Last month, The Fresno Bee’s Education Lab asked you which education issues matter most to you and your community. We released surveys in English and Spanish and received more than 200 responses.

In addition to the survey, I’ve reached out to community leaders and passionate parents on social media to learn more about the solutions they are bringing to their communities.

You have responded to our questions, and we are listening

The results have been enlightening. From our English survey, 60 percent of you said you wanted to see more stories about school discipline. The other top five issues from the surveys include health issues, immigration (health and immigration issues were a tie), state funding, and how charter schools affect our districts.

You want us to highlight student voices

You want more stories from the voices of youth and parents. Fresno County is incredibly diverse, and you want to hear from them. “No one bothers to ask youth how things should be implemented or what they think their priorities are. They have a lot of knowledge and are the ones on the ground living through different policies adults have adopted, they have a lot to say — ask them about it,” one surveyor said.

Mental health stories

Another issue you are passionate about is mental health and how it affects education. On a scale from 1-10, 44 percent of you ranked mental health at a 10. You told us you want us to look into “how anxiety, family dysfunction, and other social-emotional issues are impacting students and what schools are expected to do to address those.”

Our survey sought not only to understand which education issues matter to you but also how well you feel we are doing in representing your community in the news. On a scale of one to 10, the majority of responders felt their communities ranked at a five or lower when it came to education news coverage of their area.

The answers from this survey are already driving the issues we will be reporting on. We still need your help. We are interested in engaging with the community on a personal level. We want to conduct a few in-person workshops in order to build a stronger relationship with our communities and learn more.

Our goal is to hold workshops throughout Fresno County with the purpose of starting a conversation around school discipline.

We want to know where we should go? We want to start by learning directly from you about issues in your own community. This type of input will help us create relevant and responsive workshops that fit your community.

We’d like to visit a mix of urban, rural and suburban parts of Fresno County, and we’re up to hold these workshops in storefronts, historical societies, libraries, the back room of a restaurant, a travel plaza — pretty much anywhere. Tell us where you think we should go and why we should go there.

Who should we work with?

We’re looking for people who are involved in their communities. Maybe you’re an organizer, a teacher, a business owner, a librarian, a parks and recreation department employee, or you just have a tight-knit group of friends. Reach out, say hello, and consider inviting us over. Or maybe you know someone we should speak to. Send them our way.

We are listening and we want to know more. Please feel free to reach out to me at idieppa@fresnobee.com, you can also DM me on Twitter @IsabelSDieppa, or feel free to call me at 559-441-6016.

If you’re not ready to start a direct conversation, but you want us to have your input, fill out our survey.

We will continue to accept survey responses in English and Spanish.

We want our reporting to be informed by you.

This story was originally published January 30, 2020 at 5:30 AM.