Education among the pandemic: Q&A with Superintendent of the Year Gayle Garbolino-Mojica

Placer County Superintendent of Schools Gayle Garbolino-Mojica was recently named Superintendent of the Year by the Association of California School Administrators Placer County Charter, an academic organization for school leaders in the county. Garbolino-Mojica was honored for her leadership in 2020, a year unlike any other modern education leaders have navigated through. Garbolino-Mojica began meeting with Placer County's 16 superintendents and the Placer County Health Officer to plan their pandemic response in February 2020, before coronavirus restrictions shut down school campuses. Since that initial meeting, the group has continued to meet weekly to plan for the unforeseen. "She immediately rallied all district superintendents, charter school operators and public health officials for weekly – sometimes daily – conference calls," said a group of her peers in Garbolino-Mojica's nomination paperwork. "She facilitated collaborative decisions throughout the county related to distance learning, ever-changing guidance, community messaging and safety protocols." Garbolino-Mojica said collaboration has been important throughout 2020. "Educational leaders throughout Placer County have been working hard to collaborate and to be on the same page with guidance interpretation, action plans and more, which is quite difficult at times because the guidance changes frequently and each school district and charter school has their own stakeholders," she said. Garbolino-Mojica also received the Perpetual Award from the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association in recognition of her leadership throughout the region and state earlier this school year. The Auburn Journal asked four topical questions to Garbolino-Mojica for our readers. Here are her responses: What has been the biggest challenge overseeing Placer County schools amid the pandemic? Without a doubt the biggest challenge has been the constant ever-changing sets of guidance for schools from the state. This summer alone, there were three to four different documents that the state released that either did not correlate with each other or had information that had changed. As soon as we had clarity on the new guidance, it would change yet again. I cannot even express how much time, effort and energy has been spent in this county on interpreting and understanding guidance, mandates and recommendations, even just since the latest guidance was released on January 14 (when the state yet again changed the rules). Our schools and our educational leaders are trying to be compliant but also trying to keep their educational programs intact. I have been very vocal at the state level advocating that they should not be harming schools that are open, which ultimately harms our students. How do you think the pandemic has shifted the future of education delivery? The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted a few things for the general public. First, the necessity of accessible broadband for our communities. As our society moves forward with the digital age, when a household has limited access to broadband, that household then has limited access to services, whether it's education, commerce or even ways to engage in civic participation. Secondly, I think everyone is more aware of the importance of each child having physical, in-person access to highly qualified teachers. As a former teacher myself, I firmly believe there is no substitute for daily interaction with educators. And third, we learned that there is a way to blend online instruction for our schools in a very meaningful way, not necessarily as a substitute for daily in-person instruction but as a compliment to it. Is the county experiencing declining enrollment in public schools? What can you do to prevent this? Yes, our schools are seeing a drop in enrollment, specifically at the younger grade levels. We do not know if parents are choosing to keep their younger TK, K and first-grade students at home, or in a childcare setting, or if families are moving out of the county to more affordable areas. I think at the start of the next academic year in August 2021, we will see many of our families return to public education because Placer County is renowned for our academic achievement. Our schools have been open for in-person instruction since fall 2020, when many schools throughout the state are facing a year plus in distance learning. Year after year, Placer County students outpace the state average in test scores for English Language Arts and Math. And, Placer County ranks second in the state for college and career readiness. All of this comes back to my previous statement - there is no substitute for daily, in-person interaction between students and highly qualified teachers. It's why we say that Placer County is "gold in education." What do you hope for the future of Placer County schools? In terms of education, I think the work we are doing right now to address the gaps in learning are good strategies regardless if there is a disruption to the educational program. I hope the learning acceleration strategies that we are implementing now will be part of our future strategies to ensure all students are meeting grade-level expectations. I hope we see the same level of family engagement in our schools five years from now that we see today. I hope we see real movement across the state, and even at the national level, to ensure households have reliable broadband access. The digital divide is real and access to broadband will benefit entire communities, not just students. And finally, my hope for Placer County is that after we rebound from this pandemic, we will be a stronger community for all we have accomplished together during this time.