Four schools embarked on a two-year journey this past October to improve their school’s climate and culture as members of the first cohort of the San Diego County Office of Education’s (SDCOE’s) Climate and Culture Network (CCN). School teams from Mann Middle and Crawford High in San Diego Unified, Orange Glen High from Escondido Union High School District, and Tierra Del Sol Middle from Lakeside Union engaged in a highly interactive, full-day learning session led by a cross-divisional team from SDCOE.
CCN is a new two-year improvement network focused on a dual goal of 1) decreasing the number of student suspensions and disciplinary incidents and 2) increasing students’ sense of belonging and connection across the network schools. In direct alignment with SDCOE’s North Star goal of increasing belonging, CCN will use continuous improvement as a process for proactively investigating and addressing the root causes that influence student behavior and school culture and implementing evidence-based practices to enhance student belonging and improve student behavior.
For the past nine months, a diverse team of managers from across SDCOE thoughtfully planned and designed the launch of this fifth improvement network. Under the leadership of Valentin Escanuela, an executive leadership coach from the Equity department, they visited schools and engaged in listening sessions with students, teachers, and administrators from across San Diego County. They also curated research on the issue of student discipline and the disproportionality of suspensions experienced by students of color and from marginalized communities, and compiled resources to support schools in improving climate and culture and making students feel a greater sense of belonging.
“We wanted to develop an improvement network that is grounded in the lived experiences of the people most impacted by systems, practices, policies, and procedures,” stated Escanuela. “The data we collected has informed our approach and focus to supporting schools and districts in the Culture and Climate network.”
The four schools applied to join the network and established a Climate and Culture Team (CCT) to help lead these improvement efforts. Teams from the four schools included principals, vice principals, counselors, classroom teachers, front office staff, campus security, and other staff members that play critical roles in supporting student discipline at these schools.
The kickoff session was designed to build community amongst the schools, establish a shared commitment to creating the necessary conditions in their schools where every student feels a true sense of belonging, examine discipline and student perception data in order to better understand the current reality. They also worked to develop a plan to further investigate their school system and the ways in which the current policies, practices, and procedures may impact student outcomes and shape how young people experience belonging in their school communities.
“We appreciate the structure and collaboration within our team and with the County — both on-campus and in dedicated spaces that allow us to engage deeply without interruption,” said Dr. Nea Hearn, principal of Mann Middle School. “We understand our role within the network and are excited to contribute as an example of effective systems already in place. Most importantly, we value examining data in a supportive, non-punitive way that helps strengthen our school community.”
Participants left October’s session feeling both courageous and hopeful, inspired to lead the change back at their schools and committed to making their school more inclusive and supportive for all students. Teams will be supported in this initial action period by an improvement coach who will regularly visit and guide their system investigation. Schools will reconvene in December for the second learning session, sharing what they learned with each other, and determining specific areas to focus their improvement efforts. Their collective work to improve their climate and culture within CCN will continue through June 2027.
Learn more by visiting the CCN webpage.