Parent Advisory Council presents equity-focused findings, urges action on digital divide and transportation

Representatives of the Parent Advisory Council (PAC) presented a summary of an Our Children, Our Families (OCOF) community engagement effort that reached more than 250 participants in 20 conversations. The PAC report said the majority of participants were African American and Latino and that families raised consistent concerns about large class sizes, teacher quality, behavioral supports, access to internships and career pathways, transportation barriers that limit school choice and after-school participation, and limited home access to computers and the internet.

The PAC offered recommendations including placing more highly qualified teachers in underperforming schools, reducing class sizes, expanding behavioral and newcomer supports, increasing internship and workforce partnerships with tech companies, and exploring central pick-up and drop-off zones and transportation services for foster youth. The PAC also urged the district to provide clearer channels of two-way communication to let families know how their input has affected policy and budget decisions.

Multiple commissioners praised the PAC’s outreach and recommended that the board and staff pull specific recommendations into committees (budget, curriculum, buildings and grounds) and into the OCOF framework and upcoming budget-development process. The superintendent said staff would incorporate PAC input into budget recommendations and is proposing a partnership to offer very-low-cost home connectivity programs to families unable to access internet service, while noting potential constraints with the district’s anti-commercialization policy.

The board asked staff for follow-up reports and committee-level reviews of transportation, technology access and supports for foster and Pacific Islander students.