Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1491904
committees. Each of the district's com- munity schools will have a community school coordinator, family liaison, school counselor and an additional full- time position, which Avila says could potentially be used to focus on person- alized instruction. With things moving quickly, Avila met with educators at the soon-to-be community schools to discuss the model and answer questions. V TA accepted an invitation from Anaheim Secondary Teachers Association to visit a community school there, bringing along educators, the district's community schools coordinator and a parent — who has become a staunch advocate for the same transformative experiences in Vista. Now, V TA and the district are building shared leader- ship structures. "It really brought it home to see how Anaheim was doing shared leadership," Avila says. "It made us think about how we can build community schools like this in Vista and how can we get peo- ple to support them?" Avila is working with the school board to craft a community schools resolution. She says it's an ongoing effort to get management to share power, noting that "being a part of the conversation is a good place to start." When V TA hit roadblocks with dis- trict-level management, Avila says they transitioned to working with school site administrators to share information and collaborate on community schools, building their local movement together. "We could do a demand-to-bargain for all these things, but if we are work- ing together on shared leadership, then that's not necessary," she says. "We're making sure the boxes aren't just being checked, and the collaboration is authentic and real." Elizabeth Kocharian became fully immersed in the community schools movement last October, transitioning from teaching gover- nance structures to Bell Gardens High School students to organizing and building them as a community schools coordinator for Montebello Teachers Association. The 20-year history and government edu- cator was on full and is currently on partial release time from the classroom, building relationships between educators and parents, community groups and the school district. Kocharian works closely with fellow teachers to create workshops and sessions to develop the foundational knowledge necessary to create transformative experiences for Montebello students. She's excited to work to build community schools in her hometown. " We know our students and our families. We know what we need. And this is our opportunity to create schools where every student gets what they need to succeed every day," Kocharian says. "Being on release is really important — this isn't something you can do well if you're working in the classroom." Kocharian is getting help and support from fellow educators. She attended the community schools strand at last year 's Summer Institute, meeting mem- bers doing similar work from locals including Chula Vista Educators and United Educators of San Francisco, and joining a Slack channel set up by them to share information about community schools and their efforts. Kocharian says MTA's adoption of an educational justice resolution in 2021 was the impetus to go further and learn more about community schools. "It really expanded my view of what a community school can be, and the possibilities are limitless. We don't have to model our school like anyone else," Kocharian says. "How do we create educational justice and what does that even look like for our students?" Looking ahead, Kocharian is hoping that one to three Montebello schools apply to be community schools by June, as they continue to develop the structures for shared leadership. "MTA is building a model for how to meet every student's needs and engage the entire family in collaborative leadership," she says. "I want this to be sustainable, and that's the only way we can guarantee it will continue." "This is our opportunity to create schools where every student gets what they need to succeed every day." MONTEBELLO: EDUCATOR ON FULL RELEASE FOR COMMUNITY SCHOOLS 22 cta.org Elizabeth Kocharian Feature C O M M U N I T Y S C H O O L S