DKG California Support Team for Emerging Professionals

     The STEP Committee would like to celebrate two of our local female heroes in education, including one of our own DKG California members. Krystal Lomanto, Superintendent of San Benito County Schools Superintendent Lomanto is in her 33rd year in education. Krystal started her career as a high school science teacher, coach, class advisor and a teacher on special assignment.  Krystal was offered an Assistant Principal position in 2004 at San Benito High School District that served close to 2,900 students. She was in the Assistant Principal position for four years. During this time, she was also a North County Joint Union School District board member for six years and a volunteer coach in community.  Krystal moved into the principal position at San Benito High School in 2007. She led the site during the last recession helping to close the achievement gap for English Learners and Latinx students. Krystal was a champion for equity, access and inclusion for all students on her campus. Und

                                   I never thought that I would start writing with a definition from Wikipedia. I was so happy that the definition shown there included the word feminist. In my generational growth, the “Glass Ceiling” was spoken of quite often in magazine articles, women’s magazines in particular and even movies. A glass ceiling is a metaphor used to represent an invisible barrier that prevents a given demographic from rising beyond a certain level in a hierarchy. The metaphor was first coined by feminists in reference to barriers in the careers of high-achieving women.  Wikipedia The two women we will read about next, had dreams, goals, families and the drive to shatter the                “ Glass Ceiling” Indra Nooyi,  When I first read about Mrs. Nooyi I was quite moved. I personally have not agreed with many of her outspoken statements. Even though I do not agree with them all, but I am fascinated by her approach to taking on challenges.  Being an immigrant woman and

                       This Month brings us to the Intersection of two very important months. The completion of “Black History Month and the start of “Women’s History Month. I will post, in regards to two very important, women who have helped shape our history. Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer stood against all injustices in the United States. As an uneducated woman from the American South, she chose to speak out! This was a time that “A COLORED should be seen, BUT not heard”. Mrs. Hamer used her voice to address the injustices and plights of rural Blacks in Mississippi. She spoke about Voting rights, Food rights, and the right to a Quality Education. On Education and Black Power, she stated “What we mean by Black Power, is we mean to have not only Black political power, but Black economic power, to have a voice in the educational system that our kids will not only know the Black kids, but the White kids should know the contributions made by Black people throughout this country. We want to determ

Bob Moses was a Civil Rights leader, an educator exemplar, father, and husband. He was also the "father" of the Algebra project and fully endorsed Quality Education as a Constitutional Right. Read his article here: Returning to 'Normal' is Not Good Enough , posthumously published by The Imprint online news magazine today, Tuesday, August 24th, 2021,  https://imprintnews.org/ opinion/returning-to-normal- in-education-is-not-good- enough/58069  

The organization TODOS: Mathematics For All has an interesting and important take on the discussion happening currently around learning loss.  Please look at the article they have written on the subject here: TODOS article After you read the article, we would love for you to add your thoughts in the comment section below. 

  Penne Ferrell Awards as a Recruitment Tool                Penne Ferrell was a longtime member of Epsilon Omicron chapter in Orange County. She had a great passion for education and literacy, mentoring new teachers and Delta Kappa Gamma. In honor of her love for our organization, California State received a bequest from her estate that was used to create the Penne Ferrell fund. Non-member educators in their first three years of assignment are eligible to apply for a Penne Ferrell grant for reading resources. The Penne Ferrell fund ensures that every single year many emerging educators have a resource to help establish their libraries. We know that the size of a teacher’s classroom library has been linked to the level of literacy achievement for their students so nothing could be more important than building those libraries as quickly as possible. The Penne Ferrell awards are a great potential resource in recruiting new members. When we are thinking of who to recommend for

  In 2001 Larry Cuban wrote Oversold and Underused (978-6674011090). The book acknowledged teachers not having the power to use technological resources to teach and empower their students. Teachers were mostly told what curriculum was acceptable and had to follow strict guidelines for computer usage. Dr. Cuban would go on to do more research in this area and the area of reforming curriculum throughout the school systems. His articles span the k-15 level inclusive of special education. In the magazine The Journal (vol. 34, no. 6) printed in June 2007, the article on how to keep the cords and wires neat in the classroom setting caught my attention    The entire volume was devoted to technology in the classroom that was relevant at the time. There were articles on computers, in the classroom as well as how to use an interactive whiteboard. We have gone past cords and wires. We are no longer fascinated by whiteboards.   We have promoted to Chromebooks and laptops. We had a change in 2