Community Building
- Create a stronger community voice
- Bring more communities to the table
- Collaborate respectfully
Sameen is an immigration attorney and is committed to building a diverse community within the school district. Though new to the school district, Sameen quickly got involved using her skills as an immigration attorney. Last year, she worked closely with families at La Ballona elementary school to provide them pro bono immigration services. During these experiences, some of the families indicated to Sameen that they felt marginalized and often unwelcome within the school district, and they urged her to run for school board.
At the same time, a challenging political environment has led to a lack of collaboration within the district, which is why it is essential to focus on the unifying goal to prioritize the well-being of our students, teachers, and staff. Sameen is the only candidate endorsed by all current members of the current CCUSD governing school board, underscoring her ability to communicate effectively and collaborate with diverse groups.
To build a stronger community, Sameen plans to build on current efforts to celebrate cultural diversity. The district currently offers four affinity graduation ceremonies, hosts numerous heritage recognitions throughout the year, and engages in awareness-building months for disabilities, gun violence, and more. She seeks to expand offerings of language support services, establish and continue mentorship programs that more readily connect families with resources, and incorporate other aspects of community-based learning models into sites like La Ballona, CCMS and CPHS.
Unity and collaboration are particularly important when we are asking the community to vote on important measures like Measure E (to support making our facilities operable) and now Measure O (to support our teacher salaries and smaller classroom sizes). Updating our schools is absolutely essential. Most recently, La Ballona was forced to close early and abruptly because they did not have functional bathrooms.
By fostering open communication and collaboration, she aims to bring more families to the table and create an environment where every family feels valued and engaged in their children’s education.
Health and Safety
- Prioritize the mental health of students
- Review and implement policies for responding to bullying
- Ensure physical safety of our students
Sameen is committed to the health and safety of students, teachers, and staff. Given that 42% of our high school students indicated feeling “hopelessness” and “sadness,” coupled with the serious impact of smartphones and social media on mental health, Sameen recognizes that children must be both mentally and physically well in order to thrive and learn.
To address health and safety, Sameen will review and revise our bullying protections and protocols. She would also prioritize supporting our school counselors who provide comprehensive anti-bullying and violence-prevention programs at our schools. Our LGBTQ+ students have particularly indicated that they are being bullied and it is incumbent on us to ensure that we have protocols in place to respond quickly and effectively. Sameen’s goal is to ensure that all of our students feel seen, protected, and supported.
In addition to addressing bullying, Sameen emphasizes mental health education as a critical component of child safety. She advocates for the establishment of a mental health curriculum that begins as early as transitional kindergarten (TK) to instill social and emotional intelligence from a young age. Furthermore, she is committed to ensuring adequate access to school counselors who can provide essential services, including critical wraparound mental health services. Currently, our school counselors do not have the capacity to provide individualized and intensive interventions for students with severe and persistent needs.
Additionally, Sameen envisions constructive approaches to preventing school fights. She will prioritize proactive relationship building through various measures that will lessen the need for punitive measures. By focusing on conflict resolution and promoting understanding, she aims to address the root causes of disputes and help students learn from their experiences.
Sameen also understands the importance of preparedness and communication to maintain a safe school environment. She believes that it is critical to review our communication systems both across our schools and with families to ensure that we can quickly keep the community informed should threats arise. This approach will enhance our community’s confidence in the school’s safety measures.
Sustainability
- Comprehensive climate curriculum
- Prioritize walking, biking, and busing to school
- Reform our lunch programs
- Transition to solar energy
Given that climate change has already impacted our students this year and will continue to do so for years to come, it is absolutely critical that we prioritize sustainability within our school district. In the first month of school, our students were prohibited from spending time outside because of extreme climate advisories. To address climate change we can take a number of steps.
First, we should establish a comprehensive climate curriculum that starts in transitional kindergarten. This curriculum should be intersectional and should integrate climate education through various subjects. Currently, we have no climate curriculum even though climate change is considered one of the most, if not the most, important issue for our children.
Second, we should establish procedures to seek and apply for climate action and greening grants through the state. In California, these grants provide financial assistance to schools to support climate adaptation and resilience planning activities. In fact, our Culver City elementary schools are ranked very low for tree canopy cover, which is essential to protecting our children from unhealthy high temperatures on a regular basis. By tapping into these resources, we can make significant improvements without impacting our budget.
Third, we should seek to transition all of our campuses to solar energy. This would serve as an educational opportunity for children to learn about renewable energy but can also lead to substantial financial savings in energy costs over time.
Fourth, we should improve our lunch programs to include more nutritious options. We should also eliminate single-use plastics in school cafeterias–in line with the City of Culver City’s ban on single-use plastics. This change would improve student health and reduce waste. Furthermore, more nutritious options are particularly important to our unhoused students who may be experiencing food insecurity.
Lastly, we should encourage students and families to walk, bike, or take the bus to school. Sameen would look to expand our GoPass program and create educational opportunities for parents to learn about the program. For those who must drive, we should encourage parking farther away from school entrances. This initiative would promote walking, making the areas around our schools safer and less congested, while also fostering a sense of community and responsibility toward our environment.
Inclusivity
- Inclusion of students with disabilities
- Boost resources for multilingual learners
- Support and uplift historically excluded groups
Sameen is deeply focused on inclusivity in our schools, beginning with the vital inclusion of students with disabilities into all educational spaces. Research shows that inclusive classrooms benefit all students, promoting empathy, cooperation, and a richer educational experience. Additionally, teaching strategies that benefit students with disabilities also benefit all students. To make the inclusion of students with disabilities more effective, we need to bolster resources for teachers, providing further training on accommodations and modifications, as well as administrative and paraprofessional support that empowers and equips them to meet the diverse needs of their students. This includes annual reminders and reviews as laws on providing the least restrictive learning environment are updated.
Additionally, we must prioritize our historically excluded groups. One way to do this is to ensure that all student groups feel supported and recognized. This means providing targeted resources, such as expanded cultural events, that celebrate diversity and promote a sense of belonging among all students. We should also be thoughtful about how we teach about historically excluded groups and create environments that are both safe and joyful for our students to express their feelings and experiences. This is currently done well in our ethnic studies, gender studies, and AP African American History courses, and we could use those classrooms as models for numerous other classrooms district-wide. Further, it’s essential to take into account and survey our most impacted students when considering options that disproportionately affect them, such as the presence of our School Resource Officers (SRO). By actively engaging these students in the decision-making process, we can better address their needs and foster a more inclusive and supportive school environment.
It is also critical to increase resources for our multilingual students. Year after year, our multilingual learners are not adequately prioritized, and the recent data on reclassification rates in our school district is concerning. To address this, we must review our existing policy for multilingual learners and assess how we can enhance and redistribute resources. This will involve enhancement and better implementation of our English Learner Master Plan, providing professional development to all educators on effective strategies to support multilingual students and following other best practices from Californians Together. Collectively, we can create an inclusive environment where every student feels seen, heard, and respected.