Dr. Hurst earned his Doctorate in Education, K-12 Leadership (Magna Cum Laude), at the University of Southern California in 2011, and his Master of Arts Degree in Educational Administration (Magna Cum Laude) in 2008, and his Bachelor of Science, a degree in Mathematics in 1997 at California State University, San Marcos. That can involve, for example, a few teachers participating in a training session on restorative practices; they then teach their colleagues what they learned. Before taking the job in May, Hurst was superintendent of the Othello School District in Othello, Washington, for five years, where he is credited with increasing graduation rates and decreasing overall student absences. School board trustee Jamela Smith-Folds also expressed enthusiasm Wednesday about hiring Hurst and assured him that the responsibility of turning the district around wont fall solely on him. Our goal is to produce professional and engaging journalism that is useful for the citizens of the city. So I think, just to go back to your question, I think success is going to be individually defined by our students. They are as follows: . Ive been looking over the trend data over the past several years and Ive seen that, especially our Black students and our Latinx students have struggled in especially mathematics and English language arts, but also a number of suspensions, expulsions; we have a high chronic absenteeism rate. c***@dcdsb.ca. He also facilitated instructional rounds for the Oceanside high school network and the LCAP development. Please look for Dr. Hurst's e. So there has to be a big investment in preschool to make sure that we close that early literacy gap. Kenneth Chris Hurst, 60, who served as a superintendent at a school district in Washington state, will be West Contra Costa Unifieds first permanent Black superintendent. Tell me about yourself and how did you came to be involved in education? What is your biggest concern heading into the school year? Before his career in education, Dr. Hurst served 12 years in the Marines. And I think, as I shared before, we overall are not serving our Latinx kids and our Black kids well in our district on a number of different fronts. So sometimes when you walk into classrooms and even college classrooms, students are disengaged. We love to walk. Email. He refused to let it end in Game 7, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. I think for me, overarching, were going to be working on what we call a graduate profile, which is what we want our students to know and be able to do when they graduate. He and his wife, Crystal, have two grown children. Sylvester Greenwood and Dr. Cynthia LeBlanc each served one-year terms as interim . Christopher Hurst, 99th Security Forces Squadron superintendent, Chief Master Sgt. Among the strategies that he points to are restorative justice alternatives to traditional school discipline, promoting rigorous, engaging and culturally relevant curriculum as well as project-based learning, and aligning curriculum with career pathways and industry occupational sectors. She wasnt always blind. Following that, he received his doctorate in education at the University of Southern California in 2011. Hurst also assumes the post in the middle of the pandemic, with the task of guiding the districts return to full-time, in-person instruction in the fall amid pressure from a group of parents. Privacy Policy So, even though we have some high-performing districts across the United States, theyre not as high-performing as other countries, other developed countries across the globe. Hurst succeeds outgoing Superintendent Matthew Duffy, who announced last year he would not seek re-appointment when his contract ended after the current school year. West Contra Costa Unified superintendent hired, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), H-1B: Feds want criminal charges over application fraud for Silicon Valleys favorite visa. From San Diego, he became a principal in Oceanside in North San Diego County, turning around Jefferson Middle School and Oceanside High, he said. One unfortunate issue he has to face is for funding was the union's driven zealous raising of salaries that hurt the district. For interview and speaking requests for Dr. Hurst, please contact Communications at communications@wccusd.net. Want to improve the achievement gap? Chief Business Official: Robert McEntire Interim Associate Superintendent / Chief Business Officer (510) 231-1170 robert.mcentire@wccusd.net. And the research says once kids are behind, they typically stay behind. Chris Hurst is an Associate Superintendent at Oceanside Unified School District based in Oceanside, California. Ive traveled across the United States and lived from New York, New Jersey. The small academy Hurst oversaw was geared toward students interested in careers in medicine, with a pathway for graduates to go directly into nursing assistant jobs. A soft start just means that instead of just jumping right into the academics, were really going to have our teachers be really intentional about checking in with families calling, texting, and even doing home visits, of course, taking the necessary safety precautions. The release also credits Hurst with boosting graduation rates by 16% and lowering absences by 33% at the Othello district, which has about 4,500 students. He went on to become associate superintendent of educational services at Oceanside Unified, where he oversaw the start of the Oceanside Promise a program with a nonprofit arm intended to ensure. Its about giving back, and giving ourselves to the community of West Contra Costa, Hurst said of he and his wife. The staff at Richmond High School are backing student demands and uplifting them to engage the whole community. Ervin. Robert Hurst is an employee working in Thames Valley District School Board, according to Province of Ontario, Treasury Board Secretariat. Hell get better at his craft, but he is a sitting superintendent with a track record of success, not just where he currently is, but everywhere hes gone, from what I can see.. He also boosted the districts linked learning programs, which integrate academics with real-world work experiences. Please make sure JavaScript is enabled and then try loading this page again. Find him taking walks around town; he is always looking for story tips. We love to go to movies. I had a principal that was a mentor for me as well. The main reason he took the job, though, was to be a part of the work happening there to improve student success. He brings 23 years of education experience to the table, and is committed to closing achievement gaps within the district. Our goal is to produce professional and engaging journalism that is useful for the citizens of the city.Please send news tips to richconstaff@gmail.com. All Rights Reserved. His acumen in social justice, equity, and focus on accelerating student achievement here is impressive. Chief Master Sgt. So my real goal is, and how we define success is going to be dependent upon those teachers working with the students coming up with an individualized learning plan, and then building this plan, all the way from pre-K to 12th grade so they are able to achieve that. They didnt in 2019 or after or didnt say they did? Subscribe to Richmond Confidential to get the latest news sent straight to your inbox. Superintendent: Dr. Kenneth C. Hurst Superintendent (510) 231-1101 chris.hurst@wccusd.net. The question is going to be: How do we train our teachers and provide professional learning so that one, were addressing any biases that they may have in the classroom about a Black student or Latinx student or any student. So how do we check in with them during the school day? Hurst is not just qualified to support our district through these very challenging times, but he has also gone through a successful school reopening in his previous district.. Hurst got his start in the education field in San Diego County, after serving 12 years in the Marines; he served combat duty in Desert Storm and was a drill instructor, communications specialist and maintenance supervisor at Camp Pendleton. So anything that involves her is what I like to be involved in. I think that even our system of education is not as high-performing as some other countries as well. Kenneth Chris Hurst Sr., Ed.D | Superintendent | West Contra Costa Unified School District | (510) 231-1101 CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This electronic mail transmission may contain privileged. While serving as the Associate Superintendent of Educational Services, he supervised the Oceanside Promises implementation to ensure all Oceanside students graduated ready for college and career and established the Oceanside Promise Foundation, a 501(c)(3). If you continue to be blocked, please send an email to secruxurity@sizetedistrict.cVmwom with: https://richmondstandard.com/community/education/2021/04/15/wccusd-selects-charles-hurst-as-new-superintendent/, Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 15_3_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/15.3 Mobile/15E148 Safari/604.1, A summary of what you were doing and why you need access to this site. She also has this Braille laptop as well. The district plans to reopen campuses for hybrid instruction on Mondayafter more than a year of distance learning. So some students may define success as being able to get into Stanford or USC or Berkeley or UCSD or something like that, and that they have that list of goals. We hired a leader who will lead WCCUSD teachers, administrators, and staff with a united vision, transparency, and accountability. West Contra Costa Unified has had two African American interim superintendents in the past. As Superintendent of the 4,500 student District located about 3 hours southeast of Seattle, Dr. Hurst increased Othello's graduation rates by 16 percent from 71 percent to 87 percent and reduced absences by 33 percent. He said his drawn to central Washington in part because of the beautiful countryside his parents had lived in Yakima, and he and his wife always dreamed of living there. Board president Mister Phillips noted in an interview that West Contra Costa Unified is a mid-sized district relative to others in California, saying Hursts transition to the Bay Area is a natural progression. He spent 6 years as a principal and assistant principal in Oceanside, including the turnaround principal for Jefferson Middle and Oceanside High schools. West Contra Costa Unified enrolled about 28,000 students last school year, according to U.S. Department of Education data. Hurst has also used a train the trainer approach to professional development. Thousand of students compete in Tech Challenge in San Jose, Will higher pay lure more teachers? Not having position control forms on these people, and many other intentional policy and procedural actions in HR that ultimately masks the budget. He previously reported in Contra Costa County and before joining the Bay Area News Group he worked in Eureka and Santa Barbara. And I think another priority is meeting their social and emotional learning needs, because our students have been disconnected for so long, from an in-person learning environment. Michael Littleton Richmond Promise Board Chair, Former Senior Vice President of Finance, Gu Energy Labs. Everything that Im sharing with you ties to like the graduation rate. Chris Hurst's Phone Number and Email Last Update. Rumors circulated in late 2019 that the school board might consider firing Duffy, but multiple trustees publicly stood by the superintendent, EdSource reported at the time. Hurst should identify a few professional practices such as Explicit Instruction or Formative Assessment with Descriptive Feedback and develop a plan to implement, monitor, and hold everyone accountable for the execution of these aligned practices at very high performance levels. My dad was in the Army for 30 years and I was in the Marine Corps for 11 years and I loved it. Hursts belief in the application of research-based practices and his experience in systems thinking will add structure to our organization, yet enable our entrepreneurial spirit, Board Trustee Leslie Reckler said. Why struggle with bad credits when you can actually get them fixed within a couple of days with, I tried getting a car loan sometime last year but my credit score of about 521 ruined the process. So thats the conversation that were going to actually have. If we develop our teachers and our principals, then theyre going to provide quality instruction, because theres a lot of research between a good teacher, an average teacher and an expert teacher. He went on to become associate superintendent of educational services at Oceanside Unified, where he oversaw the start of the Oceanside Promise a program with a nonprofit arm intended to ensure all Oceanside students would graduate college or be career ready. All rights reserved. Kenneth "Chris" Hurst, 60, who served as a superintendent at a school district in Washington state, will be West Contra Costa Unified's first permanent Black superintendent. All Access Digital offer for just 99 cents! Daryl Camp, superintendent of San Lorenzo Unified near Oakland and president of the California Association for African American Superintendents and Administrators, or CAAASA, agreed. After a nearly six-month search, the West Contra Costa Unified School District has hired a new superintendent. Dr. Hurst joins WCCUSD after spending the past five years as the Superintendent of the Othello District in Othello, Washington where he significantly increased graduation rates and decreased chronic absenteeism rates for students. Our kids need to see positive influences that resemble their cultures, their ethnic background and ethnic makeup.. At Oceanside High School, Dr. Hurst led double-digit growth in the schools academic growth performance. So its going to be really important that our teachers check in individually with our students and really find out whats happening. So professional learning is going to be a very big key here in Richmond and across the United States. I think ethnic studies is certainly a great way to start. Kenneth Hurst Superintendent at West Contra Costa Unified School District Pinole, California, United States 1K followers 500+ connections Join to follow West Contra Costa Unified School. He Read More. College and Covid: Freshman Year Disrupted, Education During Covid: Families Struggle to Learn. Please check your e-mail for a link to activate your account. And how do we get them to understand that students are bringing in differences? So how do we really present curriculum in a way that really entices the student and engages the student. (The school) became a college-going community, and the beginning of a journey for me: where I could see how you can implement effective strategies in a struggling community and really change the outcomes for students and their lives, Hurst said. And as I look at large, urban systems like San Diego or LA or Oakland or Long Beach and even, West Contra Costa Unified School District, these are large systems which for the most part are failing are Black and brown kids. Some students may define their success as going into a career field of their choice, or some may define success, another different way. Dr. Kenneth Hurst Email: chris.hurst@wccusd.net Phone: (510) 231-1103 . While serving as the Associate Superintendent of Educational Services, he supervised the Oceanside Promises implementation to ensure all Oceanside students graduated ready for college and career and established the Oceanside Promise Foundation, a 501(c)(3). Yeah, I did address this a little bit. Were able to hire more counselors as well. Hurst should identify a few professional practices such as Explicit Instruction or Formative Assessment with Descriptive Feedback and develop a plan to implement, monitor, and hold everyone accountable for the execution of these aligned practices at very high performance levels. In a release, a district spokesman detailed Hursts accomplishments at Othello School District in Othello, Washington, including implementing social-emotional learning standards, which train students to manage their emotions and relationships. I always share the story of my experience as an African American adolescent; I never saw in the curriculum anyone who looked like me or resembled me, Hurst said. Dr. Hurst also tripled the number of children enrolled in preschool and increased the percent of preschool students prepared for kindergarten from 30 percent to more than 98 percent. Reading articles, research and more, both academic and not.. Othellos student population this year is 91% Latino; 32% are English learners, and 75% qualify for free and reduced-price lunch. Californias Community Colleges: At a Crossroads, Adjuncts gig economy at CA community colleges, College And Covid: Freshman Year Disrupted, Education during Covid: California families struggle to learn, Tainted Taps: Lead puts California Students at Risk, Full Circle: California Schools Work To Transform Discipline, Californias Homeless Students: Undercounted, Underfunded And Growing, Eyes on the Early Years Newsletter Archive, California Association for African American Superintendents and Administrators, funded in part by millions of dollars in grants, mostly from the Gates foundation, West Contra Costa Unified School District, Click here for EdSource's Comments Policy. Thinking "outside the box" will simply never outweigh the fact that WCCUSD has 9% less purchasing power than its demographic peers elsewhere in California. Smith-Folds added that her biggest reason for choosing Hurst was hearing him speak about his wife, Crystal, a special education teacher who Hurst turns to as a sounding board for major decisions. The districts board of trustees voted 5-0 Wednesday to hire Hurst. We also are partnering with a number of organizations that have reached out to me. But WCCUSD spent just $450 (3%) more per student than Oceanside did last year yet (a) Oceanside has only 61% disadvantaged vs 71% in WCCUSD, and (b) San Diego County is just a hair over the statewide average cost of living. Before leading the Othello School District, Dr. Hurst served as Associate Superintendent of Educational Services in Oceanside Unified School District, a 19,000 student district 35 minutes northwest of San Diego. Prior to his long career in education, he served 12 years in the U.S. Marine Corps. Categorical Instructional Support Services (CISS), Early Learning Pre-K to Adult Educational Operations, Office of African American Student Achievement (OAASA), Teacher Support and Assistance Program (TSAP), Community Budget Advisory Committee (CBAC), Research, Assessment, Accountability & Data (RAAD), West Contra Costa Unified School District, Blackboard Web Community Manager Privacy Policy (Updated). Its going to be a community conversation. And ultimately, our parents and our communities, they want to see their children succeed. Were not going to let anyone hosannah you in and crucify you out, Smith-Folds told Hurst at the meeting, said, alluding to an often typical pattern of welcoming incoming superintendents as a savior for all the districts problems, before disillusionment sets in, and they are forced out. Marvin Parker, 99th Logistics Readiness Squadron superintendent, Chief Master Sgt. Linsi Crain Public Affairs Manager, Chevron Richmond Refinery. And I loved it so much that I became a math teacher. Graduation rate is a systemic issue and it really goes to building this whole healthy system. He needs to review what happened with those vacancies, like the Janitor, or clerk I reported that were hidden from the databases in the subsystem as permanent employees in the same position for years and not posting vacancies, having unequal numbers of subs whom could be temporary contracts if there are equal number of employees out. That is not to say unions are bad, quite the contrary they just need to focus more on helping protect employees, especially the most vulnerable not raising salaries. Email. Dr. The district has hired a new superintendent, Kenneth "Chris" Hurst, who will begin May 17. Superintendent Dr. Kenneth "Chris" Hurst, Sr. is the 10th permanent superintendent in West Contra Costa Unified School District History. Were trying to build expert teachers and expert leaders as well. Cmon, folks lets stop expecting out of the box miracles in the face of head in the sand funding. The result was double-digit growth in academic test scores. Employee Information Salary History Employer Information Employer Thames Valley District School Board Employees with the same employer Position Information Dr. Hurst has a focused intention to plant seeds of greatness in WCCUSD students, provide resources, and create opportunities.. Questions, comments, or suggestions? Teachers, principals, and district administrators need to learn the notes of high quality instruction before they can play jazz. So whenever you have all this diversity coming in, and you have a teaching force that really is not equipped and prepared to engage with the language barriers and the cultural diversity, thats when you see as some of these issues that are happening. of Schools, Tony Thurmond, to do likewise. Welcome, Dr. Hurst. Richmond Confidential is an online news service produced by the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism for, and about, the people of Richmond, California. In Othello, Dr. Hurst led a District with a student population that is 91 percent Latinx, 32 percent English Language Learners, and 75 percent free and reduced-price lunch through the transition to Distance Learning at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and from Distance Learning to a hybrid model this year. He needs to acknowledge or review the abuse of the lowest performing students not given lunches, substitutes and other such things I witnessed myself. Richmond Confidential assumes no liability for comments posted to the site and no endorsement is implied; commenters are solely responsible for their own content. So my whole concept is making sure that we get curriculum in front of our kids, that [we get] role models for our kids that look like them. Vancouver Public Schools superintendent candidates, from left, Dr. Karen Cheser, Dr. Kenneth "Chris" Hurst, Dr. Hector Rico and Dr. Jeff Snell (Provided photos) Educators, students and. WCCUSD's Board of Education hired Dr. Hurst on April 14, 2021,making him the first permanent African American superintendent. Before taking the job in May, Hurst was superintendent of the Othello School District in Othello, Washington, for five years, where he is credited with increasing graduation rates and decreasing overall student absences. All comments are moderated for civility, relevance and other considerations. What are your plans for a successful reopening in the fall? We are thrilled with Dr. Hursts background, experience, and readiness to hit the ground running here in our District and help us to the next level, WCCUSD Board President Mister Phillips said. If we build those early literacy skills, then we have more literate students and theyre ready to engage in the learning when theyre in kindergarten. So theres a lot of studies based on it, especially out of Stanford, and I was reading one a couple of months ago that actually addresses how teachers will bring in biases and implicit biases into the classroom. So, another piece that Ive talked to people about is instituting threat-assessment teams at every level of the organization, at the district level but also at the school level. Hurst is apparently just another neoliberal, protecting the wealthy by betraying his students and their families, when he asserts that his "out of the Read More. Dr. Hurst earned his Doctorate in Education, K-12 Leadership (Magna Cum Laude), at the University of Southern California in 2011, and his Master of Arts Degree in Educational Administration (Magna Cum Laude) in 2008, and his Bachelor of Science, a degree in Mathematics in 1997 at California State University, San Marcos. Contact. Ive been to France and Italy and Austria. Anyone reading articles, research and more, both academic and not, knows this. Thats a serious issue. We are presenting to this community someone who can help and I say help because nobody can do this work alone take us to the next level, board president Mister Phillips said at the school board meeting. One of the things Ill share with you is based on our research. I have a number of concerns. Chris Hurst is a Superintendent of Education - Ajax at Durham Catholic District School Board based in Oshawa, Ontario. Sylvester Greenwood andDr. Cynthia LeBlanc each served one-year terms as interim superintendents. It really means that we have to have our teachers trained in culturally responsive teaching, but also we have to look at the curriculum that were putting in front of our kids. I am excited to get to work in West Contra Costa Unified and about working together to provide a world-class educational experience for students that prepares them to be globally competent and allows them to compete and participate in our diverse and global society, Hurst said. So thats really our growth. One of the things that I like about him is hes not coming here to learn how to be a superintendent, Phillips said. The district was able to close a very large deficit this year, but at the cost of eliminating positions, reining in expenses and borrowing from reserves. We hired 20 counselors, additional counselors, so the case loads were at 750 per counselor but now weve reduced that down to 350. I had a couple of few role models in my life. And sometimes were just like sitting on the couch and she has a book and I have a book and were just kind of reading together in the same room, or Im working on a laptop or something like that. Hurst said every district he has worked in, except for Poway Unified near San Diego, has served a large number of low-income students with not many resources. Dr. Hurst may think that his SoCal experience will help him. The systemic inequities that Ive seen in different districts that Ive been in Ive been in high-performing districts and low-performing communities as well it reminds me of my experience kind of growing up being a disenfranchised youth. Dr. Hurst joins WCCUSD after spending the past five years as the Superintendent of the Othello District in Othello, Washington where he significantly increased graduation rates and decreased chronic absenteeism rates for students. Dr. Hursts first call should be to Sen. Nancy Skinner to ask her to get over to Sen. Josh Beckers office to talk about a regional cost supplement to LCFF. I just loved it, from low-entry mathematics to high-level calculus. There just isnt anymore.. That doesnt happen. Given the number of students of color, I am certain that his presence will be appreciated by students and parents of color, as well as the faculty and staff of the district, Camp said. Jeff Taylor, Education | General | Kennedy High School | community. total compensation and benefits last year, reopen campuses for hybrid instruction on Monday, Harriette Cole: My friend's mom didn't recognize me at my job, and she was very rude. I talked about [social, emotional learning] as well, thats a big concern. His approach to collaborative leadership and knowledge of teaching strategies, as well as community involvement, are just what we need here in West Contra Costa.. And how do our teachers address and work with those differences as well? Improvement in a very few aligned professional practices will go a long way in improving student academic achievement. And its not been happening, especially with our Black and our Latinx students, so thats a big concern as well. He also implemented the districts social-emotional learning standards prescribed by the state, and the number of children enrolled in preschool tripled, the news release said. Dr. Hurst has served as the Superintendent of the Othello District in Othello, Washington, since 2016. And then also building in that classroom time and space, like I shared, to really check in with students. The theory of action is: build capacity across a system so we could better support the students, because thats what it comes down to, how are we better helping and supporting students. Im not sure if youre familiar with the High Tech High School System, mainly in the San Diego area, but they do whats called learn by doing.
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