The All-In Leadership Team has committed to reflecting on their personal and professional perpetuation of White Supremacy culture while unlearning and relearning how to dismantle oppressive systems within our program and teams. Through this, we have developed a deeper understanding of what it means to bring equity to the forefront of our work.

Historically, the Behavioral Leadership Team has planned their Professional Learning Community’s scope and sequence for the upcoming school year during the previous summer. This systematic planning consisted of coordinating the facilitation of professional development training with other leaders in our program.

This year, in attempt to build an inclusive environment focused on equity, our Behavior Leadership Team began to dive into dismantling and disrupting White Supremacy culture within our Professional Learning Community. We have applied strategies to shift dynamics of White Supremacy Culture in our work based on Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun’s 15 Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture.
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The Behavioral Team acknowledges both the spoken and unspoken norms that exist within our strand, and we are working on a collaborative approach that will push us forward, shifting:  

White dominant culture has been adopted by many of us through spoken and unspoken norms. Both have contributed to my personal social identity and how I navigate spaces as a Black woman. To increase the eradication of White Supremacy Culture, the Behavioral Strand continues to attend and encourage others to attend development opportunities facilitated by BIPOC people.
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Here are a few resources that I have enjoyed reading. Take a look and leave a comment if you’ve read any, or plan on reading any in the future:  

• By Marc Brackett: Permission to Feel
• By Resmaa Menakem: My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies
• By Bettina Love: We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom
• By Ibram Kendi: Stamped from the Beginning: The definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

Seneca launched a new partnership with Malcolm X Academy, an SFUSD elementary school, in the midst of a pandemic; and despite the fact that the team is redefining elementary school for this virtual age, they have also hit the ground running in their MTSS implementation. Here are two examples of how this small but mighty school is taking the tiers online...

Virtual School Store
​With a renewed focus on their Class Dojo system, teachers have been shelling out points to students for showing up to class on time, presenting with the required materials, keeping their camera on and mics muted, and participating in class discussion. In just one week, Malcolm X teachers awarded a whopping 3600 points to students across the school. Wowza! But what do students do with those precious little points anyway, you ask? That's where the new and improved Virtual School Store comes into play. Each week, students select from an updated virtual menu. Using their Dojo points, they can preorder snappy school supplies, fidget tools, and cool Warriors gear. There is a weekly pickup time where kids and families swing by campus to collect their purchases. This also creates an opportunity for in-person connection between families and school staff, and it's all centered around celebrating positive behaviors. Way to go, Malcolm X!

​Strengths-Based Socio-Emotional Screener
Along with a few other schools in the All-In SF family, Malcolm X is part of a small pilot this year. Our Strategic Initiatives Team designed a strengths-based version of our Socio-Emotional Screener adapted for the virtual classroom. Teachers took 15-20 minutes to rate their students across ten strength areas, including positive interactions with peers, positive or stable mood, and developmentally appropriate organizational skills. This data is then aggregated into a fancy Tableau report, which enables the school team to analyze socio-emotional skills across grade levels, individual classrooms, and the entire student body. Starting next week, Malcolm X will engage in the "Classroom SST process." In these meetings, our fabulous UE Coach, Marianne Clark, and the school social worker will meet with each teacher to review their classroom data. From these meetings, teachers can identify themes to be addressed in their socio-emotional learning lessons and identify students to refer to CCT (an SFUSD process that is similar to COST). The data will also be taken to the School Climate Team to identify tier 1 goals and interventions. We cannot wait to see all of the fantastic supports that are put in place as a result of this work.

Unconditional Education is about partnering with schools to create innovative programs that serve high-needs students in effective, inclusive, and individualized ways.  It’s about disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline whereby students are pushed out of “mainstream”/general education spaces and into more restrictive settings, or where students internalize a sense of hopelessness regarding their ability to succeed academically and leave school altogether. It is providing more and more opportunities for students to be integrated into their greater school communities instead of being segregated, “othered,” marginalized, or left behind.  It is working intentionally to undo the biases that drive and perpetuate the enormous gaps in educational opportunities and achievement that exist in our country’s schools across identity groups.

One of my favorite parts of this work is starting new school partnerships where we co-create programs and supports that operationalize those ambitions and intentions.  This year our program is grateful to have that opportunity to co-create with the school leaders and staff of KIPP Bridge Rising in West Oakland.  This is a school community that holds their location with pride, near DeFramery Park (aka Lil Bobby Hutton Memorial Park), where the Black Panther Party so often gathered to organize, innovate, and envision during their era.

Student supports and programs in the fall of 2020 are, of course, unique and distinct from any other chapter of history.  Now more than ever school communities must take a holistic view in supporting students and families.  In our KIPP Bridge Rising partnership, Clinical Intervention Specialist Makalah Fleming-McElroy is emphasizing the importance of considering the hierarchy of needs as we design supports and interventions for students and families.  Across our Bay Area partnerships, we’re committed to expanding the range of our services as much as possible in this uniquely challenging time, to increase vital case management services and resource support to families experiencing food insecurity, housing instability, lack of access to technology, and challenges with other foundational basic needs.  With resonance and respect to the Ten Point Platform of the Black Panther Party (as relevant in 2020 as it was when Huey Newton and Bobby Seale wrote it in 1966), we’re working to braid together the threads of physical, economic, and emotional wellness - all of which are required in order for academic engagement and success to occur.

Name: Makalah Fleming-McElroy
Position: Clinical Intervention Specialist, KIPP Bridge Rising
What led you to your current position? Ever since I can remember, I knew that I was put on this earth to change the world. Through a compilation of personal experiences that consisted of both challenges and triumphs, I have learned exactly how I can do just that! I am driven by this passion and know that it is my duty to fulfill it, ensuring to constantly plug in to make sure that the work I do is always a reflection of that.
On top of having the opportunity to teach little brown children their worth, how to better understand themselves, and how their experiences can build towards meaningful outcomes/solutions, I get to teach pivotal adults in their lives to do the same which feels like a dream come true… I literally get to do my “heart work” every day.
What inspires you to do this work? Knowing the beauty and limitlessness of unconditional love, work, and care. Being a little black girl, now 25-year-old woman, from East Oakland California, understanding the beauty and struggle of that experience and position. The realization that the intentional, unconditional love that I received despite circumstance is the direct force which helped me transcend barriers has pushed me to want to introduce this possibility and be that person for other children, especially those of color within this community. That then, they may see, know and understand just how valuable and limitless they are despite the constraints that the world and sometimes even their own communities/families have both knowingly and unknowingly put on them.
What is an important lesson you’ve learned in this role? One huge lesson I have learned and pivotal reminder for me within this work is the importance of authenticity and learning to bring yourself fully, wholly and unapologetically to the table for discussions with parents, children, teachers, leaders and other collaborators. Although the knowledge I learned in undergrad and the achievement of my Master’s degree is key …. My personal experience, outlook, realness and twist to it all is therapeutic within itself too and is something I must never doubt. I have found the most substantial healing-- for myself and the little lives I touch comes when I show up in that way.
These children and families already have the tools within themselves for healing and success… it is just my duty to help them uncover it, see what’s possible and keep as well as utilize their unique vision for their lives as the propelling force and source.
Share your life motto or something unique about yourself: I strive to live every day in authentic power-- when your personality comes to serve the very essence of your soul, you will know power, “authentic power”.

​Recently, I have found myself struggling to find the words to describe what I am feeling in my body and heart as I move along my work week. The effects of the complex trauma present in our local, state, and national communities is bubbling up within me and it can feel like it is everywhere I look. It can be overwhelming and, at times, paralyzing. Stopping me in my tracks, distracting me from what I’m trying to focus on.  In any given moment I can find myself moving between feeling angry, sad, distracted, and joyful. 

This experience is not one I am alone in. That, I know.  When I think about it, this is an experience my ancestors knew all too well.  In many ways, it was and still is a story of pain, state sanctioned violence, discrimination, and resilience. Stories they passed onto me through generations.  These stories are alive in my body even though my mind is not always conscious of them. It is this knowledge and understanding that I try to stay connected to as much as I can. Resilience and practices of healing are something my body knows. For us, tending to wellness has not been a convenient choice but something needed in order to survive. I know the choices I make now impact the legacy of harm or healing I will eventually leave with this world.​

I think often about the various needs we all have when it comes to healing. Today, I looked to art to help me along my day. Political art has a history in justice movements to heal, protest and resist.  The presence of political art and expression of culture is necessary in any healing centered community. The song “A Long Time Coming” by Las Cafeteras spoke to me and helped me move through what was in my body.  Today, I choose to sing and dance to resist.

​What are you doing during these times to help you connect with your sense of resiliency? What are you doing to tend to your healing both personally and in community with others?

​Community Day School (CDS) is a small, intimate alternative education campus nestled in the Oakland hills. The usual 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 to be readmitted to general education campuses. This fall has looked a little differently amid the pandemic, and the resulting distance learning platform. Despite the challenges of working remotely, our students and staff have not missed a beat. The staff have found innovative ways to implement our behavioral phase system, including an online store once a month, where eligible students are able to “shop” in a breakout room on Zoom using the points they earn during the school day. The staff then deliver the items to the students and use the time as a chance for a socially distanced check in with the students.

One of the strengths of CDS is the staffs’ ability to create a nurturing environment for our students and engage them in the process of developing a strong sense of community. CDS is the expulsion campus for Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) and students are referred through the Disciplinary Hearing Process (DHP), when they have been expelled from their home school campus.  The ultimate goal for all students is to work on their individualized goals and be readmitted to a mainstream campus. Despite the challenges our students & staff are currently facing, the CDS administration is recommending 6 of the 18 students for readmission this December, with the possibility of that number increasing to 8 students.  This is a huge testament to the dedication of the students & staff to maximize learning potential amid a global pandemic.

​There is a standard opener in most settings I find myself in these days, a variation of “things are so hard right now!” With the current convergence of social, political and physical upheaval, folks are tired. We search each other’s Zoom faces for connection, validation, engagement. We drop encouraging comments in the chat box or click an icon to indicate we love what we heard. Maybe someone asks the check-in question “what’s something good in your life right now?” and we search our memories for a meaningful answer. For some it is more time with a partner, for others a walk outside after work. Almost every casual conversation I have with coworkers and friends these days ends with an exchange of favorite podcasts and TV shows. We are desperate for a way to fill our free time and trying hard to come up with ways to help each other do that too. In these unprecedented circumstances of whatever week we are in, we are looking for something to help us feel good.

Recently Julie Kim brought a resource to our clinical supervisor team, an infographic from the Genesis Healing Institute that opened my eyes to another way to consider how we navigate this year.  The concept is Transformative Healing, and the ideas presented on this graphic filled me with a new sense of hope and courage. At best, this offers a roadmap that helps guide us through the stages of reckoning and healing that this unprecedented time presents to us.  At it is simplest, it is a beautiful collection of affirmations that capture so much of what many of us are feeling and exploring right now. I share the graphic with you here and invite you to consider:

It might be helpful to think of this as ‘less as a roadmap, more like a cycle,’ such as the stages of grief. We may go through these stages in and out of order each time we are presented with a new 2020 challenge.  My hope is that you find this thought-provoking and that it offers you a new way to consider how you can survive (and thrive!?) during this unprecedented time. 
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In solidarity,
Emily Marsh

​This week, we take the opportunity to highlight our long standing partnership with Cox Academy, a school dedicated to “empowering every student to go out and change the world!”

​Cox Academy is in the Elmhurst neighborhood of East Oakland and serves grades Pre-K - 5th grade by providing rigorous instruction along with critical thinking and problem-solving skills to set the foundation for success in higher educational settings. With a heavy focus on the whole child, Cox has strived to develop a robust multi-tiered system of support and interventions to not only engage students, but their family and ecological systems as well. This is where our partnership thrives!

​Recently, Cox Academy has welcomed their new principal, Omar Currie. Omar joined Cox after a year living abroad in Mexico City, Mexico, and he brings quite a bit of experience teaching and leading in schools from North Carolina, to Washington DC, to the Bay (YAY Area). He is a huge college sports fan, and in his free time he enjoys basketball, reading, and dancing. Omar lives in San Francisco with his partner, Ryan.

Although the world has been forced to shift learning practices and teaching skills online, Team Cox and the entire MTSS Team have collaborated to provide relevant and meaningful ways to do this thing called “Distance Learning.” This impacts so many extraordinary kids, considering special education at Cox is based on a full inclusion model (meaning, students with specific and/or specialized needs spend the majority of their time in general education classroom settings), which ultimately result in secondary benefit in general education classrooms. Through tons of teamwork and collaboration Team Cox has been successful in implemented the following IEP accommodations, which result in supporting the entire classroom:

• Co-hosted zoom classroom (with para support) to provide a virtual co-teaching model
• Visual schedule links for easy access and visual support
• Visual prompts with zoom button images (shared with all team members) for non-verbal cues
• Use of breakout rooms to replicate break spaces (as much as possible) for students to take breaks (structured and unstructured) inside classrooms
• Use of breakout rooms for teacher or para check-in’s
• Use of breakout rooms for movement and space breaks
• Use of breakout rooms to provide incentives, reminders and/or redirections
• They have also been creative in how they provide socializing opportunities for peer to peer interactions and created “Friday Social Block”. Friday social block is a block of time added to all student schedules where each grade level, facilitated by a member of the SSA team, just gets to have fun. They watch videos, socialize about how they are doing, play Kahoot!, and spend time virtually hanging out together.

​Distance Learning at Cox Academy has highlighted the creativity and resilience of the collective MTSS team. ​

As we enter October, I want to highlight our mental health service delivery model at ASCEND K-8, one of our Education for Change charter partner schools in Oakland, California. Our clinical team at ASCEND is in the exciting process of expanding their reach by providing short term therapy for students that the school has historically struggled to serve. These are students who do not meet the strict eligibility criteria of our two primary funders: MediCal and Special Education (Educationally Related Mental Health Services, also referred to as ERMHS). This shift in service was inspired by the shared vision of Principal Lindzey Tassano and our clinical team who are all committed to increasing equity and accessibility of services for all students and families. When describing the vision for creating this service and the clinical team’s contributions, Principal Tassano shared:

This current level of collaboration reflects All-In’s long history with ASCEND, where we have partnered over the last several years to build out a coordinated system of tiered academic, behavioral and social emotional supports. ASCEND was part of a pilot set of schools that integrated the Unconditional Education Coach role, which provided the opportunity to implement clear structures for assessing and improving schoolwide culture and climate year over year. Intentional capacity building efforts have allowed ASCEND to take on the special education, behavioral and culture and climate services in-house, while Seneca continues to partner to provide clinical supports via county mental health and special education contracts. Our current Seneca team consists of three full-time clinicians who strive to provide a broad array of tiered social emotional supports, which, on top of traditional individual and family therapy, includes: regularly contributing to structured collaboration time with teachers, participating on the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) team, partnering with the administrative team to develop intervention plans, participating in school wide efforts such as Intersession (a week where students have experiential offsite learning), providing Trauma Informed Education training, and supporting ASCEND’s desire to establish a stronger culture around receiving and providing direct feedback. 

This level of integration has not always been easy for our staff and has required communication and collaboration with the administrative team around staff capacity and boundaries. As we fine-tune the process for providing short term therapy this level of collaboration will continue, ensuring that Seneca staff have the opportunity to co-construct the process for services delivery with their capacity in mind. Overall, it is great to see our clinical team valued as members of the ASCEND community and we look forward to continuing to evolve in our partnership to provide the most responsive supports for this school community.

​Name: Adrianna Delacruz
Position: Bilingual Clinical Intervention Specialist
What led you to your current position? The desire to work in this field was a direct result of my upbringing and experiences in life. While in foster care, I met so many loving and devoted people who were there to help me; their titles ranged from my foster mom, psychiatrists, social workers, case managers, and therapists. Each one made an overwhelmingly positive impact on my life. The footprints imprinted on my heart instilled an intense admiration and respect for the clinical work in community mental health.
What inspires you to do this work? Life was rough growing up, I endured many traumatic experiences at a very young age that led to childhood and adolescence colored by survival and coping. I ended up in the foster care system for a few years and my clinical team paved the way for healing the trauma that was left unaddressed and unhealed from my early days. Over the years, I have experienced the powerful and transformative impacts of therapy, giving me a second chance at life despite early adverse beginnings. My driving purpose of this work is to provide a safe healing space and support my clients and their families through their healing process.
What is a recent highlight you’ve experienced in the work or an important lesson you’ve learned in this role? In my journey to becoming a clinical therapist I have grown through my own empathy, resilience and acceptance.
Share your life motto: "Every day is a fresh start."