Technology is a wonderful thing, but studies continue to show the detrimental effects it can have on children socially, emotionally and even physically. Cell phones and social media continue to instigate bullying, fighting and other inter-personal issues between students.

While a new cell phone policy was implemented last year, we must do better communicating it with parents and actually enforcing it on campus #MoreSocialLessMedia

We live in a community that allows us to walk and bike to school almost the entire year! But we also need to ensure we are meeting the needs of our community in relation to bicycle safety. This includes clarifying laws around e-bikes, doubling down on bicycle lanes, and educating students and parents alike.

Like many parents, we spent the first half of our son's 7th grade year helping him transition to the new academic expectations, classroom dynamics, and social interactions of middle school.

We need better support and programming for students moving from 6th to 7th grade, including a focus on social/emotional development, social media education, bullying, and more. If we have the opportunity to be proactive about the health and success of our kids - why wouldn't we be?

Let’s continue to expand on math proficiency as well as readiness for creative careers. Costa Mesa is the City of the Arts and we have an action sports industry in our community as well. Together we can increase both technical and arts-based career skill development to open as many doors as possible for our children.

Between the perfect storm of social media, online gaming, and the shift to online media, we've noticed many of our children with deficit in their communication skills. It's so important for our kids present and future lives that they learn to speak to others confidently, read non-verbals, interact face-to-face, have a desire to listen to others, and be capable of navigating inter-personal conflict.

48% of teachers say their mental health is having a negative impact on their work. There are many reasons for this, including lack of resources, the political discourse around education, and more. We must learn how to fight for healthier education systems with out disparaging and discouraging our teachers and administrators. As Sharon McMahon often says; “Teacher working conditions are student learning conditions.”

Author and social scientist Jonathan Haidt wrote, “the real world is so much safer than you think, and the virtual world is every bit as dangerous, if not more, than you think.” We need to stop giving credit to every snippet that comes across our news source and, instead, actually show up in our neighborhoods and schools to see for ourselves what the challenges, opportunities, and dangers are. Again, I'm not suggesting we put our heads in the sand! Instead, let's put our hands to the plow and engage in the thing that is often easier to just critique.