About 180 people — educators, students, parents and public-school advocates — took part in the Mobilizing For Education Excellence summit at the Santa Fe Community College on Monday to brainstorm about uniting the community behind specific education goals.

The event was convened by United Way of Santa Fe County and facilitated by members of New Mexico First, a nonprofit group committed to engaging citizens in public policy issues.

Noting in her opening remarks that one goal is to ensure an equitable education for every child, United Way CEO and President Katherine Freeman said, "It sounds like we say that every time, but we don't do a very good job of it, so this time we're going to say it and mean it."

Earlier this month, summit organizers issued a preliminary background report, based on about 25 community meetings in 2010 and 2011 with some 300 citizens, that served as a blueprint for the conference.

Summit participants were divided into six groups to talk about what the community can do to support students, what education policies and practices should be added or eliminated to ensure that support, and to agree on three top priorities to pursue.

Among the preliminary ideas presented in one of these groups: creating a culture of education that places high expectations upon students, teachers and parents; eliminating teacher tenure while creating quantitative practices to evaluate teacher performances; funding more early-childhood programs; offering more professional-development opportunities for school personnel; and finding ways — as one teacher put it — "to make reading cool."

Though many of the ideas were familiar, now and then a fresh proposal came forth. Some participants suggested the community pursue alternative sources of funding so the district does not always have to rely on the state or federal government and therefore can develop more autonomy. Another participant said the district should revive vocational training programs for students who want to move directly into the workforce upon graduation.

In another nearby room, a group of Spanish-speaking participants focused on a very different list of priorities: more dual-language programs, cultural-competency training for district teachers and administrators, and a desire that all communication with parents be conveyed in both English and Spanish.

Summit organizers were expecting to work into the night Monday to gather all the recommendations and whittle them down to between three and five top preferences so an implementation team convening today can come up with a plan to pursue those goals.

Freeman said she'd like to see at least one of those action items implemented by year's end.

Summit participant Brenda Granados, an 18-year-old Capital High School graduate who plans to study sociology at The University of New Mexico in the fall, said it's important for students to voice their thoughts in this process.

"I hope they can come up with something to close the achievement gap," she said of the summit leaders.

Gabriela Leon, a recent psychology graduate at UNM, said she was taking part in the Spanish-speaking focus group because, "I believe a lot of Hispanic students are not being pushed into continuing their education beyond high school."

School board member Steven Carrillo, one of four board members present at the summit, said he thought the event "was an outstanding effort to include the community in educational solutions."

Still, he probably spoke for several summit contributors who voiced concern during the day that these dreams would not become reality without funding.

"People don't want to admit that money is the issue, but money is a big part of it. Our nation and our state do not fund education to the point it should be funded," Carrillo said.

Freeman said United Way will release a public report on the two-day event soon.

Contact Robert Nott at 986-3021 or rnott@sfnewmexican.com.