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

Excellence in Action: Monterey County's Educational Response to Covid-19*

Published: June 28, 2022 5 pages
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Note: Missing finding numbers detected: F2, F3, F4, F6, F7

Findings and Recommendations 8 findings

F1
their 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 SUHSD Board agrees with this finding. School district, charter school, and county office of education personnel throughout Monterey County 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.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
member at each school site until the end of the 2025-2026 school year. X HAS BEEN IMPLEMENTED HAS NOT BEEN IMPLEMENTED BUT WILL BE IMPLEMENTED IN THE FUTURE REQUIRES FURTHER ANALYSIS WILL NOT BE IMPLEMENTED Response: The SUHSD Board agrees with the need to have a minimum of one behavioral support staff member at each site. All schools in the SUHSD have at least one dedicated staff member for this area of support and most have several dedicated staff housed in an on campus Wellness Center that supports students social, emotional, mental health needs. For example, our Wellness Centers, at any given time may be staff with a school counselor, a Behavioral Health clinician, a Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) coordinator, trained behaviorist, or an administrator assigned to behavioral support. The type of behavioral support staff is dependent upon the local needs assessment, availability of funding, and workforce availability. Schools determine behavioral support needs and services as a part of their multi tiered system of support. School districts maintain learning loss mitigation programs and extended
F5
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. X AGREE PARTIALLY AGREE DISAGREE Response: The SUHSD Board agrees 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. Schools 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.
No recommendations for this finding
F8
Despite a lack of preparedness at many levels of government, MCOE, school districts, and staff responded to the impact of the pandemic in a timely manner. X AGREE PARTIALLY AGREE DISAGREE Response: The SUHSD Board agrees with this finding. The global pandemic surfaced gaps in communications and needed resources at all levels of government. MCOE, school districts, and staff worked diligently to respond appropriately and timely to each challenge the pandemic surfaced. Monterey County successfully expanded internet connectivity due to the
No recommendations for this finding
F9
efforts of MCOE, industry partners, grant institutions, the Digital Task Force, and school district investment in technology. AGREE X PARTIALLY AGREE DISAGREE Response: The SUHSD Board partially agrees with this finding. MCOE worked with many partner agencies, granting institutions, vendors, technology experts, district superintendents, and elected officials to expand the internet connectivity for students in need. However, Monterey County continues to have issues with equitable access to affordable internet. MCOE and school districts created temporary solutions but a long-term solution is needed to ensure equitable access for all children. There is increased collaboration and coordination among agencies that
No recommendations for this finding
F10
provide services 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 SUHSD 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
No recommendations for this finding
F11
about students' social-emotional issues arising from COVID-19. X AGREE PARTIALLY AGREE DISAGREE Response: The SUHSD 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. School officials are reporting that they are seeing 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
No recommendations for this finding
F12
learning loss that 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 SUHSD Board agrees 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
No recommendations for this finding
F13
of ADA and the end of additional federal funding occurring at the same time. X AGREE ___ PARTIALLY AGREE DISAGREE Response: The SUHSD 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, school districts 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.