2017 Is Coming To An End, But Our Work Is Just Beginning
Updates on the growing movement to improve our schools for all students!
As 2017 comes to a close, we wanted to take a minute to update you all on the progress we’ve made this year and where we’re going next year.
December 6th marked our first big community event, Choosing Our Future: Looking Back & Looking Forward, and wow was it a success! Almost 200 Fresnans poured in to the Big Red Church to review data, give input on a vision for Fresno’s educational future and listen to inspiring stories from teachers and school leaders from around our city.
A big thank you to all of you in our fast-growing GO Fresno network who attended the event and made your voice heard!
While we have done amazing work in our Family Leadership Fellows program and launching our Board Watch emails, most of our effort has gone into Choosing Our Future 2.0 (see the process outlined below). Much of this work has included gathering data to identify the status, sharing that through 1:1 conversations, through events and through dozens of house parties. We solicited input on a bold vision statement of where we want to go and gathered input on the first draft at our December event. Through this work we connected with more than 500 Fresnans!
As we turn toward 2018, our work with Choosing Our Future will turn toward developing proposals to identify how we move from where we are today to the bold vision we set out for what we want our schools to look like in the future.
None of this work could have happened without your support and participation.
We have a lot of ways for you to keep supporting our work as we move into 2018.
- Provide feedback on draft vision: If you weren’t there on Wednesday you didn’t get a chance to read and provide feedback on our bold vision for Fresno schools. Please read the vision and tell us what you like, what questions you have and let us know if anything is missing.
- Become a GO Transformer: GO Executive Director Diego Arambula will work with interested educators and community members to explore and visit some of the best examples of transformative schools and design our own transformative school models. Nominate an educator today!
- Host a House Party: We still need to continue growing the movement, and we found tremendous success with house parties. Sign up to host a house party and invite us to join an existing network for folks or to bring together your friends, neighbors and colleagues for a great conversation about schools with GO Fresno team members.
- Nominate a Family Leadership Fellow: Our second class of parent leadership fellows will begin in February 2018. If you know someone who would benefit from this leadership experience, submit a parent nomination!
Meet your Board Member: Take 2 minutes and sign up to meet with board members in 2018 to share your thoughts on transforming our schools. - Weigh In on the LCAP Plan: Complete the 2018-19 LCAP community survey or attend an LCAP session and advocate for immediate changes and make your voice heard about the need for the district to invest in transformative school models.
Thank you for all you have done to bring Fresno together for our students in 2017. We are so excited to keep this momentum going in the new year.