On Wednesday, the Colton Joint Unified School District’s Community Cabinet met for a brainstorming session between principals and assistant principals in the school district and leaders from business, government, faith-based organizations, parents and community outreach organizations.
The discussions were held in a World Café format and centered on the questions what resources and support the community could offer to Colton Joint Unified schools.
About 115 people attended the meeting and praised the format and content of the discussions. Some of the comments made were:
“I believe a collective vision was established, needs and resources were discussed, and unifying approach was created. The community members were sincerely interested in what they could do to support. I really liked the idea of calibration of the Kinder entry assessment with the preschool that feeds our elementary schools. It was a very positive experience overall!
“I found it to be EXTREMELY beneficial to have a conversation with members of our community. With Common Core and Linked Learning being the focus for education as a whole, going forward, it is imperative that we build those connections within the community and actively close the gap between college and high school. By essentially opening up our doors to the community members and by asking them “how we can help them?” We are better preparing their potential workforce and clientele to better suit their needs once high school has been completed.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of yesterday’s event. I felt it was useful and a productive way to connect the community to our schools. I enjoyed the World Café format because it made it easy to have valuable conversations. My only thought is that smaller groups would have been better only because it was hard to hear everyone at the group. Thank you for allowing me to participate.”
“It gave me the time and opportunity to network with people/organizations that I would not normally interact with. Listening to the community members and organizations made me feel that we are more in alignment with our expectations for students and working together to problem solve and find solutions. The questions yesterday were a good starting point to begin conversations, develop ideas and start new relationships formed from a common purpose.”
Click here for more information about the Community Cabinet’s timeline for the school year. The Colton Joint Unified School District’s Community Cabinet was formed to seek input on proposed community priorities for supporting the success of every child from cradle to career, which is one of the Countywide Vision’s regional goals.