Editor’s Note: a former version of this article incorrectly stated that Cheryl Cotton had completed her doctorate from UC Berkeley. She is currently enrolled in the program.
As students return to school today, West Contra Costa Unified’s recently hired superintendent has given herself 100 days to accomplish a number of goals that ultimately are about listening and building trust.
Cheryl Cotton, who officially started her role on June 20, is counting July 28 as her real first day. The former deputy superintendent for public instruction at the California Department of Education was starting her education doctorate from UC Berkeley’s Leaders for Equity and Democracy program over the summer. Now, she is focusing on listening, building trust and stabilizing the school district.
“The goal right now is making sure that we have what we need to get school started and that we’re listening and learning from each other,” Cotton told Richmondside. “I can come in with goals, and if they’re not aligned to what the community needs, they’re not helpful.”
Cotton, who attended WCCUSD schools and worked as a principal at Valley View and Madera elementary schools, said she understands that she is now leading a district that sits in a tenuous position. WCCUSD has had to cut millions of dollars to balance its budget and evade state receivership; the district is struggling to attract and retain educators; chronic absenteeism is on the rise; and students on average are not performing to state standards. In addition, a number of campuses are undergoing construction or waiting for much-needed improvements and trust between district leadership, educators and parents has been frustratingly low.
The first 30 days are about building trust, Cotton says
Cotton said before she can begin to address any problems, she must first build trust with the community. To do so, she intends to visit three to five schools a week, host a “coffee with the superintendent” at schools for staff and parents, and attend student-centered events throughout August. She also wants to hold town halls in every trustee area for parents to share concerns. Her plan is to publish a public “What We Learned” summary of her listening tour in September.
She said she has already met with a number of “interest holders,” a term she likes to use instead of stakeholders because it is more inclusive. She visited a number of summer schools during the summer, met with district leadership and different principals as well as the different unions at the school district, including United Teachers of Richmond. The teachers union is still negotiating its contract, which ended in June.
“Within the first two weeks, we’ve had a chance to really tap into and connect with our unions, and bring back our joint management meetings and really look at what are some of the shared challenges that we’re facing, and really work toward some solutions,” Cotton said.
This month, her office also launched a back-to-school attendance awareness campaign and task force, in which the district partners with different community-based organizations, like Safe Organized Spaces Richmond, Girls Club or RYSE, to identify root causes of chronic absenteeism and solutions.
“Over the summer, we started contacting families who had some absentee issues last year and encouraging them to be at school,” Cotton said. “We are asking what they need and connecting the community with those backpack giveaways, tennis shoe giveaways — things that make back to school so exciting.”
Cotton said she wants families to feel safe coming to school, pointing to the new training the administration is receiving to address immigration concerns.
The superintendent is also focusing on fiscal transparency and stabilization. Her plan is to conduct a fiscal review with the Contra Costa County Office of Education and the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (a state-funded agency in California that provides fiscal advice, management assistance, training, and other related school business services) to assess solvency risks.
The review will be shared publicly and will be used to create a 90-day stabilization roadmap in September.
After the 30 days: Communicate direction, align systems, empower leadership
After Cotton’s listening tour in August, the superintendent has five main areas of focus for days 31 to 100.
The first component is enhancing communication with families and staff. To do so, Cotton plans to launch a weekly superintendent update, establish a parent advisory council and host monthly “Real Talk” live streams to share progress and give space for interest holders to share concerns.
The superintendent also plans to create a local data dashboard to track critical student and school metrics, including chronic absenteeism, enrollment trends, literacy and math performance, suspensions, and staffing levels. The goal is to use real-time data to drive decisions and enhance accountability.
To address staffing shortages and retention, Cotton hopes to create a short-term retention and recruitment plan that would speed up fall hiring processes and improve working conditions. As of Aug. 6, WCCUSD had 71 educator vacancies. Seventy-six educators left at the end of the school year and 50 educators retired, according to data shared by the district’s human resources department. Cotton also wants the district’s Human Resources department to work with the unions to analyze staff attrition trends and exit interview data to inform planning.
She said as the district faces millions of dollars in cuts and federal threats to education funding, it has to find other means of recruiting and rewarding teachers. Part of that is providing more resources for educators to grow in their fields, including access to training or other benefits.
She also wants to create a leadership cabinet of principals and administrators to increase communication between the district and the different campuses and provide coaching around instructional leadership and team building.
Another major priority is analyzing the district’s curriculum because many WCCUSD students are falling behind. Cotton wants to create a Teaching and Learning Leadership Council, comprised of teachers, site leaders and curriculum staff, to audit curriculum and identify inconsistencies and gaps.
“We have lots of things, lots of good things going on, lots of maybe not as effective things going on,” Cotton said. “So (it’s about) figuring out what’s working and what’s not, and getting us working on the same page.”
After the 100 days are up: Tackle critical issues like literacy and math
The goal of Cotton’s 100-day plan is to have enough information to then get the school district on the right path. She wants the district to revisit its three-year strategic plan so that it effectively addresses what she says are the most critical issues: early literacy and math foundations, student and family engagement, equity and inclusion and fiscal sustainability.
Cotton also wants to restructure the way the district operates so that the district departments are site-focused and service-oriented.
“Having a service-oriented central office means being able to say, ‘What is it that you need for our school sites? What do you need for our staffing?,’ ” Cotton said. “My goal is to make sure that we are all coming together and supporting each other. Not one person is doing the lift. We are all engaged in this work … and we (the district) got your back.”
Cotton added that the theme for this school year is “We are one Contra Costa.”
“It’s not just me, it is all of us coming together to do this work, to serve our students,” the superintendent said.
I would like to know how to access some of these events and meetings the Superintendent is talking about.