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​Please scroll down to read our Unconditional Education blog posts.

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OUR UE MODEL AND SERVICES

WA State's Cross Coordination of Supports Team (CrossCOST)

6/21/2021

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My name's Emily Dunk and I'm a Behavior Intervention Specialist with the CrossCOST Program in Seattle, WA. But before I tell you more about our program, I'm going to start this blog post the same way many of our program meetings start off - by talking about good food and drinks 😊
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Recently I had gone to one of those fancy pants restaurants where they do wine pairings with your order. This was the first time I had been to one and originally, I did not want wine with my dinner because I had not found one before that I truly liked. The waiter asked me if I would be open to trying something and offered to help me figure out which one would be best. They even went as far as to say that I would not be charged for the wine if I did not end up liking it. I agreed, the waiter brought out my pairing, and I LOVED it.

It was such a great experience that later that week I went out to dinner again and I very confidently sat down, opened the wine menu, and was ready for another amazing wine experience. The waiter came over and asked what kind of wine I liked and for the life of me, I couldn’t remember what I had with my last meal! I tried to describe it but all I could come up with was "red" and "very tasty." The waiter began to ask questions to see if they could figure it out. They asked what food I was eating with it and more. Was it sweet? What protein did I have? Tannins, full-bodied... Do these words sound familiar? They took the time to work with me and be curious about what I was looking for. We came to a decision and they brought out a delicious red that, once again, went perfectly with my meal.   
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​I like to think that CrossCOST is like the waiter in this story. Not knowing where to start in asking for what you need is frustrating. Whether it's about learning vocabulary that is highly specific to other fields or being so close to a problem that it's almost impossible to step back to see solutions, most of us just need a little extra support sometimes. Without the waiter’s patience and curiosity, I would be stuck thinking that there isn’t a wine out there for me, or maybe worse, continue to pay for and order wines that I don't enjoy!  We strive to provide that same patience and curiosity to the schools we partner with to consult around behavioral, clinical, and school systems needs to coordinate the right kind of support. 
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A great example of this was when CrossCOST received a request from a school that wanted a school-wide training in Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS).  This school faced a number of challenges: high staff turnover, numerous leadership transitions, disproportionately high academic, behavioral, and SEL student needs... all while taking on virtual learning in the middle of a pandemic. Our team leader, Katrina, met with the school’s admin to get a better idea of what they were looking for. With Katrina’s amazing strengths in communication and relationship building, she was able to see the school’s needs extended beyond just training staff in MTSS.  Just like our students, when we are escalated or in crisis, it’s not always clear what we need to make things feel better. 
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​Acknowledging that the school could really benefit from centering self-care first, and also wanting to meet the initial request, we decided to do both!  Our MTSS of Self-Care training not only taught the model of tiered intervention, associated language of MTSS, and the basics of behavioral intervention, but did so through the lens of staff wellness.  We provided a framework for thinking about self-care as a tiered model of support, giving tools to each staff member for recognizing their behaviors through their escalation of burnout, and identifying interventions at each tier. Staff reported feeling better equipped to care for themselves, and in doing so, increased their understanding of how to support their students through escalation too.
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Sometimes it feels like progress comes at the expense of our own wellness. Often, it feels like working to shift systems to be more equitable, inclusive, and healing centered competes with a school’s academic and results-based goals. We're here to flip that narrative. By centering Unconditional Education (UE), we not only help schools meet their goals, but balance offering support with challenging existing systems. This allows us to impact lasting change within our school communities.  We like to call this process, “sprinkling the UE fairy dust.” ​

So what is CrossCOST? In formal terms, we are a team of behavioral, clinical, and school-systems minded specialists who coordinate services to support schools with UE as our philosophy of change.  And in informal terms, we’re just your friendly neighborhood waiters. So, what’ll it be? A glass of red or white? 😉
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Blog Post Written By: Emily Dunk, Behavior Intervention Specialist
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Building Upon Parent and Caregiver Insights to Grow Our Work

5/21/2021

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​Every spring, we reach out parents and caregivers of the students at our schools who are receiving direct services from our amazing All In staff and ask questions aimed at both lifting up our successes and providing feedback on our area of growth. 
This year, despite all the challenges and barriers faced by parents, students school staff and our teams due to the global pandemic and everyone adopting virtual spaces as the setting of learning and for our services, there is an overwhelming amount to celebrate in the responses. In April, we spoke to 246 parents. These are the percentages compared over the last 3 years of those who agreed with the following statements about the services they received:
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It is always wonderful to see the year over year growth but it is truly remarkable to see this positivity in response to the work you all did this year, especially given the presenting challenges we all faced. Of course, we wouldn’t know any of this if it wasn’t for the support of All In staff members themselves making the calls and connecting with all these parents and caregivers on our behalf. This year we had an amazing crew of people who offered their time to support this project. Huge thanks to Juliana Batista, Justin Vizinau, Cedric Guillory, Ali Manrique, Ceci Duran, Jessica Ramos, Brenda Larios, and William Chiang for their time and support!! It is no small feat I assure you.
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The celebrations don’t stop with the numbers though. What parents and caregivers have to say in their own words about out services is also extremely important and informative. In the coming weeks, you will be seeing your school and cluster specific reports and be able to hear both the glowing things parents have to say about you all, and get a chance to review areas of growth offered directly from parents and caregivers. In the meantime, here are a few quotes to wrap up your week your week:
“First of all, I want to thank them for offering support. I want to thank the Seneca organization for sending me materials so that my daughter can learn. At this moment, the situation is difficult, and you give me help by giving her materials. Gift boxes arriving and these things last for weeks. My daughter loves this very much. She knows that Seneca sends them, she gets very excited for all the gifts and materials. There are angels in the sky looking out to support us.”
 
“They gave a lot of help, especially during the times of the pandemic. It was very difficult for us parents to have our children at home at all times, but Seneca gave a lot of support.”
 
“Despite it being all online, I see that everyone is trying really hard to see student progress. I am very happy with that and I see that they all work well as a team.”
 
“Our counselor is amazing and not only provides help with her but with me too!”
 
“I like Seneca, they are very organized, the staff are knowledgeable. I've worked with Seneca for several of my kids. It can't get any better than Seneca. You guys are #1.”
 
“I think it's been a great help. It's helped (my child) in a lot of areas academically and she's been more open to trying to do the schoolwork instead of not doing it at all or thinking she can't do it. She's more open to trying first rather than giving up.”
 
They are doing a great job. I appreciate them, especially the support they give moms that have kids with a disability. I really appreciate the support, we are grateful.”
 
"Despite the circumstances of being at home, the services they provide are helping my child a lot. Therapy every week is consistent. They are doing a great job, I am very grateful for their help.”
 
“I can't say enough good things about them. I loved the therapist and their services. They not only helped my grandson but my family as well.”
 
“This year has been hard with covid, but I do see that my child gets excited when they see the Speech & Language provider. I think they like their class, I can tell when I pass by that the class seems interesting.”
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Blog Post Written By: Jordan Ullman, Assistant Director of Assessment and Evaluation
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Celebrating Blackness: Black Educators, Equity & Excellence

3/10/2021

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At the end of Black History Month, I have reflected on how much more I have learned about Black excellence, Black joy and Black futures.  It has been an inspiring month that continues.
A particular piece of information that made me pause was the studied impact of Black educators on students.  Here are some of those empirically evidenced statistics that I saw:
  • Black teachers are more successful in supporting the achievement and well-being of Black children.
  • Black students who have even one Black teacher during elementary school are more likely to graduate high school and consider college.
  • Black students with Black teachers experience less exclusionary discipline.
  • Students of color (in general) feel teachers of the same race hold them to high expectations and are more culturally sensitive than their white counterparts.​
I am fortunate to work with two Black professionals who are in local Oakland schools.  Rose Triest is a first-year Special Education teacher and Lauren Williams is a mental health counselor who is looking to enter the teacher track.  They are intuitively connected to their students, acutely aware of identity impacting school experiences, and are leaders to the folks around them in bringing intention, gravity, and joy to the work.  I spoke with both Rose and Lauren recently about their work and was struck how their own thoughts and experiences echo the evidence-based outcomes about Black educators.  
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​We reflected on why being a Black educator should not be a big deal, but the truth is they are important figures in this age and context.  Rose could not remember having any Black teachers growing up, and Lauren clearly recalls the three Black educators who made an impact on her and her school experience.  Now that both are in the education field, they find themselves called to the profession by having witnessed how students are often mistreated and overlooked in schools through exclusionary practices.  Lauren says, “if not me, then who” leads her to show up for students at school with a driving desire to never give up. The phrase, “Actions are stronger than words” leads Rose to think about all the seemingly “small things,” can support students to feel safe to do the hard work in front of them. Things like having visual cues, cultural references, utilizing different forms of learning, and holding mutual respect.  Both Rose and Lauren know that kids are intuitive and can read when leaders are avoidant or aloof.  “It’s a vibe!” says Lauren and echoes that students respond well to familial spaces and places where self-expression is accepted in different forms.
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​Lauren noted that open communication and being receptive to feedback are key elements that help her remain engaged in the work in a diverse school setting with cross racial teams.  Rose identifies that “a balance” in education settings is crucial to not becoming too focused on test scores and pragmatic relationships.  Incorporating life lessons, cultural exploration and tending to mental health are some ways that help Rose feel that she is caring for herself and upholding to the values that propelled her to become a teacher in the first place.  She leans on the school community, including the principal and wider teams, to remind her to keep time for herself and to accept “planting seeds for the future” instead of chasing the elusive immediate solution.
​Rose and Lauren note the ongoing work that needs to be done to create an equitable space in schools and the teaching profession.  It starts with accepting that we hold biases from our own lived experiences in our homes, schools, and communities and scrutinizing our career training knowing that it doesn’t encompass all experiences.  We all must put in the same work to be accountable for our own actions.  Their leadership and voice give me hope that the statistics that I laid out earlier, can be forever changed with meaningful work from all.
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Blog Post Written By: Julie Kim, Assistant Director SOAPS/All In
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Teamwork Makes the Dream Work: Thank You, School Communities!

2/17/2021

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​Wow, it's February? How did that happen?!?! That the school year is halfway over is probably just one of the many things that is hard to believe right now. Who would have thought a year ago, when we were reviewing the mid-year feedback from our schools and partners, that the work we do, the lives we live, and the world we know would be so fundamentally different today?

​This time of year is traditionally used to step back and reflect on how things are going, and given the year we’ve all had, this could not be more important. Our staff have worked tirelessly to collaborate with schools and families to push the bounds of what is possible and redefine how this work is done in the virtual realm. Our UE Mid-Year Survey is conducted through the month of January and helps highlight our successes and, equally important, areas for improvement. These help us to focus our intentions through the end of the year.
 
Despite the challenges of connectedness and engagement during remote learning, we are excited to report participation in our survey held similar to last year’s reports: almost 90% of partner schools (so far) participated in the survey, with over 540 individual responses!

The Mid-Year Partnership Survey asks our partners how we are doing with components of the UE Model related to Culture and Climate, Direct Services and Progress Reporting. For students receiving direct services at our school sites, we asked our partners two questions:
  • If they found the provider(s) of these interventions to be professional and collaborative?
  • If the providers were knowledgeable and skillful in helping them to implement virtual classroom interventions to support students receiving this service?​
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​This year, both questions averaged above our goal of 80% at 94% and 86% respectively! We are very excited by these positive responses; especially given the challenges this year has presented as both our staff and teachers have had to reinvent the ways that lessons are taught, and how staff-support is provided. There is a lot to celebrate here in the strength, skill, and perseverance of these teams. 
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​Data collection and reporting continues to be a program priority this year and is no small task. Teachers, behaviorists, and clinicians have had to rethink how to capture, track and monitor progress data, working closely with students and families to rethink goals and measures that are both applicable to the virtual setting and meaningful as measures of progress. If this wasn't enough, they have also had to contend with the layers of scheduling and technological access barriers in collaborating with entire teams to share the goals being set and the progress being seen. Excitingly this is an area where, at this mid-year point, we saw an increase to 78%, up from 73% last year, and just shy of our goal for the year of at least 80%, which we are hopeful to hit in our End-of-Year Surveys! 
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​The numbers themselves, while guiding and celebratory, don't offer the complete picture. We also ask for specific feedback and suggestions on our partnerships. In reviewing the constructive feedback this year, an interesting trend emerged: our partners want more. They want to know more about what the students are working on, they want to know more about how they can continue to collaborate as a team, they want to know more about our services and how we can continue to support staff, students, and families.
 
Here are some pieces of feedback we’ve received from partners:
“I would be open to check in with support staff and ways I could support the work Seneca is doing with our students.”
 
“One way to improve providing virtual instruction is to meet with teachers before the class to plan for when breakout rooms will happen.”
 
“I am not sure what I can do to help! I would like to know when a student is struggling in my class in particular so I can give more specific support.”
 
“Could we offer some workshops/work with parents and collaborate on that together?”
 
“I would love it if we could do more PD around differentiation and how to manage the different accommodations.”
 
“A growing number of students who could benefit from therapy at the Tier 2 or Tier 3 level. I wonder if Seneca can support our school with more Tier 2 therapy services, including students who do not have IEPs.”
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While we seek and value constructive feedback, the open-ended responses were overwhelmingly positive, indicating that we are on the right track in our work to build collaborative, meaningful and supportive practices. We look forward to hearing from our partners again during our End-of-Year Partnership Survey.

While we wait, here are just a few of the incredible highlights shared from the year so far:
“Our [Seneca] counselor shows great energy when teaching a lesson to my students. The positive words he uses on his presentations, motivates students to participate in his class. Kids really like him.”
 
“Our clinician shares information that she can with us in order to support our students. The collaboration with her has been instrumental in order to best serve our students.”
 
“Seneca is always open to sharing resources to best serve our whole team and always willing and ready to thought-partner and problem solve around students.”
 
“I feel so lucky to have such a committed team. Distance learning is hard. I treasure the quick conversations and the newsletter information. I also appreciate the time we get sometimes during staff meetings.”
 
“I believe the partnership has made it possible to teach to all of my students and avoid leaving some of them behind.”
 
“I have had a wonderful experience building the support structure for our school site. Seneca staff have been very thorough and vigilant in making sure families are seen.”
 
“It's been challenging given the remote nature of everything, but I know the clinicians have done a fantastic job holding time and space for their clients. The way our students have been able to show up and engage in remote learning is a big testament to the work happening with Seneca staff. Additionally, Seneca staff have helped admin to consider how we are supporting the mental health of the staff.”
 
“Seneca affiliated staff have been instrumental in student socioemotional, behavioral, and academic growth. I am confident that they care deeply for our students, and I have personally learned a lot from interacting with these wonderful people.”
 
“Our clinicians are thoughtful, collaborative, and supportive! They truly care about the students they support and the students within our school as a whole. They show up to meetings and give helpful input, attend and provide data for IEPS, and take data to monitor the social emotional well-being of our students.”
 
“Our team is amazing. They are super knowledgeable and dedicated to our students. They have done an amazing job of supporting our school in the transition to online learning and continuing to support students with special needs.”
 
“Our Seneca Therapist does a great job working with students and families. She sends update emails to teachers and support staff so that we know how students are doing. She always wants to be integrated in family conferences, SSTs and other communication around student academic, behavioral and social progress.”
 
“Teachers feel more empowered and part of the school culture decisions and as a result seem to feel more ownership over the implementation of their plans.”
 
“The Seneca professional development sessions have allowed me to take a step back from my teaching practice and view it from a larger point of view. I appreciate the tools given to us (ex: the SCARF model) and how they encourage me to be more conscious of my lesson planning and feedback-giving. It is nice to pause and reflect on what we think we're doing well and what strategies might help us teach even better.”
​And I could go on and on.............................
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Blog Post Written By: Jordan Ullman, Assistant Director of Assessment and Evaluation
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Getting Creative in a Virtual World

1/27/2021

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​This pandemic has lasted much longer than anyone expected and has taken its toll, not only on the students & families, but on our staff as well. It is in these trying times that our leadership team has had to find creative ways to support our staff and keep them engaged. This year, I have had the opportunity to split my time between two different programs and share in their creative visions for staff participation.
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​The Light the Change (LTC) Program held their December Dine & Delve over a team Zoom meeting.  To add a personal touch to the event, the leadership team personally delivered care packages with crafts, gifts, and GrubHub gift cards to staff.  During the Zoom meeting, LTC staff had the option to decorate premade cookies or fill out holiday-sweater coloring pages, all while virtually sharing a meal together.  This activity allowed staff the opportunity to have a little fun while learning about important program updates.
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​The SOAPS Management Team built on their staffs’ common love of cooking and baking by incorporating virtual Chopped Competitions into their staff meetings! The first competition was held in October, and the staff were tasked with creating a main course using Halloween themed mystery basket ingredients. The second competition was held in December, and staff were given the challenge of creating baked goods using sweet & spicy themed mystery basket ingredients. This competitive group thoroughly enjoyed the competitions and are eagerly awaiting the next challenge.
​Both programs have taken on different ways to engage staff, and both programs have been successful in their efforts to increase staff morale.  This just goes to show that with a little creativity and team building, we can get through anything… even during a pandemic. 
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Blog Post Written By: Joline Castaneda, Manager of Operations (SOAPS)
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Essential and Wholesome: Pulling Together Community Care

12/21/2020

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My role as a Student Support Assistant has primarily involved supporting students in being the best version of themselves at school and beyond. While on campus, this mostly involved providing academic support, behavioral guidance, incentives, redirections, positive reinforcements, conflict resolution, etc. However, in the world of distance learning, this support has looked a lot different. It became evident that the primary needs coming up for students were not just related to school. Due to the pandemic and its various consequences, students have communicated to me that their families are experiencing significant financial hardships: they are unable to eat breakfast, or they have run out of soap and shampoo because their families cannot afford groceries or supplies. I quickly came to realize that these needs come first: it is nearly impossible to succeed in school with a hungry belly, or without being able to feel clean.
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It was with this knowledge that I was able to mobilize members of the community to donate items and funds to support the students and families who were struggling most. Through the generosity of the local community, we raised over $4,000, four car loads of soaps, shampoos, diapers, etc. and have partnered with a local food distribution company to provide monthly produce donations to consistently provide families with healthy and fresh food. The funds have supported families that have lost loved ones to COVID-19, covering funeral costs. The hygiene supplies and household items have been set up on display in one of the classrooms on campus as a “free store” where families can visit and “shop” for what they need. The produce has provided families with pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables to create healthy and sustainable meals for the entire family unit.
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We have all had to think outside the box as school staff this year, tailoring our supports beyond just the school, and seeing the WHOLE child and the real time issues coming up for each student. I feel it a privilege during this holiday season to hold the title as a Student Support Assistant, and to support and assist students and families in a meaningful way during this difficult year.
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Be safe, be healthy, and Happy Holidays to all.
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Blog Post Written By: Iris Wagner, Student Support Assistant
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Building a Strong School Community (Virtually)

12/15/2020

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​Like most students across the country, the Washington Elementary community also began their 2020-21 Academic School year virtually from home. Starting the year with distance learning meant that Leadership had to be creative and think out of the box to keep students connected to school – all whilst maintaining a strong sense of community. Research has shown that creating a sense of belonging and building relationships is critical to ensure students remain engaged and enthusiastic learners. While everything about back-to-school was different, we wanted to create a sense of normalcy by translating our regular routines and practices into virtual platforms. So, we implemented our Monday Morning Announcement videos! The videos were a great way for everyone to start the week with the same message and have opportunities to participate in different challenges and activities as a whole school. 
​Our Monday Morning Announcement videos have become the catch-all for maintaining consistent connection (virtually) and encouraging our students to be academically motivated and committed to school. We have introduced fun reading challenges for all grade levels and have students submit fun videos with books reviews. We have also used this opportunity to bring the campus to our students – even though they cannot physically be on campus. Each week we reinforce our Dragon values and encourage students to demonstrate our characteristics of being Resilient, Flexible, Empathetic, Persistent and Optimistic. Here is a sample of our Monday Morning Announcements:
The Monday Morning Announcements are the highlight of the week for a lot our students, and we are seeing more and more participation from our Dragon Heroes. Our discussion forum on the announcements is a great place for students to motivate and encourage their peers to work hard and spread joy. The weekly announcements have also helped us achieve our AIP goal of increasing school pride and incorporating more student voice-and-choice in our decision-making processes. Creating this feeling of belonging by fostering school-wide connections between teachers, students and administrators has truly enhanced our virtual learning experience, and hence, we would love to hear from you too! Please share your great ideas for community building and fostering connection during distance in the comments below. 
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Blog Post Written By: Puja Satwani, Assistant Director of School Partnerships
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Unconditional Education: Implementation in a Virtual Setting

10/6/2020

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Since the start of March our lives have changed dramatically. We’ve shifted our daily routines, the ways in which we interact and connect with others, and how we are able to nourish and sustain our own wellbeing. Many in our communities have lost loved ones, confronted illness, juggled work and family responsibilities, and mustered the resources to make ends meet. Schools, which often serve as a central hub for family support, made an overnight transition to virtual learning. They have had to identify new systems and routines for instruction, connection, and resource delivery all while school personnel negotiate the impact of the changing world in their own lives. Further, the impact of this pandemic and the concurrent national conversation on police violence against the Black community has highlighted the ways in which deep systemic inequities reach across our institutional systems, from health care to criminal justice to education. What is clear is that grand changes are needed in both the short and long term to build more equitable systems.
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Through all of these changes what has remained steadfast is our commitment to building systems of education that are strong and inclusive, even in the face of tremendous adversity. Grounded in Seneca’s longstanding mission of connecting with individuals and families during difficult times, we have taken what we know about responding to periods of crisis and applied these same principles to support schools in adapting their practices to the virtual context. We are thrilled to release this piece Implementing Unconditional Education in a Virtual Setting where we have captured what we have learned by working with over 40 schools and districts through this transition to remote learning. This piece is intended to act as a companion to Unconditional Education: Supporting Schools to Serve All Students articulating the adaptations required in the implementation of this framework for a blended or remote learning setting. It aims to highlight how during periods of struggle we can find grounding in the formative beliefs and values that drive our work - our belief in the power of relationship, the collective capacity of teams, and our ability to reach a shared vision when we’ve identified clear goals. In addition, it provides practical considerations for the modification of essential coordination and assessment procedures that drive a multi-tiered system of care. Our hope is to share lessons learned with others who are building systems to support all students, and the adults in their lives, in finding wellness and hope in this challenging time.
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​What key adaptations have you seen that have been essential for the support of all students in distance learning? What innovations do you hope will inform our eventual return to in person instruction?
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Blog Post Written By: Robin Detterman, Executive Director of School Partnerships
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All-In’s Commitments to Growth: Intersecting Systemic Racism and Pandemic Response

9/21/2020

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​We begin this year at the cross-section of the pandemic’s wide-spread impacts within our community and this powerful moment of confrontation with systemic racism and anti-blackness in our country. We are strengthening our resolve to find new and creative ways to meet the deep and varied needs of students and families and address the many forms of racism still present within our child-serving systems of care. In the words of Bettina Love, we must “engage in the struggle for educational justice knowing that [we] have the ability and human right to refute oppression and refuse to oppress others, mainly [our] students.” Our partnerships in schools are built on aligned vision and commitment to creating school communities where all students can thrive. To this end, we have spent time this summer articulating a set of ongoing commitments and a few key areas where we will be dedicating time and attention in the coming months.
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Our Commitments:
  • We commit to engaging in deep reflection and learning about the ways in which the systems of education, special education and mental health have perpetuated racial oppression and how - as an organization and individuals - we can disrupt this history.
  • We commit to collaboratively exploring racial identity, historical racism, and implicit/explicit bias in relationship and conversation with students, school staff, and families.
  • We commit to bringing attention to specific policies and practices that replicate oppression and inequity at all levels of our education system.
  • We commit to being accountability partners, supporting our collective teams in untangling the many ways in which their explicit and implicit biases may impact their work.
  • We commit to bringing attention and curiosity to actions that appear to stem from explicitly or implicitly biased beliefs and engaging in restorative processes to address the harm these actions have caused.
  • We commit to raising up the voices of our students, families, and teams so that those individuals most impacted by identified problems can play a key role in cultivating solutions.
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Our Ongoing Work:
  • Training & Professional Development: To support our work for racial equity, we have expanded our professional development offerings that can be provided at no or low cost for schools. We have been revising the training content within our Foundation Series to more explicitly: 1) address the links between trauma, historical trauma and racism, 2) create space for reflection on how personal identity influences practice, and 3) move towards both trauma-informed and healing centered language. We have also developed several new workshops. Check out our complete 20-21 training menu.
  • Pandemic Response: One of the most pressing issues of equity facing the communities we serve is the ongoing economic and health impacts of the current pandemic. We continue to partner with our schools in joint grant development and fundraising. In addition, we are in the process of producing a companion piece to our book Unconditional Education: Supporting Schools to Serve All Students that articulates what it looks like to shift whole school practices of intervention into a virtual world. It will be available in the coming weeks and we hope this supports the work of others who are grappling with this transition. 
  • Crisis Intervention Approaches: We recognize that by the time children are experiencing an intensive mental or behavioral health crisis we have already largely failed at providing the support needed to keep them regulated and well. While we have made tremendous progress in recent years at reducing the number of physical holds and calls to the police in our Seneca programs as a whole, when we return to in-person services we seek to further reduce, and whenever possible, eliminate the use of these interventions. We are reviewing our training protocols and crisis intervention procedures to further strengthen the ways in which relational intervention tools can be used to prevent crisis. We are currently collaborating with several counties to develop alternatives to utilizing the police to initiate involuntary psychiatric hospitalization. You can expect to hear from our team about opportunities to get involved in advocacy efforts and recommended practice changes to support this goal throughout the year. 
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We recognize that reshaping the educational system is ongoing work and, our hope is that, by starting this conversation with concrete commitments, we can specifically articulate the ways in which anti-racism is part of our work in schools.
 
We are looking forward to a year of mutual teaching, learning, and growth!
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Blog Post Written By: Robin Detterman, Executive Director of School Partnerships
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All-In! Drive Through End-Of-Year BBQ Celebration

6/17/2020

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​Thank you to the 150+ staff and family members who came out to celebrate the end of the 2019-2020 school year! Our “Drive Through BBQ” provided space to mark this milestone by being in community (safely) with each other and demonstrating our ongoing commitment to racial justice in education and beyond. Thank you for showing up today and every day. #UnconditionalEducation #BlackLivesMatter
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Blog Post Written By: Jenny Ventura, Director of Model Implementation and Assessment
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