Annual Report 2020

“La Educación rompe las cadenas”
“Education breaks chains”

About the company

Founded in 1972, PACHS approaches education from the perspective of the whole person, linking education to the individual social, emotional, and academic needs of the students and empowering them to be active participants in creating change at the personal level and in their community.

The 2020 school year was an unprecedented year of challenges and hope, including the challenges of a worldwide COVID pandemic and the fight for racial justice and change. Our school community and the communities we serve faced the impact of gun violence and the trauma of isolation and anxieties. However, we persevered. We kept our school open, we connected with our students and families, and I thank all the staff, our board and community partners for their work and the work ahead to bring a new normal, powerful, and stronger, vibrant and innovative as we celebrate our 50th anniversary.

Marvin García, Executive Director

Our 2020 school year was like no other, beginning with a crisis that was unforeseen. Due to the COVID-19, our school principal, staff, administration, and community partners managed to do the unthinkable; implement remote schooling with a population of students in a community with needs beyond measure. Yet our school team succeeded by continuing teaching our students and providing different levels of mutual aid to our students, their families and the community as well. And for that, we the Board applaud you.

Evelyn Rivera-Swint, Executive Director

REMOTE LEARNING
MADE POSSIBLE

Educating and caring for our youth during these unprecedented times, when two traumatic national crises have converged to impact all of us, has never had more meaning and impact. Our students, families, and communities are looking to educators to lead the way as we prepare for our new normal in education. Young people need support, understanding, trust, and healing to mitigate the negative impacts of COVID-19, social distancing, and widespread protests and unrest as we awaken to the injustice of police brutality. During this school year, we have embarked on a new task of collaborative teaching. Teams of teachers have chosen to plan, teach, and provide feedback to students in a remote learning environment. Students have remained engaged academically despite their competing priorities, exercising their agency to strategize for how and when they demonstrate their understanding.

Our collective hope is that through individualized, competency based education, rooted in freedom and justice, our students will see themselves as change agents!