Grove Garden Grove Unified School District Board of Education Walter Muneton President Teri Rocco*

Recommendations 8

• R1
  (Findings Addressed: F1, F2, F3) "All Orange County school districts should develop a "Back to School" plan which includes mandatory McKinney-Vento Act training for all district and school administrators, teachers, office staff, and counselors by December 31, 2023, and annually thereafter." Recommendation Response: Recommendation has been implemented Summary: GGUSD has a "Back to School" plan that has as one of its primary actions, the annual training of all administrators, secretaries, community liaisons, counselors, social workers, nurses, psychologists. Presenting the training video to teachers is the next phase of the plan that requires further analysis.
• R2
  (Findings Addressed: F1, F3, F5, F6) "Participation in Orange County Department of Education (OCDE) McKinney-Vento Act training programs for all Local Educatio nAgencies (LEA) McKinney-Vento Liaisons should be mandated by October 1, 2023, and annually thereafter." Recommendation Response: Recommendation has been implemented Summary: GGUSD Homeless Liaison participates in all OCDE Quarterly Network meetings. These trainings typically include review of new or upcoming legislation from Sacremento, highlights from a community partner and supports that they give homeless students, as well as opportunities to network with neighboring district homeless liaisons.
• R3
  (Findings Addressed: F4) "Given that most LEA McKinney-Vento Liaisons are responsible for a number of other duties, and do not have sufficient time to do their McKinney-Vento required work, school districts should identify ways to increase support and/or staff to address the numerous tasks of the Liaisons by October 1, 2023." Recommendation Response: Recommendation requires further analysis Summary: GGUSD has invested in several additional staff who will support many student groups, including our homeless youth. These staff members include School Social Workers, Mental Health Specialists, School Counselors, and extending the hours for our Community Liaisons. After analyzing the benefits of the increased staffing, GGUSD will study the feasibility of increasing the time allotted for the designated McKinney-Vento Liaison to improve student and family services. GGUSD's five Family Resource Centers also support our McKinney Vento students and families with various supports and resources in health care, homeless education assistance, immigration, legal advocacy, and mental health counseling. The Family Resources Centers are staffed by district community liaisons (DCL) trained to serve the district's diverse student population and have access to community agency contact information, which has also been shared with School Community Liaisons in their collaborative work.
• R4
  (Findings Addressed: F7) "By January 1, 2024, for children experiencing homelessness to receive uninterrupted McKinney-Vento benefits, Orange County school districts should add a section to their mandatory enrollment school form enabling parents/guardians to permit their school to share information regarding their child's McKinney- Vento status with other districts that their child may be attending." Recommendation Response: Recommendation requires further analysis Summary: GGUSD will need to look at the logistics for adding this information to the current pre- enrollment and data confirmation process. It would be important to consider situations where families move from one school district to another; however, the move would be into a fixed, regular, and permanent residence and so therefore, may no longer be eligible for McKinney-Vento services.
• R5
  (Findings Addressed: F8, F9, F10) "By October 1, 2023, each Orange County school district should develop and maintain a centralized list of district employees with grant application writing capability so that they are prepared to apply for available grants to assist in educating children experiencing homelessness." Recommendation Response: Recommendation has not been implemented but will be with a time frame for implementation. Summary: GGUSD currently has a number of staff members who have successfully written grant proposals that have been awarded for a wide range of student groups. By February 2024, GGUSD will consider the creation of a centralized list of these individuals who can support the writing of grant proposals that are focused specifically on supporting homeless students and their families.
• R6
  (Findings Addressed: F11, F12, F13 F14, F15) "By October 1, 2023, a joint task force should be formed by the OCDE comprised of a district-level administrator from each Orange County school district and leadership from non-profit organizations who serve homeless families to address absenteeism, low test scores, and low graduation rates of children experiencing homelessness." Recommendation Response: Recommendation requires further analysis Summary: GGUSD would be eager to serve our homeless students and families by participating in a joint task force of other school districts and OCDE along with non-profit organizations to look at ways to support homeless students' challenges by addressing absenteeism, improving academic outcomes and graduation rates for our homeless youth. This will require partnerships across districts in Orange County working together to envision how this task force will be convened, our mission and purpose, and the goals and strategies needed to achieve those aims.
• R8
  (Findings Addressed: F11, F12) "By May 1, 2024, each Orange County school district administration should develop and present to the District Board of Education a plan to lower the Absenteeism Rates of homeless students." Recommendation Response: Recommendation has not been implemented but will be with a time frame for implementation. Summary: GGUSD is working to improve the attendance of all students who are struggling with chronic absenteeism. Students identified within the McKinney-Vento program are among the students who require additional support. GGUSD has begun a collaboration with an outside company who will be supporting us in that work. School Innovations and Achievement (SIA) has a program: Attendance to Achivement that pulls attendance data from our Student Information System (SIS) and presents that data in a usable and concise manner. School site teams, including administrators, attendance clerks, and others, will then be able to look at the attendance trends of all students and connect them to needed resources. Additionally, GGUSD has invested in hiring staff who will be focusing on supporting students with Tier-2 level supports regarding attedance improvement. The staff include a School Social Worker and four Mental Health Specialists who will be assigned to the five Trustee areas throughout the district. These staff members will support students, including those identified as homeless youth, with attendance. These new supports and systems will be in place for the start of the 2023-2024 school year.
• R9
  (Findings Addressed: F13, F14) "By May 1, 2024, each Orange County school district administration should develop and present to the District Board of Education a plan to improve the performance of homeless students in English, Language Arts, and Math." Recommendation Response: Recommendation requires further analysis Summary: GGUSD believes that all students are capable of achieving their best when good first instruction is paired with grit and determination from each student. To support improving the academic skills of our students within the McKinney-Vento program, GGUSD will continue to develop, fine-tune, and optimize the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) to identify areas of academic lag and to provide specific evidence-based interventions in those areas. GGUSD has re-vamped the SST process, and has developed a manual for schools to utilize. The manual describes the cycle of inquiry as: "Plan, Do, Study, Act". Each of these phases has specific activities that SST teams will engage in to help in developing robust academic interventions that will meet the needs of McKenney-Vento Youth who are struggling to make appropriate academic gains. GGUSD is currently working to expand the systems and protocols that schools use in their Student Success Team (SST) meetings and intervention cycles. GGUSD will pilot a new software program (Beyond SST) developed by the same company that provides our SEIS software in several schools (elementary, intermediate, and high school levels). This software will utilize formative academic data to help track the effectiveness of interventions given to students who are struggling with making appropriate academic gains, recommend intervention strategies, and track their effectiveness. Please accept the information provided herein as the District's responses to the Orange County Grand Jury's Factual Findings and Recommendation in the Report. Once again, we appreciate the time and attention the Grand Jury devoted to this important issue. Sincerely, Gabriela Mafi, Ed.D. ...