In the spring of 2019, the Santa Clara County Behavioral Health Department invited interested representatives from Santa Clara County school districts to visit our Unconditional Education (UE) partnership at Verde Elementary in Richmond.  Fremont Union High School District was among those districts who attended the tour and applied for a UE partnership.  Beginning in the fall of 2019, All-In has been proud to be in partnership with Fremont High School in Sunnyvale.  
 
Fremont High has an enrollment of approximately 2,100 students who reflect the diversity of Sunnyvale and Santa Clara County.  61% of their students speak a language other than English at home, with over 60 languages represented.  While FHS has a team of talented mental health providers on campus, the school identified a clear need to provide more support for students in need, particularly students in the general education program.  In September 2019, our Seneca team, composed of Clinical Intervention Specialist Kayla Antes and Bilingual Student Support Assistant Abraham Munoz Godino, began working to serve the school community.  In supporting the students on their caseload, Kayla and Abraham work closely with families and teachers, to create as much consistency and cohesion as possible in the treatment teams. 
 
One of our missions in providing mental and behavioral health to students on campus as opposed to an outside clinic is accessibility and flexibility.  There is a great benefit to students having consistent scheduled weekly sessions at school to practice tools of communication, reflection, and self-regulation.  In addition to the scheduled weekly sessions, our students at FHS know that the Seneca Center hub on campus is a place where they can go if they’re experiencing stress or challenge on a given day and could use some support.  If neither of our staff are available at that moment of need, students can leave a note for our team and/or send a text message to our staff requesting support at the staff’s next opportunity.  In this way, our team can be responsive to the needs of our student caseload and provide a Wellness Center-type space for them, which is something our team and the school would like to expand upon as we move into the 2020-21 school year. 

​Extending the secondary benefit of the services we provide is a key priority area. In addition to support provided in our Seneca Center hub, Kayla and Abraham provide push-in support in the classroom as needed, which is a great support for our focal student and also for the teacher and classroom as a whole.

We are excited to continue our partnership with Fremont High into the 2020-21 school year and to expand our support to more students in need.  A significant number of newcomers have joined the school community this year after their journeys of immigration, and we want to partner with the school in broadening and deepening the range of supports those students and their families can access.  We are also looking at ways we can provide capacity building and support for more teachers and staff.  We’re grateful for the partnership with FHS and Santa Clara Behavioral Health and are excited for what the future holds in this collaboration.

Montalvin Manor is a k-8th grade school in the West Contra Costa unified school district. Montalvin Manor is located in San Pablo/ Richmond border and is centered in a residential area, giving the school a small-town feel. Montalvin Manor strives to provide a stimulating learning environment and is a in partnership with our Unconditional Education model, that works towards building capacity to create a positive and inclusive environment for all students to succeed. “Montalvin Manor seeks to develop the student’s maturity and self-esteem and character to enable them to be successful in their academics and their private at Montalvin Manor and beyond by incorporating our core values in every aspect of our student’s education (Montalvin Manor Elementary School).”

• Community - working together, being inclusive and non-biased, and taking care of one another
• Compassion – caring for another, developing empathy, and no bullying
• Curiosity – joy of learning, exploration, and urgency for more knowledge
• Courage – trying new things, standing up for what’s right, and owning up for your actions 
• Grit – do you best while learning from your mistakes, finish what you start, and never give up

​These core values help staff and students reach the full potential here at Montalvin Manor. 

Community is seen as parents that are apart of the PTA put on luncheons to give back to the staff. The upper grades work together to ensure the community is eco - friendly and recycles. We hold weekly team meetings to increase our education around ways to increase engagement in core values and our understanding of the unconditional education model.
Compassion is seen on compass when teachers try to understand student’s back grounds and how they can best support the student to overcome their personal struggles to thrive at school.  Students show compassion by making sure hurt peers are okay and are willing to walk hurt friends to the office. Students also engage in tools like the peace path to resolve conflicts and to ensure everyone involved had a chance to be heard.

Curiosity is seen all around the campus when kids are excited about learning and ask questions to improve their knowledge. Curiosity is demonstrated within the cost process as they take time to understand what the underlying factors around students’ behaviors instead of defaulting to punitive approaches.

Courage is seen when students and staff try new things that maybe be unfamiliar or difficult to best benefit the campus. Courage is seen in every classroom as the students try to gain knowledge and try their best to understand new lesson.
Grit is seen around the whole campus. As we strive to be better as a whole and continuously meet to make sure things that are not working are improved to benefit the whole campus. We teach are students to learn from their mistakes and not to give up.

​As a partnership with the Unconditional Education model, we continue to collaborate with Montalvin Manor Elementary school to support students and teachers.  

​Our program had the opportunity to expand our partnerships in Oakland Unified School District this year in collaboration with Alameda County Behavioral Health. One new partnership we established is at Burckhalter Elementary School where we’ve been providing Tier 3 mental health and behavioral support since August 2019.
 
Burckhalter is located on a beautiful campus in East Oakland where students are supported to thrive in academics, arts, after-school programs, and community connections. The school benefits from the strong, experienced leadership of Principal Geathers and a well-established Coordination of Services Team led by Ms. Mac that works to make sure student support needs are effectively met.  

Burckhalter is located on a beautiful campus in East Oakland where students are supported to thrive in academics, arts, after-school programs, and community connections. The school benefits from the strong, experienced leadership of Principal Geathers and a well-established Coordination of Services Team led by Ms. Mac that works to make sure student support needs are effectively met.  ​

Seneca staff Johndalyn Armstrong has been at Burckhalter since the beginning of our partnership there. Johndalyn has done great work building relationships with students, families, and school staff.  In early February, we were excited to welcome Rachel Most to join the team as she returned from her maternity leave.  We’re looking forward to finishing this school year strong - continuing to provide the best possible care to the students and families on our caseload and to have a positive impact on the school culture at large - and to continue deepening and enhancing our Burckhalter-Seneca partnership as we move into the future. 

As a response to feeling unseen and a sense of confusion from staff about our model of inclusion at Learning without Limits (LWL), Student Support Services Coordinator Katie Ruffman and I decided to write weekly blog updates on the work that the Special Education staff, also named the Learning Lab Team, at LWL was doing. We specifically wanted to highlight the work that the Learning Lab Team covered in our monthly meetings that we felt was important to share out and norm on as a whole school. We called them Learning Lab Blasts! Our first two posts have included information about positive breaks and how we respond to property destruction. The latest blog post that you can read below is about what general education staff can do when they see a crisis occurring. This is a resource that I wanted to share out because when a student is in crisis, it is easy for folks outside of the special education team to feel like “a deer in headlights,” or respond in a way that can intensify the crisis.
 
Here are some helpful tips that I hope you can share with your school communities so that folks are normed on how to support during a crisis.

Using the visual above, we can look at different stages of an escalation. When a student is at baseline, they are relatively calm, able to have rational thoughts, and are able to access their education. For every student, their baseline looks different, and we would consider this state as “ready to learn.” Then we move into the early escalation and escalation phases. These are times where the student may still be able to access some levels of rational thinking, but their emotions are starting to heighten, and behaviors can occur. This can look obvious, such as a student yelling at a peer or leaving class; or can be more subtle, like rocking in their chair continuously or tapping their foot. We want to be vigilant of signs like these to make sure the student does not reach the crisis phase and can move back toward baseline. However, this is not always possible, and if unable to de-escalate, students reach a crisis phase. This is the state in which a child loses control, rational thinking is none to little, and emotions are heightened. Their nervous systems are in fight, flight or freeze mode. This is where you may see students exhibiting tantrums like behaviors, voicing extreme verbal threats towards themselves or others, becoming physical with themselves or others, doing other things that are unsafe like climbing fences, throwing objects or even making suicidal comments. A crisis is a very sensitive time for students and, thus, we as a school community need to be aware of best practices when witnessing a student in this very delicate and should-be-private time. The last pieces on this graph, de-escalation and reintegration (restoration), will be covered in the next Learning Lab Blast – so keep an eye out for it if you want to learn more!

​If the child is being supported by a counselor or administrator, then you may think that they got it covered and do not need any additional support. However, this is not always the case. If you have ever witnessed a student in crisis, you probably notice it is not usually a moment that feels very private; often because the behaviors exhibited can include yelling, property destruction and any number of behaviors that would naturally draw attention to the child. This leads to the first and most important action you can do in order to make this moment of crisis feel a little more contained for the student.

Clearing the surrounding area
A student in crisis is not a show, and the best thing that you can do is clear students and families from the area. If the students or families are expressing concern, that is perfectly normal, and you can validate those feelings as well as reassure them that there are folks with the appropriate training to support these students and that they are safe. If there are additional comments or concerns that they would like to discuss, you can direct them to the front office to talk about next steps - without the student being able to hear.

Do not engage with the student
When a student is in crisis, all rational goes out of the window and they are only able to hear very short (5 words or less) directions coming from one person, known as crisis communication. It may feel supportive to reinforce the directions being given to the student by the adult with them, but this can often lead to confusion for the student or even make you a target of their behaviors. It is best to let the primary respondent take the lead.

Ask the adult if they need additional support
If you feel like the adult needs support, you can ask the adult if they would like for you to notify the office or administration for additional support. Realize – you do not need to support directly to be helpful.

If the child in crisis is unsupported, your main objective should be to make sure that the student stays safe by keeping eyes on them and immediately contacting the front office, administration, or a Learning Lab team member for support. If you need to engage with the child to ensure their safety, it is important that you follow these guidelines.

Use brief language
As mentioned above, a student in crisis is unable to process many words at a time. When communicating, it is imperative that you can state directions in 5 words or less. Example: “put the chair down.” This crisis communication should be used in the case that the student is doing things that have the possibility to cause imminent harm to them or other students while you are keeping eyes on them. Otherwise, if for example, they are just yelling and screaming in the yard but not posing a threat to those around them or themselves, you can just keep your eyes on the student and call for support.
 
Caveat: If you are a teacher or other staff that is highly familiar with the student and their plan, please feel empowered to use crisis communication and try to de-escalate the child while waiting on further support

Don’t talk about consequences
The main focus in a crisis moment is to get the student to a de-escalation stage, not to let them know about their consequences. Following an escalation, there will always be a key reflect, restore and reintegration piece, but that is only talked about when the student is back at baseline. Talking about consequences in the moment, or, for example, using language around important people in their lives being “disappointed.” tends to only exacerbate the situation. Remember: the key focus is to get the student back to baseline and in a state of relative control.
 
I hope this was helpful and empowers you to feel more able to support our students in crisis!

Charter schools in Washington have only been around for a handful of years, and have had more than their fair share of controversy. Now educators, families, communities, and politicians are anxiously watching to see how all of this rolls out. One of those schools is Rainier Valley Leadership Academy. RVLA is a public charter school in the South Seattle area. Opened in August of 2017, they started with an inaugural sixth grade class, and are now up to tenth grade. By the 2021-2022 RVLA will be open to all students in 6th-12th grades. The current student body is made up of 76% Black, 9% Hispanic and Latino, 3% Asian, 2% White, and 3% identify with other races.
 
Originally started as part of the Green Dot Public Schools network, RVLA had the backing of a nationwide network of schools. The mission of Green Dot “is to help transform public education so that all young adults receive the education they deserve to be prepared for college, leadership, and life.” As of a couple of weeks ago, the Washington State Charter Commission approved for RVLA to make changes to their charter contract to separate from Green Dot and become a standalone community centered school.
 
While Rainier Valley Leadership Academy may be a relatively new school, the community it is located within is not. And that is exactly what the current leadership of RVLA is weaving into its fabric. Shifting the main focus from college, the future of the school will be community driven, scholar led, and leadership focused. School staff want their families and scholars to be prepared for the future of their choice. If they want to go to college, scholars will they have the skills to succeed; if they want to be an artist, a mechanic, or an esthetician, scholars who graduate from RVLA will have the skills to pursue their passions.
 
Transitioning from Green Dot Public Schools to an independent stand-alone community-based school while simultaneously continuing to educate scholars is no small feat. After the 2019-2020 school year, there will no longer be a centralized office. In place of that, there will be dual leadership that reports to the board: a Principal as the head of academics and a Head of Schools as the head of Development and HR. There is also a stakeholder group made up of families, students, staff, and community members to help guide the transition. Through the Seneca partnership, the school is working towards having cohesive systems and clear data to support their scholars with academics, social emotional learning, and behavior.
 
RVLA staff and educators are also actively working to decolonize the curriculum. Racism is systemic, and schools are not exempt from this system. To address this, RVLA is taking a critical look at its curriculum and making changes to the way they are educating scholars. Instead of focusing Black History Month on slavery, scholars learn about Black leaders. Instead of celebrating Christopher Columbus Day, scholars are challenged to think critically about the impacts of Christopher Columbus.
 
As the manager of the Seneca and RVLA partnership, I look forward to seeing how RVLA defines the term community. To get the community to hear the vision of the school, RVLA is attempting to develop their vision with ALL families as their audience.

In this week’s blog post, I’d like to introduce Camino Nuevo Charter Academy and its Sandra Cisneros Campus. Camino Nuevo is a network of seven public charter schools and one preschool in central Los Angeles, serving the communities of Westlake/MacArthur Park, Pico Union, Koreatown, and Echo Park. Its fourth school—Sandra Cisneros Learning Academy—opened in 2011 and currently serves 629 students, grades Kindergarten through 8th, in LA’s Echo Park neighborhood. Seneca began a partnership with Cisneros this school year as a part of a multi-school grant awarded to Seneca through the Los Angeles Unified School District. 

Sandra Cisneros Learning Academy has many exciting and unique characteristics that show just how strongly the school aligns with the goals and values of Unconditional Education. For example, the entire campus practices mindfulness through the MindUP curriculum and staff addresses issues of behavior and equity through a restorative justice approach. Cisneros also supports the social-emotional well-being of students with the support of six onsite mental health specialists, provided in partnership with the LA Child Development Center. In order to meet the needs of the Echo Park community and the youth and families supported by the neighboring Dream Center (which provides shelter relief and transitional housing to over 500 individuals and families), the school openly acknowledges the importance of building a trauma-informed community of care on its campus.

Sandra Cisneros is one of five schools supported by Darrell Lane, one of our program’s Behavior Intervention Coaches. At Cisneros, Darrell’s work this year has focused on building the capacity of teachers and staff in providing effective behavioral support to the school’s highest-need students and classrooms. After working with school leadership to identify priority students and staff in need of support, Darrell began cycles of observation and coaching with a targeted group of teachers to help build their confidence and skills in building relationships and managing behaviors with students in their classroom. Darrell also meets weekly with two of the school’s assistant principals and its lead therapist, and participates in weekly COST meetings to discuss the school’s “heart” students that are in need of some extra love. All in all—a pretty full plate considering he’s only at Cisneros one day a week!

It was clear from our first weeks on campus this fall how eager teachers were for Darrell’s support, and teachers across campus have been open to new ideas and receptive to the coaching Darrell has provided. In addition, the grant we received has allowed us to provide a few professional developments to the Sandra Cisneros community from the UE Foundations Series, with our final training coming next week. Overall, it’s been exciting to see how much Darrell has been able to help “move the needle” on a number of students’ success stories even during this first half the school year. 

​Caliber beta academy is located in Richmond California, the school operates as a Tk-5 in the lower school and 6-8 in the upper school. Caliber’s mission is to achieve educational equity by shifting the experiences, expectations and outcomes for students in historically underserved communities. Operating under a strength based model Caliber focuses on four main pillars to ensure a healthy school and climate culture.
The four pillars are Heart, Smart, Think, Act.

• Heart: (Emotional Intelligence) A Caliber graduate is prepared to navigate a variety of social circumstances and life situations through the use of the five emotional intelligence strategies: Self Management, Self Awareness, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Responsible Decision Making
• Smart: (Academic College Readiness) A Caliber graduate is prepared to graduate from a four-year college without remediation
• Think: (Critical Thinking) A Caliber graduate is prepared to solve problems in many ways by analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information
• Act: (Agents of Change) A Caliber graduate is prepared to effectively advocate for self and others in order to create institutional change and a more just society

The FACE of caliber is embodied within the four values. In my experience the staff members at Caliber approach each day whether consciously or unconsciously with the values below, go Dragons!

There is a huge sign in front of the school announcing its “sesquicentennial” celebration.  That means this school has served the Oakland school children, families, and the community for over 150 years!  The Prescott Elementary school was founded in 1869.  Ida Louise Jackson, Oakland’s first African American teacher, taught at Prescott in 1925-- 13 years before any other school hired a black teacher.  The school served the historic West Oakland community and for years, had an enrollment of predominantly African American students.  The spirit of Black pride is woven into the make-up of the school.  With the shifting times, the school has gone through transitions but remains firmly committed to serving the community through education and community building.  During the 2005-2006 school year, the school was re-envisioned with a new name of PLACE @ Prescott (Preparatory Literary Academy of Cultural Excellence).  Check out this video that captures the breadth and legacy of teachers and students at Prescott:

​This is our first year in partnership with this notable school.  Helmed by a seasoned principal who embodies the values of the school, we jumped into a busy school year with a full team made up of Danee Black (UE Coach), Kaycee Hasan (Clinical Intervention Specialist), Ronni Pelley (Mental Health Counselor, Associate), and Alithu Manrique (Mental Health Counselor) working along side the school with the Intensive Counseling Enriched Classroom (ICEC).  Our Seneca representatives on the school campus also embody the values of the school, bringing a strong sense of pride in culture and education.

As with any new partnership, this Seneca team worked tirelessly to figure out systems, build alliances with the school, and flex the strengths of the Seneca All In models of inclusion.  Through their tenacity and dedication this team has forged a strong relationship with the special education teacher within the ICEC class and has opened the pathways to connecting with the wider campus staff and leaders.  Their creativity in managing challenges is unparalleled!  From impromptu classroom activities to ongoing space issues to holding consistent expectations for their students amidst intense, daunting behaviors, the team perseveres towards living out a disconfirming stance that the students can and shall have access to the education they deserve.  As one member said, “…this is a team where all members give 110%!”  Team members have created inventive calming spaces on the campus, helped manage contentious meetings with families with the Department of Transportation, won over the families of our ICEC students with phone calls that convey respect and collaboration (with other agencies asking for tips on how this team did this!), and stepped into the community/client’s homes/school bus to provide the service where it is needed.  They have given and received feedback with each other through this process.  They have laughed, they have cried, and they have talked and talked and talked (this is a very talkative group).

Their students in the ICEC program have acknowledged the team’s care and importance in their young lives in subtle ways and in memorable overt ways, like the time the students made superlative awards for each Seneca team member in secret to surprise the group.  The best teacher, the best counselor, the most nicest person – these are the attributes that the students could see in their classroom team.  This simple expression can be uncomfortable for these students and it shows great trust that they were able to engage with the team in a vulnerably sweet way.
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I’m proud of this team at Prescott.  They are embodying the shared values of the school and laying the groundwork for an even stronger partnership in the years to come.  Maybe for the next 150 years??

At Impact Puget Sound Elementary (Impact PSE), part of the Washington specialist team [made up of occupational therapist, physical therapists, speech language pathologists, and school psychologists] has had the opportunity to put Seneca values into action. This fall, a student with very high needs enrolled in the public charter school. This child is non-verbal, does not use assistive technology, and has decreased muscle strength and tone. The specialist team supporting her at Impact includes myself (an Occupational Therapist), our speech language pathologist, Ashley Contreras-France, and Lee Butler, Lead Learning Specialist.