Study Session Meeting

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[124] Elisa Martinez: Here. Vice President Martinez.

[127] Ray Rodriguez: She's coming in a few minutes.

[128] Elisa Martinez: Member Gutierrez.

[129] Nancy Thomas: Here. Member John.

[130] Elisa Martinez: Here. Member Nguyen. Here.

[137] Ray Rodriguez: So, Bowen, just because we didn't do a roll call don't mean that, you know, you can come in late.

[142] Bowen Zhang: OK.

[142] Ray Rodriguez: OK. Don't you guys get around with each other? A little bit, right? If you have time, taking care of the kids. So before we go to the study session, do we have anyone from the public that would like to address us on the study session, which is going to be counseling divisions? We're talking about counselors, high school, junior high, and an alternative. Anyone like to address the board? Yeah, you got one minute since you didn't fill out a paper card.

[181] SPEAKER_48: I would like to say that these counselors are the hardest working people in the world. You could add 100 to their staff and they could not possibly do all that they need to do. And the teachers are grateful for all they do. And they are great partners for our students and our families. And I appreciate them wholeheartedly.

[204] Ray Rodriguez: No, you can take more time because you're saying good things. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And we agree. You guys are awesome. And we place our kids in your hands to make sure that they take the right classes. So each one of them can go to a UC and get a scholarship 100% paid. Isn't that what we all wish for? But anyway, thank you. I agree. So nobody else, let's go into the study session, Associate Superintendent Salinas.

[243] SPEAKER_32: Yes, good evening. We'd like for the board to join us at the table and our counselors are ready and we're going to get started.

[316] Ray Rodriguez: We have a PowerPoint that's coming around, and we have copies in the back. Folks are going to introduce themselves as we start to get to the next slide.

[337] SPEAKER_32: with our coordinator of student services. And the outcome for today is really to have a discussion and information around counselors. And the work that we're doing now is about building on success, but it's also about finding next steps. So that. OK, one second.

[357] Ray Rodriguez: And so I want to make sure you know all the board members. And we'll start with Memon Nguyen.

[362] Phuong Nguyen: Hi. I'm on.

[365] Ray Rodriguez: Go ahead. You can talk about your being at Newark Memorial High School.

[367] Phuong Nguyen: Oh, yes. I am a Newark Memorial alumni, along with Lucia. I graduated in 93, so I'm a little older than most of you. But yes, so I'm excited to be back in the community and be working with you guys. So I'm looking forward to that.

[388] Bowen Zhang: OK. I think I met most of you guys already.

[394] Ray Rodriguez: I'm Ray J. Rodriguez, and I've had a bunch of kids and grandkids go to Newark Memorial.

[433] Ray Rodriguez: And then I want you to keep, if you don't mind, your thoughts for Ms. Vivian Larson, who's ill. She was a counselor there a while back, and we had the Camino Nuevo program before we had Puente, and she was a big reason why we did that.

[454] SPEAKER_36: My name is Lucida Tierras. I am also a Newark Memorial alumni, and Mr. Loomis was my counselor.

[463] SPEAKER_36: And Ms. Torres was also around when I was there. So glad to have you guys here.

[475] SPEAKER_32: Wonderful. So let's get started. I do want to acknowledge in the gallery, we also have Principal Neal from Newark Junior High School, Principal Calderon from Alternative Ed, Principal Aranjel from our Newark Memorial High School. They will have time to also speak, but we wanted to start with our counselors, and then maybe we'll rotate. So I'm going to let Ana Leon, our pupil services, student services coordinator, get started, and she's going to head this off.

[506] SPEAKER_22: So I'm just gonna tell you a little bit about myself before I start with the slides. So I am a clinical social worker. I worked with the city of Fremont as a social worker at Fremont schools for five years, and then I went to work for Fremont Unified as a support program manager in student services. And what I did is I built systems of support throughout the 42 schools to help with the limited resources. And I'll be talking more about how we did that in Fremont, and I'll be talking about the MTSS. But if it wasn't for my high school counselors, I grew up in Salinas. My dad worked in the fields until he retired. And if it wasn't for my high school counselors, I wouldn't be here. They taught me about college, about FAFSA. I was lucky to get a free ride because we had eight siblings. So with eight siblings, my dad working in the fields, we couldn't have afforded to go to college. And I got my master's also in social work. All right. As you can see, school social workers are a vital member of the education team, and they maximize student success. Part of their role is to provide supportive counseling, academic goals with students, personal social development, career development, and they refer students and families to outside resources as well as resources they have on campus. One of the things I want to point out is the multi-tier systems of support on the right. The whole state of California is going towards that. When you have limited resources, how do we serve students? So Tier 1 is the green. And what do we do in Tier 1 that serves all the students? Then if students are still struggling, what do we provide for them, or what kind of interventions do we provide for Tier 2? And that should be about 10% to 20% of our students. Then if students are still struggling in different areas, what do we provide as Tier 3? And that should be about 5% to 8% of our students that we should be serving. So today our counselors are going to be speaking in terms of Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3, what they do for students. And that's how most of this information will be provided to you.

[628] SPEAKER_32: And I'm going to also ask Ms. Vicky Garcia to say a little bit about, some of you may know her. She actually is a huge support for us from Alameda County Mental Health and the work that they provide for us.

[640] SPEAKER_31: Thank you for allowing me to join. So I work for Alameda County's Center for Healthy Schools and Communities. I actually worked with Ana. So when she was managing in Fremont, I've been supporting here in Newark since 2014. building systems and protocols. And at this point, the systems and protocols have been so strong that we have new counselors who can come in and really just seamlessly transition into their roles. So that speaks a lot to the systems that we've established here at all tiers of support. So you've probably heard about PBIS, which is at all our sites, and COST, for example, in our crisis response protocol. So yes, I'm happy to be here and share some more.

[681] SPEAKER_32: So I know later on in the presentation, as the counselors introduce themselves and work through it, we do have some students' voice that will also be part of the presentation. So I'm going to go ahead and get started, and I'll have Ms. Ureño start.

[695] SPEAKER_29: Hi, I'm Ms. Ureño. I'm a first-year counselor at New Orleans Junior High. I obtained my bachelor's degree at San Jose State in Justice Studies and a minor in Human Rights. And then I got my master's degree in counseling at National University. And I'm also a first-generation college student.

[711] SPEAKER_19: I'm Alejandra Gallegos. I'm a first-year counselor as well. I grew up here in high school. I, for my undergrad, I went to Cal State East Bay, got my BA in psychology, and then attended Chavez State for my master's in counseling, and then obtained my PPS as well. And I'm also a first-generation college student.

[729] SPEAKER_40: Hey, everybody. I'm Hamilton Baylon. This is my ninth year in counseling. I got my bachelor's at Cal State Hayward, which I'm very proud of. So it shows my age too. And then my master's at East Bay. And prior to coming to counseling, I worked like 10 years at Intel. So worked at adult education, Hayward Adult School, worked at New Haven, at James Long High School. So I'm glad to be here.

[766] SPEAKER_39: And that's me.

[768] SPEAKER_39: I'm Jonathan Luna. 21 years as a counselor. This is my 22nd year. And just like Hamilton, I represent Cal State Hayward. Yes, in that. It's not Cal State East Bay. And I got a degree in Human Factor Psychology and a MA in Counseling with a BPS.

[786] SPEAKER_32: As we heard, Ms. Torres wasn't able to make it. She did a lot of the planning.

[795] SPEAKER_35: My name is Yesenia Hernandez, and this is my second year at Newark Memorial High School. I graduated from San Jose State for both my bachelor's and my master's degree, and I am also a first-generation college student.

[815] Ray Rodriguez: I'm so sorry. You'll have to give a 10-minute speech. Oh, absolutely.

[823] Elisa Martinez: Elisa Martinez, board member. I've been here, yesterday was my one year anniversary.

[831] SPEAKER_32: So we're going to go ahead and actually I'm going to ask Ms. Leon to again give the context of what tier one is. And then we're going to start with the junior high and have them share a lot of that information.

[847] SPEAKER_22: So again, tier one is the bottom of the triangle. It's what all students are getting from the counselors.

[854] SPEAKER_19: At the junior high, our office hours are from 8 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. What academic counseling or social-emotional counseling is for Tier 1 is everybody is welcome to come to the counseling center if they encounter an issue academically or socially. And then what we and myself and Liz try to do is welcome all students at the door during passing period. If we're not meeting with the student, we try to stand outside the door like the teachers do when they're welcoming the students. And just so students know who we are and become comfortable and feel welcome to come to the Counseling Center when they need to.

[891] SPEAKER_29: Another support we provide under Tier 1 is the coordination of the independent study contracts. And what that is, is when a student goes out of town for 5 to 10 days, they need to get approval with the principal and create a contract with the parent saying that they know that they're supposed to complete their work while they're away. And if they don't, then they don't receive that grant and their absence are unexcused. I'm in charge of making sure the contracts are signed by the parent, by the student, by the principal, and then emailing the teachers, letting them know the student will be away. And then the day before the student leaves, meeting with the students and giving them a checklist so they know what they need to do before they leave. And then they know that they need to meet me the day they get back so I can make copies of all their work. And then I reach out to the teacher to see if everything was graded and completed and what grading they see before I send it to district office.

[941] SPEAKER_32: And what we thought was going to be important is that while we, I know we have lists up here that they, each of the counselors would highlight one or two areas where they do, they wanted to focus in.

[953] SPEAKER_35: So tier one for high school. So I'm going to point out a few of the things that we do at the high school for tier one. We do multiple classroom presentations throughout the year, but a big one is our course registration. So in the spring, we go into every 9th, 10th, and 11th grade English class and we do a presentation on course registrations where we explain the course catalog, we explain high school graduation requirements, A through G requirements. And then we also, so that's the first step. So we go in and we present and we have them their course registration forms. And then we return in a few weeks to collect the registration forms, and we meet with every single student. And we go over their course selection to make sure, obviously, that they're choosing the appropriate classes in their course for graduation. Another thing that we are doing, or that we do, are our evening parent workshops. So this year, we have a series of evening workshops for our families. in both English and Spanish. At the beginning of the year, we focus on seniors. So within the first month or first two months, we have a CSU-UCM financial aid workshop just for our seniors. And then we start with our other workshops that includes the rest of our family. So a 10th, a 9th, and 11th graders. And we're going to focus on things similar to the seniors, UC, giving us information about UC, A through G requirements, CSU, community college, financial aid. But we're also going to include some socio-emotional component to these presentations towards the end. So we're going to do monthly workshops.

[1074] SPEAKER_32: And to share, so in addition to the general population, we also wanted to highlight some of the other work that high school does. It's focused on MCA, one of our pathways, special education, English learners, and Puente.

[1091] SPEAKER_39: And so with the special ed, all the counselors definitely would attend all the IEP meetings, right? Just to make sure that all the documents are covered and signed off and all that stuff. And we definitely ensure that the students are scheduled appropriately. Consulting with the case managers is the main thing. Because consulting with them, we definitely find out what level they are, what classes they're supposed to be in. We even go so far as they have a couple of spots for electives. So we speak with the elective teachers if that's a proper fit for them, since they're in a special ed. So that's a big thing. With MCA, it's the Media Communications Academy. So basically it's a career-focused academy that prepares the students the skills necessary to basically in the field of multimedia and communications. And I consult with MCA director heavily, weekly, bi-weekly, whatever it may be, as to how many students are signing up for MCA. If you can see there, it says HAR. 50% of the first year cohort has to be at least highly at risk because 50% of our grant is on the Perkins grant, and the other 50% is the California Partnership Academy grant. So those have to be met.

[1174] SPEAKER_35: That's it. I'm also going to speak on Puente and our EL students. Mrs. Torres oversees the Puente program, just to highlight a few things that she does. She does extensive work with our Puente students, but specifically she goes into the classes throughout the year to give classroom presentations about college, in addition to also offering various field trips, college As for EL, I meet with my EL students at least once a year, hopefully more than once a year to plan for graduation. I do a lot of collaborating with our ELD coordinator to make sure the kids are placed appropriately for their English classes.

[1239] SPEAKER_22: And also, we've got to just remember that we do this as a tier one for everybody, but in a day-to-day basis, kids are always coming in and checking in because they might be in crisis and they might need to talk with one of their counselors.

[1253] Elisa Martinez: Sorry, and I'm not sure if I missed this, but are we asking questions as we go, or are we just going to get through the presentation?

[1258] SPEAKER_32: I think we were trying to get through the whole presentation, if that's OK. That's great. Thank you.

[1263] SPEAKER_40: So for adult ed, one of the things that I'd like to point out is creating an electronic individualized learning plan for each student. So this is like a Google Doc where kind of outlined where the student is at in terms of credits and also we're able to project kind of how many credits they need to complete. It's one of the challenges with Alt-Ed is, you know, you could earn .5 credits, you could earn five credits. And it's this constant calculation of, you know, trying to understand where the student is, what they need, and keeping up with that. And then, you know, in terms of the Tier 1 career part, we, you know, we had a loanee come by and do a presentation about financial aid, which I think is hugely important our students you know down the line looking forward to utilizing the tool that californiacollege.edu which we're going to use to help help them think about like career pathways you know what the steps are to either go to trade school go to community college make a transfer and that sort of thing.

[1343] SPEAKER_29: In terms of tier 2 interventions, we provide a lot of support, but one of the most important ones would be risk assessments that we provide for students who have suicidal ideation or self-harming, and these risk assessments are really important because it gives us a better idea on how long they've been experiencing this ideation, if they have a plan in place, if they have access to a weapon, and then depending on how the risk assessment goes, we decide if we have to follow protocol and call Newark PD so they can do their own risk assessment and see if the student has to be 5150. And in terms of self-harm, it allows us to also see where their mindset is at and why they're trying to swap the emotional pain for physical pain. And that turns into a conversation where a safety plan is created for them, where they identify three coping strategies that they can do when they're feeling that urge, and three people they can talk to on and off of campus when they're feeling that way. And that also leads to parent conversations and trying to figure out how we can best support the student at home and at school. Another really important Service that we provide is our cost weekly meetings. So the coordination of services team meeting we have every Tuesday from 845 to 10, where the vice principal, Alejandra and I parent partner, Ms. Vicky Garcia. We all attend and we talk about all the students that are referred to COS. And as of right now, we have 190 students that we've discussed. And pretty much in these meetings, we discuss what best supports they need. And it could either be individual counseling with me or Alejandra. It could be referral to an outside agency. It could be access to a kid's closet. It could be, depending on what the need is, that's what we provide for them.

[1447] SPEAKER_31: If I may add something for that, for both the junior high and alternative ed, the cost coordination piece is huge. I have been in sites where that's a full-time job. There's a cost coordinator. And so to me, it's absolutely impressive that on top of all of their responsibilities and duties, they're able to also take the role of cost coordination. which supports a lot of students. As you mentioned, just in the last couple of months, we're already at 190 students referred to COST. There are a lot of students who really benefit. And through that system, they're connected to individual therapy and all the different supports that we have. And that's also through our partnerships with other agencies. And again, with my role providing support from the county, these partnerships are actually an investment from the county. They're paying for all the other resources. And so they really appreciate that the district has invested in the counselors who really make that happen at the systemic level.

[1510] SPEAKER_22: And so just a reminder, a reminder is Tier 1 is what all students get. Tier 2 is, you know, students are still struggling with academics or social-emotional, what are their interventions. And Tier 3 is the high risk. So if students are still struggling, what else are they getting? So they'll be talking about Tier 3. And again, that should be about from 5% to 8% of our students that should be accessing this.

[1534] SPEAKER_19: So at the junior high, we provide individual counseling. So how Ana said, that's like the 3% to 8% who just need that extra support. So what individual counseling looks like with me and Liz is just helping students with their interpersonal relationships, help resolve conflicts, check in regularly. support students who are struggling academically and social emotionally and then just taking all our notes and putting it into the Synergy system so we know what our conversations and meetings were with the students. And that's what individual counseling can look like. And then another important highlight I would like to touch on, chair three, is that 5150. So how this is mentioned is that we do the risk assessments. And if a student, when doing the risk assessment, we determine that they are in danger, we follow the 5150 protocol, which is then we call Newark PD, contact parents, and it depends on a repeat decision if they're going to 51, 50th student, whether they call parents or they just ask us to call parents and then find the incident report. And then once students return to school, they don't usually return the next day. So just kind of keeping in mind when the student might return and then creating that safety plan that Liz had talked about where the student lists three different coping skills and then three different adults on campus and off campus that they can go to when they're they might have that suicide ideation again. And then as of today, actually, so we've had 551-50s this school year, and then we actually had to do two at the same time. So it's kind of like, you know, following the protocol, but just doing it twice at the same time.

[1642] SPEAKER_22: And just to add to that, 5150s, for those of you that don't know, is when students are suicidal, and they have to be placed on a 72-hour hold. So the ambulance usually transports them to the hospital, and they do an assessment there and keep them there.

[1654] SPEAKER_31: And this is a district-wide crisis response protocol that was established here. Ms. Torres was actually part of that team that we put together and developed this protocol along with, and PD was part of that, our psychologist. So it's a protocol that's followed across the district.

[1676] SPEAKER_39: Tier 2 and 3 high school. I wanted to touch on just the college applications for now because that was just fresh and we just finished. November 30th was the deadline for all CSUs and UCs, right? And along the lines, as you can imagine, it's just intense work in terms of we opened our doors for pause period, which is, you know, the gap, 11, 12 gap. So we were in the computer lab, so we rented out the space in the computer lab, and we were basically overlooking their shoulder as to what they're typing in, and we were like super intense on that part. So we did that once a week and paused every Wednesday. And ongoing right now is the Common App. We write tons of letters of recommendation, as you can imagine, right? So the Common App is still ongoing until January 15th, basically. The other thing I wanted to touch on was. I can point out a few things.

[1737] SPEAKER_35: So also a big chunk of what we do is 504 case managing. So we lead the assessment plans for our students who either we think they need a 504 or if we have a 504 request, we also, we also, check in with those kids constantly who need the breaks during class. So they come into our offices to check in when they need breaks. We proctor their tests when they can't take a test in class. So the case managing is a big part of our job, too, for the students with 504.

[1780] SPEAKER_39: Tier 2 and 3 at the high school for SPED and FCA. It's pretty intense also with the case managers. Like it says, ensure accurate student placement, right? But also at the same time, following up with the parents, and that's a huge thing. I had an IEP this morning, and the parent was right there, and they had a lot of special requests for that particular student. So I was able to just help them out in that way. So when we attend IEPs, it's because It's just valuable for the counselors to be there for the student. And then in terms of MCA, we do consult, like I said earlier, I consult with MCA director and MCA teachers as to which specific students are on the radar in terms of grade, behavior, attendance. We just got to make sure they're properly placed still and making sure they're on track. And there are some IEP kids in MCA and 504 kids in MCA, so we just want to make sure that they get the full support in that sense.

[1849] SPEAKER_35: So we are saying a lot of collaborate and a lot of consult with our teachers, but we think it's very important to include all stakeholders in the student's education, right, and see what needs can be met by the teachers, what needs can be met by us, right? So that multiple people can be addressing the students' needs. So specifically, Mrs. Torres, she does a lot of collaboration with her Fuente teachers regarding individual student progress. She plans community service projects for her kids, et cetera. Me, with my ELs, so I do a lot of collaborating with the ELD coordinator. If a student is struggling in their English classes, right, we meet constantly to address the student's concerns or monitor their progress, especially for our newcomers. So the students coming to us from different countries, like maybe their sophomore year, junior year, I meet with them and their families to talk about a plan for graduation. and see whether they possibly might need an additional year. I look at their transcripts, if they do have a transcript from their home country, to see if whether we can give them credits. And then, so I meet with all of those kids to ensure. And then I collaborate with district personnel to see if they can stay an additional year or not. And then if they can't, then we'll talk about alternative options.

[1953] SPEAKER_32: is working with you, we have a lot of students who are underschooled. And also, candidly, we are also seeing an influx of students who have been detained. with trauma and also may not have their transcripts, right? So counselors have to do a lot of digging deep so that we don't have students who are even further behind, although they may have been schooled or they're under schooled, so they've got the trauma piece, but at the same time making sure that we're placing them appropriately. So that's been a new thing. We're going to look to see how we can get more professional development about reading and foreign transcripts, because some of our students, They may not be fluent in English, but they're rock stars in math and science. And so we want to make sure that we're appropriately placing them and not wasting their time in a class that's not appropriate for them, a lower level math, let's say.

[2005] SPEAKER_22: And some of these students, if they are unaccompanied and they're homeless, they also qualify for the state requirements. So they can qualify for a lesser credit amount than what the high school offers. And that's something that the counselors do as well.

[2020] SPEAKER_31: And additionally, we have a partnership with another program that's funded by the county to support this population. And so the counselors are a critical component of that because they make that referral. They're the first ones to know there's a concern, and they make that referral to cost, and they're connected to that additional resource. They can be connected to legal services, medical services, applying for Medi-Cal, different types of insurance. So that's also a key piece.

[2050] SPEAKER_32: Don't you guys want to talk about Apex now?

[2055] SPEAKER_40: So for Tier 2 and Tier 3 at the adult ed, I think one of the big keys is, you know, when I hear my colleagues here talk about this case management, I think a lot of the students in our caseload, even though it's a lot less, they have a huge heavy weight on them. and they're all very unique. So, you know, that's where cost is so important for us and, you know, really trying to understand where every student is at. Because whether it's an attendance issue, whether it's a mental health issue, whether it's a learning challenge that was not caught. Because one of the biggest challenges with a truant student is understanding, is there a learning disability? Because you cannot determine that because they don't go to school. So there's no way to evaluate that. And they could end up in our school, with just huge gaps and a lot of acting out behavior, especially with young men. And it's hard to find out what skill level they're at. And then we're trying to get them to do high school things. So we have to be very compassionate and understanding. And one shoe doesn't fit all sizes in our campus. So the case management takes on that kind of different mode, cuz you always gotta be supportive and You have to understand kind of where their family's coming through. And to be honest, too, reaching out to parents is a huge challenge. There's a lot of reasons why they're there is that support wasn't present. And then of course, with tier three, which the junior high, sadly, when I hear it, deals with a lot, is these suicide assessments. And dealing with students that have mental health issues, and we could support students with they have Medi-Cal, but if they either don't have that insurance or they have some other type of insurance, then we can't support them. And so we oftentimes do have to consult with a therapist. So you hear a lot of that with this group, it's a lot of consultation, coordination. We have to know everything and everything about everybody, and that's what's really unique about what counselors do. We're kind of a bridge. and we're kind of experts in almost anything. So it's funny how a lot of people don't know what we do, because we could do pretty much anything.

[2218] SPEAKER_31: If I actually may, with Hamilton being a strong part of the PBS implementation at Bridgepoint, I would say it's been the most seamless implementation because just the staff buy-in at the universal level, but also the next tier of support. He's going to be a key piece, just the counselor position is going to be a key piece of coordinating that tier two, tier three support with PBIS, which our counselors at the junior high are already doing. But at every single of these sites, the counselors have been an instrumental piece of PBIS, which I know you guys have heard, PBIS has been highlighted a lot. They've been key components of the planning year and the implementation. Without them, it would not have been possible.

[2266] Phuong Nguyen: Let's move on.

[2267] SPEAKER_39: So with this data slide, this was covering October 1st through November 22nd. And as you can see, the breakdown there for 9, 10, 11, 12. And these are just strictly students now. Appointment was under 74. Walk-in, 360. Brunch, lunch, 89. And it totaled up to 623. And this does not include parent appointments, parent walk-ins, teacher consultation, teacher walk-ins, and that sort of stuff. So we just basically wanted to show the data in terms of how much is coming in through the Cal State Center. Since I've been there, I mean, we always felt like that was a safe place for them, because when that mural was built, like, and she's on there. You see her up there. When that mural was built, like, 20 years ago, 20 plus years ago, we always wanted to make sure that that's home to the students. So that's what we implement.

[2322] SPEAKER_35: Yeah. As you can see, most of our sign-ups are walk-ins, because we fundamentally believe in access and equity. So we don't believe in turning away our students, as small as their problem might be. For us, it might be minimal. But then for them, it might be a huge problem. So we want all of our students to feel welcome and, like Mr. Luna was saying, a safe place for them. If they don't feel comfortable anywhere else, a lot of them just come to us, right? And we don't turn away our kids.

[2367] SPEAKER_32: And so we just really briefly, so this is just a breakdown in how this year, I know, So they have a specialty, but then they also have a letter of the alphabet. And I think when you look at the other data piece, it also varies. So we were talking about at certain times during the year, they may see more seniors on their caseload because it's time for applications versus freshmen at the beginning of the year. So I'm going to keep on in the interest of time. And then we've got Apex.

[2397] SPEAKER_35: So Apex is our credit recovery program. So as you can see, the bottom right chart is the number of APEX classes completed so far. So we have a total of 82 APEX classes completed. Our other charts show our on-track and off-track data as well.

[2428] SPEAKER_32: And I'm going to ask our three principals to speak a little bit, and then we'll also have some students, but I'll have the principals go first.

[2446] SPEAKER_26: Thank you, Ms. Salinas and board members. I appreciate your time this evening. As the principal of the alternative ed site, my job would not be doable without the support of my academic counselor. They are my partner. And it's academics, but as Mr. Bailon indicated, we have a high needs population. When we're talking about tier two and tier three at the comprehensive high school, those are our tier one in alternative education. So they are students who come to us with high needs already in place, as Mr. Bailon indicated. So many of our families, We are a trauma informed campus because so many of our families come to us with just very negative histories, both school and just on a personal level. And so his job isn't just about scheduling and transcripts, it's so much bigger than that. It's case management, it's the emotional social support. We are a small campus, we're a tight knit group of staff and Though he's brand new, it's as if he's been with us for years because he's fit right in and helped us implement PLC. It's our first year doing PLC, PBIS, and really just getting to know each and every one of our families and their unique needs. So I really could not do this job without the support of my counselor. And it's been a privilege to have him for full-time because we've previously had them on a part-time level, which, of course, any support is crucial. But having that full-time counselor, There's a significant difference. The kids all know him. They're always clamoring to see him for any kind of support, whether it's social, emotional, or academic.

[2550] Vicenta Ditto: Hello. Thank you all for being here. And I want to take a minute to thank my counselors, but also We have two other people who are on site full time that also support with our, our tier three, who is our CATS coordinator, Center for Alternative to Suspension, who also has a background in counseling, as well as our mental health clinician. So I, I could not do my job without them. We meet weekly to talk about next steps and really plan our supports for students and keep our meeting student focused on how to better support them. And also this year we're working a lot with the junior high in articulation from the junior high to the high school because in our small district we should be able to do that right have a good communication between the two of us. So in our next steps we're really going to talk not just about a four year plan but potential six year plan because that's where other school districts are and we want to be there as well.

[2610] SPEAKER_42: Hey everybody, how you doing? Good to see you again. I just want to thank Alejandra and Lizeth because they're both brand new and they didn't get the chance to ease into this job. They jumped in feet first into the fire. And there's a lot of fire at the junior high right now as far as mental health issues with our students. It's a little surprising how many of our students have mental health issues. how many 5150s they've had to do as brand new counselors and actually call the ambulance and actually have someone come and pick up a student. So I applaud them for the work they've done with that. And I think for Greg and myself, they take a lot of the minor work off our plate. They are literally daily bombarded with kids with minor issues around bullying or just crazy home life or things are just just a general adolescent issues that we deal with with 12 to 14 year olds, so As both my colleagues have said this job would really be impossible without having counselors and especially these two What's whose name my name Oh Tony Tiger Mark Neil today

[2689] SPEAKER_40: We have the pleasure of having one of our students here. She was nice enough to come by, and we'll give her a moment to talk about counseling. Marilyn Robbins.

[2705] Diego Torres: Sorry.

[2706] SPEAKER_42: Great point, Jamie. Great point.

[2708] Michael Milliken: Welcome. Just know that they made you go last because they didn't want to go after you.

[2711] Bowen Zhang: You're the customers, so you feel comfortable.

[2718] SPEAKER_38: All I really have to say is that counseling from the school has helped me a lot. From the person I was a couple years ago to the person I am now, completely different. It's like I used to not want to go to school, but now I love going to school, love seeing everybody. Yeah. Thank you.

[2753] SPEAKER_35: Thank you. And we have another one of our wonderful Puente students, Amber, who's going to speak We have from the Puente Program, Ms.

[2768] SPEAKER_14: Torres. Hello, everyone. My name is Amber Nolasco-Torres. I'm a current student at NMHS. I'm a sophomore this year. And I'm also, as previously mentioned, I'm in the Puente Program. And firstly, I would just like to also thank all the counselors for all the hard work they put into their jobs and all the passion and love that you guys have for us. And also just because whenever I feel, whenever I go to the counselor's office at NMHS, I always feel so welcomed. I never feel like, like a burden you know I never feel like that I always feel like I always feel like very supported when I'm there and I Ms. Torres especially has always served as an example for me. My older sister was actually an alumni from NMHS, and Ms. Torres was also her counselor, and she was also in the Puente program. And she's told me that she was such a support for her, and she has honestly told me that if it wasn't for her, she might have not even attended college. And I know she has changed the life of my family members, and she's really changed the life of me, honestly, just always being an example. And something else that I would like to mention is just that the environment within Puente, like when I'm in the classroom, I always feel very safe, especially because coming from, since I'm bilingual and I speak both Spanish and English at home, it's sometimes difficult for me Like I've always been really insecure about my writing and my spelling. So going into Puente, I feel like it was just a safer environment for me. And I felt like it was, like I had a real opportunity to grow in my writing and not feel judged for it. Like people, my teachers were always really understanding. Well, Mr. Landon, who was my teacher last year and this year, he's always been really understanding. So I mean, that's all I really have to say right now. Honestly, I just really appreciate everything, the staff members, not just the counselors, but especially you guys and just everyone that has put in so much work and is still putting a lot of effort in. And so many students, just like Nir, can be successful throughout their educational journey.

[2919] SPEAKER_32: Thank you. So next steps. You heard a lot about the social-emotional, some about the academic counseling, and really we see that that's where we need to build on success and plan some next steps. New for this year, Ana, Ms. Leona has been convening counselors at the district office, and all of them, because we think it's important that articulation but also that they're not in isolation. I always think about, you know, you want to see what else is out there because a lot of times you're so deep in the work, you don't also see what more could be or how you could, you know, work smarter, not harder, right? And so we're trying to do a lot more of that and collaborating with counselors from other districts and scheduling some work with them as well. We're looking at partnering with California colleges and actually I'm going to ask if you want to say a little bit about that and your experience at Logan. If you remember the infamous Naviance, we're not doing Naviance anymore. So we're looking at this as our next possibility.

[2990] Elisa Martinez: We haven't had a lot of time. I'm just watching the clock. So if we could try to wrap up in a couple minutes.

[2995] SPEAKER_32: Oh, yeah.

[2995] Elisa Martinez: This is our last slide.

[2996] SPEAKER_40: Yes. So I was the administrator for the California College's account at New Haven Unified. And it's a very powerful tool. It can be used for 7 to 12. Unfortunately, if you're not a paid partner, then you can't use it with anyone under 13 years old. It is free. And there is a free option that's very usable. You can do personality assessments, interest inventories, strengths inventories. You could do a four-year plan. You could actually, if you fill out the four-year plan, student fills it out, it'll tell you whether or not you're A through G compliant, which allows you to go to like a CSU. And you could click on a button and apply to a CSU directly through the website. And it was created through the CSU system and the community college system. CaliforniaColleges.edu.

[3048] SPEAKER_32: So what we've done with that is that, again, going back to the whole thing of it's not just the high school's responsibility. It's not just the junior high. So we're actually going to centralize that out of Ed Services, where Ed Services will support the College and Career Readiness Center and the counselors to do this. But talking with my colleague here to the right, it's going to have to be a group of us where we do the planning and the strategizing and the best practices as to how to roll it out. The other piece where we're looking at is building the 7th to 12th grade plans. looking at building on classroom presentations, all of it living within California colleges, right? Because using that as a platform and the holder of the information so that we're tracking kids through the six years. And then finally, an exit questionnaire. Senior checkout, we want to know, are you going to the military? Are you going to a job? Are you going to a two-year college? Are you going to a four-year college? Something as simple as that. We're working with my friend here to the right, Ann with Julie. to see that as our kids are graduating, we want to know where they're going and how we have that data. So now we'll open it up to questions.

[3126] Ray Rodriguez: And we'd love to have all of you come back so we can talk some more. So the closed session isn't going to be that long, so if we can go maybe 10, 15 minutes, I think we'll be OK.

[3139] Elisa Martinez: Sure, unless someone else. So first of all, I apologize for being late. Thank you so much for the presentation. Just kind of following through with the different tiers, certainly kind of near top of mind for all of you, I'm hearing a lot of that social, emotional part of the job, part of your job. Obviously, that's really important to us to hear. So as you were going through it, I kind of just drew a chart, especially around the numbers. If we look at that percentage of kids that we're looking at, or of your caseloads, what percentage of the time are you spending on social emotional versus academic? Because the other piece, of course we want our kids to be safe, but we're also looking at the scores, right? And not even just Well, I try to reconcile two numbers, right? Our high levels of graduation rates and our performance on tests. And I know that tests are not always the one thing that tells. I totally buy into that. But I can't reconcile such a high level of graduation rate with our actual performance. So my hypothesis is that our kids aren't ready when they're graduating, right? So as I'm looking at intervention, like Tier 3, there was very light touch on, you know, or even Tier 2, you know, kids that have 2Fs, or you said, you know, we see them. Okay, what does that mean, right? That's a little bit of what I would like to understand is it's great that you meet me, you know, on the academic side, and I don't at all want to take away the value of all the socioeconomic, but my question, my questions honestly have been on the academic side. is what is our construct that we have? What is the formal approach that we have to intervene and to follow through? And I know that this was a short presentation, so that's a lot of where my questions will continue to come from. I know I don't want to monopolize the whole time, but that's one. The other thing is around puente. When we look at performance, kids that are in the puente program are performing. better than, you know, some of their peers, if you will, the similar group of peers. So what is it about that program and how are we looking to, you know, bring that, not taking that out of your, only your responsibility, but across the entire, kind of our teaching structure, if you will. And then finally, I know you probably have a bunch of questions around AP. So, no, I mean, it's just, we don't have time. We just don't have time to get into it. But I would really like to, and I'm just more managing expectations, that I would like to ask that we come back, but then we go deep on some of the academic. And I think we should do a deeper one on the social emotional. But right now, we know our kids aren't, there's something that's not working the way, it's not clicking across the system. So how do we get that disability as a, Set of stakeholders so we can start to figure out how all this aligns.

[3335] SPEAKER_36: So, thank you For me I want to first off thank you guys for all the work that you guys do I know these are just two students that are that are here to attest to the work that you guys have done But I know there's many more so thank you guys One of my Concerns and again if it doesn't get answered, I know it's not gonna get answered so it's okay, but I see two components here, which I think, but the academic aspect of it and then the social-emotional. And I think like Principal O'Neill said, it's the social-emotional is starting off, one, at a younger age and then the numbers are growing. So, I know that we can do more, that there's always, we can always do more. are we doing the best we can to reaching out or seeking out to those students who are not coming to you guys? Because the students that do come for help, it's easy to give them that. But what about the ones that are too shy or too afraid to ask? And how are we reaching out to them to make sure that they're not going to be left behind? And then the next thing is seventh graders, or no, sorry, ninth graders. I know we didn't, in APEX, there's no information on ninth graders, I'm not sure if it's But there's another gap when from 8th graders transitioning into 9th grade. There are already some students that are already coming in deficient in credits, which I think that is not okay. You know, they shouldn't be having like that. You should be starting off high school fresh. So what emphasis is there on those students in 9th grade that are deficient in credits to make sure catch them quick and provide the assistance that they need so that they don't reach 11th, 12th grade. And then at the same time, the 12th graders, the 9.3 12th graders that are off track, at that point, you know, you're in 12th grade, they should have already submitted their application. So our goal would be a zero off track at 12th grade. But, you know, what other work, what work is being done or what additional work can be done. And then the next thing is, I know that you guys have a tracking mechanism to track all the students that come in. I know based on the numbers it's difficult, especially when you have that many walk-ins. But my question would be, are we tracking every single one or are there some that are falling off the charts?

[3498] Michael Milliken: So when you capture it, you don't have to write that fast. We'll go back and review it and make sure that in the next session you capture it.

[3506] SPEAKER_48: And we have them all captured, so I don't want you to feel like, oh my god, I can't remember all that. Just give you a little break.

[3511] Phuong Nguyen: Remember when? So I do have the same concerns as both members Gutierrez and Martinez. But on the other hand, I would like to hear from you guys in terms of what additional resources that you guys would like to have. other tools, mechanisms, so that we can help you be able to reach out to the students who aren't actually coming in to you through the walk-ins, so that we can catch them maybe through intervention with other teachers, build additional communication tools so that you guys can bridge that gap and be able to help you. And then also, let us know things that are working, things that aren't, so that we can help assess some of that for you guys.

[3563] SPEAKER_36: If I can add, just reminding me, I did want to, I mean, this would be more of a question for you, Ms. Salinas, is, is it a better component or mechanism to have some counselor specific to emotional need, and then some specific to college readiness, meaning credits, grades, and all that? Those take on both, or huge loads, and you guys are taking both on. So is there possibly a different structure that can address both?

[3595] SPEAKER_40: I'd argue that they're the same. OK. They're the same. Because a lot of the roadblocks that a student will have in terms of performance, you could argue it doesn't have anything to do with academics. And a lot of it is a lack of goal setting, a lack of vision. A lot of it is us telling them what they need to do. And they don't see the value in that. So we have to invest in giving them a voice, letting them find a value in their education. Because, yeah, literally, they're getting smarter, right? And that's why they're questioning. And maybe a lot of them are getting depressed and anxious because they don't know what they want to do. So that early investment in that is what I feel is really the key. Because if they feel invested for themselves, and we're hearing that, and we're actually doing something about it, yeah, then they'll feel like they belong, and they feel like, hey, you know, I have a path to do something. And, you know, it's not that simple, of course, but I mean, that's how you kind of target the middle of the road kids. I'm a middle of the road kid, right? I kind of just floated along. I think even the at-risk kids, you could get them interested into something. And the other thing, the key piece, is it's not always AP classes, and it's not always college. So that's my point.

[3680] SPEAKER_36: Sorry, just to add to that comment. And I completely understand what you're telling me. I'm just thinking about a student when I went to go visit the high school once who is an overachiever. So she's saying, I know my classes I need to take. I know what I need to do to reach Harvard. However, I'm not getting the guidance here, so I have to seek it out elsewhere on my own. So I'm thinking of that. So I'm saying I know that sometimes there are students that need them both, and I'm thinking there's something sometimes for students that don't, where they just want specifically, what classes do I need to take to get to this class? Right.

[3719] SPEAKER_32: And I think I'm going to let Ms. Raquel also speak to it. The other piece that we haven't really unpacked, just because of the time, was the Career Center. And last night we were, great job last night. Last night we were at the high school with the team and heard about parents saying, hey, I'm going to Santa Clara. I'd rather just go get the information from them. But what I heard from the principal and from the team was, we have the information. Did you know UC Santa Cruz was here yesterday? Did you know? And so we're putting, they are putting it out and scheduling it and having the college reps come on campus to help to balance that piece. But then I think for us, it's more of a communication. And what I heard from parents was, is it on the website? And so how do we do it?

[3761] Vicenta Ditto: Do you want to? So I now send a weekly email to parents that, in addition, talks about our announcements. Because those don't go home to parents. That just is said over the announcements and goes to the kids. We have actually a lot of colleges on our campus, and the parents don't know. We have a lot of scholarships. So we're just trying to figure out the right mode to get that to all parents, because right now it's through the Synergy email, and parents are saying they're not getting it, so we are trying to up our Twitters, up our Instagram posts. But really, I wanted to kind of go back to the social-emotional piece, and at our site, they deal with the academic piece. It's a different ballgame in high school, right, when you're talking about credit. So they're able to do both, balance that tier one social-emotional piece But in high school, you also need that tier two, tier three clinical support. And so that's why, you know, it wasn't in our slides, but we do need to separate that where there's more counseling and therapy happening on site as well.

[3828] SPEAKER_22: And we have other providers on-site that are providing that, too, so if there's a diagnosis and stuff. But one of the next steps, too, that I was going to do with the counselors, because I'm the one that supports them here at the district, is looking at that pyramid and identifying, OK, for social-emotional, we already have this. So for academics, what are the interventions that we're missing for our students? And that's part of the cost. what the cost team does, you know, cost, when a student, when any teacher or adult has a concern about a student, they refer them to cost. Then cost says, is this social, emotional, or academic? What interventions do we have in place? Then we revisit that and we talk about, is this intervention working? If not, what other interventions do we have? For example, for math intervention, what do we have on campus? So that's kind of what I'm going to be supporting the counselors with and measure ahead with, identifying those things.

[3872] Ray Rodriguez: So we're hoping again to, you know, do this again. I just wanted to share that, you know, I was going to ask you about time management, but we have our way. I don't know how you do it, I really don't. But the fact is that you do, and there's got to be a love for kids in here. in order for you to put in the extra work to make things work and to work for kids. As far as resources, we can't just bring in four new counselors so that your workload is cut in half, some of you. But there's other things that we can do, like having parent workshops to stress to the parents how important it is for them to be in the same team as you guys are. So they're not a roadblock. And to identify kids, especially as freshmen and sophomores, where we put them on a path where they want to take AP right away, and then the other kids that we know that might have an issue would be credit deficient. We want to make sure that that flows, and then we have the help that we need. I was lucky enough to, 25 years ago, to Phyllis Galloves, one of the co-founders of Puente, and it was being successful at other places, and it took me a long time to get it into Newark. And then Ms. Torres has managed to keep it here, which has been great. And then I also served on the Alameda County Mental Health Board. how important the shift has been from adults to kids. And the fact that you recognize that, and you're focusing on knowing that there's a lot of issues these kids have. And it's just so important. And I'll stop crying, because every child is so important. Oh, sorry.

[3997] SPEAKER_36: I hope you guys are not feeling that we're penalizing you guys for doing these presentations. I think like Member Nguyen said, we want to know what resources you guys need and how we as a board can be of service to you guys as well. And at the same time, get educated on your guys' jobs.

[4011] Elisa Martinez: Yeah, you kind of stole a little bit of my thunder there. So, no, that's exactly it. I think, I'm just going to be transparent because that's just how I always am. I think there was a lot of kind of anguish about what's the objective, you know, why do we want to hear from the counselors? It's never been about, you know, you're not doing your job. We can't help if we don't know. We just know. We just see the results. And specifically, I wanted to call out, I am a firm believer that not every kid is on track or should be to go to college, because that's not what their preference is. But we don't know. Numbers are not tying out. So how are we making sure we have clarity of path for the different? I like that you said, I was a middle-of-the-road kid. And if you remember, Superintendent Salinas has this long one. We were in an office one day, and I drew out a bell curve. And I said, you know, we get really good at each of the tails, right? The kids that are really high need, we've got all the structure for our superstars. We've got all the structure for college applications and testing and support. But it's that middle of the road part of the bell curve that how do we get those kids that are struggling, whether it's in the initial tier two, that we don't get so consumed with some of the other, I'll call them nice-to-haves, I don't know what's nice-to-have and what's a must-have. So if we don't know that, then I just sense that we are failing, and it's not you, it's the system that's failing. Please know that that's where we're coming from, because I do anticipate, I think we all anticipate that we're going to want to have more of these where they truly is, ideally, more interactive. Don't feel you have to prepare a pretty presentation. Just, you know, we will ask for numbers and stats, and then you come back to Member Fung's point, which is, and here's what I think is working, and here's what I'm not. Because you guys are the experts, right?

[4126] Phuong Nguyen: So please take that from that. Yeah, and we want to be transparent with you guys, because, you know, this whole thing, of how our society is changing and how social media is driving a lot of anxiety in the students and stuff like that. And how do we help them deal with that and cope with that and also give them an education that they need in order to be successful once they leave junior high and high school. And maybe we can reassess the students before that and say, hey, you know, we have two tracks, you know, do you guys Do you think you are college bound or do you think you're more trade school? You know, instead of like pushing the standard curriculum on them, right? So I think if we open it up to more options and we get feedback from you guys, then we can make a better assessment on how to, you know, organize and... So we're a team and we want you to know that we're part of your team.

[4188] Ray Rodriguez: And we'll do whatever we can.

[4191] Phuong Nguyen: And you guys are doing amazing work. Thank you. 190 cases to manage. Right.

[4197] Elisa Martinez: We appreciate it. There is one concrete ask in the context of how do we start to baseline what our kids are doing? And so that exit interview or group I'm not sure why it's out until next year. What do we need to do to get it done this year? Because I thought it said 2021.

[4217] SPEAKER_32: Right. But we will do the legal survey for the seniors. But we're looking at how do we do it.

[4223] Elisa Martinez: Is that the first time we're doing that? Or we actually have, is it?

[4226] Vicenta Ditto: So we'll do something to baseline it. This will be the baseline. For the graduates.

[4231] Vicenta Ditto: Thank you. Thank you.

[4233] Carina Plancarte: Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks for doing great work. Appreciate it.

[4239] Michael Milliken: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Nice to meet you guys.

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