Thousands of students in the San Diego Unified School District headed back to school Monday for the 2022-23 school year full of hopes, one being that the pandemic will remain in the distance and not disrupt their school year. Students were encouraged, but not mandated to wear masks.
SDUSD celebrated the new school year at Logan Memorial Educational Center, which the district describes as the first-of-its-kind, prenatal-to-career, public Montessori campus in California. The campus has a child development center, a preschool, an elementary school, a middle school and a high school.
District Superintendent Lamont Jackson said, “This year will be about equity. It will be about making sure we see, and we hear each and every child, that they have a sense of belonging in our community and schools.”
The superintendent outlined five priorities for the new school year. The number one priority is students’ mental and physical well-being. “If students don’t feel safe and welcomed, they’re not going to do well in school,” said Jackson.
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That priority was followed by continuing to ramp up Universal Transitional Kindergarten, providing more opportunities for more 4-year-olds to go to T-K. He also wants to continue to provide extended learning opportunities during and after school to make up for learning loss, emphasize standards-based learning and teaching, and recruit new teachers and other employees who support schools.
The superintendent added, “We want to make sure we are a place where educators want to teach, our parents want to send their children, and students want to learn.”
