By Dianne Anderson

In the countdown to March 5, local education candidates are taking a stand on the issues facing their communities, reminding voters they don’t need a stamp, just fill in the circles and send their ballots early – or at least on time.

Voters are looking to candidates to deal with concerns of equity and access, which became the big buzzwords in the past few years as extra funding flowed down through the pandemic. But many disparities remain for Black and Brown students, making it hard for parents to know which problems to tackle first.

JERLENE TATUM 

If elected, Jerlene Tatum said one of the first policies she hopes to support is getting students more access to counselors.

She talked to one counselor recently who was carrying about 600 students, an impossible load, but the question is always where to find the money for more counselors.

At least part of the answer could be in LCAP and LCFF funding, but she feels more effort is needed to put funding resources to work.

According to the California Association of School Counselors, the recommended ratio is one counselor to 250 students.

“Do I think it’s possible in Long Beach? No. Yet, there should be some effort to reduce caseloads for the teachers and the high school pathways when they are trying to ensure that students are going off to college,” she said.

Since 2018, Tatum has advocated for equal access to education. She has promoted parent involvement with the school district, specifically at LCAP forums, and Black Lives Matter Long Beach to strengthen parent engagement with the school board.

Along with several others, she signed off on Public Advocates, Inc. recommendations from the complaint filed against LBUSD and Los Angeles County of Education on behalf of Children’s Defense Fund California. That suit alleged that $40 million of state education funding to improve service for low-income students, English learners and foster students, was misspent, which was settled in 2018.

Tatum’s history of parent advocacy includes the Black Student Achievement Initiative approved by the LBUSD Board in 2021. She is also a founding member of the Long Beach Education Foundation, aimed at engaging local parents on LCAP processes.

Like many parents across the nation, safety is her other high priority, but she wants to see solutions, more along the lines of unarmed safety personnel.

“Specifically, what is the intention and purpose of armed safety officers? I don’t want to use the term against, but looking for some methods of safety other than armed officers on campus, and seeking out other options,” she said.

Referring to a recent district survey that reached out for parent input, she feels the need to increase one on one communication with parents instead of expecting them to travel to faraway places. Parents are having problems getting to the meetings.

She said communication between parents and community stakeholders around issues related to the school district must increase, but by meeting parents where they are. Working parents or those without reliable cars have a hard time showing up for school events and activities miles away. She said a bus pass for the day is not bringing them out.

But, she would like to see multiple opportunities to get parents involved, even if it means decision-makers meeting them on the sidewalk outside of a school site.

“For the last two years all major events and meetings for Black students have been held in North Long Beach,” she said. “Again, who’s not in the room? Why are they not in the room? I think those are the questions that need to be asked when planning for every meeting.”

She said community outreach needs to expand, but flyers and emails only go so far.

“I think the district does a great job of sending out text messages and emails they’re amazing at that, but it has to be more than that,” she said. “The question is who would do that work, but that’s part of the role of a board member to engage with the community they’re supposed to represent.”

Tatum said parents don’t merely deserve a seat at the table, but belong at the table. She is looking to work with parents to be better stewards of their children.

“To help build bridges between our community and our educators. We’re on the same team, not two different teams. We all have the same goal in mind and that goal is for the betterment of our children. It’s not an us against them,” she said.

ERIK MILLER 

Having up to date facilities at some of their oldest campuses is among Erik Miller’s top priorities.

He said the city passed its $1.7 billion construction bond two years ago, and two campuses, Washington Middle School and Poly High School, are set to receive major upgrades, with some construction projections at about $700 million in work.

“I want to make sure those projects have community input, both considerate of residents and students who attend those schools. Also, to make sure these construction projects are hiring locally and partnering with our union labor partners,” he said.

To address the shrinking achievement gap, he said the district also approved a set of board goals as a tool in the decision-making process used with budget and personnel decisions.

“And, a tool used to hold the district and us as a board accountable. Two of which are around reading and mathematics skills of African American students. That’s something I’m looking forward to as another objective for my next term,” he said.

Several communities, especially the Black community in particular, didn’t perform as well with hybrid learning, he said, adding that there has been an emphasis on serving Black and Brown students. But today, Black students in LBUSD are performing better than the state average.

“One of the things we emphasized during the return of students coming back to campuses is looking at what we like to consider equity and excellence,” he said. “We created an equity and excellence policy, which acts as a framework for our decision-making as well.”

On the board, he said it has been important to listen to community needs. Districtwide, he said there were over 10,000 impressions from community members across multiple queries expressing things they wanted to see developed at the district.

“I recognize there are still tens of thousands of folks we didn’t get to hear from, and should have a voice and have input and continue to be involved in the community and hear their thoughts of what’s going on at the campus level is important,” he said.

While the need for more resources is apparent, he said they want to bridge the gap between the nonprofit sector, neighborhood association and PTA with their campuses. Also, the district has supported community schools, which could have a second governing board to oversee additional resources to support the campus, such as existing LCAP funds.

Mostly, he is optimistic about supporting families through a holistic approach, and collaboration between systems like the police department, fire department, city of Long Beach, and LBUSD.

“All working together, working with council members, youth services departments supporting things like summer night lights, and after school programming. It’s that synergy that makes me hopeful,” he said.

For more information,

Jerlene Tatum, see  https://jerlenetatum4lbusd.com/

Erik Miller, see https://erikmillerlbusd.com/

About LCFF and LCAP Funding, see the California State PTA at

https://capta.org/focus-areas/lcfflcap/

Not clear on the easy way to vote? See the League of Women Voters Easy Voting Guide at

https://easyvoterguide.org/

To view your local ballot, see https://www.vote411.org/ballot