The past few weeks I have been knocking on doors for my husband, who is running for school board in the San Antonio Independent School District.

I am a politically active citizen, so this is not my first time knocking on doors. But honestly, in recent races, I have become dispirited about the state of our politics. While no one is obliged to answer the door when someone knocks, I have experienced an increase in hostility, an increase in having conversations through video doorbells, and fewer opportunities for any kind of human connection.

This race is different. People are opening their doors, and almost to a person, everyone has expressed their support for and concern about local schools. Many have expressed worries about news that the U.S. Department of Education may be dismantled, or that the state may divert money from public to private schools.

I share their fears, and also, I want people to know that there is so much that we CAN do in our local community. Now is not the time for despair; rather, it is the time to act locally where we know our actions can have an impact on real people.

I have argued in a previous article that our local public schools are the most important workforce system in the San Antonio region, and our economic success as a region is dependent on a high-functional local school system. I am heartened when I talk to people who share that they have previously not voted in school board elections, perhaps because they don’t have children, or their children are grown, or they do not attend San Antonio ISD schools, but this time, they are planning to vote because they do believe local schools matter. They recognize that we live in an interconnected world, and if they want good doctors, nurses, plumbers, and electricians, it is the local schools that are going to nurture that talent and ensure that those important services are available to all of us.

The San Antonio region offers a vast array of school choices, both inside and outside the public school system. I am the Executive Director of a nonprofit, CAST Schools, and we partner with four local public school districts to create innovative options inside the public schools. Right out of college, I taught in East Harlem, the nation’s first district to offer public school choice. Some amazing schools were designed, enrollment improved, and it fueled the development of the charter movement. I have seen the power of offering young people options that allow them to flourish.

What not everyone saw when they dubbed it the East Harlem miracle was that some students were left with no good options. We can’t allow that to happen in San Antonio.

One of our core beliefs at CAST Schools is that young people come to us with gifts and our job is to unlock them. It comes from a deep commitment to recognizing and building on our community strengths, which includes the strengths that young people bring as learners. As a community, San Antonio needs to marshal its collective strengths, and resources, because there is also plenty more we can do as adults to ensure that the young people in our community are able to thrive. 

One friend suggests families of means who receive vouchers donate them back to public schools. 

At CAST Schools, we invite the community into our schools—through mentorship, internships, and hands-on experiences in high-wage careers. If you have the time, we have got a place for you!

There are also citywide organizations with strong programs designed to ensure that young people have caring adults in their lives. A few examples:

• Communities in Schools-SA and Big Brothers Big Sisters for mentoring
• San Antonio Youth Literacy (SAYL) to help 2nd graders read

In a previous article, I told the story of a regional group of superintendents, one closing the door to tell the others: We can’t wait for Austin or D.C. to save us. We need to act locally. 

Here is a story my husband, Mike Villarreal, heard on the campaign trail. Many years ago, when he was a “reading buddy” for San Antonio Youth Literacy, he encouraged others to join him. He ran into a supporter who started alongside him, and through that work, she learned that many students did not have access to books at home. In addition to her work as a reading buddy, she started a project to donate books into the hands of children who did not have them, work that continues today.

Yesterday, I met a woman who said, I’ve always wanted to volunteer in the schools – maybe now is the time to do it. Yes. The time is now.

San Antonio, we can’t wait for the good guys to arrive wearing white hats. We must leverage our local strengths, employers with deep roots and a commitment to talent development, school districts who are willing to collaborate and innovate, individuals who want to help a child read or support a teenager through their college applications and the gifts and talents that our young people bring to the table. San Antonio, it’s time for us to shut the metaphorical door on the state and national chaos and solve this problem for ourselves.