A reminder this back-to-school season that it’s really all about the kids.

Sara Rubin here, thinking about the rituals of back-to-school season. The sharpening of pencils, packing of a backpack and mostly, in my memory, the feeling of anticipation. 

Behind the scenes, teachers and staff are hustling to get the school year started too. And while those adults were front and center this morning at Salinas City Elementary School District’s back-to-school event, with shout-outs to teachers, principals and vice-principals of each school, human resources staff and more, I was struck by the reminder from the stage that ultimately, it is about the students. 

A student panel featured fifth- and sixth-graders, who begin school on Thursday. They were moderated by SCESD graduates who are themselves still students; college senior José Anzaldo and rising college freshman Francesca Muñoz. Muñoz’s remarks took a momentary personal turn as she introduced a series of questions about creating a sense of belonging. “I tended to be a child who would sit at the side of the playground, drawing flowers or Harry Potter wands,” she said. “Most of the time I fell into myself. A system to create a sense of belonging would have helped me—it would just be amazing to see a community where growth like that is fostered.” 

It was a very real, unfiltered acknowledgment of how hard school can be for some kids—even one like Muñoz who now, just a few years later, is speaking with remarkable poise from a big stage in Compass Church to a room full of hundreds of adults. 

And the young’ns, 10- and 11-year-olds selected by their principals for their leadership, got a chance to hold a microphone and give advice directly to their teachers and administrators. Kennedy Snider, a sixth-grader at Laurelwood Elementary, suggested that teachers invite students to write about their feelings in journals that only the teachers read. Felicity Wheeler, a fifth-grader at Mission Park, suggested that teachers treat kids like little adults. “You want to take kids’ questions seriously and build trust with them,” she said. Tracy Villanueva, a sixth-grader from Boronda, followed up: “We understand more than they think.”

California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and SCESD Superintendent Rebeca Andrade spoke about their vision for education writ large. “It can transform the life not only of one child but it can change the cycle of poverty for generations to come,” Andrade said. “We also believe in creating joy, connection and belonging.”

Those are big and important goals. I loved seeing students featured on stage—in a world with many players and influencers, from labor leaders to elected officials, parents to teachers to policy wonks, it’s a reminder of who it’s all for: Kids who deserve to be taken seriously. 

That’s including the joyful parts, too. As Sherwood sixth-grader Salvador Avila shared from the stage: “A fun fact about me is I am well known in my school for doing cartwheels.”