All-In’s partnership has taken many forms over the years. In the first year, we provided behavioral support and, soon after, added a Clinical Intervention Specialist to help school staff, students, and families explore what makes a safe and supportive environment and how best to implement school-wide practices that promote engagement. Triumph added an Unconditional Education Coach in another iteration of our Seneca support team. They have since recognized the value of the UE coach and Student Support Assistant roles and have dedicated themselves to increasing their own capacity by bringing these positions in-house. Currently, All-In has two Clinical Intervention Specialists, Danielle Saporta and Aaron Burney, who collaborate closely with the school’s principal, two assistant principals, and Behavior Intervention Dean to develop and implement social-emotional programming and trauma-informed supports. Jason Keppe, Director of School Partnership, and Robyn Ganeles, Assistant Director of Clinical Intervention Services, are also closely involved in supporting the school, rounding out the All-In/Triumph team. The team operates using Multi-Tiered Systems of Support intended to provide students with the least restrictive intervention needed to address their social-emotional needs. The team has also collaborated closely with the Special Education staff to develop their Level 3 program, an intensive clinical program for students that require specific clinical support in order to maintain their general education placement. For an introduction to the All-In Triumph staff, please see the blog post “Partnership In Action: R-e-s-p-e-c-t, Find Out What it Means to Me!”
0 Comments
What does your average day look like? From 8:30am to about 5pm my day consists of check-ins, individual sessions with clients, and collateral work with school staff and families.
Why do you do this work? Honestly, this work is something which fits my personality the most. I was told I would be a great role model to kids, but it’s hard to make a living in ‘role modeling’. I had great role models in my life and so I wanted to be a role model for someone else. What hope do you have for the future of All-In? I hope All- In continues to do great work with its families and school partners. It's almost amazing that school has only been in session between one and a half to two months. It is in full swing and summer is beginning to feel like a distant memory. This past month, our program focused on Seneca's value of LOVE and COMPASSION. How can love and compassion further The Work? How can love and compassion aide in addressing the most challenging, taxing, draining, frustrating situations? Starting with love and compassion helps me keep humanity at the core of the path forward. It helps me remember to reflect upon and identify the internal working model of the student, parent, teacher, principal, school, system, etc. It leads me to ask myself, how do I respond from a place of love and compassion? How do I dis-confirm the internal working model? How to Find Love and Compassion in Your Most Difficult Moments is an article written by Elana Miller, MD- a psychiatry resident and founder of Zen Psychiatry. In this article, Alana offers 5 practical techniques for cultivating love and compassion during particularly challenging situations. The Mattering Movement that All-In has joined this year (that you'll continue to hear more and more about) offers concrete and tangible ways to weave love and compassion into the lives of those with whom we work. This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Dr. Barbara Young, acclaimed educator, entrepreneur, radio talk show host, and motivational speaker on leadership and empowerment for women shares her personal story and the three key principles of love, empowerment, and significance that contributed to her success and sent her on a journey to establish a "community of mattering." Can your personal story be unleashed in a way that will propel your own fulfilling and impactful journey? Find out in this powerful and inspirational talk. I hope you have a school year full of LOVE, COMPASSION and MATTERING! Name: Tiffany Sancimino Position: Learning Specialist & Case Manager at New School of San Francisco What led you to your current position?: A whole lot of changes! I have worked at several different sites since starting Seneca in 2010 including James Baldwin Academy, MAC SELPA, Building Blocks, Cox Academy, and now I'm at my third San Francisco school site. I've grown from a mental health counselor and teacher's aide at JBA, to a co-teacher in MAC SELPA, to becoming the lead teacher in the Kinder/1st Class at Building Blocks. During these first few years, I simultaneously earned my Education Specialist Credential. Upon deciding I was ready for a change after 3+ years at Building Blocks, I joined All-In! and became a Case Manager and Academic Intervention Specialist. Fun Fact/Quote?: Fun Fact: I love celebrating what may seem like insignificant food holidays like National Taco Day, National Ice Cream Day, and National Coffee Day! Quote: "The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday." What does your average day look like?: No two days look alike for me! On average though, I'm typically hopping from class to class to deliver academic support to individual and groups of students, while tackling my to-do list in between. When I'm not working directly with students, I am collaborating with teachers, trying to stay on top of emails, and supporting classrooms where I can. Why do you do this work? I know it sounds a little corny but I deeply care about the kids. I care about their academic achievement but I genuinely care about their personal investment in their own education. The best part of my day is when I see a student who is proud of themselves and has fun when they're learning. What hope do you have for the future of All-In? I hope that All-In continues to provide supports in both public and charter schools, and counseling enriched environments. I hope that All-In continues to focus on building sustainable supports and programs in environments where we already exist as opposed to spreading out to new schools to provide watered-down care. For this week’s blog post, I wanted to step back and discuss some statewide advocacy work that I found very relevant to our work in Unconditional Education. Over the past several months, Seneca has joined with nearly 100 other California-based non-profit agencies, government offices, and advocacy groups to collaborate to raise awareness about the impact of early childhood trauma and to urge state policymakers to pass legislation to help address it. The statewide advocacy collaborative is called 4CA (which stands for the California Campaign to Combat Childhood Adversity) and is made up of professionals from the fields of health care, juvenile justice, mental health, and education. For the first time this past summer, representatives from 4CA sat with state legislators to issue a list of policy recommendations aimed at preventing early childhood trauma and supporting those youth that are experiencing hardship as a result of it:
.
Several things are exciting to me about this development. One is to see such widespread collaboration across state and non-profit agencies to recognize the impact of trauma and advocate for better policy, funding, and training to help address it. Even more exciting, though, is to read through these recommendations and see how closely they align with the work that we are doing in UE. From school-wide trainings on trauma-informed systems of care, to our ongoing work on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, to new tools for early identification of childhood adversity like our Social Emotional Screener: each of you is delivering and innovating these practices in some way, modelling many of these recommendations in practice each day. Name: Brenda Gonzalez Position: Associate Manager of Education Quality What led you to your current position? I started as an SSA for All-In almost three years ago. At the time, I was convinced that I was going to be a teacher. It wasn’t long before I realized teaching wasn’t for me, but I remained committed to our model and SPED. I then became a PA and learned more than I could have ever imagined. I love being able to connect with parents in their native language and work in various settings. I learned a lot about the needs of the population that we work with and have since become obsessed with identifying how systems can be improved. I feel excited when I’m able to create/work something that will enable us to “do better” (shout out to Stacey). When this position opened up, I knew that it was exactly what I wanted to do. It almost felt like the job was made for me! I now enjoy coming to work and doing something that I love daily. Fun Fact/Quote: Fun Fact: I was the model for a painting titled “Rattos in the Rain” by Anthony Holdsworth. He gifted me a copy when the original was purchased. Quote: “I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me, too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it’s true I’m here, and I’m just as strange as you”. - Frida Kahlo What does your average day look like? An average day in the life of Brenda looks like coming into the office and checking emails as soon as I settle in. I have a recurring list of tasks that I tend to, and the the emails work as additional tasks for the day/week. My recurring tasks (but not daily tasks) include SEIS work, expense reports, the NPA renewal application, ordering, interpreting meetings and searching for related service providers. Honestly, no two days look the same for me, and I love that. They’re always changing and there’s something new for me every single day. Why do you do this work? I grew up in East Oakland and feel passionate about working to improve the systems that have worked to oppress members of my community. One of my very best friends in high school was a SPED student, I met him in my art class, which was the only mainstream class that he was allowed to attend. I remember feeling confused when I learned that his SPED classroom was located in the basement of the school building. I simply could not understand why he was separated and hidden from the rest of us. Through my friendship with him, my perspective on what it means to be a SPED student changed dramatically. That’s why I love the All-In model—all means ALL, while also acknowledging that all students learn differently. I’m not going to say it’s all rainbows and butterflies. This work is challenging and tiring, but I think it’s worth it. Through this work, we are able to support students and families, while directly impacting and encouraging improvements in systems and schools. What hope do you have for the future of All-In? My hope is that we continue to do the work that we do, and continue to defy the stigma around learning disabilities. I hope that we continue to expand and that the idea behind All-In grows so much that someday there won’t be classrooms in basements. I also hope that the program increases our direct work with families to increase their knowledge of SPED law, and empower them to advocate for the needs of their children. Learning starts at home with our families, so I think it’s imperative that we find a way to start there. Hey All-In! team, I am excited to share a collaborative effort to streamline a very important service we provide to our school partners and their communities. A small group of bilingual staff members, with the guidance and support of our Director of School Partnerships, Celina Zins, have embarked on an inquiry project to improve translation and interpretation in special education. Shout out to Karla Aguirre, Lulu Gonzalez, and Brenda Gonzalez! (Nope, they’re not related…we think). We are currently engaged in exploratory interviews, research on best practices, and discussions about some of the very real barriers to providing effective translation of documents and interpretation during IEPs and other types of meetings related to Special Education. We see this project, and its potential results, as an opportunity for Seneca to be a leader in this field by finding better and innovative ways to maximize our amazing human resources and bring what we do well to our school partners and larger communities.
Keep an eye out for more information, requests for testimony and feedback, as well as updates on our work. As the 2017-2018 school gets underway, I would like to take a moment to share some positive recognition that has come our way! It is my pleasure to announce that Seneca has been chosen to receive the “2017 Commitments Award” from the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities, in recognition of our Unconditional Education model and its impact. The Alliance is a national network of committed social sector leaders (including Seneca) who are aligned through shared ownership and a common vision to achieve a healthy and equitable society. This is quite an honor and our fearless leader, Amber Fretwell, will be joining Ken to receive the award at the Alliance’s Education Summit in October. Seneca has also been chosen to receive the 2017 West Contra Costa Unified School District Partnership Award at the 12th Annual “State of Our Schools” breakfast. Seneca has partnered with WCCUSD for many years in support their special education programming, and we are currently in our second year of an Unconditional Education partnership in three elementary schools. Members from these school teams will join Ken at the breakfast to be recognized for their amazing work!
These awards are a reflection of your commitment to serving our schools, students, and families. Thank you for showing up and bringing Seneca’s values of love and compassion, joy, curiosity, respect, hope and courage to work every day. Your efforts are being recognized far and wide! I’m excited to announce a new partnership with EBIA – East Bay Innovation Academy. We began our partnership with EBIA a little over a week ago where we will partner with them in supporting their special education program and school culture and climate. Our partnership will be help by Celina Zins (Director of School Partnerships), with Sierra Thai-Binh as the UE Coach, Devina Brooks as the Behavior Intervention Specialist, Geoffrey Nunez as the Student Support Assistant, and Lulu Gonzalez as Program Assistant. We will also be supporting them with IEP compliance, case management, and the delivery of specialized academic instruction. Please see below for a little more information about EBIA. Located in Oakland, East Bay Innovation Academy (EBIA) is a college preparatory public charter school that provides students with the skills necessary for productive lives as citizens in a dynamic and increasingly competitive global world. EBIA is a rigorous Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM)-based school with an emphasis on the social-emotional skills needed to be leaders. EBIAS Learning Model:
EBIA is a rigorous STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) school with a unique focus on the social and emotional skills students need to be leaders. Students learn to be problem solvers and strong advocates who work together and take responsibility for their own learning. Additional Program Components SERVICE LEARNING In order to teach our core value of giving back to the community and to provide real-world experiences, students do service projects to contribute to and improve their community. PERSONALIZED LEARNING + ADVISORY Every EBIA family is matched with a school advisor, who will stay with the family throughout their years at EBIA. Advisors meet with families regularly to map out personal academic, social-emotional, and career goals for each student. COMMUNITY-BASED FOCUS Students at EBIA participate in 6 to 8 weeks of in-depth elective classes or internships with community organizations and local businesses. INTEGRATED CLASSROOMS Students of all demographic and educational backgrounds are provided with the same college preparatory courses, and all students will be prepared to enroll in college upon graduation. HIGH-QUALITY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT EBIA faculty are given enormous opportunity to grow as educators and develop new skills. DATA-DRIVEN + COMPETENCY-BASED INSTRUCTION EBIA is a leader in collecting and analyzing data and using it to improve learning by working with teachers, students, school leaders and parents. |
Authors:School Program Partnerships We're Hiring!Interested in joining our School Program Partnerships' Team? Check out our open positions below!
Categories:
All
Archives
January 2024
|