Coastside Curious: Amy Anderson and CUSD’s Joy Dardenelle

Coastside Curious was born in Spring 2017 when Amy Anderson sat down with Joy Dardenelle, Assistant Superintendent of Cabrillo Unified School District.  After a few casual conversations about Coastside education, Amy got her mic out. This interview was recorded June 2017.

Meet Amy Anderson

My name is Amy Anderson and this is the first episode of my Coastside Curious podcast!

I’ve lived on the Coastside my whole life. I moved between Montara, Half Moon Bay, and even Butano Canyon out in Pescadero. I went to Coastside Development Center (now Coastside Child Development Center) as a toddler and preschooler.  Then Farallone View, Cunha, and HMBHS.  I learned alongside the same kids for 18 years and developed some amazing relationships that are still strong today. My younger sister and I spent our childhoods playing. We went biking on the Coastside trail, climbing Montara Mountain, and playing at the beach. Though we both moved to the East Coast for college. The call to return to our community was too strong to ignore.

Michelle Dragony, Chief Buzz Officer of Coastside Buzz, offered me a platform to talk about whatever I wanted to talk about. The decision was pretty easy. Yes. I’ve spent the last decade in classrooms as an educator and researcher. I’ve worked with every age from infants to high school seniors, kids with special needs and English Language Learners.

In graduate school, I studied Cognitive and Developmental Psychology at Clark University. It was a small private, liberal arts school in central Massachusetts. I then persued my Master’s at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. I’ve focused on using research methods to address access to academic achievement. Also, student-centered approaches in the classroom and educational spaces for inclusion were important explorations.

The first episodes of Coastside Curious will focus on the acheivement gap. The gap is a nationally systemic problem. It leaves an unacceptable number of children without access to an adequate education. Race, family income, and English language and citizenship status are all factors. Talking about the achievement gap in grad school as an abstract concept that affects a nameless, faceless, sea of children in the US leaves a lot out.

On the Coastside, we know them as our family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors. Maybe I’m a little biased, but I see the Coastside as a community in the unique position of being able to tackle the issues that most of America faces. We’re a small community almost split down the middle in terms of socioeconomic status. But we happen to have some of the kindest, community-focused, dedicated and open neighbors.

So, let’s get to know some of them. Coastside Curious will spotlight all of the great work being done in our community, to create an equitable world!