San Juan Unified School District implements “8 Point Commitment Social-Emotional Learning Curriculum” to include “Identity Safe Zones,” mandatory antiracism training

On January 6, 2021, the San Juan Unified School District Curriculum, Standards, Instructional, and Student Services Board Advisory Committee held a meeting that included an equity update. The following are a few selected points:

San Juan’s 8 Point Commitments as mentioned above include points like:

Like many of you, we in San Juan Unified feel the urgency to take responsibility for ending the injustices that are occurring in our educational system. At the same time, we feel frustrated with the history of equity reform where an incremental change of systems and structures fail to significantly improve the outcomes for our youth. With the trigger of the untimely death of George Floyd, the district received numerous inquiries from community members asking how they can be a part of the solution in dismantling institutional racism. This outpouring of support gave us a feeling of hope. In June, we engaged the community in 6 listening sessions: two sessions focused on listening to families and staff how we can change in our schools and our community, two sessions focused on reviewing the data and prioritizing high leverage themes, the last session looked at the identified themes and recommended district actions believed to result in fulfilling our purpose around educational equity. A team refined this work into San Juan Unified’s 8 Point Commitment to Educational Justice.  

Our 8-Point Commitment to Eductional Justice