SLUSD Wins Prestigious CSBA Golden Bell Award for Equity

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Keziah Moss, Director of Community & Employee Engagement, (510) 667-6202, kmoss@slusd.us

SLUSD Wins Prestigious CSBA Golden Bell Award for Equity

December 11, 2019

SAN LEANDRO, CA: The San Leandro Unified School Board has received a distinguished, highly competitive California School Boards Association (CSBA) Golden Bell Award for significantly increasing access and equity in Advanced Placement programs at San Leandro High School. SLUSD was one of only 52 school districts in California to receive this annual award, out of several thousand entries from across the state. 

In accepting the award, School Board President Leo Sheridan acknowledged district administrators, San Leandro High School teachers, counselors, and site administrators who engaged in the structural work to remove barriers for all students who are ready to accept the challenge of collegiate-level coursework. “Our staff continues to find ways to identify and encourage our students to see themselves as infinitely capable,” said Sheridan, “And our students continue to meet and exceed those expectations. This award is an authentic artifact of the equity-based, student-centered collaboration that makes SLUSD such a special place.”

Every year since 2015, the district has increased the number of students taking and succeeding in Advanced Placement courses while simultaneously increasing the demographic diversity in those courses. These increases were the result of systematic analysis and removal of enrollment obstacles, coupled with schoolwide outreach to identify students who may not have envisioned themselves as ready for advanced courses. Those efforts also received national recognition from the College Board in 2018 when the district was named a College Board Advanced Placement District of the Year for increased access and equity.

The CSBA Golden Bell Awards promote excellence in education and school board governance by recognizing outstanding programs and governance practices of school boards in school districts and county offices of education throughout California.

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