Fresno County has a new schools superintendent. Here is her vision for student success
With the start of the new year comes time to reflect, embrace the journey and reinvigorate our energy to work together to ensure the success of Fresno County’s children and families.
As your newly elected Fresno County superintendent of schools, my vision for the future is one where each community member and every community will unite to demonstrate actions both individually and collectively to achieve optimal education and quality of life. Our education systems will become a learning ecosystem, blurring the lines between school and community and ensuring that young people —no matter who they are or where they’re from — are supported to thrive and contribute to our interconnected world. This is what unifies us — this vision for a better future for children and families and an unyielding belief that anything is possible.
From the moment I started on the journey to become the next Fresno County superintendent of schools, I committed to engaging everyone in this mission. It is my fervent wish that every willing person in our county devotes their energy, intellect, compassion, purpose and resources to lifting all children to ensure their success in school and in life. It is my honor to carry the torch of the power of education during my tenure.
I’ve been an age 0-22 educator for 33 years in our county school system. We know that all kids in our community do not have the same starting line in life. Poverty steals the dreams of our children when they can’t see themselves in safe, healthy and productive futures. Education is the most effective way to break the cycle of poverty. I have seen repeatedly that when disadvantaged children have the right support and opportunity, they can achieve great things. Our children deserve every opportunity to succeed, and it is our moral imperative to do our part. Acknowledging the whole child-whole community responsibility is the surest path to a positive life trajectory for our children.
For a long time in Fresno County, our educational institutions functioned independently. We rightly focused on education while students were at school. In the past 10 years, we have begun to take a much broader view of what it takes for students to succeed. Families, neighborhoods, schools and public/private services all contribute to a child’s success from cradle to career. Because all the systems that support children and families are interrelated — education, physical and mental health, housing, food security, safety, economic development — we realized we need to work together and find collective solutions. This became even more evident during the recent public health crisis when we closed our schools and our community partners deployed to neighborhoods to provide food, vaccines and internet supports. Our conversations have shifted from discussions that are not just about our individual agency goals anymore, but rather how we can all contribute to the success of our children at every stage of life.
At the foundation it is about recognizing that we all have a part in the assurance that children and families receive what they need to raise strong, healthy, well-educated children, who enter school ready to learn, achieve regular benchmarks and advance toward high school graduation and college or career attainment with many options for their bright future.
Fresno County schools are investing in children in meaningful and sustainable ways through cross-sector partnerships with many community agencies. With a shared vision and commitment to align resources and change lives, we can fulfill the promise of education for all children in Fresno County.
Dr. Michele Cantwell-Copher is the Fresno County superintendent of schools
