More than 200 people came together on the South Coast this weekend to talk about equity in education.
Educators, administrators, students and parents attended Cal State Channel Islands’ 9th Annual Conference for Social Justice in Education yesterday at its campus in Camarillo. This year’s theme was “First Do No Harm: Challenging Laws, Policies and Practices that Undermine Social Justice in Education.”
Joe Mendoza with the Ventura County Office of Education – who works with at-risk students – was one of the speakers. He says social justice starts with the school districts.
"I think what we need to do is go back and consider what's best for the student and then create whatever regulations are necessary," he said. "They're skipping that element. They're just focusing on 'We know what's best, and this is how it's going to go.' And I don't think that's fair."
Participants broke out into smaller groups to attend workshops that covered a number of topics including discussions on dropout, suspension and absentee rates and a study on how students may be differently prepared in math based on race.