With most academic programs siloed to certain classes and careers, social justice is often only seen as an afterthought in higher education. However, at Pacific Oaks College, social justice, diversity, and equality are key values that color every part of the curriculum. For alumna Lark Sontag, M.A., this is why she chose to attend: to focus on early childhood education and all the different types of children that may be in the classroom.
“A lot of times when we think about anti-bias and social justice, we only think about race—which is clearly important, but in my career in special education and early childhood education, I started to see a need to open our definitions even more,” Sontag explains. “I was working with a lot of Latinx and African American, or Asian American children who were also neurodivergent—meaning they have a brain that functions in ways that diverge significantly from the dominant societal standards of ‘normal’. I started to think it would be great to combine an anti-bias focus with these special needs, and I quickly realized Pacific Oaks College was the only place I could do that.”
Coming to Pacific Oaks was a natural progression for Sontag as she followed her calling. Sontag had started her career in early childhood education as a preschool teacher, but quickly realized that her personal experiences would open her eyes to a need in the field: special education in preschool.
“My sister has autism, so I grew up in a household where I was used to neurodivergent children. I didn’t view it as a disability, I just saw it as kind of a personality thing. Once I started teaching, I learned a lot of the other teachers didn’t know how to communicate with these students at all, so they relied on me to help,” Sontag says.
In the early aughts, early childhood education was just beginning to acknowledge and address these children so Sontag found herself in a unique place. “I started teaching in a period where the idea of special education addressing neurodivergent children was just beginning,” Sontag says. “At that point, teachers may have been used to visually impaired children, or those with Down syndrome, but they didn’t know how to communicate with autistic children. I did.”
Her specific skills made her an asset around Los Angeles and surrounding areas, and she quickly became the go-to source for information. With a master’s degree from Pacific Oaks College, she started consulting and working at different colleges and programs, helping to incorporate special education needs with early childhood curriculum. Being the expert in a field all alone brought along its own challenges, however.
“I felt so isolated because I was by myself. I was reading books, educating myself on how to best serve these students—but at the end of the day, I was making it up as I went, I never had a mentor or someone else to help. And then I started realizing, I can’t be the only person that knows how to deal with neurodivergent kids or visually impaired autistic kids—or I shouldn’t be,” Sontag explains her impetus for thinking bigger. “I knew I needed to make a difference, but I felt like I could only make a difference for so many people when I was in a classroom every day.”
One of the first steps toward making the large-scale difference that she wanted to was finding a healthy community for educators around the country. While she was experiencing isolation treating a variety of students in her area, she knew there had to be other teachers who felt the same, that had ideas—innovative ideas—like hers.
She found her community in “Hello,” the online community of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Eventually, NAEYC recognized that she was driving interactions and building up the relationships in the forums and offered her a job. As the Hello Community Engagement Manager, Sontag lives out Pacific Oaks’ mission for community-focused education.
“It’s about bringing the community and different mindsets together and uplifting anti-bias ideas. We strive to uplift early childhood educators and support people who need a community, too, and who also have great ideas to share. We have a black caucus interest forum, a Latinx caucus forum, special needs and at-risk forums—all for early childhood educators,” Sontag says. “We celebrate equity and diversity through our conferences, the content we’re creating, and by connecting people experiencing similar issues.”
Pacific Oaks believes in the importance of inclusivity, social justice—and most importantly, the power of community. Sontag was able to learn more about childhood education while prioritizing these values and continues to carry them with her.
“I wouldn’t have been able to help support bringing special education to preschool teachers without Pacific Oaks. I wanted to help build up the community at Hello, because I saw the ways I needed this in my career,” Sontag says. “At Pacific Oaks, I had experiences that prepared me to give advice to others in early childhood education about bringing a focus on equity in the classroom, and also understand the broader context of how to be a leader.”
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