TASK FORCES

Please contact Melinda Silver, Elise Packard, or April Gallegos for more information and to offer your support for this working group.

The STEM to career working group concentrates on two key areas. The first is offering STEM courses and support to college-bound students, while the second focuses on STEM skills needed for careers.

Please contact John Longeran for more information and to offer your support for this working group.

Please contact Lynn Bickley for more information and to offer your support for this working group.

DECEMBER 2019 UPDATE: Under Education News - Please see the notes taken at the November 20 ICPE Monthly meeting, in which new developments were reported out by the Task Force.

On August 8, 2019, the Task Force adopted these goals:

1. To create, with Santa Fe Public Schools (SFPS), a fact sheet for parents that explains the Yazzie-Martinez decision and hold public forums for various communities to provide clear communication about the decision; and

2. (i) to do further research to determine what parts of the community school model has already implemented and what the necessary requirements are to create full-service “community schools” in Santa Fe; (ii) to endeavor to bring together the people, programs, and resources necessary to create “community schools; ” and (iii) to work with SFPS to develop a communication plan to explain to parents and the greater Santa Fe community what creating a full-service community school means.

November 20, 2019 Report:

A. The SFPS has received two PED grants for Community Schools: a Planning Grant for Santa Fe High School and an Implementation Grant for Cesar Chavez.

B. ICPE reps met with NEA and SFPS on November 18 meeting to hear about the grant. Ideas and recommendations were made about next steps, We await news from Dr. Garcia on next steps.

C. ICPE will also want to reach out to those involved in continuing to build a robust Community School at Cesar Chavez to see if they are interested in incorporating some of the ICPE current programs, such as T4T (teacher coaching and mentoring).

D. The Community Schools - Yazzie/Martinez Task Force may want to revamp our August 8 stated goals. and meet as a group once Dr. Garcia has had a chance to weigh in on next steps.

September 18, 2019 Report:

A. Compliance with the Yazzie-Martinez decision is in “stalemate” because Judge Singleton, who issued the decision, died, and the case has not yet been reassigned by the NM Supreme Court to another judge. Defendants have failed to develop and submit to the Court for approval a comprehensive statewide plan and timetable within the deadline set by Judge Singleton in her decision. SFPS counsel Josh Granata will meet with Plaintiffs’ attorneys on Friday to discuss next steps and will report back to the Task Force on what transpires, subject to attorney-client confidentiality. The Task Force is researching and tracking legislation introduced in the last legislative session to address the Yazzie-Martinez decision.

B. The Task Force has been gathering information for the fact sheet for parents and will produce a draft by September 27, 2019. The plan is to submit the proposed fact sheet to SFPS for approval so that it can be posted on the SFPS website, websites of individual schools, and social media.

C. The Task Force will prepare a “Data Dictionary” for parents to help them better understand the fact sheet and information to be disseminated about community schools.

D. SFPS has adopted a “four pillar” definition of a model community school. Some schools have made great progress in transforming themselves into community schools. The Task Force will work with SFPS to find a way to share what steps these schools have taken so that other schools can follow their lead. SFPS will advise the Task Force as to the status of grants for which it has applied to PED for implementing the community school model. This should occur within the next two weeks.

E. The Task Force will develop a spreadsheet of parent groups and School Advisory Councils.

F. SACs) which can be used to better inform parents about the status of efforts to implement the decision in Yazzie- Martinez and how they can help transform their schools into full community schools. This effort will require contacting each school to find out the members of its School Advisory Council.

G. The Task Force will seek to engage members of the Santa Fe Board of Education in the schools that are in their districts and encourage them to help these schools become full-service community schools by connecting them to appropriate community resources.

Contact: Melinda Silver at mjsilverenterprises@gmail.com