “poor” states have better educational outcomes than CA? Republicans do talk big on bettering education, while also talking about how throwing more money at the public education system isn’t providing results, as evidenced by the past thirty years, at least here in CA, and are pushing for changes to the “system” that has amassed significant governmental (tax-payer) resources and political power without delivering results for children and families.
There is a reason why public school employee unions only donate to Democrat campaigns, and it isn’t because they put the education and well being of the children first. https://www.opensecrets.org/party-totals-section
https://rollcall.com/2021/04/28/donations-from-teachers-unions-spiked-as-congress-debated-school-reopening-virus-relief/
California is the least literate state in the nation. SBCOE only 46% of all students met the standard for literacy and 33.6 % for math. The subgroups of students have much lower scores. If you look at the scores of the most vulnerable students like economically disadvantaged 0% met proficiency in literacy or math in 2021-2022 . In only 2016-17 17% of students with differences met the literacy proficiency rate. What this means is that nearly 1 in 4 people over the age of 15 lack the skills to decipher the words in this sentence.
Currently our leadership despite overwhelming evidence, embraces unfounded whole-language practices that were popular between 1975 and 1995. The effects have been far-reaching, particularly for those students who are most dependent on effective instruction within the classroom. Whole-language approaches by definition minimize or omit direct, systematic teaching of language structure (phoneme awareness, spelling patterns and rules, grammar, and so forth). These points may sound trivial; in the classroom, however, such distinctions have profound consequences particularly for our most vulnerable students. So long as whole-language ideas influence classroom practice to any great extent, students who are most dependent on effective instruction inside the classroom stand to lose. Recognizing and confronting bankrupt ideas and practices, even though they are masquerading under benign terms such as balanced reading, or whole language is an important mission for education leaders and policymakers if they truly care about equity in education.
I appreciate Jerry Robert’s questions about literacy and that he followed up with how success is measured. Thanks Jerry !
@11:11a – taking a stab but is it because the other party wants to ban books, restrict discussions about LGBTQ families (even if that student is part of one), not teach certain elements of American history because it makes white kids feel uncomfortable, indoctrinate kids with their own set of Christian-leaning values regardless of that child’s religion or lack thereof, redline school districts so less children of color from lower income neighborhoods are mixed with their white children.
(Sources: https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/heres-the-long-list-of-topics-republicans-want-banned-from-the-classroom/2022/02
https://newrepublic.com/article/163817/desantis-republicans-end-public-education
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/03/us/politics/school-republican-campaign-issue.html)
As I scroll down a few weeks into Lozano’s Facebook page – I see that she participated in the Peopl’es Convoy. Which means she is anti-vax, anti-constitution. This movement contains many extreme far right hate groups and racially motivated individuals. Much of their “security” comes from known hate groups.
Case in point. Current CA educational system.
Incorrect.
I see credentialed people feeling they are worth more than the plumber, yet society will pay the 24 year old plumber $125HR and masters degree basketweavers $50K or $25HR, burdened with school debt of $71,300 . The plumber has used zero public resources and has debt for Truck, maybe a home One can deduce from there our society doesn’t have enough plumbers, but it has too many basketweavers.
Yes that advanced degree may qualify you for a satisfying job in many fields, but unless that field is basketweaving, you are 6 years behind the curve.
They maybe “show discipline and an ability to think” but you’ve left out “overthinking”.
I’ve worked around Univesity types before and many absolutely waste way too much time overthinking and not enough time producing
There are 2.7M college students in CA so about 650,000 graduate into the work force every year that at best are marginally better educated than a German High School student and at worst are behind where a high school graduate should be in reading writing and math
VOR you conveniently left out your support of those who engineered the great lie about a stolen election and planned a coup against congress to illegally overturn an election.
The hate here is so sickening. If we allow righty loonies like this PE teacher to take over, who knows what’s next. Don’t say gay? Don’t say trans? We need this curriculum about gender and sex Ed starting in preschool. Otherwise kids will hate themselves and suicide! We need to stop the hate and ignorance. Start teaching love young!! Thankfully the voters of SB won’t elect this righty.
OAK – uh….are you being sarcastic?
GC – as someone who has traveled extensively, you have it rather backwards. The “woke” agenda is personified by people who have no context of reality… they literally have never traveled anywhere and live in a bubble where anything/everything offends them.
The assault on “children of color” was by our school district for keeping schools closed an extra 6 months…
Except Florida kept schools open while we closed them for an extra 6 months…
SBreader – you are probably right… we will stick with the echo chamber status quo that is failing our kids and kept our schools closed for an extra 6 months. It’s terrible that (like Florida and Texas) we live in a state that is so partisan that it literally trips over itself to prove and “win” its agenda and talking points.
“Obviously, you see education as some sort of credential that entitles you to a certain salary
Not al all. You have it exactly backwards. Education entitles you to zero.
“That’s why an advanced degree in basketweaving may qualify you for a satisfying job in many fields ” Satisfying as long as you are willing to be amongst the highly credentialed, working for subsistence pay.
“Money isn’t everything” Correct. Then why do they want their College loans forgiven?
Fitz – she utterly failed in everything throughout Covid… She absolutely disqualified herself! Her challenger might also be terrible, I don’t know, but like the entire school board she clearly (and completely) failed.
GT, if “far right” policies means being against anyone but parents talking to 6 years olds about sexual identity, wanting our legislators to change immigration laws rather the throwing our borders wide open ignoring our current laws, preferring our state and federal governments have less control over our day to day lives with governmental decisions being made at the most local level possible, and in favor of free speech and expression even for things you don’t agree with, then yeah I guess I am far right. Crazy how so many terms commonly used for decades have had their definitions changed the past few years….
VOICE at 3:33PM (we all know it’s you) – you’ve been confused from the get go. Also, you ADMIT that it’s not propaganda with your support of the content and purpose of the bill. So, WHY do you call it “propaganda?” It’s an actual FACT that you YOURSELF agree with.
As for the content, the only “propaganda” is you continuing to say this is about 6 year olds being taught about sexuality and sexual identity. It’s not. They’re not “teaching” about homosexuality, but what do you think they do when the other kids tease Little Johnny about his 2 dads or 2 moms? What about when a little boy decides to dress like a little girl or vice versa? What then, do you propose the teachers say? Despite your baseless fears and your very own “propaganda,” there is no Kindergarten curriculum to teach the kids about sexuality. Life happens, teachers are there to guide our children while at school. Are they supposed to just ignore it? Let the kids harass each other? Tell them to go ask their parents? What do you want them to do?
VOICE at 8:34 – pssst…. you forgot to click “Hide Your Handle.” Again with the “6 year olds.” Are those the only kids that are being affected by this bill? NO, they’re not. Stop your PROPAGANDA!
I’ll vote for Salcido over the nut job. I’m sick of nut jobs in positions of power.
SBSTONER – like you said, you did not experience CRT being taught in the schools you went to. Because it is not. Yet, certain media outlets will keep saying that it is – over and over again. They completely misrepresent what CRT is and want to convince their viewers that it is rampant in public schools and supported by “lefty libs”. This repetition works in spite of contrary evidence – They do this to influence you – to get you angry, angry at the “libs” so you get out and vote the other way. Sadly, we’ve confused listening to pundits as listening to the news.
K-12 Teachers are faced with engaging their students in the curriculum, managing their classroom environments to be a respectful place, getting students to do homework and classwork so they learn the material etc… – there is no concerted effort or even interest for them to add the university level framework of applying CRT to examine the historical or societal conditions of what they are teaching from a race based perspective. People that think that this is a significant issue in public schools are either disingenuous or gullible. Kind of like the “stolen” election…
The republiclowns have denigrated education, increased its cost, and pandered to the lowest common denominator for decades.
GOLETAISGOOD – EXACTLY. CRT is not, as a subject/theory, etc, taught in K-12 as part of the curriculum. What IS being taught though, is American History and sometimes with discussion of racism and how white privilege played a part in our nations development. That is not necessarily “CRT,” but the right continues to portray any mention of racism or truth about whiteness in America as “CRT.” It’s similar to how they, even here on this thread, cry foul about teachers “teaching sexuality” to “6 year olds.” Teaching and discussing are two different things, both of which would be banned by the “Don’t Say Gay” bills being pushed by ONLY Republican governors.
This is the problem with these people, they hear “racism” and scream “stop teaching CRT!” They hear a teacher discussing why some kids have 2 dads or 2 moms and they scream “stop teaching homosexuality!”
WRONG, absolutely 100% WRONG. Show us where in the language of the bill it says “sexual issues.” Here, I’ll help you. It doesn’t. Here’s the language: ” prohibiting classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity” and ” instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity” https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/1557/BillText/er/PDF
It’s absolutely HILARIOUS that you come here crying about “propaganda” and then make up your own lies and propaganda. This bill DIRECTLY affects LGBGT students. Sexual orientation and gender identity are strictly non-straight issues. Stop lying man.
To answer your irrelevant question about me supporting teachers, I’ve already explained that. FIRST of all “6 year olds” and “kindergartners” aren’t the only ones affected. That’s only ONE FOURTH of the kids being affected, so stop with the hysterics. SECOND, teachers should be able to discuss and address issues/questions etc that come up with regard to these issues without fear of losing their jobs or being sued by the parents. Question is, why do you support this discriminatory bill?
OK looks like my last post will be deleted (not sure why) but the fact remains, the “Parental Rights in Education” bill directly impacts LGBQT students and is not just about “sexuality.”
VOICE continues his easily verifiable lies.
DUKE – eh, maybe we would have. Hard to tell. But, would that alone cause you to vote for a Superintendent with zero experience who supports banning discussion of LGBQT issues, wants to prohibit teaching the truth about American History in terms of white privilege, etc? I know you’re kinda conservative, but really? You really think our children (and the children of others who might not be white and straight) will benefit from Lozano?
We really can’t do any worse than what we currently have as a school board…
First, straight is a sexual orientation, and a biological male identifying as he/him is also gender identity. Straight, gay, trans, whatever, K-3 public school isn’t the place for that type of discussion. But yes Sacjon, as disturbing as it is you’ve made it very clear you think it’s okay for teachers to talk about sexual preferences and sexual identity with kindergarteners. I strongly disagree.
“That’s is a great question to ask your parents this evening Johnny, now class let’s look at our site words for the week…W-A-S, T-H-I-S, W-H-O”
In California?
Republicans have zero power to influence education in CA
Any and all failures belong to Democrats
Some conservative extremist group called New California State seems to be pushing the opponent as ‘phenomenal’ as quoted on our local Next Door. They mention her speaking after Bill Brown at some ‘forum’ that wasn’t well-publicized. So she has her acolytes. In this election, if you support competency. experience, and public education, you should vote for Salcido.
Please explain how in Democrat controlled CA, where they have a super majority and total control, where the state not the feds have total control over the public education system, how exactly the “republiclowns have denigrated education, increased its cost, and pandered to the lowest common denominator for decades”? Seriously, I would appreciate understanding how they had anything to do with the current state of our school system here in CA!
Fitz – salcido’s experience was shutting down schools for an excessive period of time to the tangible detriment of our youth. But sure… let’s reward and celebrate that “competency” and “experience”…
VOICE – are you seriously asking for examples of how the Republican party has attacked education? Take a look at the article you’re commenting on for some examples. Pushing to ban books, “Don’t Say Gay” bills, cutting funding for private education at every chance they get, Betsy DeVos (everything she stood for), attacking the teaching of aspects of American History under the guise of “CRT,” the list goes on……
Of course, your response will be it’s all “leftist propaganda” yet you’ll agree with the policies, thereby negating your claim that it’s merely propaganda that they exist. The cycle continues.
DUKE – could you have done better during a global pandemic with no prior game plan or any precedent to rely on?
The CDC had a game plan for various levels of pandemic both below, and well above, the mortality of Covid-19. Even in the worst case scenario, where they assumed millions would die per year and where they assumed it would impact children severely (unlike covid), their recommendations were to keep schools open as much as possible and in the absolute worst case, they should close for nor more than a few weeks when community case rates were extreme. They threw the playbook out the window for Covid.
Sac – Of course I would have done better…and so would you! We both strongly agreed that schools should be opening in the Fall of 2020, like they were at virtually all private schools (plus rich public schools like Cold Springs). There was a literal worldwide consensus that schools needed to stay open as long as possible, and reopen as soon as possible. Sb and Goleta school districts though (like much of California) ignored all reason and logic and closed. GUSD took over 10 million on federal reopening funds in Summer of 2020 and then…didn’t reopen! Didn’t make any effort to reopen either. So yes… I could (and would) have done better, as would you have. Our school districts completely abdicated their duty and failed our children. That doesn’t mean this other candidate is worthy or good…but to defend the school board as “experienced and competent” is ridiculous and completely divorced from reality.
Sshhhhh Edney! It’s easier to blame others than admit our own failures/shortcomings and take corrective action.