Elected leaders discuss the future of education in Yolo County – Woodland Daily Democrat

The Yolo County Office of Education hosted its Yolo County Elected Leaders & Officials Forum this week, which provided an update on the state of education in the county.

The forum, held Friday morning, included updates from all five school districts within Yolo County and an introduction of Congressman Mike Thompson who will represent most of Yolo County excluding West Sacramento due to redistricting.

Congressman John Garamendi, who has represented Yolo County for nearly a decade, attended the event to reintroduce Thompson to the community.

Joining you today is a brother that I know is dedicated to getting it done, Garamendi emphasized. Mike Thompson has represented this area previously and hes back to represent Yolo and a good portion of Solano County.

Garamendi noted that although he still represents a portion of Solano County he wont be able to represent Yolo County in all the ways he has in the past.

Ill work with Mike to make sure that youre well represented and the things that weve worked on over the years will be able to continue, Garamendi assured.

Thompson reassured Garamendis remarks and noted he will work to ensure that education in the county gets what it needs.

Everybody knows how tough the last couple of years have been and teachers, staff and administrators have been faced with just unimaginable hurdles, he highlighted. Nonetheless, you pulled through, youre working hard and youre providing the education that our students deserve.

However, he stressed that times are still tough as the school districts continue having to maneuver through the pandemic.

We need to make sure that were there for our students, for our staff and for our teachers and thats the commitment that I made to you, Thompson emphasized. I love Yolo County and look forward to working with all of you so thank you again for all that you do.

Elodia Ortega-Lampkin, superintendent for Woodland Joint Unified School District, delivered a presentation detailing the districts board-approved local control and accountability goals:

These goals had a lot of input from our community and many stakeholders and we have not had any controversy on the focus of these goals, Ortega-Lampkin emphasized. Were working on making these goals a reality.

Additionally, Ortega-Lampkin remarked on the difficulties that the pandemic has created for her district and others around the county while commending the work that has been done to keep students engaged and learning.

I hope that we continue to address the needs of our students with the same urgency that we have done with the pandemic, she began. I think that if we continue working together in that same manner with that same urgency and that some focus we will make a difference.

Maria Arvizu-Espinoza, associate superintendent for the Yolo County Office of Education, also highlighted the problem of absenteeism and lower enrollment rates that the pandemic has caused across schools in California.

Average Daily Attendance (ADA) is down by 9% among California school districts when comparing the 2019-2020 school year to this year with an ADA of 4.7 million students compared to 5.2 million students two years ago, according to Arvizu-Espinoza.

Certainly the pandemic is a large part of the chronic absenteeism and lower average daily attendance that were experiencing, Arvizu-Espinoza explained. Its really important to get kids back in school, enrolled and actually showing up again. We know that attendance is critical and its the number one signal of dropouts and graduation rates.

Garth Lewis, Yolo County superintendent of schools, thanked all of the speakers who attended the event for their enthusiasm and spirit in serving the countys students.

The future is bright for Yolo County children and I just want to express our gratitude for our partnership and the ability for all of us to share the responsibility in the health and the well-being and education of our students, Lewis stressed.

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Elected leaders discuss the future of education in Yolo County - Woodland Daily Democrat