Monterey County Grand Jury • 2021-2022 • Agency Response
Response to: (Spanish) - Excelencia en Accion: Respuesta Educative Del Condado de Monterey al Covid-19/Excellence In Action: Mo. Co. Educational Response to Covid-19

Report - "excellence in Action: Monterey County's Educational Response to Covid-19" Dear Honorable Judge Hulsey: The*

Published: July 14, 2022 5 pages
View Original PDF

Note: Missing finding numbers detected: F2, F3, F4, F6, F7

Findings and Recommendations 8 findings

F1
initiative and flexibility in meeting the challenges of COVID-19. From the MCOE Superintendent to the newest part-time classroom aide, county educational employees went beyond their job descriptions in meeting the needs of students and their families during the pandemic. _X_ AGREE PARTIALLY AGREE DISAGREE Response: The San Lucas USD Superintendent and Governing Board agree with this finding. School district personnel made extraordinary efforts to meet the needs of our students and families during the most difficult and challenging times. While all public schools have approved Comprehensive School Safety Plans (CSSP) and are typically well prepared for emergency response, this global pandemic brought many unexpected challenges that required school personnel to be flexible and nimble. We are proud of and thankful for their professionalism and willingness to step up and do what needed to be done to continue educating our students even when school facilities were required to remain closed. Administrators, teachers, and information technology staff in Monterey County are to be
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
each school site until the end of the 2025-2026 school year. HAS BEEN IMPLEMENTED HAS NOT BEEN IMPLEMENTED BUT WILL BE IMPLEMENTED IN THE FUTURE X REQUIRES FURTHER ANALYSIS WILL NOT BE IMPLEMENTED Response: The San Lucas USD Superintendent and Governing Board agree with the need to have a minimum of one behavioral support staff member at each site. Due to the small district budget and rural location, San Lucas USD cannot afford a full time behavioral support staff member. However, San Lucas USD will ensure that behavioral support staff are made available to students as much as is fiscally allowable school, eg: weekly therapist, schoolwide PBIS, and weekly school counselor. Further, Monterey County is fortunate to have a nationally recognized model for behavioral and mental health support. MCOE's Educational Services Division provides support and services to implement California's Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) model. A critical part of this work is called the Interconnected Systems Framework (ISF) which is a partnership between the Monterey County Office of Education, Monterey County Behavioral Health (MCBH), and the school districts. Through this framework, MCBH provides 65 clinicians in 18 of the 24 school districts in our county. The MCBH team also provides five social workers and one manager who is the liaison between MCBH and school staff. Schools employ school counselors and PBIS coordinators as well as any other support staff. San Lucas community partners such as Sun Street may also work directly on school campuses so MCBH clinicians, school counselors, PBIS coordinators, and other support staff all work collaboratively with each other and community partners to provide support to students in all three tiers. School districts maintain learning loss mitigation programs and extended learning
F5
commended for making great strides in providing remote learning devices and solving internet access problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. _X_ AGREE PARTIALLY AGREE DISAGREE Response: The San Lucas USD Superintendent and Governing Board agree that administrators, teachers, and information technology staff in Monterey County are to be commended for making great strides in providing remote learning devices and solving internet access problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. With MCOE's support, San Lucas USD utilized innovative solutions to solve the digital divide problems and are continuing to work toward long term solutions that hopefully in the future will close the digital divide. Despite a lack of preparedness at many levels of government, MCOE, school districts,
No recommendations for this finding
F8
and staff responded to the impact of the pandemic in a timely manner. X AGREE PARTIALLY AGREE DISAGREE Response: The San Lucas USD Superintendent and Governing Board agree with this finding. The global pandemic surfaced gaps in communications and needed resources at all levels of government. San Lucas USD staff worked diligently to respond appropriately and timely to each challenge the pandemic surfaced. Monterey County successfully expanded internet connectivity due to the efforts of
No recommendations for this finding
F9
MCOE, industry partners, grant institutions, the Digital Task Force, and school district investment in technology. X AGREE PARTIALLY AGREE DISAGREE Response: The San Lucas USD Superintendent and Governing Board agrees with this finding. The San Lucas USD participated with MCOE and the many partner agencies, granting institutions, vendors, technology experts, district superintendents, and elected officials to expand the internet connectivity for students in need. San Lucas USD is thankful for the collective efforts of all Digital Divide Task Force participants for their willingness to work together to identify solutions to the digital divide. There is increased collaboration and coordination among agencies that provide services
No recommendations for this finding
F10
and support, including the MCOE, Monterey County Behavioral Health, the Monterey County Health Department, internet partners, school districts, support providers, and community groups. _X_ AGREE PARTIALLY AGREE DISAGREE Response: The San Lucas USD Superintendent and Governing Board agrees with this finding. The increased collaboration and coordination among agencies allows for more efficient response and better coordination of services and support. Administrators, teachers, parents, and students are all extremely concerned about
No recommendations for this finding
F11
students' social-emotional issues arising from COVID-19. _X_ AGREE PARTIALLY AGREE DISAGREE Response: The San Lucas USD Superintendent and Governing Board agrees with this finding. According to the American Psychological Association, 71 percent of parents across the nation are reporting that the pandemic has taken a toll on their child's mental health. San Lucas USD has seen more behavioral challenges, as well as social and emotional health concerns this year than in years past. Administrators, teachers, parents, and students are concerned about the learning loss that
No recommendations for this finding
F12
took place during the 2020-2021 school year. There is an urgent need for mitigation of such a loss. _X_ AGREE PARTIALLY AGREE DISAGREE Response: The San Lucas USD Superintendent and Governing Board agree that administrators, teachers, parents, and students are concerned about the learning loss that took place during the 2020-2021 school year and that there is an urgent need for additional support for students who fell behind academically. There is the potential for significant fiscal disruption with the continuing loss of ADA
No recommendations for this finding
F13
and the end of additional federal funding occurring at the same time. _X_ AGREE PARTIALLY AGREE DISAGREE Response: The San Lucas USD Superintendent and Governing Board agrees with this finding. California and Monterey County are experiencing declining enrollment and increased absenteeism in many districts due to the pandemic. With federal COVID relief funds ending, San Lucas USD will need to take appropriate action to maintain fiscal solvency as funding declines due to reduced ADA.
No recommendations for this finding

* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.