"The district faces demographic and geographic challenges that most districts can’t even imagine. It’s three schools cover a vast area of the northeast part of the county. Seventy five percent of the students are Latinos who speak English as a second language, and 80 percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunches"
What is the cause?
- Smaller district?
- Parental involvement?
- School uniforms?
- Code of conduct of students?
Carmen Garcia was born in Mexico, the ninth of 10 children and the daughter of a farmworker with little formal education. She moved with her family from a small town near Guadalajara to Escondido in the 1980s and learned to speak English in the fourth grade. She came to Borrego from San Diego where she had been principal of a Roosevelt Middle School and the youngest principal in that district. Test scores rose 56 points there in her three years.
Test scores were among the worst in the county when Carmen Garcia, now 34, arrived. And so far, she’s made a difference.“The year that she’s been here our test scores have gone up which is a really positive thing for us because we’ve been really struggling for a while,” said Patty Torres, a member of the school board.
Recent test scores show a dramatic improvement across the board although the district still has a long way to go. More importantly Borregans say, Garcia has instilled new attitude in students, parents and teachers.
“In her first year here she really has accomplished a great deal,” said Abby King, an alumni of Borrego Springs High School who is a parent of a seventh grader and a recent graduate.
“I think she is very determined and very focused. She has a plan and she has really stuck to coming back to the plan and that vision again and again.”
The district faces demographic and geographic challenges that most districts can’t even imagine. It’s three schools cover a vast area of the northeast part of the county. Seventy five percent of the students are Latinos who speak English as a second language, and 80 percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.
But there are only 500 kids in the system, which Garcia says enables the district to create individual learning plans for each. “We can track each students progress,” she said.
Garcia has instituted tougher disciplinary rules. Clothing is regulated — no more spaghetti-strap tops for girls or low-hanging pants for the boys, for example — and she would love to find a private donor who might consider buying uniforms for the kids. Cellphone use is forbidden, and fighting results in serious consequences.
“Previous administrations had become very relaxed as far as conduct and dress codes and cell phones and all of those things that distract from the academic day,” King said. Garcia has “tightened that up” significantly, she said.
“We hired her because we wanted change because something had to change,” said school board President Harry Jones. “We were a non-performing school (district) for so many years.
“Sometimes change is difficult but she is moving ahead and making improvements.”
He said Garcia has formed relationships with several universities. Cal State San Marcos, for example, has agreed to enroll all Borrego students who meet its requirements upon high school graduation.
During the first few months of her tenure, Garcia tried to meet with as many people in the community as possible. “I called it my listening, reading and learning tour,” she said.
She analyzed data and turned the information into four main goals: to pursue educational excellence for all students; to strengthen parent involvement; to solicit community, business and university partners; and to purse additional funds for the district and its schools.
Garcia signed a two-year contract for $120,000 annually and Borrego residents hope she stays longer. Garcia said she thinks it takes three to five years to fully effect change and that she will stay in her post for as long as it takes.
She puts in long hours. She moved to Borrego Springs in the summer 2010 but moved to Escondido after giving birth to a daughter in December.
It’s a 70-minute commute each way.
“It gives me a lot of thinking time and a lot of planning time,” she said. Sometimes she’ll listen to KPBS on the drive but the signal fades as she nears the desert.
API test scores rose districtwide this past year by 26 points bringing them up to 730 — still a ways from the 800 that the state wants for all schools, but a significant improvement Garcia believes will continue.
Parental involvement has been key, she says.
Torres said many parents of Latino students are responding to Garcia and becoming more active in their children’s education.
“They are more willing to talk with the administration knowing that somebody who speaks their language is in charge. There is no need for translation,” Torres said.
King said given the demographic makeup of the district the fact that Garcia speaks Spanish helps bring communication “to a whole new level.
“But beyond that she’s been able to clearly express what her desires are, what her plans to achieve them are in both languages,” King said. “I think people have embraced that and really want to see this district be the best it can be.”
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