by Don Shalvey (This column was originally published at the news website Stocktonia) In June, optimism emerged in Stockton as the Stockton Unified School Board (SUSD) announced the appointment of new superintendent Michelle Rodriguez. The community breathed a collective sigh of relief, not just because the search succeeded in identifying a skilled and experienced leader for SUSD, but also because of how it was accomplished – through an inclusive, transparent, and structured process. Stockton’s recent history with superintendents is not a proud one. Since the resignation of superintendent John Deasy in 2020, the District has hired two separate interim superintendents, and one “permanent” superintendent who served just over one year of the identified contract. With the election of a new majority board this year came hope that the new board members would bring a new approach to the superintendent selection process – and that’s exactly what happened. The SUSD board hired the nationally-respected search firm McPherson & Jacobson, LLC in March. Once hired, the Stockton Unified School District’s board majority embarked on a structured process in its search for a new Superintendent, including forming a Superintendent Search Subcommittee and establishing a diverse stakeholder interview panel to ensure the voices and insights of community members were heard. As Bobby Bivens, President of the NAACP Stockton Branch shared, “This school board deserves great credit for selecting a firm, [...]

A “new teacher” is defined in many ways. You can be “new” entirely to the profession, “new” to a school, network, or district, or “new” to an assignment. There are many firsts for a first-year teacher. Regardless of what kind of “new” you are, the work of a teacher is challenging, difficult and every other synonym you can imagine. I started my career as a middle school math and      science teacher in Merced. Like every other “new” teacher, my classroom and my students were both my professional and social life that first year. I planned all weekend long but that usually only got me as far as Tuesday. Then it was “night shift” for the rest of the week, only to be followed by another weekend of planning and learning. That’s what beginning teaching is like and it doesn’t change until year 3 or 4. But planning, learning, trying, failing, and trying again is what teachers do and it’s why the profession is such a noble and dignified one. It is “service over self” and the joy that comes from making a difference for young people and their futures. In today’s pandemic world, every teacher is a “new” teacher no matter how many years of experience or accolades are under their belt. The newness is in developing a fluency with distance learning, adjusting to interacting [...]