Name: Cedric Guillory
Position: Senior Mental Health Counselor
 
What led you to your current position? I have worked with youth majority of my life through Oakland Parks and Recreation and found that working with youth is vital to improving my community. As a Senior Mental Health Counselor, I have a greater impact on the students and their families’. I am a product of my Oakland community and proud to support my community.
 
Fun Fact/Quote? “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”- Malcolm X
 
What does your average day look like?
Supporting the youth and encouraging them to make healthier choices to improve their interactions, expand their knowledge, and disprove stereotypes in attempts to help student grow both socially and academically.
 
Why do you do this work?
As a former student who struggled with behavioral challenges and learning difficulties, I find it to be a great satisfaction to be able to assist with improving the future of each younger person I interact with.

​Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) partners with Seneca Family of Agencies to provide behavioral and therapeutic support at their alternative education campus. Students are referred to the Community Day School (CDS) campus through the Disciplinary Hearing Process (DHP), when they have been expelled from their home school campus. Students are assigned to the CDS campus for a set period of time, depending on the severity of the behavior leading to their expulsion. 
 
While at CDS, the staff provide a nurturing environment where students receive academic and behavioral supports, as well as develop a strong sense of community.  Through our behavioral phase system, eligible students are able to receive special monthly lunches, attend monthly field trips, and participate in student store twice a month.  The entire campus community also participates in monthly cultural lunches, where students learn about other cultures and experience food from those cultures. 
 
CDS is a small, intimate campus nestled in the Oakland hills.  The serene environment, combined with smaller class sizes and a variety of staff supports, help students to focus on achieving individualized behavioral and academic goals, and prepare for their readmission hearing.  At the readmission hearing, school staff discuss the student’s progress and either recommend that the student be readmitted to a mainstream school or remain at CDS to continue work on specific goals.  The ultimate goal for students at CDS is to be readmitted.  This past December, CDS had 12 students readmitted, which is the largest number of readmissions the campus has ever seen. 

The founders of the Primary School had a vision of a community school that began serving children at birth and offered a holistic approach to serving their students and families. When they opened their doors in August of 2016, they welcomed in expecting mothers for prenatal services, parents with infants and toddlers for early childhood programming, and 3 year-olds for full day Pre-School. Now, The Primary School has their first 1st grade class and will grow one grade level each year until they reach 8th grade. With their own special blend of Whole Child supports, The Primary School maintains close relationships with health clinics in the neighborhood and utilizes their pediatrician (yes, they have a pediatrician!) to collaborate with students' health care providers. In addition to health integration, The Primary School also offers parent coaching for every family. Each caregiver is assigned a Parent Coach and attends regular groups on nutrition, discipline strategies, bedtime routines, accessing community resources, and more.

Seneca has the amazing opportunity to work with this dedicated team to co-design The Primary School's mental health component. We've taken many elements from our Unconditional Education model, such as tiered mental health systems that include social skills groups and intensive therapeutic services, and we've combined them with TPS's existing tier 1 systems and data collection tools. Our Seneca therapist, the fabulous Melinda Brown (featured staff this week!), currently provides social skills groups for 3-5 year-olds who were flagged by the SSIS (Social Skills Improvement System) screening tool. Beyond the data collection component, SSIS offers a robust SEL curriculum that Melinda uses in her group work. At the tier 1 level, TPS employs the Conscious Discipline framework, which emphasizes creating a safe, family atmosphere at school and supporting children in learning self-regulation strategies. We've incorporated these tenants and strategies into our Crisis De-Escalation training, consultation work, and other teacher-facing supports.​

The newest addition to our work with TPS is our first SSA in East Palo Alto, Melanie Antonio! Melanie just started her work at the Primary School and is focusing on a few Kinder students who require intensive behavioral services. She will be providing milieu support, Check-In Check-Out, and targeted social skills groups. Are you curious about our early childhood superstars down in East Palo Alto? Reach out to Jonathan Barnett or Melinda Brown to set up a visit!

Next month, Seneca’s second book Unconditional Education: Supporting Schools to Serve All Students will complete production. We caught up with Executive Director of School Partnerships Robin Detterman, who is also one of the book’s author’s, to get a sneak peek at what we can expect from this next edition.

What’s this book about?
This is a book about transformational change in schools. Change at this level requires that we consider not only the actions of individual students, families, teachers or schools but also the systemic conditions that create inequitable outcomes for so many of our nation’s youth. Even after decades of reform, America’s public schools continue to fail predictable groups of students, with the greatest opportunity gaps faced by those whose achievement is hindered by the complex stressors of disability, trauma, poverty, and institutionalized racism. Dramatic change is required to disrupt these existing patterns of inequity. This book draws on what Seneca has learned from years of operating specialized education settings, such as counseling enriched classrooms and non-public schools. That is, in order for students to be ready to learn they must first experience safety, connection and a sense of belonging. It is not uncommon for students and families who participate in our intensive programs to report that it is the first time they feel welcomed or wanted at school.
Our current educational and mental health systems work on a “fail first” model where students must reach identified thresholds of failure to access certain services, students who come into our therapeutic settings have already experienced years of trouble in school. Rather than waiting for students to get to this point, we envision a system of education that focuses on wellness from the beginning, promoting prevention and early intervention over remediation, and where schools have the knowledge, skills and resources needed to be safe and inclusive places for all students, regardless of need. This book highlights specific practices that make up the school transformation framework we have come to call Unconditional Education and discusses implementation successes and challenges within our partner schools.
 
How does this book connect to Unconditional Care?
In Seneca’s first book, Unconditional Care, John Sprinson articulated how attachment theory and behavioral leaning theory intersect to form the basis of Seneca’s treatment model bearing the same name. At the time of the book’s publication, our agency’s clinical approach was just expanding to also consider how addressing a client’s individual and community context was also needed to promote lasting and sustainable change. Based in systems theory, we now call this the Ecological Stream of our treatment model.  Unconditional Education explores how the theoretical concepts behind each of the three streams of unconditional care can how these can be applied to individual students and even whole schools.
 
Why write this book?
For many years, Seneca has sought to break down siloed systems and build a continuum of care across settings. In the beginning the agency focused largely on mental and behavioral health interventions, but what we have come to know is that separating a child’s well-being from their success at school is both impossible and absurd. We hope that this book will serve to articulate a set of ideas that will inspire education and policy leaders to rethink the ways in which they support all students. In addition, we hope that the practices described in the book can provide guidance to the many practitioners it requires to enact this important work. The trials and tribulations captured throughout the book are a testament to the many amazing staff who have blazed the trail and continue to define what it takes to provide an unconditional education.
 

Four years ago, Seneca Washington began its Unconditional Education Partnership in the new charter school sector.  Working collaboratively with schools in their first years of operation afforded the unique opportunity to build schools with the Unconditional Education Model from the beginning. Excel Public Charter School in Kent, Washington was one of the first. Families were excited for new and innovative approaches to education, and Excel delivers that through a focus on computational thinking, music education and college preparation.

In the first year, the academic diversity of the school population was both inspiring and overwhelming. To meet the academic needs of all students, highly capable programming as well as programming for moderate to severe disabilities would be necessary.  How would we serve all students and meet their needs while keeping a commitment to create the most inclusive settings?

Students with significant disabilities are typically served in more restrictive settings. Nationally, 70% of students with significant disabilities are placed in classrooms and settings where they spend much of their day with other disabled peers.  In the 2017-18 school year in the Washington Charter Sector, 74% of students with significant disabilities were served in the general education setting with their non-disabled peers for 80-100% of their school day.

​With some creativity, curiosity, and a staff that was open and willing to try new things, Excel has created a very inclusive setting for its most impacted students. One of the most valuable resources has been training and continued support on accommodations and modifications. Using a graphic organizer to present to staff, the Special Education team worked through each level of accommodations and modifications. Having teachers bring work samples and creating workshop time was essential to making this a success. Special Education teachers also had drop in office hours on Mondays during teacher prep called “Modification Mondays.” Through continued professional development, classroom support, and weekly check ins, teachers gained new skills and strategies to modify their curriculum for all learners. 

Recently, one of the founding scholars at Excel, who had previously been served in a more restrictive setting, was awarded at the scholar breakfast for his academic achievement.  His teachers modified his curriculum to meet his needs and he is now confident in his own academic ability. 
​
Every one of our students deserves to have access and support to learn. It’s our job to do our best with what we know and have to make that happen, 

Name: Katrina Carleton
 Your Position? Unconditional Education Coach/School Systems Manager
 
What led you to your current position?
I started off working in education by teaching in an intensive English program for study abroad students at a local college. Though I liked working in a school, I wasn't feeling fulfilled by my work. I made the big switch to completing a term of service with AmeriCorps and worked in an elementary school program. I was inspired by the impact one person could make on a child's education and became passionate about finding gap closing practices to support students who have been historically under-served. When I interviewed with Seneca, I felt a renewed sense of excitement to learn about an organization that was committed to serving all children. 
 
Fun Fact/Quote?
I have a rescue dog named Marley. She has an aggressive snaggle tooth and loves to eat kimchi.
 
What does your average day look like?
What I love most about my day is that it's always different! Some days I might be pushing into classrooms to teach social emotional lessons to students and other days you can find me coaching teachers on Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS). I also lead the school's Culture and Climate team (C3), along with the Coordination of Services Team (COST). Aside from using way too many acronyms at my job, I enjoy supporting our school in making data driven decisions to improve school systems and create inclusive classrooms!
 
Why do you do this work?
Most of my friends laugh when they hear that I'm working in education because I wasn't the biggest fan of school as a kid! Growing up in the community in which I'm now serving led me to ask questions and find innovative ways to break down the barriers that prevent students from accessing their education. This work provides me with an immeasurable sense of purpose knowing the far reaching effects of supporting all students unconditionally!

Name: Mondserrat "Mondse" Garcia-Ortiz
Your Position? I’m a Bilingual Program Assistant for All-In! 
 
What led you to your current position?
As a first-generation woman of color who graduated from Humboldt State University in May, I wanted to get involved with an organization that was about giving back to the community, more specifically, working with youth in education! I was recommended to apply to Seneca through a close friend of mine who is now my supervisor! SHOUTOUT to Brenda G!
 
Fun Fact/Quote?
“I raise up my voice-not so I can shout but so that those without a voice can be heard...we cannot succeed when half of us are held back.” 
― Malala Yousafzai                                                                           
 
What does your average day look like?
My day as a Program Assistant changes from day to day. I’m always in communication with multiple staff in different school sites and directors. Our position also consists of key communication between the schools and our students’ families to ensure their child is receiving the special education and mental health services they need to succeed! This means scheduling IEP meetings, translating/interpreting documents and meetings for our Spanish speaking families, as well as being a reliable source for our school data systems.
 
Why do you do this work?
I do this work for the youth and their families and for the close relationships I am building across the program!  

Many of us use the terms "interpretation" and "translation" interchangeably, which only increases the confusion, when they are two distinct things that don’t need to be confusing at all. Translation is written, and Interpretation is spoken. Despite the obvious similarities, these tasks require a ton of brain power, and it is incredibly rare to find someone who can do both.