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District highlights 'grow your own' residency and progress on staffing diversity
Summary
Staff presented the district's Pathways to Teaching residency and induction program — funded by state grants and partnered with Cal Lutheran — and reviewed staffing diversity data showing steady increases in bilingual certificated staff; the board discussed pipelines, recruitment fairs and retention goals.
Coordinator Shelley Hart and colleagues presented the district’s Pathways to Teaching residency program and the teacher induction program as part of a broader workforce strategy to diversify and retain teachers.
Hart described a multi-year residency that began in 2022 in partnership with Cal Lutheran, funded primarily by state grants totaling more than $9 million to date for stipends, tuition and supports. The program offers local paraprofessionals and classified staff a pathway to certification with supports including laptops, textbooks and mentoring. Hart said cohorts have increased (cohort sizes of 8, 19 and another cohort) and that the program has materially increased the number of teachers earning bilingual authorizations (19 this year, projected increases through 2031).
Two residents spoke about their experiences: Joanna Diaz Guillen described nine years as a bilingual instructional assistant and a desire to give back to the district; Samantha Santos described completing the pathway and receiving her first teaching assignment in her home community.
Following the residency update, a staffing-diversity slide deck showed student demographics (95% Hispanic) and gaps between student and certificated staff demographics. HR presenters outlined recruitment, retention and pipeline strategies — local recruitment fairs, statewide outreach, streamlining hiring processes, and growing programs with high-school CTE and district recruitment fairs — and cited next steps to increase representation among certificated staff.
Board members asked about recruitment beyond state lines, reciprocity for out-of-state credentials, attracting male and underrepresented candidates and using interview-panel diversity to reduce bias. Staff said California credential reciprocity varies by state, that the district is expanding recruitment and that it will continue to grow local pipelines and refine advertising and hiring processes.
Why it matters: The residency and induction programs are a district strategy to reduce teacher shortages and increase staff diversity and bilingual capacity, which trustees said matters for student achievement and representation.
