Barrera calls for community-based model for SDUSD
San Diego Unified School District Board of Education President Richard Barrera Wednesday night called on district officials to detach themselves from federal and state control and embrace a new community-based reform model.
Barrera, in a 45-minute “State of the District” address at Cherokee Point Elementary School, rejected inconsistent state funding, the “big idea” of the No Child Left Behind Act and other “top-down” programs imposed on local schools.
He described the so-called “corporate model” a failure. “The reason for this is clear, and goes beyond ideology or politics,” Barrera said. “The community model works, and continues to produce the consistent gains in student achievement that has eluded the corporate model after more than a decade of practice.”
Barrera, a former community organizer and union official, cited recent improvements in test scores at a number of district schools, including some in low-income neighborhoods, as an example of community model success.
Barrera said his vision has been implemented by making food stamps accessible in schools, creating joint-use parks with the city of San Diego, re- investing in neighborhoods through a Project Labor Agreement that governs Proposition S construction, and increased parental involvement.
“The community model might not be flashy, and it might mean that nobody gets to be hailed as a savior, but if we
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