CDCR superintendent salutes back to school

September 3, 2024

Editor’s note: This week, CDCR celebrates the educators, parents, and students who are going back to school, beginning with this letter from the superintendent of the Office of Correctional Education.

CDCR superintendent reflects on back-to-school lessons learned

Correctional Education Superintendent Shannon Swain smiling. — Shannon Swain, Superintendent, Office of Correctional Education

Salutations! I believe I was in the third grade when I first read “Charlotte’s Web” by the great E.B. White. It was part of a school reading assignment, and I remember driving my family nuts for a few weeks when I greeted friends and answered the phone saying “salutations” rather than “hello.”

I thought Charlotte was the coolest spider ever, and her devotion to Wilbur the pig may have sparked a very early commitment in me to helping others.

“Back to school” means different things to different people.

Kids who have spent a fun summer sleeping late and playing outside until the streetlights come on may look at it with a mixture of dread, along with some excitement at the thought of new clothes and new lunch box and backpack. Meanwhile, exhausted parents fantasize about spending an uninterrupted hour doing, well, pretty much anything.

Adult students also look forward to heading “back to school” — figuring out class schedules that mesh with work schedules and anticipating learning new skills.

Teachers, be they those who work with children or adults, spend hours designing lessons and developing new classroom management strategies.

School administrators brush up on professional leadership approaches, finalize budgets and spending plans, schedule annual training and development, and build school teams to best serve students.

Within the accredited adult schools of CDCR, while school operates year-round, the “back-to-school” buzz can definitely be felt.

Education is prime example of California Model

Students sit at desks while a teacher lectures in a classroom at Avenal State Prison. — Teachers make a difference across California.

The California Model embraced across CDCR is on display in classrooms and libraries, recreational yards and gyms.

Normalization, trauma-informed practices, peer mentorship, and dynamic security are part and parcel of every teacher’s toolkit. The Office of Correctional Education is bringing additional training about what it means to be “trauma-informed” to staff and teachers this year.

Teachers and administrators are integrating new topics and ideas into their plans and designing new activities to stimulate student interest.

Leadership teams are preparing their presentations for the annual governance council meetings, where they present progress they have made in the past school year to wardens and representatives from the superintendent’s cabinet. They also celebrate student achievement, staff growth, and lay out the challenges they are tackling with creativity and dedication.

Whether you are a student yourself, a parent knee-deep in new school supply lists, a teacher planning new ways to engage students, or an administrator planning meaningful learning activities for students and staff, on behalf of the entire Office of Correctional Education, I wish you a fantastic new school year.

While I suppose wishing you to be “SOME PIG” doesn’t quite apply, Charlotte and I hope the next year provides many opportunities to feel RADIANT, TERRIFIC, and HUMBLE!

Learn more about the California Model on the CDCR website.

All the best,

Shannon Swain, superintendent
CDCR Office of Correctional Education