{"id":196266,"date":"2025-10-21T13:57:32","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T20:57:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=196266"},"modified":"2025-10-21T13:57:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T20:57:32","slug":"small-districts-big-impact-ssda-executive-director-speaks-at-annual-school-board-gathering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=196266","title":{"rendered":"Small Districts, Big Impact: SSDA Executive Director Speaks at Annual School Board Gathering"},"content":{"rendered":"

Murphys, CA…Calaveras County school board members and superintendents from all five school districts gathered last Thursday for the annual School Board Dinner, hosted by Calaveras County Superintendent of Schools, Jared Hungerford. The event featured guest speaker Yuri Calderon, Executive Director of the Small School Districts Association (SSDA), accompanied by Amy Roehl, SSDA\u2019s Director of Programs and former Calaveras County resident.<\/p>\n

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Calaveras County Superintendent of Schools Jared Hungerford welcoming the county school board members.<\/p>\n

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SSDA Executive Director Yuri Calderon speaking to the county\u2019s school board members.<\/p>\n

Calderon shared insight into the unique challenges and opportunities facing small rural school districts across California. Of the state\u2019s 1,000 districts, 651 serve fewer than 2,500 students, and that number continues to grow. The SSDA represents 420 member districts, uniting and amplifying the voices of small school districts through legislative advocacy, collaboration, and professional development.<\/p>\n

\u201cSchools are the heart of their communities in rural areas,\u201d Calderon noted, emphasizing the essential role small districts play in sustaining local connection and opportunity. Founded in 1983, SSDA\u2019s mission is to unite and elevate small school districts, and its vision\u2014Empowering educational leaders for the success of every student<\/em>\u2014continues to guide its statewide efforts.<\/p>\n

Calderon highlighted the importance of rural schools across California, noting that they serve over half a million students. Rural schools act as community hubs, offer personalized education, and are resilient, diverse, and innovative, yet face distinct challenges that require continued advocacy and support.<\/p>\n

He also outlined the association\u2019s current legislative priorities: promoting local control by reducing unnecessary state-mandated plans, returning funding flexibility to schools, and addressing the staffing crisis through recruitment, investment, and fair standards.<\/p>\n

“Our small districts face unique challenges, but they are also models of resilience and innovation,” said Jared Hungerford, Calaveras County Superintendent of Schools. “This annual gathering is a chance to celebrate their successes and learn how we can collectively strengthen education across our county.”<\/p>\n

The annual gathering provides an opportunity for Calaveras County\u2019s education leaders to come together, share ideas, and strengthen collaboration among the county\u2019s small but vital rural districts.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Murphys, CA…Calaveras County school board members and superintendents from all five school districts gathered last Thursday for the annual School Board Dinner, hosted by Calaveras County Superintendent of Schools, Jared Hungerford. The event featured guest speaker Yuri Calderon, Executive Director of the Small School Districts Association (SSDA), accompanied by Amy Roehl, SSDA\u2019s Director of Programs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":196265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,20,18,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-196266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-featured","category-murphys","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image005-2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=196266"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":196269,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196266\/revisions\/196269"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/196265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=196266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=196266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=196266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}