March 15, 2024 • 25 mins
Unlock the secrets to building a thriving educational community with Lisa Solomon and Elisa Briseño-Sandoval, the trailblazing leaders of the FACE team at Santa Ana Unified School District. Our conversation is a celebration of engagement, uncovering the innovative strategies that are connecting schools with families and community partners alike. Discover how the FACE team is championing parental voices, ensuring their inclusion in the decision-making fabric of their children's education, and seamlessly weaving the Eight Dimensions of Wellness into the heart of their programs.
Step into our collaborative learning space as we illuminate the cultural wealth and aspirational strength that parents contribute to the educational ecosystem. By launching a bilingual podcast, the FACE team is not only meeting the community's needs but is also co-creating a platform for parents to expand their advocacy skills and enhance students' outcomes. Listen to a powerful narrative that demonstrates the transformative impact of empowering families, fostering belonging, and the ongoing dedication required to ensure every voice is heard and valued within our schools.
Visit us at our Buzzsprout site for more ways to listen, links to our social media sites and any referenced materials, and complete transcripts of our full-length episodes: https://bit.ly/SAUSDAmplifyingLeadership
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Bianca Barquin (00:08):
Welcome to another episode of SAUSD's
Amplifying Leadership.
I'm your host, Bianca Barquin,and today we have a very special
episode.
Joining us in the studio areour amazing Director of Family
and Community Engagement, LisaSolomon, and Elisa Briseño-
Sandoval, our remarkable FACECoordinator and product of SAUSD
(00:30):
.
Today we're diving deep intothe world of family and
community engagement and thetransformative journey it's
taken over the past year.
So let's get started.
Welcome, Lisa and Elisa.
It's wonderful to have you bothhere.
Lisa Solomon (00:45):
Thank you for having us, Bianca.
We're super excited to be here.
Elisa Briseño-Sandoval (00:49):
Thank you so much, Bianca, for having
us here.
It's great to be able to sharewith our families and our
community all the great workthat Family and Community
Engagement is doing.
Bianca Barquin (00:58):
Awesome.
So let's kick things off.
To start, for those listenerswho might not be familiar with
our amazing FACE team Lisa, whatrole does the FACE team play
here at SAUSD and within ourlarger community?
Lisa Solomon (01:13):
I think our FACE team plays a huge role and in
different capacities.
I feel like we're here toempower our families, to make
sure that people's voices areheard, including community
members, students, families,parents, and then also our role
is to make sure, too, that we'remaking that strong connection
(01:34):
between a school, the communitypartners and the families that
we have.
We focus on the strengths thatour families bring out.
We've been focusing a lot oncultural wealth, making sure
that we're tapping into that.
We also want to make sure thatwe're creating networks where
people are learning to supporteach other.
We're building strength andcapacity within not just
(01:56):
families but also staff, wherepeople are taking on stronger
leadership roles and we'rebuilding leaders that will go
out and help to make ourcommunity a better place,
advocate for services andprograms, and also share what
they have within them witheveryone else.
Bianca Barquin (02:14):
Thank you, Lisa.
Now let's expand on this alittle bit.
Can you tell me about thejourney of revitalizing the FACE
team and how you've alignedyour core values and mission
with SAUSD Board priorities?
Lisa Solomon (02:31):
I think we've also done this in a lot of different
ways.
Family and Community Engagementis a board priority, but it
goes back to are we looking atthe funds of knowledge that our
families have and are webuilding on those strengths that
the families have?
So that's where we're starting.
We've gone back and revisitedour core values, not just as a
FACE team, but we've alsobrought parents into that
(02:51):
process.
Then we've reestablished amission and a vision for not
just FACE, but even for ourentire district.
We made sure that we cametogether with district personnel
those teachers, students, andparents at the table to help
reestablish a new vision for us.
So the work that we're doingisn't about just FACE.
It's about the work that we'redoing with everyone and it's the
(03:14):
work that everybody in SAUSD isdoing to make sure that we're
all part of Family and CommunityEngagement.
It's not just one department,it's not just one person.
It's about all of us workingtogether to help empower our
families.
So we've reestablished a vision.
We've provided additionaltrainings, professional
developments, but I think themost important thing that we
(03:34):
have done is we've made surethat parents are at the table
when we're making decisions.
Parents are at the table whenwe're establishing and designing
parent workshops, parenttrainings, parent academies, as
we like to call them.
We've really made sure thatparents' voices are heard.
Then also, we've had a focus oneven helping parents to see the
(03:57):
cultural wealth that they haveinside of them.
So we've been working on, inSpanish, las riquezas que
tenemos adentro de nosotros.
There's so much that familiesalready come with, there's so
many strengths, so much thatthey can offer to help not only
themselves be successful, but tohelp our community be
successful.
And then, of course, what wefocus on in Santa Ana helping
(04:19):
our students to be as successfulas possible.
Bianca Barquin (04:22):
It's really true , Lisa, as I watch you and the
team all over the district,you're everywhere, one.
But really thinking about whatyou said and thinking about the
work we did around vision,mission, values, it was
beautiful to see parents asco-designers right alongside us
(04:44):
and that shared decision making.
Super powerful.
And, to be honest with you, itwas our parents' voices and our
students' voices that were themost compelling in doing this
work, so I'm super appreciative.
Now tell me how do the EightDimensions of Wellness and the
(05:04):
Five Protective Factors fit intoyour team's vision?
First of all, what is it, in asimplified way, and how does it
fit into that vision?
Lisa Solomon (05:14):
With the Eight Dimensions of Wellness, we're
looking at all areas ofwell-being that a person would
need to be successful in life ingeneral.
So those eight areas are social, environmental, physical,
emotional, and they separatesocial and emotional because
there's an aspect in how weinteract with others and then
(05:35):
there's an emotional withunderstanding ourselves and who
we are, what we're feeling, howwe deal with those emotions.
There's vocational and, ofcourse, there's intellectual,
which is the academic componentas well.
So we focus on those eightareas and how we're developing
our programming for parents, howwe're working with parents on
(05:55):
meeting their needs and whatthey need.
It's like looking at the wholechild, but we're looking at the
whole person.
So it helps not only thechildren but it also helps the
families.
When you have these eight areasthat are strong, it helps you
to be more successful andfocused as you're moving forward
.
So it's been a huge part of ourprofessional development.
When we're looking at the FiveProtective Factors, there's five
(06:16):
protective factors that you canlook at.
I'm going to just talk about afew of them: social connections,
parent resiliency, and alsoknowledge, right, parent
knowledge, making sure that theyunderstand that we all know the
school systems, that we allknow what a child's development
is like, what we should belooking for.
So, by strengthening thosespecific areas, the social
(06:37):
connections that we make, theknowledge of parenting and child
development, and by knowing howto connect to resources and
being resilient, that's whathelps to strengthen a family.
So then, beyond, if we're hereor not, if they have a person or
not, they build that withinthemselves.
So, when we look at those fiveprotective factors, that's what
(06:58):
we're trying to work on andbuild for our families and our
students, in order to make surethat we have, at the end,
positive outcomes and once againI'm going to say it yes, for
our students.
We want our students to besuccessful, but we also want our
families to be successful and,beyond that, our entire
community to make it all abetter place.
So we've focused our trainings,our professional developments,
(07:21):
around these areas.
They've helped establish aframework as we're moving
forward, and it's something thatI think will help to build that
resilience within parents.
When you focus on those eightdimensions, they're looking for
strategies, they've got ideas,and then they're sharing them
out.
So, on top of it, we'rebuilding leadership that carries
that forward.
Bianca Barquin (07:40):
It makes me really think about our community
, school's work, and I don'tthink people realize just how
much time a child spends outsideof school.
So working with our families,really advocating for our
community, has always been partof the culture here in SAUSD.
We're fortifying andstrengthening that through
(08:01):
FACE's vision, right, and how italigns to the Board priorities,
the Graduate Profile andeverything else that we do.
So thank you.
Now, Elisa, I'd like to turn toyou for a second.
How has the role of FACEspecialists evolved and what are
some of the strategies you'veemployed to engage families in
(08:21):
the community this year?
Elisa Briseño-Sandoval (08:24):
So, with Lisa's vision and the alignment
that we've had in thedepartment, we've really
restructured the way that FACEspecialists are now really
supporting our district-wideefforts, as well as our liaisons
at the school sites.
So some of the things that we'vebeen working on and really
realigning is how can we, as theFACE specialist leadership team
(08:45):
and specialists, really modelfor our liaisons, what we would
love for them to be having attheir school sites, and some of
these efforts have been, forexample, the book club, which we
had amazing participation fromour families, and it was just so
empowering to be reading withour families and our students
and having these wonderful juicyconversations about how their
(09:09):
culture matters, how they matter, how their experiences matter,
and this is something that wewould love to have our liaisons
start leading at the schoolsites.
Something else that we areworking on right now is and it's
going to be exciting is SharingOur Stories and creating a book
, you know, with our culturalstories, with our assets and our
(09:30):
lens and everything ourfamilies bring to the table in
terms of their value systems,and this is another area where
we would love to have thishappening at the school sites
and really see our liaisonsleading this work with our
families and sharing with themeverything that they bring to
the table.
And some of the other areas,too, are more like on the
(09:51):
structural side, like how can weconnect more with our families
as it relates to potentiallyhome visits?
What are some of the goodstrategies that we can implement
as we're looking at ourabsenteeism at the school sites
and where some of our familiespotentially may need some
additional support or resourcesto ensure that our students are
(10:12):
here and learning every singleday?
Bianca Barquin (10:15):
Amazing.
So I want to go back to thebook clubs.
So tell our listeners justwho's helping to guide this work
.
A little birdie told me thatyou have an award-winning author
that's actually working withour families.
So who would that be?
Elisa Briseño-Sandoval (10:31):
So we actually just had a book club on
Efron Divided.
The author is Ernesto Cisnerosand he's one of our amazing
teachers at Mendez and it wasjust so beautiful to see him
sharing his thought process ashe was writing the book, his
experiences, the experiences ofthe students, the experiences of
(10:55):
potential mentors that he had,and note page 11, Mss Solomon is
actually in there and she isreferenced back as one of our
amazing, amazing teachers, staff, supporter of our community,
and it was just so powerful tosee our families, through that
angle and lens, also have theopportunity to reflect
(11:18):
themselves on their ownexperience in topics such as
being undocumented, deportation,cultural assets and how we
value them and their experiences, and just really reflecting,
sharing that with their studentsand then being able to see that
something such as literacy,which is something that we're
(11:40):
constantly pushing forward, andmore reading and focusing the
family on that, could beactually a really powerful tool
to have better communication anddialogue with your students.
Bianca Barquin (11:51):
I think it's going to be amazing and I'm
actually super excited to seewhat the culmination of all of
this is that product, right,that book that families actually
create.
So you'll have to invite me toyour culminating, or last actual
book club session.
So another question for you,Elisa.
Can you share a success storythat embodies the impact of the
(12:15):
FACE team's work in thecommunity?
I know you shared the work thatyou all are doing in regards to
the book club, but is thereanything else you'd like to
share?
Elisa Briseño-Sandoval (12:25):
Yes, definitely.
So what we see with Family andCommunity Engagement is that
this is really a long-termapproach and it's something that
it's not achieved overnight.
It's something that takes manyyears to really be able to see
those positive outcomes and whatwe're really trying to achieve,
which is, of course, academicsuccess but also socio-
(12:46):
emotional well-being.
So for us, we've seen somebeautiful stories of some of our
families and some of them beingat Madison working with Ms.
Solomon closely, because Ithink Ms.
Solomon has really led thevision of family engagement even
before she took on this role asa director.
I always tell her she's aperfect person for this job
(13:09):
because she has the heart andthe passion.
But we see the outcomes in thosefamilies that are now in the
journey of being parent leaders,district leaders, participating
in the mission, vision, valuesof the work and being able to
really own their voice and say Iknow what's best for my kids, I
(13:31):
know what's best for my schoolsite, I know what's best for my
community and I'm here because Iwant them to also be reflected
upon when we're making bigdecisions in the district.
And so it's taken Lisa years,you know, working our families
and giving them that voice andsome of the things that she was
able to offer that I think hasmade it so powerful for them is
(13:54):
parenting classes, ESL classes,high school diploma
opportunities, mentorship, andyou see that in their kids.
Like when you meet their kids,you can see, you know that their
parents have become theseparent leaders, that they have
these high expectations, that weare there as a community to
(14:17):
support them and that for them,their future is going to be
brighter, because it's not justone person, but it's a whole
district and communitysupporting them and believing in
their future.
Bianca Barquin (14:29):
I think that's a beautiful thing.
We truly recognize our parentsas partners in this work, right,
and I think that's so, so, veryimportant.
So thank you.
Now, Lisa, hmm.
.
.
I understand that you're alsostarting a podcast aimed at
parents, mirroring the formatthat we have here.
(14:50):
Can you share your vision forthe podcast and how you plan to
engage your audience, and canyou tell us, sneak peek, what's
the title of your podcast?
Lisa Solomon (15:01):
Yes, I'm super excited about the podcast and a
little nervous too, because it'snew for me and our upcoming
podcast is going to be calledBetter Together, Mejor Juntos,
because everything that we do,when we do it together, it
always comes out a lot better.
When we include our families,when we include our community
partners, it just is stronger,it's more powerful, it has a
(15:24):
greater impact and we've noticedthat too, not even just with
our families and our communitypartners, but even with our
departments, as we all cometogether to help support
families and strengthen theserelationships and strengthen,
like, student success as well,focus on that, we've also been
able to by being together just,I want to say we knock it up a
(15:46):
notch so it just becomes to theumpteenth degree.
We like to be a little bitextra in FACE, so we do like to
take it to the next level.
And our podcast is going toserve as, like, a platform for
parents, where you're going tohear their voices and it's going
to be on some of the sametopics that you've touched on,
community schools, we want tofocus on cultural wealth, making
(16:08):
sure the importance of usidentifying what we carry with
us, the strengths that we have,so then we can share them out
with others, because that willonly make us stronger and better
as a community.
We're going to focus on familyand community engagement, on
different community partnershipsthat we have, community schools
and also all the programs andservices we have in Santa Ana.
(16:29):
It's going to giveopportunities for parents and
community partners to have avoice, as well as for everyone
to learn about all the amazingthings that we do in Santa Ana
Unified.
I've been here 34 years, Bianca,and it just seems to get better
and better and better what weoffer, what we do for our
parents and how we're sharingthese like learning experiences
together.
We're all learning and growingtogether and I want people to
(16:52):
hear that like and to know thisis Santa Ana, this is what we do
in Santa Ana and this is whatwe do right for our kids, for
our families, and for our entirecommunity, just to make the
world a better place.
I'm also very proud to say thatour podcast is going to be in
both English and Spanish, soparents, everyone will hopefully
be able to understand theinformation that we're sharing,
(17:12):
and it's also going to be basedon feedback from parents and
partners.
What is it that they want tohear?
We want to be responsive to ourcommunity's needs, and we're
going to be able to co-designthis podcast with them.
Bianca Barquin (17:25):
That's what I was going to ask you.
Actually, it was more aboutco-design, too, and feedback.
I've received a lot of feedbackwhich has helped me adjust
content.
It's helped us adjust episodelength, all of these things.
I was wondering if you weregoing to co-design the
experience with your parents.
Lisa Solomon (17:47):
Yes, we definitely will.
Bianca Barquin (17:48):
Okay, perfect.
All right.
Now let's talk about some ofthe core areas FACE has been
focusing on, like parent inputand capacity building.
Elisa, can you expand on howthese areas are being developed
and the kind of impact they have?
Elisa Briseño-Sandoval (18:05):
Yes, definitely, Bianca.
I think for us it's reallyimportant and this is something
that even we have to work on ismaking sure, every time we have
some sort of decision, some sortof feedback, something that
we're looking at building orworking on, such as our, like,
our workshops in the future,that we're always bringing in
our parents and bringing ingroups of parents to talk to us
(18:28):
about what would they like tosee in parent workshops.
Opportunities such as extendedlearning.
What is it that they want tosee in programming in extended
learning?
Opportunities such as how do webetter support your student in,
like, the LCAP process, havingour parents, you know, really
understand that their voicematters and that what they have
(18:50):
to say is very valuable.
So we can make sure that we'restructuring our systems and our
approaches in a way where it'sgoing to actually support them
and their students.
And some of the other thingsyou know that we will be doing
in the future in terms of thecapacity building district-wide,
because we know, on our end,when teachers go into their
(19:11):
training, for a good part of ourteachers family and community
engagement is not a part oftheir coursework.
So we know that it's notbecause of a lack of wanting to
do it.
It's more than anything becausethey haven't been trained.
And what are those strategies?
What are their approaches?
How can we support them to makesure that it's being done in
(19:33):
the classroom and it doesn'tfeel like something added on,
rather something that's going tosupport them and help their
students.
So for us, it's also workingclosely with our staff and
helping them understand you know, how family engagement is going
to improve student outcomes andwhat are those strategies that
have already been proven inother areas that are going to
(19:55):
support our students the best?
Bianca Barquin (19:57):
That is really compelling and it's something we
don't always think about, right, so I applaud the work that you
all are doing to really helpbuild capacity in everyone.
Tell me a little bit about thechallenges and successes in
increasing parent input incommunity voice.
Elisa Briseño-Sandoval (20:17):
I think some of the biggest challenges
that we face on our our lens andangle is not necessarily that
our schools are not open, youknow, to our families, but our
families don't feel that senseof belonging, like they're a
part of the school.
They think my world is in myhome and outside of the school.
(20:39):
The students' world is insideof the school with the teacher.
So on our end, really it'sbridging that gap and bringing
our families together into theschool sites in a welcoming
environment where the familiesthink like there's a space for
me here, there's a place where Ibelong, there's a place where I
(20:59):
can have an open dialogue andcommunication with my front
office, with my teacher, with mycounselor, with my principal,
with anyone on site.
And I know that we are going tohave a relationship and that
we're really going to be workingon together best student
outcomes for students.
(21:20):
And so I think this isdefinitely one of the areas of
opportunity that we have on ourend is to relook at the level of
engagement at each school site,see some of the practices that
they've had in the past, and howcan we improve the environment
to make sure that it's conduciveof building relational trust
(21:42):
and really building that senseof commitment to each other and
we're all in together onsupporting our students.
Lisa Solomon (21:51):
And part of building capacity within Santa
Ana Unified, what we focused onthrough FACE, you're going to
hear the words a lot from me: cultural wealth. (21:57):
undefined
Now what does that mean?
It means that it's alsobuilding a confidence within our
parents so then they canadvocate, that we don't need a
degree to be able to advocate orfight for our children.
We have so many things withinus and when you're looking at
cultural wealth, and it all doescome from a study, it's all
(22:17):
based on off of our, lifeexperiences.
Our parents have aspirationalwealth.
They have dreams and goals.
A lot of them came to thiscountry because they wanted a
better life for their children,for themselves.
That's one type of capital thatwe have, but a lot of times we
don't realize that that'scapital.
We have what they call familialcapital, which is everything
(22:37):
that our mothers andgrandmothers taught us, all the
traditions that we have.
We bring that to the table, soit's knowing that I have all
this richness inside of me.
I have navigational capital.
I know how to navigate systems.
I knew how to navigate my wayto a new country, number one.
I did it, so I can tell peopleabout my experiences and others
can learn.
I know how to navigate a medicalsystem.
(22:59):
I know how to get my kids tothe doctors and the services
they need.
Parents have so much withinthem, but we're building
capacity in them, seeing thatconfidence and gaining that
confidence and bringing it out.
So then they can also beleading these trainings.
They're the ones that can beleading the movements, advocacy
to provide more services andprograms, and then you truly
(23:21):
know, once you recognize this iswhat I have, I also have a
voice, so I should be standingup for my kids, for our programs
, for what we need in Santa Ana.
Bianca Barquin (23:31):
So I see this, well in a multitude of ways, but
I see parallel tracks, right,because it's systems work that
we're doing.
Not only are we working withour families to help them
recognize the assets, strengths,gifts that they have within
themselves and the wealth ofknowledge and experience that
they bring to the table, butwe're also working within the
(23:55):
educational system, within SAUSD, to make sure that every school
understands deeply that theyhave a seat at the table too,
right, and that's part of ourcommunity schools work, that
this is about shared decisionmaking, shared leadership and us
working together as a team toimprove outcomes for our kiddos,
(24:16):
right?
Lisa Solomon (24:17):
Yes, definitely, and it goes back to our vision
for FACE too, Bianca, that wewant our families to have a seat
at the table.
We want voices to be heard, forthem to feel like I belong here
and I have something to say andI can advocate for my child,
because I have all thiswonderful, rich experience that
I can also share.
Bianca Barquin (24:38):
Beautiful.
Voiceover (24:40):
Hey, there Amplifiers .
Our amazing Face team has moretransformative work to share
with you in the second part ofthis episode.
Join us next week to hear therest of our conversation with
FACE Director Lisa Solomon andFACE Coordinator Elisa
Briseño-Sandoval.
See you then.
Welcome to another episode of SAUSD's
Amplifying Leadership.
I'm your host, Bianca Barquin,and today we have a very special
episode.
Joining us in the studio areour amazing Director of Family
and Community Engagement, LisaSolomon, and Elisa Briseño-
Sandoval, our remarkable FACECoordinator and product of SAUSD
(00:30):
.
Today we're diving deep intothe world of family and
community engagement and thetransformative journey it's
taken over the past year.
So let's get started.
Welcome, Lisa and Elisa.
It's wonderful to have you bothhere.
Lisa Solomon (00:45):
Thank you for having us, Bianca.
We're super excited to be here.
Elisa Briseño-Sandoval (00:49):
Thank you so much, Bianca, for having
us here.
It's great to be able to sharewith our families and our
community all the great workthat Family and Community
Engagement is doing.
Bianca Barquin (00:58):
Awesome.
So let's kick things off.
To start, for those listenerswho might not be familiar with
our amazing FACE team Lisa, whatrole does the FACE team play
here at SAUSD and within ourlarger community?
Lisa Solomon (01:13):
I think our FACE team plays a huge role and in
different capacities.
I feel like we're here toempower our families, to make
sure that people's voices areheard, including community
members, students, families,parents, and then also our role
is to make sure, too, that we'remaking that strong connection
(01:34):
between a school, the communitypartners and the families that
we have.
We focus on the strengths thatour families bring out.
We've been focusing a lot oncultural wealth, making sure
that we're tapping into that.
We also want to make sure thatwe're creating networks where
people are learning to supporteach other.
We're building strength andcapacity within not just
(01:56):
families but also staff, wherepeople are taking on stronger
leadership roles and we'rebuilding leaders that will go
out and help to make ourcommunity a better place,
advocate for services andprograms, and also share what
they have within them witheveryone else.
Bianca Barquin (02:14):
Thank you, Lisa.
Now let's expand on this alittle bit.
Can you tell me about thejourney of revitalizing the FACE
team and how you've alignedyour core values and mission
with SAUSD Board priorities?
Lisa Solomon (02:31):
I think we've also done this in a lot of different
ways.
Family and Community Engagementis a board priority, but it
goes back to are we looking atthe funds of knowledge that our
families have and are webuilding on those strengths that
the families have?
So that's where we're starting.
We've gone back and revisitedour core values, not just as a
FACE team, but we've alsobrought parents into that
(02:51):
process.
Then we've reestablished amission and a vision for not
just FACE, but even for ourentire district.
We made sure that we cametogether with district personnel
those teachers, students, andparents at the table to help
reestablish a new vision for us.
So the work that we're doingisn't about just FACE.
It's about the work that we'redoing with everyone and it's the
(03:14):
work that everybody in SAUSD isdoing to make sure that we're
all part of Family and CommunityEngagement.
It's not just one department,it's not just one person.
It's about all of us workingtogether to help empower our
families.
So we've reestablished a vision.
We've provided additionaltrainings, professional
developments, but I think themost important thing that we
(03:34):
have done is we've made surethat parents are at the table
when we're making decisions.
Parents are at the table whenwe're establishing and designing
parent workshops, parenttrainings, parent academies, as
we like to call them.
We've really made sure thatparents' voices are heard.
Then also, we've had a focus oneven helping parents to see the
(03:57):
cultural wealth that they haveinside of them.
So we've been working on, inSpanish, las riquezas que
tenemos adentro de nosotros.
There's so much that familiesalready come with, there's so
many strengths, so much thatthey can offer to help not only
themselves be successful, but tohelp our community be
successful.
And then, of course, what wefocus on in Santa Ana helping
(04:19):
our students to be as successfulas possible.
Bianca Barquin (04:22):
It's really true , Lisa, as I watch you and the
team all over the district,you're everywhere, one.
But really thinking about whatyou said and thinking about the
work we did around vision,mission, values, it was
beautiful to see parents asco-designers right alongside us
(04:44):
and that shared decision making.
Super powerful.
And, to be honest with you, itwas our parents' voices and our
students' voices that were themost compelling in doing this
work, so I'm super appreciative.
Now tell me how do the EightDimensions of Wellness and the
(05:04):
Five Protective Factors fit intoyour team's vision?
First of all, what is it, in asimplified way, and how does it
fit into that vision?
Lisa Solomon (05:14):
With the Eight Dimensions of Wellness, we're
looking at all areas ofwell-being that a person would
need to be successful in life ingeneral.
So those eight areas are social, environmental, physical,
emotional, and they separatesocial and emotional because
there's an aspect in how weinteract with others and then
(05:35):
there's an emotional withunderstanding ourselves and who
we are, what we're feeling, howwe deal with those emotions.
There's vocational and, ofcourse, there's intellectual,
which is the academic componentas well.
So we focus on those eightareas and how we're developing
our programming for parents, howwe're working with parents on
(05:55):
meeting their needs and whatthey need.
It's like looking at the wholechild, but we're looking at the
whole person.
So it helps not only thechildren but it also helps the
families.
When you have these eight areasthat are strong, it helps you
to be more successful andfocused as you're moving forward
.
So it's been a huge part of ourprofessional development.
When we're looking at the FiveProtective Factors, there's five
(06:16):
protective factors that you canlook at.
I'm going to just talk about afew of them: social connections,
parent resiliency, and alsoknowledge, right, parent
knowledge, making sure that theyunderstand that we all know the
school systems, that we allknow what a child's development
is like, what we should belooking for.
So, by strengthening thosespecific areas, the social
(06:37):
connections that we make, theknowledge of parenting and child
development, and by knowing howto connect to resources and
being resilient, that's whathelps to strengthen a family.
So then, beyond, if we're hereor not, if they have a person or
not, they build that withinthemselves.
So, when we look at those fiveprotective factors, that's what
(06:58):
we're trying to work on andbuild for our families and our
students, in order to make surethat we have, at the end,
positive outcomes and once againI'm going to say it yes, for
our students.
We want our students to besuccessful, but we also want our
families to be successful and,beyond that, our entire
community to make it all abetter place.
So we've focused our trainings,our professional developments,
(07:21):
around these areas.
They've helped establish aframework as we're moving
forward, and it's something thatI think will help to build that
resilience within parents.
When you focus on those eightdimensions, they're looking for
strategies, they've got ideas,and then they're sharing them
out.
So, on top of it, we'rebuilding leadership that carries
that forward.
Bianca Barquin (07:40):
It makes me really think about our community
, school's work, and I don'tthink people realize just how
much time a child spends outsideof school.
So working with our families,really advocating for our
community, has always been partof the culture here in SAUSD.
We're fortifying andstrengthening that through
(08:01):
FACE's vision, right, and how italigns to the Board priorities,
the Graduate Profile andeverything else that we do.
So thank you.
Now, Elisa, I'd like to turn toyou for a second.
How has the role of FACEspecialists evolved and what are
some of the strategies you'veemployed to engage families in
(08:21):
the community this year?
Elisa Briseño-Sandoval (08:24):
So, with Lisa's vision and the alignment
that we've had in thedepartment, we've really
restructured the way that FACEspecialists are now really
supporting our district-wideefforts, as well as our liaisons
at the school sites.
So some of the things that we'vebeen working on and really
realigning is how can we, as theFACE specialist leadership team
(08:45):
and specialists, really modelfor our liaisons, what we would
love for them to be having attheir school sites, and some of
these efforts have been, forexample, the book club, which we
had amazing participation fromour families, and it was just so
empowering to be reading withour families and our students
and having these wonderful juicyconversations about how their
(09:09):
culture matters, how they matter, how their experiences matter,
and this is something that wewould love to have our liaisons
start leading at the schoolsites.
Something else that we areworking on right now is and it's
going to be exciting is SharingOur Stories and creating a book
, you know, with our culturalstories, with our assets and our
(09:30):
lens and everything ourfamilies bring to the table in
terms of their value systems,and this is another area where
we would love to have thishappening at the school sites
and really see our liaisonsleading this work with our
families and sharing with themeverything that they bring to
the table.
And some of the other areas,too, are more like on the
(09:51):
structural side, like how can weconnect more with our families
as it relates to potentiallyhome visits?
What are some of the goodstrategies that we can implement
as we're looking at ourabsenteeism at the school sites
and where some of our familiespotentially may need some
additional support or resourcesto ensure that our students are
(10:12):
here and learning every singleday?
Bianca Barquin (10:15):
Amazing.
So I want to go back to thebook clubs.
So tell our listeners justwho's helping to guide this work
.
A little birdie told me thatyou have an award-winning author
that's actually working withour families.
So who would that be?
Elisa Briseño-Sandoval (10:31):
So we actually just had a book club on
Efron Divided.
The author is Ernesto Cisnerosand he's one of our amazing
teachers at Mendez and it wasjust so beautiful to see him
sharing his thought process ashe was writing the book, his
experiences, the experiences ofthe students, the experiences of
(10:55):
potential mentors that he had,and note page 11, Mss Solomon is
actually in there and she isreferenced back as one of our
amazing, amazing teachers, staff, supporter of our community,
and it was just so powerful tosee our families, through that
angle and lens, also have theopportunity to reflect
(11:18):
themselves on their ownexperience in topics such as
being undocumented, deportation,cultural assets and how we
value them and their experiences, and just really reflecting,
sharing that with their studentsand then being able to see that
something such as literacy,which is something that we're
(11:40):
constantly pushing forward, andmore reading and focusing the
family on that, could beactually a really powerful tool
to have better communication anddialogue with your students.
Bianca Barquin (11:51):
I think it's going to be amazing and I'm
actually super excited to seewhat the culmination of all of
this is that product, right,that book that families actually
create.
So you'll have to invite me toyour culminating, or last actual
book club session.
So another question for you,Elisa.
Can you share a success storythat embodies the impact of the
(12:15):
FACE team's work in thecommunity?
I know you shared the work thatyou all are doing in regards to
the book club, but is thereanything else you'd like to
share?
Elisa Briseño-Sandoval (12:25):
Yes, definitely.
So what we see with Family andCommunity Engagement is that
this is really a long-termapproach and it's something that
it's not achieved overnight.
It's something that takes manyyears to really be able to see
those positive outcomes and whatwe're really trying to achieve,
which is, of course, academicsuccess but also socio-
(12:46):
emotional well-being.
So for us, we've seen somebeautiful stories of some of our
families and some of them beingat Madison working with Ms.
Solomon closely, because Ithink Ms.
Solomon has really led thevision of family engagement even
before she took on this role asa director.
I always tell her she's aperfect person for this job
(13:09):
because she has the heart andthe passion.
But we see the outcomes in thosefamilies that are now in the
journey of being parent leaders,district leaders, participating
in the mission, vision, valuesof the work and being able to
really own their voice and say Iknow what's best for my kids, I
(13:31):
know what's best for my schoolsite, I know what's best for my
community and I'm here because Iwant them to also be reflected
upon when we're making bigdecisions in the district.
And so it's taken Lisa years,you know, working our families
and giving them that voice andsome of the things that she was
able to offer that I think hasmade it so powerful for them is
(13:54):
parenting classes, ESL classes,high school diploma
opportunities, mentorship, andyou see that in their kids.
Like when you meet their kids,you can see, you know that their
parents have become theseparent leaders, that they have
these high expectations, that weare there as a community to
(14:17):
support them and that for them,their future is going to be
brighter, because it's not justone person, but it's a whole
district and communitysupporting them and believing in
their future.
Bianca Barquin (14:29):
I think that's a beautiful thing.
We truly recognize our parentsas partners in this work, right,
and I think that's so, so, veryimportant.
So thank you.
Now, Lisa, hmm.
.
.
I understand that you're alsostarting a podcast aimed at
parents, mirroring the formatthat we have here.
(14:50):
Can you share your vision forthe podcast and how you plan to
engage your audience, and canyou tell us, sneak peek, what's
the title of your podcast?
Lisa Solomon (15:01):
Yes, I'm super excited about the podcast and a
little nervous too, because it'snew for me and our upcoming
podcast is going to be calledBetter Together, Mejor Juntos,
because everything that we do,when we do it together, it
always comes out a lot better.
When we include our families,when we include our community
partners, it just is stronger,it's more powerful, it has a
(15:24):
greater impact and we've noticedthat too, not even just with
our families and our communitypartners, but even with our
departments, as we all cometogether to help support
families and strengthen theserelationships and strengthen,
like, student success as well,focus on that, we've also been
able to by being together just,I want to say we knock it up a
(15:46):
notch so it just becomes to theumpteenth degree.
We like to be a little bitextra in FACE, so we do like to
take it to the next level.
And our podcast is going toserve as, like, a platform for
parents, where you're going tohear their voices and it's going
to be on some of the sametopics that you've touched on,
community schools, we want tofocus on cultural wealth, making
(16:08):
sure the importance of usidentifying what we carry with
us, the strengths that we have,so then we can share them out
with others, because that willonly make us stronger and better
as a community.
We're going to focus on familyand community engagement, on
different community partnershipsthat we have, community schools
and also all the programs andservices we have in Santa Ana.
(16:29):
It's going to giveopportunities for parents and
community partners to have avoice, as well as for everyone
to learn about all the amazingthings that we do in Santa Ana
Unified.
I've been here 34 years, Bianca,and it just seems to get better
and better and better what weoffer, what we do for our
parents and how we're sharingthese like learning experiences
together.
We're all learning and growingtogether and I want people to
(16:52):
hear that like and to know thisis Santa Ana, this is what we do
in Santa Ana and this is whatwe do right for our kids, for
our families, and for our entirecommunity, just to make the
world a better place.
I'm also very proud to say thatour podcast is going to be in
both English and Spanish, soparents, everyone will hopefully
be able to understand theinformation that we're sharing,
(17:12):
and it's also going to be basedon feedback from parents and
partners.
What is it that they want tohear?
We want to be responsive to ourcommunity's needs, and we're
going to be able to co-designthis podcast with them.
Bianca Barquin (17:25):
That's what I was going to ask you.
Actually, it was more aboutco-design, too, and feedback.
I've received a lot of feedbackwhich has helped me adjust
content.
It's helped us adjust episodelength, all of these things.
I was wondering if you weregoing to co-design the
experience with your parents.
Lisa Solomon (17:47):
Yes, we definitely will.
Bianca Barquin (17:48):
Okay, perfect.
All right.
Now let's talk about some ofthe core areas FACE has been
focusing on, like parent inputand capacity building.
Elisa, can you expand on howthese areas are being developed
and the kind of impact they have?
Elisa Briseño-Sandoval (18:05):
Yes, definitely, Bianca.
I think for us it's reallyimportant and this is something
that even we have to work on ismaking sure, every time we have
some sort of decision, some sortof feedback, something that
we're looking at building orworking on, such as our, like,
our workshops in the future,that we're always bringing in
our parents and bringing ingroups of parents to talk to us
(18:28):
about what would they like tosee in parent workshops.
Opportunities such as extendedlearning.
What is it that they want tosee in programming in extended
learning?
Opportunities such as how do webetter support your student in,
like, the LCAP process, havingour parents, you know, really
understand that their voicematters and that what they have
(18:50):
to say is very valuable.
So we can make sure that we'restructuring our systems and our
approaches in a way where it'sgoing to actually support them
and their students.
And some of the other thingsyou know that we will be doing
in the future in terms of thecapacity building district-wide,
because we know, on our end,when teachers go into their
(19:11):
training, for a good part of ourteachers family and community
engagement is not a part oftheir coursework.
So we know that it's notbecause of a lack of wanting to
do it.
It's more than anything becausethey haven't been trained.
And what are those strategies?
What are their approaches?
How can we support them to makesure that it's being done in
(19:33):
the classroom and it doesn'tfeel like something added on,
rather something that's going tosupport them and help their
students.
So for us, it's also workingclosely with our staff and
helping them understand you know, how family engagement is going
to improve student outcomes andwhat are those strategies that
have already been proven inother areas that are going to
(19:55):
support our students the best?
Bianca Barquin (19:57):
That is really compelling and it's something we
don't always think about, right, so I applaud the work that you
all are doing to really helpbuild capacity in everyone.
Tell me a little bit about thechallenges and successes in
increasing parent input incommunity voice.
Elisa Briseño-Sandoval (20:17):
I think some of the biggest challenges
that we face on our our lens andangle is not necessarily that
our schools are not open, youknow, to our families, but our
families don't feel that senseof belonging, like they're a
part of the school.
They think my world is in myhome and outside of the school.
(20:39):
The students' world is insideof the school with the teacher.
So on our end, really it'sbridging that gap and bringing
our families together into theschool sites in a welcoming
environment where the familiesthink like there's a space for
me here, there's a place where Ibelong, there's a place where I
(20:59):
can have an open dialogue andcommunication with my front
office, with my teacher, with mycounselor, with my principal,
with anyone on site.
And I know that we are going tohave a relationship and that
we're really going to be workingon together best student
outcomes for students.
(21:20):
And so I think this isdefinitely one of the areas of
opportunity that we have on ourend is to relook at the level of
engagement at each school site,see some of the practices that
they've had in the past, and howcan we improve the environment
to make sure that it's conduciveof building relational trust
(21:42):
and really building that senseof commitment to each other and
we're all in together onsupporting our students.
Lisa Solomon (21:51):
And part of building capacity within Santa
Ana Unified, what we focused onthrough FACE, you're going to
hear the words a lot from me: cultural wealth. (21:57):
undefined
Now what does that mean?
It means that it's alsobuilding a confidence within our
parents so then they canadvocate, that we don't need a
degree to be able to advocate orfight for our children.
We have so many things withinus and when you're looking at
cultural wealth, and it all doescome from a study, it's all
(22:17):
based on off of our, lifeexperiences.
Our parents have aspirationalwealth.
They have dreams and goals.
A lot of them came to thiscountry because they wanted a
better life for their children,for themselves.
That's one type of capital thatwe have, but a lot of times we
don't realize that that'scapital.
We have what they call familialcapital, which is everything
(22:37):
that our mothers andgrandmothers taught us, all the
traditions that we have.
We bring that to the table, soit's knowing that I have all
this richness inside of me.
I have navigational capital.
I know how to navigate systems.
I knew how to navigate my wayto a new country, number one.
I did it, so I can tell peopleabout my experiences and others
can learn.
I know how to navigate a medicalsystem.
(22:59):
I know how to get my kids tothe doctors and the services
they need.
Parents have so much withinthem, but we're building
capacity in them, seeing thatconfidence and gaining that
confidence and bringing it out.
So then they can also beleading these trainings.
They're the ones that can beleading the movements, advocacy
to provide more services andprograms, and then you truly
(23:21):
know, once you recognize this iswhat I have, I also have a
voice, so I should be standingup for my kids, for our programs
, for what we need in Santa Ana.
Bianca Barquin (23:31):
So I see this, well in a multitude of ways, but
I see parallel tracks, right,because it's systems work that
we're doing.
Not only are we working withour families to help them
recognize the assets, strengths,gifts that they have within
themselves and the wealth ofknowledge and experience that
they bring to the table, butwe're also working within the
(23:55):
educational system, within SAUSD, to make sure that every school
understands deeply that theyhave a seat at the table too,
right, and that's part of ourcommunity schools work, that
this is about shared decisionmaking, shared leadership and us
working together as a team toimprove outcomes for our kiddos,
(24:16):
right?
Lisa Solomon (24:17):
Yes, definitely, and it goes back to our vision
for FACE too, Bianca, that wewant our families to have a seat
at the table.
We want voices to be heard, forthem to feel like I belong here
and I have something to say andI can advocate for my child,
because I have all thiswonderful, rich experience that
I can also share.
Bianca Barquin (24:38):
Beautiful.
Voiceover (24:40):
Hey, there Amplifiers .
Our amazing Face team has moretransformative work to share
with you in the second part ofthis episode.
Join us next week to hear therest of our conversation with
FACE Director Lisa Solomon andFACE Coordinator Elisa
Briseño-Sandoval.
See you then.
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