Thousand of students compete in Tech Challenge in San Jose, Will higher pay lure more teachers? Improvement in a very few aligned professional practices will go a long way in improving student academic achievement. So my real goal is, and how we define success is going to be dependent upon those teachers working with the students coming up with an individualized learning plan, and then building this plan, all the way from pre-K to 12th grade so they are able to achieve that. And I loved it so much that I became a math teacher. Hurst is the districts 10th leader and its first non-interim African American superintendent. Thats a serious issue. That is a huge concern, and we have been stagnant for years for a number of years. After a nearly six-month search, the West Contra Costa Unified School District has hired a new superintendent. He Read More. And how do we get them to understand that students are bringing in differences? So those are the things that Im going to be bringing from Othello to here. Then you have whats called the summer slide, so they get even further behind because of the three months that theyre off during the summer. We also are partnering with a number of organizations that have reached out to me. Were coming back to in person, so I want to make sure that our students are safe, and so were doing everything in our power to make sure we have mitigation strategies in place. I think another piece that Im working on that will tie into the graduation rate is student engagement. Everything that Ive shared with you is what I plan to implement: preschool to close the early literacy gap; project-based learning to really address student engagement; as well as focus on building leadership capacity; and focus on building teacher capacity, culturally relevant teaching as well; but also addressing systemic inequities by having implicit bias training for our teachers. Based on his 23 years of professional experience in education, he has some concrete ideas for how to do that in this San Francisco Bay Area district, which includes Richmond and several surrounding communities. WCCUSD At a Glance / WCCUSD At a Glance document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); We welcome your comments. Next, he worked as a principal under former San Diego Unified Superintendent Alan, Bersin. Two finalists named for Vancouver School District superintendent Othello School Board Vice President Jenn Stevenson said Hurst was known for thinking outside of the box and welcoming new ideas; he also brought new views and a focus on equity to the district, as well as focusing on equity and justice. to be the next of superintendent of San Bernardino City Unified, and will take over there on July 1. as well as their lower graduation rates and higher rates of expulsions and suspensions. I really believe that especially urban systems are fundamentally broken and are failing Black and brown students across the United States. Jeff Taylor, El Cerrito students play at West Contra Costa Unified's Korematsu Middle School during recess before the Covid-19 pandemic. Superintendent / Superintendent The patient needs a very limited and focused diet for improvement. And I think, as I shared before, we overall are not serving our Latinx kids and our Black kids well in our district on a number of different fronts. Dr. Hurst earned his Doctorate in Education, K-12 Leadership (Magna Cum Laude), at the University of Southern California in 2011, and his Master of Arts Degree in Educational Administration (Magna Cum Laude) in 2008, and his Bachelor of Science, a degree in Mathematics in 1997 at California State University, San Marcos. Hurst said he assisted in Bersins effort to transform three schools whose students were lagging significantly in test scores and other measures San Diego, Kearny and Crawford high schools. Contact Us Educational Equity - Title IX Location: 1108 Bissell Ave. (510) 231-1118 Fax: (510) 236-0662 Dr. Kenneth Chris Hurst Uniform Complaint Procedures Bullying WCCUSD Nondiscrimination Policies and Procedures Non-Discrimination Policy: View the Announcement of Non-Discrimination/Harassment Cmon, folks lets stop expecting out of the box miracles in the face of head in the sand funding. He started his educational career in Poway Unified as a math and computer programming and computer science teacher. Actually, I have an overall safety concern from COVID, and then the Delta variant as well. Hurst also assumes the post in the middle of the pandemic, with the task of guiding the districts return to full-time, in-person instruction in the fall amid pressure from a group of parents. If we develop our teachers and our principals, then theyre going to provide quality instruction, because theres a lot of research between a good teacher, an average teacher and an expert teacher. Prior to his long career in education, he served 12 years in the U.S. Marine Corps. One of the things that I like about him is hes not coming here to learn how to be a superintendent, Phillips said. So when our students came back in January, what I saw was a disconnect, like our students werent talking a lot, they werent engaging a lot. Christopher Hurst, 99th Security Forces Squadron superintendent, Chief Master Sgt. Superintendent Dr. Kenneth "Chris" Hurst, Sr. is WCCUSD's 10th permanent superintendent. 12/31/2022 7:59 PM. I have a number of concerns. Diablo Unified, Kyla Johnson-Trammell of Oakland Unified, Vincent Matthews of San Francisco Unified and Harry Doc Ervin of Bakersfield City School District. His second should be to Assm. To get more reports like this one, click here to sign up for EdSources no-cost daily email on latest developments in education. Comments from the same user posted under multiple aliases may be deleted. As Superintendent of the 4,500 student District located about 3 hours southeast of Seattle, Dr. Hurst increased graduation rates by 16 percent from 71 percent to 87 percent and reduced absences by 33 percent. I grew up all over the place. I think its not just Richmond, I think its an issue across the United States and mostly found in large urban school districts, you see a high rate of suspensions. That is not to say unions are bad, quite the contrary they just need to focus more on helping protect employees, especially the most vulnerable not raising salaries. Richmond Confidential welcomes comments from our readers, but we ask users to keep all discussion civil and on-topic. I think its encouraging when we see people like President Obama and Kamala Harris. He also implemented Othellos K-12 pathway, the Districts Social-Emotional Learning Standards. That doesnt happen. Find Us . Educational Equity-Title IX / Office of the Ombudsperson Home Page So thats really our growth. He collaborated to implement the Future Ready technology initiative, designed to create a shared vision of preparing students for success in college, career, and citizenship. But this is its first permanent African American appointee. They are as follows: . Its really a framework Im using and its called Central Office Transformation Toolkit and its out of the University of Washington. School board trustee Jamela Smith-Folds also expressed enthusiasm Wednesday about hiring Hurst and assured him that the responsibility of turning the district around wont fall solely on him. Hurst said theres a correlation between students not being in class due to suspensions and expulsion and their academic performance. Thats the kind of role model I want to be. Only the JLAC, County COE, or school district can ask for a FCMAT investigation not individuals nor CDE. So shes going to be working for California School for the Blind in Fremont, and shes going to be working in the tech department, and helping students with technology. Before taking the job in May, Hurst was superintendent of the Othello School District in Othello, Washington, for five years, where he is credited with increasing graduation rates and decreasing overall student absences. She wasnt always blind. Richmond Confidential assumes no liability for comments posted to the site and no endorsement is implied; commenters are solely responsible for their own content. Marvin Parker, 99th Logistics Readiness Squadron superintendent, Chief Master Sgt. He needs to acknowledge or review the abuse of the lowest performing students not given lunches, substitutes and other such things I witnessed myself. He also boosted the districts linked learning programs, which integrate academics with real-world work experiences. One of the things we do know is, were able to reduce class sizes so our teachers can really have smaller class sizes and be able to check in with students more frequently. So professional learning is going to be a very big key here in Richmond and across the United States. What are your plans for a successful reopening in the fall? We went back to Germany. Contact. So anything that involves her is what I like to be involved in. I think warning signs are important so our teachers receiving training on how to identify those warning signs of any type of abuse thats happening, and then the referral process as well.