Long Beach City College welcomed a special guest to campus this morning: the White House.
A team from the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans presented two community forum sessions to packed conference rooms today, in an attempt to receive feedback from those involved in education to identify challenges and solutions when it comes to improving education nationwide. The sessions were part of the organization’s “Community Conversations” tour that will take them to 18 states and Puerto Rico that they hope will help shape an agenda for the Obama Administration’s plan for education.
“It’s a great opportunity to not just highlight what’s going on in Long Beach, but also to get the word out in the community,” said LBCC President Eloy Oakley. “It’s a strategy that hasn’t happened before and I applaud them for getting out and coming here today.”
Juan Sepulveda, director of the Initiative, said that his office was specifically pointed in the direction of LBCC as they looked for campuses to visit on the “Community Conversations” tour.
“The primary reason is LBCC is a great college and doing great things,” said Sepulveda, who called the role of community colleges “crucial” in this current age of students looking for affordable education. His office was directed to LBCC by the Lumina Foundation, an independent organization that works in higher education.
“It just sounded like there were great things going on here.”
But Sepulveda’s goals are not merely focused around higher education. As director of the Initiative, his job is to identify ways to improve education for Hispanic Americans from pre-kindergarten to graduate school. Thursday morning’s session focused on just that, as Sepulveda laid out a presentation and asked for detailed feedback from the audience.
Councilmember Tonia Reyes Uranga was in attendance during the early morning session, and laid out the issues of literacy, counseling services and retention services as key areas for improvement in Latino education at all levels. President Oakley explained that 90% of incoming LBCC students were placed in basic math, and more than half in basic reading – his point being that students should be better prepared to enter a college level of education.
Sepulveda and other Initiative members took notes that they will use in developing the education agenda that will be approved and signed by President Obama in the coming months. He expressed that the goal is to combine solutions from schools across the nation and allow them to network with each other to share ideas and strategies.
Some challenges, of course, will be difficult to overcome. Richard Corpus, a former math teacher at Oscar De La Hoya charter school in East Los Angeles who was recently laid off, said that he recently attended the funeral of one of his students who was shot and killed. Other students attending the funeral were shocked to see him outside of the classroom, an issue which Corpus says shows a troubling disconnect.
“They associate school with school and community with community,” he told the room.
For Sepulveda, the challenges facing the Latino community hit home. A graduate of Harvard and Stanford law, he was just the third Latino to ever receive a Rhodes scholarship to study in Oxford. During his presentation, Sepulveda joked that the only reason he received his degrees was to prepare for filling out his kids’ financial aid forms. But he maintains faith that improvements can be made, and says the aid forms will soon be available completely online and streamlined for easier completion. They’ll also be available in Spanish, a tool which he says is key to helping Latino students navigate the tricky waters of higher education.
Sepulveda also outlined ideas to offer quality teachers incentives to work in needy schools, and terminate teachers who just don’t provide a high level of quality. He also voiced support for the Dream Act, which would provide temporary residency to children who are undocumented – allowing them to attend college. He says that America is missing out on an opportunity to educate community leaders because they are undocumented, and asked for help in lobbying legislators for their support.
The important thing is getting these kids into higher education, he said, and community college is often the springboard that kids need. He speaks from experience; Sepulveda’s wife attended a community college in Illinois before enrolling at Columbia to finish her studies.
“When we are going to college, we’re going to community college,” he said.
President Oakley knows that well enough, and has sought to capitalize on Long Beach’s human capital with the College Promise – a two-year old partnership between LBUSD, LBCC and CSULB that helps create a pathway for students to attend college. LBCC was singled out by Sepulveda and the Initiative for good reason: they’ve been trying new strategies to connect the Latino community with education for years. Oakley hopes the White House will be able to accomplish everything they’re aiming for.
“These sessions are a great idea,” he said, retaking his seat after speaking at the front of the room beside Reyes Uranga, Corpus and others. Each of the six speaking volunteers were given two one-minute opportunities to identify challenges and solutions in their community.
“It’s just hard to solve all of education’s problems in 120 seconds.”