November 21, 2022

Dear County and District Superintendents and Charter School Administrators:

Webinar with California Surgeon General: Employee Mental Health and Wellness and Preventing Burnout

I am pleased to host a webinar on Tuesday, December 6, 2022, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. that will feature California Surgeon General Dr. Diana E. Ramos and other leaders who will speak about preventing employee burnout and promoting school-based employee wellness. This webinar is open to local educational agencies (LEAs), school administrators, educators, counselors, and school-based mental health center directors.

The pandemic exacerbated work-related stress for educators, administrators, and support staff. This event will highlight the need for LEA leaders to prioritize the well-being of their public school employees and provide best practices and strategies to help reduce the extent and impact of stress.

Guests include California Surgeon General Ramos; Emily J. Hernandez, Director of Employee Assistance Service for Education at the Los Angeles County Office of Education; Katarina Roy Schanz, Director of Wellness and Engagement at the Riverside Unified School District; Amy Blackshaw, Behavioral Health Project Director at the California School-Based Health Alliance; and Tara Gard, Chief Talent Officer in the Oakland Unified School District.

Many educators continue to feel overwhelmed and experience burnout while juggling work and life under significant stress with COVID variants still in our midst, wildfires, and two years of health, social, economic, and political challenges that have impacted all Californians. I commend our educators for their resilience and for being innovative in finding ways to connect with students during these last few difficult years. What our educators and support staff have done is nothing short of remarkable.

Please register in advance for this webinar via Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6Cht2PM_S2ik4BsaXU96Zg, or watch a livestream of the webinar on the CDE Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CAEducation. We are also asking those planning to attend the webinar to take a brief Google survey at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeA0o2Wp89FrVEmxtXhiOUMiOIj1v3G5_oGr6lsE8JUkh_njA/viewform. This survey should take five to 10 minutes to complete. The information you provide will be used to capture best practices happening on school campuses across California.

Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you for this important discussion.

Sincerely,

Tony Thurmond
State Superintendent of Public Instruction