San Carlos school races kick off

A collection of issues face school districts after more than 2 1/2 years of COVID-19 disruptions from learning loss and changes in student behavior to greater need for staff support and budgeting uncertainty. Each candidate argued they’re the best fit to be in the guiding seat.

When speaking of supporting student needs in and outside the classroom, Kornell advocated for keeping classrooms small, Layton said improving early literacy is key, Cassanego backed conducting more individual assessments and Waffle said greater collaboration between students and teachers could improve outcomes.

Students are resilient, the candidates agreed, but recovering will take time and students will need additional mental health support, they said.

“Kids went through trauma. Kids went through a lot so making sure there’s on-site social and emotional support, that’s something we really pushed,” Kornell said, a sentiment shared by his opponents.

Social interactions are also vital, Kornell said, asserting that many students have grown distant and unsure of how to engage with each other after remote learning. Layton said counseling services are also key for caring for the whole child, noting teachers are not capable of playing every role for their students. And Cassanego said family support, such as a bilingual liaison, could help the district relieve outside stressors.

Waffle backed similar ideas while also adding that the education system needs to take an equity approach in its work and adjust its outlook from one focused on loss to another centered around progress and potential.

“This is a very long-term impact and will be a long-term solution,” said Waffle, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns. “I think there have been tremendous gains and these gaps. … These students have learned to be resilient. They have learned to be self advocates and to seek their own support online. We had the goal of wanting students to be independent learners and they were forced to do a lot of that.”

First though, the candidates agreed, the district will need to identify which students are in need of the greatest amount of support and with that data they can direct resources to the areas they need to go.

On budgeting, Waffle said their top concern is dropping enrollment, an issue they don’t see improving due in part to the Bay Area’s high cost of living pushing families away. If the trend continues, Waffle said the board may be forced to consider consolidating schools or letting go of staff.

The area’s high cost of living was also a concern for Kornell who also noted the district struggles to budget long term as it toggles between being community funded, meaning priority taxes adequately cover its budget, and state funded.

Similarly, Cassanego said the instability of state offerings is a worry, especially when national economics appear unstable, ultimately forcing the district to plan for less state support by bulking up reserve funds.

Kornell and Layton both said they’d like to see state representatives advocating more for them and small districts like them when budget discussions come around. As for Layton’s top concern, he said attracting and retaining quality staff is his number one focus.

“At a certain point in time this becomes an arms race. We’re competing with a certain pipeline around the same people from districts that just have substantially more money than we do,” Layton said. “It’s just hard to keep up.”

Stable budgeting allowed the district to invest more into its labor force by increasing entry level salaries by $12,000, Kornell noted while also highlighting an “unprecedented” three-year contract that was recently approved. But more will need to be done to continue supporting teachers and staff, the candidates agreed.

For Kornell, that would look like helping to make San Carlos a sustainable place to live for new and veteran educators and ensuring teachers have paths to gaining online credits and climbing up the career ladder.

Career growth was also a big sticking point for Layton who argued the district is a great place for educators to transition into administrative positions. Highlighting those opportunities while creating additional paths for preschool teachers to become fully credentialed would be a key step in supporting staff, he said.

Endorsing her colleagues’ ideas, Cassanego said educators could also be better supported through knowledge sharing among themselves and a community of respect, pointing to a recent internal process when educators helped craft their own professional development plans.

Cassanego also noted the salary adjustment was “huge and reflected both a board and administrative priority to invest in our teachers and our recognition that they deserve what we can give them in terms of support in salary.”

Waffle pulled from their personal experiences as an educator to advocate for greater restorative time for teachers during the pandemic and often felt their needs were ignored by the board, Waffle said. Beyond additional professional development, Waffle said they would like to increase the number of mental health days a teacher receives and to bolster the district’s substitute teacher roster so classroom backup is there to cover for when someone does have to step out.

sierra@smdailyjournal.com

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