Transformation by Design: Leading and (Un)Learning at the Logan Memorial Educational Campus and the San Diego Unified School District

Abstract

For the past 18 years, Logan K-8 and Memorial Preparatory for Scholars and Athletes have lived side by side in the Logan Heights neighborhood of San Diego, California with very little interaction or collaboration between both campuses. Seeking to improve the educational opportunities for the children of the Logan Heights neighborhood, the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) has embarked on a transformational journey to create a prenatal-12th grade school campus, a first of its kind in the school district and in the state of California. The task for creating this campus began with a merger of both Logan K-8 and Memorial Preparatory and the addition of a prenatal/infant component, as well as a high school component. In this capstone I describe my process for leading a team in defining a problem of practice, develop a theory of action and a strategy for the learning program, family/community engagement, and teaming efforts at the staff and leadership level. Through this process, SDUSD must contend with a conflict between the structures and practices of a traditional school system and those it needs to create a transformational Montessori-based learning space at the new Logan Memorial Educational Campus (LMEC). I explore what happens when the staff at both SDUSD and LMEC have to engage in a required shift in mindset that will encompass “unlearning” the conceptions of schooling that exist among the staff, leaders, families, and students and lead to changes in structures and practices at the system level.