Koeppen participates in Small School Districts Symposium

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

Vallecitos School District Superintendent Maritza Koeppen, who is also the Vallecitos Elementary School principal, participated in the Small School Districts Symposium in Washington, July 15-16.

"I'm just really proud that I was able to represent small districts," Koeppen said.

The symposium was by invitation only, and Koeppen was one of approximately 20 participants. "We were able to meet with department officials," she said. "That was a great experience."

Three U.S. Department of Education officials joined the symposium: senior advisor for policy and planning Donna Harris-Aiken, acting assistant secretary for the office of elementary and secondary education Ian Rosenblum, and senior advisor to the White House Hispanic Prosperity Initiative Emmanuel Baudillo.

"I also had the opportunity to present to the group," Koeppen said.

The presentation was on the 2020-21 school year. "I had to explain what Vallecitos did during the pandemic and how we used our funding," Koeppen said.

The symposium was organized by the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents. "A lot of our schools have a lot of Latino families," Koeppen said.

Approximately 32% of Vallecitos School District families are classified as migrant, but approximately 50% of district families have nursery employment. Currently migrant education service programs have a three-year limit for students.

"Students need more time to receive that support," Koeppen said.

The symposium recommended to the Department of Education officials that the support period for migrant students be extended to five years. "They have additional support to bridge the gap," Koeppen said.

The desire for infrastructure opportunities was also a topic of the symposium. "We wanted to see more effort and support on infrastructure," Koeppen said.

That includes the need for funding for a small district which does not have the budget of larger districts. Infrastructure issues also include the preference of some contractors for larger jobs, which makes those contractors reluctant to respond to a request for proposals for a small school. "Procurement of these resources is also a challenge," Koeppen said.

(The San Diego County Office of Education has a staff member who assists 15 small school districts, including Vallecitos, with facilities. The assistance includes finding contractors who are willing to undertake smaller-scale jobs.)

The smaller budgets of smaller school districts also impact a district's ability to hire and retain certificated and classified staff. "We talked about staffing being a real challenge," Koeppen said. "It's hard for us to be competitive financially."

Larger districts have more money to recruit certain types of teachers. "Special education is one of the areas that some of us struggle in," Koeppen said.

Federal and state policies may impact small districts more than larger districts. "We just want to be able to have the needs of our smalls considered when there's a mandate or some new initiative," Koeppen said. "We're responsible for the same thing San Diego Unified is."

Koeppen is on the board of the Small School Districts' Association. The executive director of the association, Tim Taylor, recommended that Koeppen be invited to the Small School Districts Symposium.

"I look forward to working with our policymakers," Koeppen said.