District hires Du-Song to foster equity in education

Thomas Wong, Staff Writer

District Program Specialist for Equity and Outreach Sandy Du-Song starts her day at 5 a.m. Post-it notes with phone numbers line the table as her alarms blare out upcoming Zoom meetings. She plans to interview district officials, teachers and parents. Du-Song adds these interviews to an ever-growing library of knowledge she oversees to bring change to TC. 

“I’m so glad that I get to be a part of this amazing community,” Du-Song said. “I feel that this district in this small city takes pride in tradition, in commitment and speaks volumes about loyalty and excellence. At the same time, I believe that I might be able to bring a fresh, new perspective based on the other communities and districts that I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of, and bring that to the realities of today.”

Du-Song was recently part of San Diego’s County Office of Education, where she worked with educators on addressing the issues of equity and inclusion. As a former principal at Vista Unified School District’s Chula Vista Elementary School and LAUSD’s Lomita Elementary School, Du-Song brings knowledge and experience to the district. She worked in both schools in affluent areas and schools with socioeconomically disadvantaged students. 

“From my many years of experience running different types of schools, I gather that my first responsibility is to listen,” Du-Song said. “Listen not with the intent to give an answer, but listen for the intent for someone to share their unique story. Everybody has a story and everybody has emotions attached to that story.”

Equity in education is foremost among Du-Song’s priorities. She understands the struggles that many marginalized and underrepresented students face in this country. At Chula Vista Elementary, she managed a student body of which 43% had housing insecurity, some living at the homeless shelter across the street. Du-Song witnessed firsthand the disparity in educational quality between affluent and poor areas. 

“I’m a very, very tiny part of the solution,” Du-Song said. “We have to be able to have dialogue and bring awareness to our differences because they are not things that make us weak. Using that power of diversity to make us strong is a worthwhile task for me to engage in, especially because if we are not careful, our implicit biases will result in explicit harm.”