Office of the Superintendent

The misperception that special education is separate from general education denies the student a chance to participate in a general education classroom. (R1) SCUSD’s Response to Finding F1 The District agrees with the Grand Jury’s Finding F1 to the extent that federal and state laws require special education students to participate in a general education classroom with nondisabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate based on the student’s 3 SCUSD 6/17/2024 Press Release: https://www.scusd.edu/press-release/scusd-response-sacramento-county-grand-jury-report. 4 2023-2024 Grand Jury Investigation Report, p. 11. individualized needs. Students who are eligible for special education are entitled to the rights and protections afforded under federal and state laws. To ensure that a misperception does not exist that special education is separate from general education, the District has an ongoing initiative to develop and implement a MTSS that addresses the needs of all students, including students with disabilities, with one goal being to ensure that students with disabilities are educated in general education classes to the maximum extent possible. Further, the District is working collaboratively with its labor partners, CDE, and the BPSB Independent Monitor to implement, sustain, and hold accountable these systems of support with fidelity.

The District has ignored repeated warnings and failed to implement recommendations to address the deficiencies of its special education programs. (R2, R3) SCUSD’s Response to Finding F2 The District agrees with the Grand Jury’s Finding F2 to the extent that the District needs to continue implementing recommendations to improve its special education programs. The District acknowledges the need for improvement in its special education programs and has implemented recommendations to advance its special education programs. The District has obtained and reviewed recommendations for improving its special education programs that are documented in numerous reports, including but not limited to the following: • Council of the Great City Schools audit, Improving Special Education Services in the Sacramento City Unified School District (2017); • The California Community College Equity Assessment Lab report, The Capitol of Suspensions (2018); • Experts Evaluation Report for Sacramento City School District Special Education, School Discipline, and Implicit Bias (compiled by experts from Sacramento State University, Epoch Education, and the University of Oregon) (2022); and • The California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE) report, Systemic Instructional Review (2022). After reviewing the above reports, the District has already implemented the following

The District administration and the SCUSD Board of Education have failed to adopt a working plan with specific steps and measurable outcomes to guide special education, resulting in a lack of focus and effectiveness in the Special Education Department. (R2, R3) SCUSD’s Response to Finding F3 The District agrees with the Grand Jury’s Finding F3 to the extent that adopting a working plan with specific steps and measurable outcomes to guide special education will provide SCUSD’s Special Education Department with better focus and effectiveness. The District has adopted multiple plans to guide special education. For example, SCUSD’s Special Education Department and SELPA are umbrellaed within the Academic Office of the District. The Special Education Department has been implementing initiatives set forth in the Academic Office including MTSS, antibias/antiracism practices, trauma informed practices, and a focus on literacy. In addition, the Special Education Department is working on implementing a number of activities to improve special education services. They include but are not limited to: • Policy, procedure, and manuals being updated; • Professional learning for administrators, teachers, and related services providers; • Direct supports to students (ratios); • Conducting audits of curriculum; • Committees to define continuum, review data, and address effectiveness; and • Communication to staff, families, and the community. The District’s ongoing efforts have also included development of a working plan to guide special education and improve the focus and effectiveness of its Special Education Department. The BPSB Action Plan (Exhibit A) was finalized on August 23, 2024, and includes specific steps and measurable outcomes to guide special education and includes an Independent Monitor to oversee compliance with fidelity.

The District unnecessarily places a significant number of students of color in special education. (R4) SCUSD’s Response to Finding F4 The District agrees with the Grand Jury’s Finding F4 to the extent that the District is identified by CDE as Significantly Disproportionate. The District has been engaging in a CCEIS Action Plan (Exhibit B) to address disproportionality through: • Professional Learning • Data Analysis • Continuous Improvement In addition, the District is implementing the BPSB Action Plan (Exhibit A) and LCAP (https://www.scusd.edu/local-control-and-accountability-plan-lcap-resources) to address disproportionality.

SCUSD fails all its students and their parents and guardians by not consistently performing early assessment of students to determine their learning needs and appropriate support. (R5, R6, R7) SCUSD’s Response to Finding F5 The District agrees with the Grand Jury’s Finding F5 to the extent that despite the District’s efforts, consistent completion of timely initial assessments is still an area that needs improvement. One of the efforts made by the District to improve completion of initial assessments of students was initiated on February 3, 2020, when the District issued a written directive for SCUSD site administrators and special education staff to grant all requests from parents or guardians for their child to be assessed for special education, regardless of whether the student is in the student study team (“SST”) process. The District is continuing to work on implementing a consistent initial evaluation process, which will include a review of pre-referral intervention supports, as well as the development of a comprehensive evaluation process checklist to be used when students are referred for assessment. In addition, as part of its MTSS, the District is implementing an early intervention support system to provide supports before identifying a disability, and ensure that an assessment is provided when a disability is suspected. Further, the BPSB Action Plan (Exhibit A) has been finalized, which identifies specific actions the District is taking to improve its child find and initial assessment procedures in Directives 7, 8, and 9, and which actions are being monitored by the Independent Monitor.

Students' achievements and goals are not measured consistently because the District does not hold individual school personnel accountable for updating IEPs as mandated by state and federal laws. (R5, R6, R7) SCUSD’s Response to Finding F6 The District agrees with the Grand Jury’s Finding F6 to the extent that the District needs to improve its consistent measurement of student progress on IEP goals. The District acknowledges that it is responsible to ensure that special education students have an IEP that is updated at least annually and includes information about the student’s present levels of performance and measurable goals. The District understands its responsibility to provide parents with progress reports on their student’s IEP goals periodically as determined by the student’s IEP. In order to ensure that its students have properly updated IEPs and progress reports on IEP goals, the District is actively providing opportunities for targeted professional learning to all of its staff focusing on IEP compliance and utilizes this foundational understanding to engage labor partners on evaluation processes.

By not fully utilizing the district’s tracking system (SEIS), services to special needs students are not accurately recorded and centrally documented. (R5, R6, R7) SCUSD’s Response to Finding F7 The District agrees with the Grand Jury’s Finding F7 that it is not utilizing SEIS to track service delivery to special education students. Since there is no legal requirement that the District use SEIS to track service delivery, District staff have been tracking delivery of services to special needs students utilizing other methods. The District is in the process of migrating to use of the SEIS service tracker feature for students with IEPs and training staff in its implementation.

SCUSD fails to provide free and appropriate education due to its overreliance on placing special education students in 162 self-contained classrooms as opposed to placing them in the least restrictive environment. (R6, R7) SCUSD’s Response to Finding F8 The District agrees with the Grand Jury Finding F8 to the extent that CDE has determined that the District is not meeting the State targets for ensuring special education students are placed in the least restrictive environment (“LRE”). The District is taking significant steps to ensure that students are appropriately placed in the LRE and recognizes that a self- contained classroom is on the continuum of placement options for students with special needs. As part of the BPSB Action Plan (Exhibit A) that is being implemented by the District and monitored by an Independent Monitor, following is a list of some of the actions the District is implementing to address LRE: • Reviewing and revising policies, procedures, and practices pertaining to LREs for special education students; • Developing and implementing an LRE checklist in order to ensure that IEP teams consider the LRE analysis at every IEP meeting; • Reviewing, analyzing, revising, and improving the procedural manual on LRE; • Developing and improving an interactive professional development plan for key personnel regarding the LRE analysis and for teachers on inclusive practices; and • Establishing a framework and plan for developing fully inclusive schools.

The District’s failure to provide ongoing communication and outreach leaves parents/guardians uniformed and unengaged about the special education process and their student’s progress. (R12, R13) SCUSD’s Response to Finding F9 The District agrees with the Grand Jury’s Finding F9 to the extent that the District is continuously working to improve its communication and outreach to parents/guardians to ensure that they are informed and engaged in the special education process and their student’s progress. The District has several communication strategies in place. For example, the SCUSD SELPA actively collaborates with its Community Action Committee (“CAC”) to build strong community engagement opportunities. Further, the SCUSD SELPA website provides comprehensive and valuable information for parents and the community about special education including but not limited to information regarding parent resources, a parent handbook, the CAC, child find, and alternative dispute resolution processes, Warmline Family Resource Center, Procedural Safeguards, and SCUSD Special Education Department. (https://selpa.scusd.edu/.) In addition, the District sends an annual notice to all families of enrolled students the provides detailed information about programs, protections, and special education. III. RESPONSES TO RECOMMENDATIONS The District has reviewed the Grand Jury’s recommendations and provides the following responses to each recommendation pursuant to Penal Code section 933 and 933.05.