Quarterly Retreats Have Made a Difference for the Lynwood Unified School District Board of Education

24Aug
by Alma Renteria

I have had the privilege of serving on my local school board district for the last three and a half years. When I was first elected to the board, I felt overwhelmed by just how much I had to learn at once in order to make deliberate, calculated decisions that would have a positive impact on our students. Still, it felt like no matter how many times I read and reread our weekly “Friday update,” I still felt like I needed more time to really process our district’s financial stability, the impacts of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), the different initiatives in place, our progress meeting our goals, a clear vision of our mission, etc. While board meetings were great opportunities to engage with our constituents and hear from them and our students, it has been our Sunday Board retreats that have really made the difference for me.

As a newbie to the board, I wanted to get caught up on the various topics facing the district to join the team in full force and really hit the ground running. I had never heard of weekend board retreats, but I signed on because it felt like an amazing opportunity. At the beginning of my tenure, we scheduled quarterly retreats that would allow staff to provide us with more insight into our budget as well as a more in-depth review session of our facilities update work. In addition to the usual work sessions, we also made time for team building as we all felt that board unity would allow us to achieve more for our community. In efforts to accommodate our busy schedules, in the recent year we have transitioned to Sunday retreats. Truth is, we are not always on the same page but considering that we are all willing to give up our Sundays on a quarterly basis, to continue to build on our team efforts, at least shows that we are all in it for the right reasons.

In learning about my colleagues’ time commitments, their treasures and their talents, I have come to truly realize the power of comradeship. The better we work together, the more we seem to be able to accomplish. So when you hear about our National Recognition as AP District of the year or our multiple Golden Bell Awards, remember our secret to success: Sunday board retreats. Our story is NOT a Cinderella story. I believe that all boards CAN achieve if individuals members learn to look past their own agendas and create a space of open communication that focuses on ensuring that ALL decisions are made with students at the forefront of everything.

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Alma Renteria

Alma-Delia Renteria is a proud product of Lynwood schools. After graduating UC Riverside, with a B.A. in English and a year earlier than anticipated, she decided to commit her “gap year” to City Year. After City Year Los Angeles, Alma went on to purse a teaching career with Teach For America Los Angeles. Upon joining TFA, Alma began her education career as a middle school teacher. It was while teaching that she realized the need to do her part to help serve the community she grew up in and decided to run for office, getting elected to the Lynwood School Board at only 23 years old. Alma completed her first Master’s degree in Urban Education at Loyola Marymount University and a 2nd Masters in Educational Leadership along with her Admin Credential at Concordia University. She was appointed by the Speaker to the Instructional Quality Commission and re-elected to the Lynwood School Board in 2018. She currently serves as the Principal at a local elementary school in Pico Rivera, where she hopes to demonstrate that magic is possible when thee right people are given opportunities to lead.

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