So whenever you have all this diversity coming in, and you have a teaching force that really is not equipped and prepared to engage with the language barriers and the cultural diversity, thats when you see as some of these issues that are happening. And the research says once kids are behind, they typically stay behind. Dr. Hurst joins WCCUSD after spending the past five years as the Superintendent of the Othello District in Othello, Washington where he significantly increased graduation rates and decreased chronic absenteeism rates for students. I have an unwavering commitment and dedication to supporting a culture of inclusion and equity throughout the district and community, and what excites me is that we have a board and learning community interested in educational equity for all students., Fight your California speeding ticket and win, Recover Stolen/Missing Crypto/Funds/Assets. Questions, comments, or suggestions? Education | General | Kennedy High School | community. I think warning signs are important so our teachers receiving training on how to identify those warning signs of any type of abuse thats happening, and then the referral process as well. At Oceanside High School, Dr. Hurst led double-digit growth in the schools academic growth performance. (Courtesy of West Contra Costa Unified). West Contra Costa Unified school board members unanimously approve a three-year superintendent contract for Kenneth Chris Hurst, shown with his wife Crystal in the center of the bottom row. He needs to acknowledge or review the abuse of the lowest performing students not given lunches, substitutes and other such things I witnessed myself. While serving as the Associate Superintendent of Educational Services, he supervised the Oceanside Promises implementation to ensure all Oceanside students graduated ready for college and career and established the Oceanside Promise Foundation, a 501(c)(3). Superintendent Hurst is WCCUSD's 10th permanent superintendent and first permanent African American superintendent. Hurst got his start in the education field in San Diego County, after serving 12 years in the Marines; he served combat duty in Desert Storm and was a drill instructor, communications specialist and maintenance supervisor at Camp Pendleton. He Read More. There are also massive inequalities in income levels among families in the district and the different communities it encompasses. Its an unhealthy system. Why are students starting their own businesses right out of high school? It takes things like early literacy as well. Next, he worked as a principal under former San Diego Unified Superintendent Alan, Bersin. Cmon, folks lets stop expecting out of the box miracles in the face of head in the sand funding. Contact. But she actually is very efficient in technology. AnnMarie Baines Founder & Executive Director, The Practice Space. My dad was in the Army. Marvin Parker, 99th Logistics Readiness Squadron superintendent, Chief Master Sgt. More than half of the districts students are Latino, 14% are Black, 10% are white, and 8% are Asian. Then you dont see students walk into the classroom, where they disengaged. Christopher Hurst, 99th Security Forces Squadron superintendent, Chief Master Sgt. Bay Area students chosen as semifinalists in the prestigious U.S. Presidential Scholars Program who made the cut? UPDATE 10:06 a.m.: Incumbent Del. The board for the West Contra Costa Unified School District unanimously selected Kenneth "Chris" Hurst, Sr., Wednesday as the District's next superintendent. to be the next of superintendent of San Bernardino City Unified, and will take over there on July 1. Prior to his long career in education, he served 12 years in the U.S. Marine Corps. Its going to take a community effort, to take all of us working together as one for a shared vision.. Comments post automatically without review from our staff, but we reserve the right to delete material that is libelous, a personal attack, or spam. Phillips declined to comment on what set Hurst apart from other applicants, citing a closed-session deliberation, but he did praise the hiring process as yielding a desirable outcome. Thurmonds leadership? We love to go to movies. So thats really our growth. The West Contra Costa Unified School District's Board of Trustees named Othello School District Superintendent Dr. Kenneth "Chris" Hurst, Sr. as the District's next superintendent. The district plans to reopen campuses for hybrid instruction on Mondayafter more than a year of distance learning. West Contra Costa Unified enrolled about 28,000 students last school year, according to U.S. Department of Education data. We are presenting to this community someone who can help and I say help because nobody can do this work alone take us to the next level, board president Mister Phillips said at the school board meeting. EditorsNote: As a special project, EdSource is tracking developments in theOaklandUnified and West Contra Costa Unified School Districts as a way to illustrate some of the challenges facing other urban districts in California. Were able to hire more counselors as well. Like many large urban California districts, West Contra Costa Unified has experienced considerable budget woes in recent years. Hurst said he was drawn to West Contra Costa for a similar reason he was drawn to Othello: wanting to improve educational systems to ensure student success. Everything that Ive shared with you is what I plan to implement: preschool to close the early literacy gap; project-based learning to really address student engagement; as well as focus on building leadership capacity; and focus on building teacher capacity, culturally relevant teaching as well; but also addressing systemic inequities by having implicit bias training for our teachers. They focus a lot on design thinking, a process which is out of Stanford as well, which is a problem-solving approach. We hired a leader who will lead WCCUSD teachers, administrators, and staff with a united vision, transparency, and accountability. Please make sure JavaScript is enabled and then try loading this page again. Weve been married for almost 40 years, 39 years in December. Teachers, principals, and district administrators need to learn the notes of high quality instruction before they can play jazz. We went back to Germany. The theory of action is: build capacity across a system so we could better support the students, because thats what it comes down to, how are we better helping and supporting students. The staff at Richmond High School are backing student demands and uplifting them to engage the whole community. (The school) became a college-going community, and the beginning of a journey for me: where I could see how you can implement effective strategies in a struggling community and really change the outcomes for students and their lives, Hurst said. Dr. Hurst also tripled the number of children enrolled in preschool and increased the percent of preschool students prepared for kindergarten from 30 percent to more than 98 percent. She also has this Braille laptop as well. Sylvester Greenwood and Dr. Cynthia LeBlanc each served one-year terms as interim . In Oceanside, Dr. Hurst collaborated with ConnectEd California, implementing Linked Learning to establish K-12 industry-aligned pathways to prepare students to succeed in college and career. I think another piece that Im working on that will tie into the graduation rate is student engagement. Dr. Hurst also served as an administrator in the San Diego Unified and Poway Unified school districts. Thats probably the biggest piece for me as far as priorities, is really working with our students. Dr. Hurst may think that his SoCal experience will help him. Graduation rate is a systemic issue and it really goes to building this whole healthy system. Im a big proponent on ethnic studies, so youre going to see that happening in our district. Chris Hurst Superintendent, West Contra Costa Unified School District. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); We welcome your comments. And its not been happening, especially with our Black and our Latinx students, so thats a big concern as well. I firmly believe that every single person was designed to do something big and to contribute back to society in a big way. The Board voted 5-0 at Wednesday nights board meeting on a three-year contract for Dr. Hurst that begins May 17. Really, we love to read. We have to look at our training for our principals, because our principals have responsibility of going into the classrooms and being able to identify what are the elements of culturally responsive teaching, what does great teaching look like, and ensuring that theyre providing really good authentic feedback to those teachers as well, thats going to build their capacity. The district has schools in Richmond, El Cerrito, San Pablo, Hercules, Pinole and other cities and communities in west Contra Costa County. The small academy Hurst oversaw was geared toward students interested in careers in medicine, with a pathway for graduates to go directly into nursing assistant jobs. Hurst said he was concerned about the lagging average test scores of Black and Latino students, as well as their lower graduation rates and higher rates of expulsions and suspensions. This is in addition to sending a letter of demands to the superintendent and being present for public comment at the school board meeting. Othello School Board Vice President Jenn Stevenson said Hurst was known for thinking outside of the box and welcoming new ideas; he also brought new views and a focus on equity to the district, as well as focusing on equity and justice. One of the things Ill share with you is based on our research. How do you like to spend your leisure time? You know, you hear about the districts that are mandating vaccinations, we are not there yet, but were having conversations about strongly encouraging vaccinations because we know thats one of the best mitigation strategies that we can employ. They showed me how to be a leader in school, a great teacher is well. WCCUSD1108 Bissell AvenueRichmond, CA 94801, Room 100Phone: (510) 231-1101Fax: (510) 236-6784, Dr. Kenneth Chris Hurst,SuperintendentEmail:chris.hurst@wccusd.net, Rosa Cornejo, Executive SecretaryEmail:RCornejo@wccusd.net, Genesis Munoz, Senior Confidential SecretaryEmail: genesis.munoz@wccusd.net. Ervin has just been selected to be the next of superintendent of San Bernardino City Unified, and will take over there on July 1. And I really am now interested in making sure that that doesnt happen to kids, which is why Im really invested in education but especially in systemic inequities and vertical inequities within the system. Please check your entries and try again. To read more, click the Meet Dr. Hurst headline. We love to walk. Because of the professors or because of the teachers. Im not sure if youre familiar with the High Tech High School System, mainly in the San Diego area, but they do whats called learn by doing. So anything that involves her is what I like to be involved in. He also facilitated instructional rounds for the Oceanside high school network and the LCAP development. First day of school. Kenneth Chris Hurst Sr. is the new leader of the West Contra Costa Unified School District,replacing Matthew Duffy, who led WCCUSD for five years. She actually contracted encephalitis at 9, which is a virus, and we believe it was an insect like a mosquito that was carrying the virus, but shes had to go through a lot in her life and to prove to people that she can do anything, because sometimes people view people who are visually impaired as being disabled and not being able to do certain things. I was born in Germany. One of the things we do know is, were able to reduce class sizes so our teachers can really have smaller class sizes and be able to check in with students more frequently. Anyone reading articles, research and more, both academic and not, knows this. The. Im equally excited about deepening our understanding of equity and systemic inequities and also moving toward what it should look like, feel like, and sound like to have an equitable and culturally responsive education for all students.. So, even though we have some high-performing districts across the United States, theyre not as high-performing as other countries, other developed countries across the globe. I think Ive spent more time in California than any place, because after I got out of the Marine Corps, we kind of settled in Southern California and San Diego. So some students may define success as being able to get into Stanford or USC or Berkeley or UCSD or something like that, and that they have that list of goals. Everything that Im sharing with you ties to like the graduation rate. I think its inspirational, motivational, and I know people will look up to me as a positive African American role model.. Hurst said he assisted in Bersins, From San Diego, he became a principal in Oceanside in. Its about accumulating these skills so I can use these skills to make the United States or the globe a better place, and to really tackle pressing economic issues and global issues like COVID. Our goal is to produce professional and engaging journalism that is useful for the citizens of the city.Please send news tips to richconstaff@gmail.com. I just loved it, from low-entry mathematics to high-level calculus. But in addition inequitable funding of districts, the bigger issue is that a _familys_ income is the biggest factor in a childs educational success. All rights reserved. Daryl Camp, superintendent of San Lorenzo Unified near Oakland and president of the California Association for African American Superintendents and Administrators, or CAAASA, agreed. But what we see also across the United States and in Richmond is that, generally speaking, our teaching force is made up 70% of white women. Were coming back to in person, so I want to make sure that our students are safe, and so were doing everything in our power to make sure we have mitigation strategies in place. Hurst said theres a correlation between students not being in class due to suspensions and expulsion and their academic performance. Superintendent Dr. Kenneth "Chris" Hurst, Sr. is the 10th permanent superintendent in West Contra Costa Unified School District History. Its really a focus on safety and COVID safety and having mitigation strategies in place. Dear Abby: I have a great life, so why have I fallen into this shameful behavior? Dr. Hurst succeeds Matthew Duffy, who announced in November that he would not seek an extension to his contract. His military service includes Maintenance Supervisor at Camp Pendleton (19911993), Combat Duty (Desert Storm), Saudi Arabia (19901991), Communications Instructor/Supervisor at Camp Pendleton (19881990), Drill Instructor, San Diego (19861988), and Communications Specialist at Camp Pendleton (19821986). "This morning, I tried to reach Delegate-elect Jason Ballard to congratulate him on last night's results and I hope we have the chance to talk soon. He needs to review what happened with those vacancies, like the Janitor, or clerk I reported that were hidden from the databases in the subsystem as permanent employees in the same position for years and not posting vacancies, having unequal numbers of subs whom could be temporary contracts if there are equal number of employees out. Why struggle with bad credits when you can actually get them fixed within a couple of days with, I tried getting a car loan sometime last year but my credit score of about 521 ruined the process. Yeah, I did address this a little bit. What the research says is that most of the growth that were going to see over the next several years is going to be from students coming from Spanish-speaking populations, and from Mandarin-speaking populations. Chief Master Sgt. Dr. Hurst earned his Doctorate in Education, K-12 Leadership (Magna Cum Laude), at the University of Southern California in 2011, and his Master of Arts Degree in Educational Administration (Magna Cum Laude) in 2008, and his Bachelor of Science, a degree in Mathematics in 1997 at California State University, San Marcos. I think for me, overarching, were going to be working on what we call a graduate profile, which is what we want our students to know and be able to do when they graduate. WCCUSD's Board of Education hired Dr. Hurst on April 14, 2021, making him the first permanent African American superintendent. I took my love for teaching in the Marine Corps and my talent for math and I decided to become a math teacher and computer science teacher as well. Dear Abby: Am I overreacting to my European daughter-in-law's behavior? Well involve students also into this conversation because we want to hear from them about what they want to have when they graduate. How will you address the systemic inequality that BIPOC students have had to deal with? I was the type of student that really excelled in math and I used to love taking tests like an assessment, and I was the type of student that would go in and I would just excel, get 100% and do the extra credit. And as I look at large, urban systems like San Diego or LA or Oakland or Long Beach and even, West Contra Costa Unified School District, these are large systems which for the most part are failing are Black and brown kids. Ask Amy: I put a security camera in my room, and what I saw was creepy, Ask Amy: My fiancee's family says I'm not invited, and she's going without me, The dad whose wife and child were among 5 killed by a neighbor in Texas describes how the massacre unfolded, 'Total dominance': Steph Curry breaks NBA Game 7 record, leads Warriors over Kings, Dear Abby: The reason her fiance hid his phone was something she never guessed, Mortgage fees to rise for buyers with high credit scores, fall for those with lower scores, Kurtenbach: Steph Curry built the Warriors dynasty. Our kids need to see positive influences that resemble their cultures, their ethnic background and ethnic makeup.. Comments from the same user posted under multiple aliases may be deleted. Find Us . File photo Finalists for superintendent are: Dr. Kenneth (Chris) Hurst, superintendent, Othello School District, Othello, WA 2023 Richmond Confidential. Vancouver Public Schools has. I wanted to go to a military school. Although only 6% of the states student enrollment is Black, an even smaller percentage have been selected to run districts. As Superintendent of the 4,500 student District located about 3 hours southeast of Seattle, Dr. Hurst increased graduation rates by 16 percent from 71 percent to 87 percent and reduced absences by 33 percent. No FCMAT investigation was called in, a grand jury and the board could have each requested it along with the county COE (whom I emailed and sent material to with no response) or the superintendents could have. Best to relabel it the Professional Practices Gap. If your browser is out of date, try updating it. Its going to be a community conversation. I think its really dependent upon our students I think its individual success and individually defined. Chris Hurst -- Los Angeles, California, United States 1 connection. Dr. Hurst also tripled the number of children enrolled in preschool and increased the percent of preschool students prepared for kindergarten from 30 percent to more than 98 percent. This is kind of a lengthy response, but what I will say, first we have to build a healthy system, which means looking at our organization and how we are structured. Diablo Unified, Kyla Johnson-Trammell of Oakland Unified, Vincent Matthews of San Francisco Unified and Harry Doc Ervin of Bakersfield City School District. Before leading the Othello School District, Dr. Hurst served as Associate Superintendent of Educational Services in Oceanside Unified School District, a 19,000 student district 35 minutes northwest of San Diego. Hurst is not just qualified to support our district through these very challenging times, but he has also gone through a successful school reopening in his previous district.. Jeff Taylor, Read More. Next, he worked as a principal under former San Diego Unified Superintendent Alan Bersin. So professional learning is going to be a very big key here in Richmond and across the United States. Two-thirds of the students qualify for free and reduced price meals. In his new role, Dr. Hurst will bear the distinction of the being the WCCUSD's first permanent African American superintendent. He went on to become associate superintendent of educational services at Oceanside Unified, where he oversaw the start of the Oceanside Promise a program with a nonprofit arm intended to ensure. Having engaging, culturally relevant curriculum is also important to keeping students on track, he said. Board of Trustees Hires Districts First Permanent African American Superintendent. Hurst also led the districts transition to distance learning at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and to a hybrid model this school year in which students get part of their instruction via distance learning, and some in-person. So its going to be really important that our teachers check in individually with our students and really find out whats happening. The result was double-digit growth in academic test scores. Ive been to Japan, Ive been to Okinawa, Ive been to South Korea, a lot of different places. Sylvester Greenwood andDr. Cynthia LeBlanc each served one-year terms as interim superintendents. Ive been looking over the trend data over the past several years and Ive seen that, especially our Black students and our Latinx students have struggled in especially mathematics and English language arts, but also a number of suspensions, expulsions; we have a high chronic absenteeism rate. He also implemented Othellos K-12 pathway, the Districts Social-Emotional Learning Standards. Following that, he received his doctorate in education at the University of Southern California in 2011. So my whole concept is making sure that we get curriculum in front of our kids, that [we get] role models for our kids that look like them. Ervin. I believe that every person, including you, has a big vision in store for them, and what I believe is that its my responsibility to give people the tools to unlock, like what is that vision, what is my purpose in life, what was I designed to do. They didnt in 2019 or after or didnt say they did? I look forward to working with him, and I have confidence in the experience and ability that he is bringing to this table.. I have a lot of rich experiences, so I cant say that I grew up in one single place. I have an unwavering commitment and dedication to supporting a culture of inclusion and equity throughout the district and community, and what excites me is that we have a board and learning community interested in educational equity for all students.. Were not going to let anyone hosannah you in and crucify you out, Smith-Folds told Hurst at the meeting, said, alluding to an often typical pattern of welcoming incoming superintendents as a savior for all the districts problems, before disillusionment sets in, and they are forced out. Sylvester Greenwood and Dr. Cynthia LeBlanc each served one-year terms as interim superintendents. John Moore, 757th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron superintendent, Chief Master Sgt. Dr. And how do our teachers address and work with those differences as well? Dr. College and Covid: Freshman Year Disrupted, Education During Covid: Families Struggle to Learn. Ive been in the San Diego area the longest, I was there for 35 years, so we kind of call Southern California our home. Keep it simple and focused on a few aligned professional practices. 2/22/2023 4:33 PM. In Othello, Dr. Hurst led a District with a student population that is 91 percent Latinx, 32 percent English Language Learners, and 75 percent free and reduced-price lunch through the transition to Distance Learning at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and from Distance Learning to a hybrid model this year. Of course the masking. I really believe that especially urban systems are fundamentally broken and are failing Black and brown students across the United States. Hell get better at his craft, but he is a sitting superintendent with a track record of success, not just where he currently is, but everywhere hes gone, from what I can see.. Employee Information Salary History Employer Information Employer Thames Valley District School Board Employees with the same employer Position Information Shes an amazing person and shes the wisest person that I know. Reading articles, research and more, both academic and not.. Michael Littleton Richmond Promise Board Chair, Former Senior Vice President of Finance, Gu Energy Labs. He became assistant principal in Poway Unified just north of San Diego, where he helped open Westview High School in 2002. But Hurst doesnt just want to throw things at people, he said in an interview with EdSource. She is visually impaired, she is blind. Richmond Confidential is an online news service produced by the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism for, and about, the people of Richmond, California. With my wife. There just isnt anymore.. , and the number of children enrolled in preschool tripled, the news release said. Why is the suspension rate for Black and Latinx students so high in Richmond? Copyright 2002-2023 Blackboard, Inc. All rights reserved. But that means a lot of work needs to happen within the district, because right now, as I look at our district, West Contra Costa Unified School District, were not set up for success. He said he was also drawn by the district and school boards passion for equity and mission statement to bring students a quality education so that they can better their community while being global citizens. It was a close decision, he added. If we develop our teachers and our principals, then theyre going to provide quality instruction, because theres a lot of research between a good teacher, an average teacher and an expert teacher. The patient needs a very limited and focused diet for improvement. Your request appears similar to malicious requests sent by robots. So how do we check in with them during the school day? He collaborated to implement the Future Ready technology initiative, designed to create a shared vision of preparing students for success in college, career, and citizenship. Its about giving back, and giving ourselves to the community of West Contra Costa, Hurst said of he and his wife. I think Ive already talked to you about the soft start and checking with our students about their social social emotional learning needs. That is not to say unions are bad, quite the contrary they just need to focus more on helping protect employees, especially the most vulnerable not raising salaries. His second should be to Assm. And I think, as I shared before, we overall are not serving our Latinx kids and our Black kids well in our district on a number of different fronts. He holds a masters degree in educational administration and a bachelors in mathematics from California State University San Marcos. The main reason he took the job, though, was to be a part of the work happening there to improve student success. He also facilitated instructional rounds for the Oceanside high school network and the LCAP development. So I think, just to go back to your question, I think success is going to be individually defined by our students. Theres this assessment that comes out on an annual basis, its called the program of International Student Assessment, and it has rankings in English language arts, math and science, and were close to the bottom out of 35 industrial nations. Status: Active: District Type: Agreed. c***@dcdsb.ca. Its about sitting down with teachers, support staff, with parents, district office personnel and all stakeholders to have this conversation about what the data is telling us, Hurst said. In Oceanside, Dr. Hurst collaborated with ConnectEd California, implementing Linked Learning to establish K-12 industry-aligned pathways to prepare students to succeed in college and career. Kenneth "Chris" Hurst, 60, who served as a superintendent at a school district in Washington state, will be West Contra Costa Unified's first permanent Black superintendent. Its not just about getting a job and making money. Silent. In Oceanside, he implemented some of the same strategies he adopted at the small schools in San Diego, he said. He also boosted the districts linked learning programs, which integrate academics with real-world work experiences. Hurst should identify a few professional practices such as Explicit Instruction or Formative Assessment with Descriptive Feedback and develop a plan to implement, monitor, and hold everyone accountable for the execution of these aligned practices at very high performance levels. There are some other pieces that are priorities for me but I would say those are the top two priorities.

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