Annc: Coming up on Inside California Education: Join an ethnic studies class in Los Angeles County, where high schoolers learn about the struggles and contributions of historically marginalized communities.

It's a class requirement that will soon be required in all California public schools.

Dr. Durado: I think it says that in California we really care about inclusivity.

Annc: Explore a new affordable housing unit in the Bay Area - built just for the school district's teachers and staff.

It's an effort by the district to retain employees and address rising housing costs.

Kevin: We can stay close to our schools, we can stay close to our community.

Annc: Plus, meet students from an Elk Grove high school who are learning how to design, build, and race hydrogen fuel cell remote control cars.

It's all part of a focus on careers in renewable energy.

Cindy: I've been really enjoying it and, like, just knowing that we're gonna build cars, it just sounds so fun.

Annc: And discover what a day in the life is like for a school counselor in the Central Valley who supports students in their academic goals as well as their social and emotional well-being.

Alma: Anybody want to share with the group what was a coping skill that they use?

Annc: It's all coming up next on Inside California Education.

Funding for Inside California Education is made possible by: The California lottery has been reliably raising additional money for public education for decades.

More than $41 billion since voters created the lottery in 1984.

And that's the reason why California lottery exists.

It's why we do what we do and work so hard to do it.

Annc: Thank you, California - our schools appreciate your support.

Imagine a credit union where school employees are treated like the heroes you are.

At SchoolFirst Federal Credit Union, everything we do starts with helping school employees and their families live better today and plan for tomorrow.

Learn more at sch oolsfirstfcu.org.

The Stuart Foundation: improving life outcomes for young people through education.

ScholarShare 529: California's state-sponsored, tax-advantaged 529 college savings plan designed to help pay for the cost of higher education.

Additional funding for Inside California Education is made possible by these organizations supporting public education.

♪♪ Christina: Today, we're going to go ahead and we're going to start talking about, um, and examining, uh, Native American mascots used in colleges, sports, high schools.

Okay... Annc: This is a typical discussion in one of several Ethnic Studies classes at El Rancho High School in Los Angeles County.

Christina: My course today is diversity in literature and film, and basically we've been doing a unit on indigenous representation within the media.

And as part of that, what we're going to be looking at is the debate surrounding, um, native themed mascots.

Do you agree or disagree?

How do you feel about this?

Annc: Classes like this one will soon be a requirement in all California high schools.

It's part of a historic assembly bill passed in 2021, making California the first state in the nation to require that all graduating high school students take at least one course in ethnic studies.

On this campus, that's already been the rule for years.

Christina: We were actually the first in, uh, California to pass an ethnic studies resolution.

Annc: Christina Mata has been a teacher here since 2000.

It was 2014 when the El Rancho Unified School District passed a resolution requiring all their high schools to offer an ethnic studies class.

Mata helped the district create the vision that led to its current curriculum.

Christina: Most schools, um, and most people, when they think of ethnic studies, they think of it as a history course, but we knew right away that we wanted more than that.

Annc: Today, this high school offers not just one ethnic studies course, they have an entire cross-curricular department focused on it.

Christina: We have an ethnic studies literature course, we have ethnic studies literature and film course, we have a history course, um, a few history courses, actually.

We have ethnic studies art course and an ethnic studies mathematics course.

Annc: Dr. Deborah Duardo is the superintendent of schools for all of L.A. County, which includes 80 school districts.

She says ten of their districts have had ethnic studies courses in place for years.

Dr. Durado: Some of the things we've learned from those districts is that students do better, students thrive off of, you know, learning about different cultures, learning about, um, the history of this country in a way that sometimes they haven't been aware of.

Isiah: I think it's really cool because, like, we're able to talk about and discuss these ideas that we all have and, like, how we really feel about it.

Annc: Ethnic Studies is the interdisciplinary study of race, ethnicity and other identities, including both the struggles and contributions to our country from historically marginalized people.

They're stories that have often been left out of history books.

At El Rancho High School, the classes range from Chicano mural art to a math class called "I Am an Ethnic Statistic."

Yadira: I feel like it is important to have courses like these to, like, open our eyes to the diversity in the world and, like, know the rights and wrongs when it comes to different cultures and everything, and how to respect them.

Sarah: I think it's very important.

I think it promotes empathy.

I think it, um, dispels ignorance.

Dr. Durado: I think it says that in California we really care about inclusivity and making sure that all children have an opportunity to see themselves in the instructional program that they participate in.

Annc: Dr. Duardo says at a time when our country feels divisive, a statewide focus on helping students better understand each other and the many cultures that make up our history benefits us all.

Dr. Durado: I think it's going to bring us together and we're going to have a greater appreciation for living in a diverse city, a diverse country, and... and honoring that and celebrating it and seeing it as a strength.

Christina: She is against using, Native American mascots, right?

So what is your opinion?

Do you agree or disagree with her?

Annc: The state mandate requires all California high schools to teach ethnic studies before the 2025-26 school year.

By 2030, all graduates will have to have taken at least one class.

Meanwhile, the L.A. County Office of Education has created a toolkit with templates and case studies for districts to use.

Teachers like Christina Mata have traveled across the country speaking to school boards about the power of ethnic studies, and how it's changed their campus culture since they launched it almost a decade ago.

Christina: We know how it's working for our students.

So now to see that and how it's going to translate throughout the rest of California, um, and then hopefully the rest of the country, uh, that's very exciting because we know the power that it holds for these students.

Annc: The California State Board of Education has approved an ethnic studies model curriculum that provides guidance to high schools in developing their own ethnic studies classes.

The model curriculum provides background ideas and examples to begin local discussions on expanding ethnic studies offerings.

It contains dozens of sample lessons and topics including: Black Lives Matter and Social Change, An Introduction to African-American Innovators, Hmong Americans - Community, Struggle, Voice, Native American Mascots, U.S. Undocumented Immigrants from Mexico and Beyond: Mojada: A Madea in Los Angeles.

♪♪ Annc: First year math teacher, Kevin Tan, is excited about what he does.

Kevin: But then you can also factor that out.

So, it's the reverse thing... Annc: Including the lesson plans he hashes out with colleagues.

It's been a blast so far.

I was working in tech for a few years, but then I found out that that wasn't really what my passion was.

I love just the act of teaching, just inspiring the future generations of mathematical critical thinkers.

Annc: But Tan's enthusiasm is not shared by everyone.

One reason: teacher salaries.

According to U.C.

Berkeley housing expert, Jeff Vincent.

Jeff: Half the school districts in California have an annual teacher turnover rate of 12% or more, and some as high as 20 to 25%.

The rising cost of living, particularly housing, is really helping to fuel that.

Annc: Now, some California school districts are addressing those high housing costs head on.

Tan and other educators are tenants at this new affordable housing unit in Daly City, built just for school employees within the Jefferson Union district.

Rents are about half the price of the comparable housing in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Kevin: That way we can stay close to our schools.

We could stay close to our community.

Andy: This building has 122 units.

The one bedroom units start around $1,350 per month.

The two bedroom units average around $1,890 per month, and the three bedroom units start at around $2,400 per month.

Kevin: Money is a really big issue here in the Bay Area.

Marlene: There came a point when I was really considering getting a second job, but I was so tired already.

Annc: The housing unit was built atop the old Serramonte del Rey High School's lot, which closed years ago.

District board member Andy Lie hoped the empty space would somehow be the game changer the district desperately needed.

Andy: 35% were intending to leave the school district within the next five years due to the cost of housing.

We knew that in order for us to be competitive and to be able to retain staff, we needed to offer something other than just salaries.

Annc: The idea came from the nearby San Mateo Community College District, which was beginning to successfully create affordable staff housing on two of its campuses.

School officials say while it seemed like the perfect solution, they still had cut through years of red tape.

Andy: Everything from the... from the... from looking at the feasibility studies on what could be built at the site to determining how many units there should be to determining, uh, whether we put a bond measure on the ballot or not, how we were going to fund it.

In 2018, we put measure J on the ballot as a bond for $33 million that was approved at about 55.8%.

I'm still amazed that what I thought was a pipe dream seven years ago is a reality today.

Annc: Across California, there are four other affordable housing properties on school district land.

Teachers and staff can typically stay at least five years.

As for future affordable housing projects... Jeff: It's gonna take a long time.

You're figuring out which properties can work, you're working with your community, you are assembling the financing to do so.

Annc: In San Francisco, extensive and complex regulations meant it took 20 years before its district was able to break ground.

Jeff: There's a... a big learning curve on this.

Most school districts in California, do not have the in-house expertise of how to do housing development and think about real estate in this way.

Annc: Vincent heads UC Berkeley's Center for Cities and Schools, which researched ways to streamline the process.

Jeff: One of the things we found in our research is that many properties or neighborhoods in California are zoned for single family residences, and often in order for, uh, affordable housing to pencil out it has to be a little bit higher density, right?

Annc: With his recommendation, Assembly Bill 2295 became law in 2022.

It eliminates school districts from most zoning regulations.

Jeff: It opens up a lot of possibility with sites across the state.

Annc: And that's good news for districts looking to experience the success Jefferson Union has had with its affordable housing.

Andy: From the results that we're seeing now, it's certainly been a win all the way across.

Annc: As a result, the district was fully staffed during the 2022-23 school year for the first time in many years.

It was a big relief for veteran science teacher Marlene Gutierrez, who has witnessed countless colleagues leave the district.

Marlene: It also boosts your confidence, your morale that now, uh, teachers want to stay in our district.

This housing is really a big game changer.

Andy: It's been really incredible to see the kind of community that's... that's developed.

Marlene: In this second floor alone there are two chemistry teachers.

It's fun.

It's actually fun.

We are a family.

Annc: There is growing interest in turning school property into housing for educators and staff.

California schools own more than 7,000 properties and 75,000 acres of land suitable for development.

With every parcel at least one acre or larger.

A UCLA report says more than 60% of those properties are in regions where entry level teachers face housing challenges.

A newly signed law in effect in 2024 helps school districts develop those properties by allowing educator and staff housing to be built on school owned property without requiring the district to request zoning changes from the city or county.

Annc: Step inside the kitchen of a school cafeteria manager who says food is the key to giving students the physical and mental energy to thrive.

♪♪ Liz: The service I provide here helps our students daily.

I believe it helps them get through their studies to help with their concentration and to feel better not only physically, but mentally as well.

My name is Liz Schott, I am a Cafeteria Manager 2 here at Cesar Chavez Junior High in Ceres Unified School District, and I've been doing child nutrition for 22 years.

Liz: Providing food for students helps their brains function better.

You have to have energy, you have to have food to make your day go better.

At breakfast, we have three different choices.

It's usually two hot items and a cereal.

At lunch, we provide eight different entrees.

We have several vegetarian, to give them that option.

There are fresh fruit and vegetables.

And then their hot meals.

And it's a complete meal.

We try to make our students feel welcome.

Liz: Good morning, Miss Lilly.

How are you?

We want to smile at them, greet them, make sure that they're welcome, and we're here for them, and that'll just make them feel better.

Liz: Thank you so much.

Liz: As I walk through the cafeteria, I usually stop by and say good morning to them, and I try to see if there's anything I can work through.

But it's really nice when they turn around and have a conversation.

It just makes them feel better.

Gets their day going.

Liz: You guys like the spicy chicken, right?

The beans, the rice and the cheese.

And you like that one?

It's brand new, so I need to know.

Liz: The kids here give me the feeling of having my own kids around.

I've got a couple of kids that live out of state, and they're not here with me.

It's like having my kids come in every day.

Liz: Okay, you guys have a nice lunch.

Okay?

>>: Thank you!

Liz: I'm really proud of what our school district provides for the students, and my own kitchen here.

I have got a great team.

We all feel the same way.

We love the kids, we love interacting with them, and it's just great seeing them every day.

It's just part of our life to be there for them and take care of them.

Annc: Still ahead on Inside California Education Meet a committed counselor in the Central Valley who's been named a School Counselor of the Year.

But first, students learn about renewable energy while having fun racing remote controlled cars.

It's all part of a broader effort to introduce students to opportunities with hydrogen fuel.

♪♪ Michael: When you're creating the hydrogen in here, look at it because you're going to physically see the hydrogen gas forming.

Annc: These ambitious high school students are attempting to create what only a few major automakers have built- a car that runs on hydrogen fuel.

Michael: It's a really eye opener for kids to know that we have a fuel source that can power a car.

Annc: With increasing demand for renewable energy, the time couldn't be more right for the Florin High School engineering class in Elk Grove Unified to discover H2, Californias newest alternative fuel option.

Cindy: I've been really enjoying it and, like, just knowing that we're gonna build cars, it just sounds so fun.

Annc: So much so, that Cindy and her classmates have joined forces in an after school club to get their car competition-ready for the 'Hydrogen Grand Prix.'

Jesse: The fun is what draws them in.

Wow, you know, these remote controlled, uh, vehicles.

Charity: It kind of feels like you're a kid again when you're just racing.

Jesse: But they're also learning knowledge about batteries, hydrogen fuel cells.

Annc: The Hydrogen Grand Prix is a series of endurance races culminating with the World Cup in Europe.

Kids design and build their own hydrogen remote control cars and enter them in a four hour competition.

Michael: It takes that textbook knowledge that they know about the fuel cell and it brings it to life.

Annc: This hands-on teaching experience began in 2016, when Horizon Educational, known for its STEM based curriculum, launched the Grand Prix.

With backing from Hyundai, Toyota, and other leaders in the alternative fuel industry, its mission was clear.

Jesse: To propel students into not only renewable energy but also into their future careers.

Annc: That humble goal has grown into a worldwide phenomenon with 20,000 students in 13 countries taking part.

♪♪ Annc: Currently, 500 schools in California are enrolled in the Grand Prix.

That's added competition for Florin High who placed just outside the top ten in the 2022 state championships.

Jesse: It's entirely possible that they will be able to go all the way to the World Cup.

Isaiah: First, we just want to improve our car.

Annc: Their inspiration this year, the Toyota Mirai, one of the first H2 vehicles to hit the road.

Bill Elrick from the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Partnership sees why students would want some of its elements in their cars.

Bill: The vehicles that kids are making versus the basic science in the mass produced vehicles coming out for our driving pleasure is the same.

Michael: And... what-- why do... why does that matter?

Why wouldn't we just use the other ones?

Annc: It takes a team effort from all the students to create a car that can run as clean as fuel cell cars currently on the road.

Michael: They start with building a model RC car.

The kids can modify anything from the chassis, um, to the fuel cell to the tires.

The kids are pretty impressive with the ideas they come up with and so they're constantly trying to figure out how can we make the fuel cell better.

Annc: Just like a regular sized hydrogen fuel cell car, the not-so-secret weapon to these pint sized counterparts is the fuel cell stack.

It converts the hydrogen to energy, to power the battery.

Michael: I'm watching the... the kids, uh, light bulbs go on.

They'll design parts that literally hold the cortex or the brain of the hydrogen fuel cell.

Luis: We put a lot of effort into it.

Annc: And for the final step, it's time to take the car out for a road test with Teresa behind the controls.

Teresa: I'm a race car driver before I got my driver's license.

Isaiah: 3, 2, 1... Annc: And success.

Bill: These kids can get this much quicker.

So what they're doing now is... it's just super exciting for all of us.

Teresa: I feel like this is a great accomplishment.

♪♪ Alma: Next one is-- if you look under the column "self esteem boosters," I can accept my body as it is.

Alma: You may have heard it said, you know, it takes a village to raise a child, and that is definitely true.

And here at Livingston Middle School, our team, our village, is essential in the lives of the students that we serve.

I am Alma Lopez, school counselor here at Livingston Middle School, where I've been a school counselor for 16 years.

Livingston is located in the Central Valley here in California, just along Highway 99.

We are a primarily agricultural community.

Alma: My mom, who completed second grade, my dad who completed sixth grade, came from Mexico at the young ages of 18 and 21, in hopes of achieving that American dream for their family.

So, when I was a middle school student, I had some incredible people that came across motivating and encouraging me.

So, all of these experiences and opportunities that were afforded to me contributed to me becoming the first in my family to graduate from college.

Alma: ...Sharing everything with the board, how did you feel?

Alma: It was really in college as I met other people that I learned really what I wanted to do as a school counselor, to be able to help students, to able to be in their space on a daily basis, um, and really help them set goals.

Alma: Anybody want to share with the group what was a coping skill that they use when they felt like an outsider?

Alma: I'm in the classroom with teachers, I'm in the classroom with students, I'm attending different meetings and I'm contributing in different ways to the team decision-making that is responsible for our students' success.

The academic piece is a space that has always existed for the school counselor, but in addition to that, we help support our students with their social-emotional wellness.

Alma: Go ahead and come on in, and have a seat.

Alma: So, really getting to know a student and their family and their needs, and then trying to help them or just remaining connected with them while we're looking to help meet that need.

I'm just incredibly honored and humbled to represent the school counseling community as a Latina from California.

I have this privilege to really be, um, a role model in the Latina community who look like me, right?

And who could see themselves in me.

Alma: Good job.

Alma: I believe that the reason that I do it is because I know that I have an opportunity in this community to impact this community.

The belief that young people have a right to have an opportunity to choose what they would like to do with their future.

And so, I love coming to school and I love seeing my students and being able to journey with them as they're figuring out who they are and who they want to become.

And then maybe I can provide a little bit of insight to them along the journey.

Annc: The American School Counselor Association recommends having one school counselor for every 250 students.

However, the national average is closer to 400 students for every school counselor.

The counselor's job includes duties such as: planning and goal setting the students, counseling students, providing referrals for long-term support, collaborating with families and teachers, studying data to identify student needs, and improving equity and achievement for all students.

Annc: That's it for this edition of Inside California Education.

If you'd like more information about the program, log on to our website insidecaled.org.

We have videos from all of our shows, and you can connect with us on social media.

Thanks for joining us.

We'll see you next time on Inside California Education.

Christina: She is against using, Native American mascots, right?

So, what is your opinion...?

Marlene: Where do we go again?

Right now we're reading the car.

Do you get any readings coming out?

Alma: Anybody want to share with the group what was a coping skill that they used when they felt like an outsider?

Annc: Funding for Inside California Education is made possible by: The California Lottery has been reliably raising additional money for public education for decades.

More than $41 billion since voters created the lottery in 1984.

And that's the reason why California Lottery exists.

It's why we do what we do and work so hard to do it.

Thank you, California - our schools appreciate your support.

Annc: Imagine a credit union where school employees are treated like the heroes you are.

At SchoolFirst Federal Credit Union, everything we do starts with helping school employees and their families live better today and plan for tomorrow.

Learn more at sch oolsfirstfcu.org.

Annc: The Stuart Foundation: improving life outcomes for young people through education.

ScholarShare 529: California's state-sponsored, tax advantaged 529 college savings plan designed to help pay for the cost of higher education.

Additional funding for Inside California Education is made possible by these organizations supporting public education.

♪♪