Six Long Beach Unified School District Board of Education candidates met on Saturday at Browning High School for a forum to discuss how they would best serve marginalized student populations and ensure equity and safety.
Candidates are vying for open seats in districts one, three and five with primary elections taking place on June 7.
The forum was hosted by the Guidance Center, a non-profit mental health agency, and the Long Beach Special Education Community Advisory Committee (CAC).
Sharifa Batts, Nubia Flores and Maria Isabel Lopez are running for the open seat to represent District 1—covering the North Long Beach area. All three candidates have been active in the LBUSD community in the past as alumni, educators, and/or parents.
District three’s Juan Benitez is running for reelection with no opponents, but clarified that he is “not taking anything for granted.” Benitez said the district’s work around equity, despite its strides, “is not done.”
Incumbent Diana Craighead and opponent Melissa Pittscutler are running for the District 5 seat that encompasses East Long Beach.
Craighead has been a board member for the past 10 years, three of which she served as president. Craighead said that as much work as she has done, there are still “a lot of things in the works [she] wants to see through.”
Some of that work includes the implementation of the Board’s inclusion resolution which intends to provide a more inclusive education for all students, particularly those with disabilities.
“It’s a wonderful aspiration to be inclusive, to make sure that we are including all of our students in a meaningful way,” Craighead said.
Unlike the rest of the candidates, Pittscutler is not a Long Beach native but has been working in the community supporting youth and their families as a parole agent, which she described as a combination of law enforcement, social work and advocacy.
Candidates were asked to share how they would ensure an equitable—not equal—education for marginalized communities.
For Batts, using the CAC to connect with parents and students as well as visiting schools to speak with teachers and staff were some of the actions she suggested to better understand what these groups need to achieve equity.
“It’s important to hear the voice of the community so that you’re properly addressing where equity needs to be addressed,” Batts said.
Flores emphasized the importance of an individualized approach, such as going school-by-school to see what students are being left out.
One of her priorities is continuing to push for training and education on the Individualized Education Program (IEP), and implementing certain practices such as utilizing person-first language. Person-first language places the focus on the person instead of the disability; it describes what a person has rather than what a person is. IEP is a plan that details the supports and services students with disabilities need for a well-rounded education.
Adequate funding for marginalized communities is one of Lopez’s main concerns for equity, she said, as well as making sure teachers are properly trained and that they have access to the resources they need.
“I think we can do a better job in training our teacher workforce and providing resources for our student population,” Lopez said.
When discussing bullying as a school safety issue, Batts, Craighead, Flores and Pittscutler said they all have first-hand experience as parents of children who were bullied.
“It’s devastating, especially as a parent, to see your child being bullied,” Craighead said. “[Bullying] impedes a child’s ability to thrive in an academic setting.”
One of Flores’ frustrations is the lack of protocol on how students and parents should respond to instances of bullying. According to Flores, students with disabilities, such as her son, are particularly vulnerable to this type of behavior and oftentimes miss school until they feel safe to return.
“This is unacceptable,” Flores said, advocating for schools to have detailed plans on how to respond to these types of incidents.
Batts said the district needs to work on changing the culture of bullying both in-person and online through awareness.
One of the audience members, via filling out an audience question sheet that was read to the candidates, asked what safety looked like without officers with guns on campus.
Pittscutler began by emphasizing that a safety plan should not be dependent on guns, as there are “plenty of non-lethal options that are safer and more reasonable” when dealing with minors, especially in a school environment.
Benitez said that having more counselors, school psychologists and social workers on all campuses is a crucial part of reimaging school safety.
“Let’s truly implement a full-service community school model where schools are not just seen as a place to be there from [8 a.m.] to [3 p.m.],” Benitez said. “It truly means that our schools are there 24/7 to serve our communities and intentionally reflect and uphold our community’s vision for safety.”
Community members can watch the entirety of the forum here.
