Community Schools

By Gilbert Rodriguez, Principal
girodriguez@mpesd.org
(408) 258-6451

Goals and Priorities

Mount Pleasant Elementary School is deeply committed to the concept of whole child-focused community schools. Based on our activities, we are seeking funding to invest in our plan to build a whole-child-focused community school. We have designed our implementation to focus on integrated student support and family engagement in Year 1 and will continue to build and develop across the comprehensive school model over the course of the 5-year grant.

School Overview, Needs and Assets

We serve a beautifully diverse community, including significant populations of students who have been historically underserved: 79% unduplicated pupil count across Free and reduced Lunch 69%, English Learners 47%, and Students with IEPs 17.4%.

The Community School Leadership Committee worked together over the last four months to gather and analyze data. Members were integral in the collection and analysis of the data.

Summary of Assets Overview

We have invested significantly in our school to support these student populations. For example, we have the following systems of support in place:

• We have a strong Dual Immersion Spanish program "ALAS", TK-eighth grade.
• District DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging) Advisory Committee. Project-based units on diversity. There is a designated time and resources to teach SEL and diversity (DEIB) lessons built into the school day.
• A strong early learning program, where California State Preschool Program staff have a strong collaborative relationship with school staff.
• Strong extended learning program, with before and after school, and six weeks in the summer. TK and Kinder also have an extended learning day for all students.

Summary of Needs

Need Improvement in Whole Child Supports - There is a need to improve support to meet the needs of all students. In addition, the availability and coordination of resources is not always readily available or well-articulated.

• Student engagement and attendance - 34% of our students are chronically absent compared to 24.3% for the State, 28.3% for English Learners, 35.8% for students who are Free & Reduced Lunch. The conditions supporting student and parent engagement, and building positive trusting relationships needs improvement.
• Need improvement in student achievement - Gaps in student achievement and targeted support for intervention, especially for students who are homeless, students with disabilities, and Hispanic and biracial students:
  • Points below standard English Learners 93.8, Free & Reduced Lunch: 83.5 points.

Core Commitments

Describe the school's commitment to implement core principles, including the Cornerstone Commitments identified in the Framework. Describe the developmental phase for exploration, emerging, evolving, and excelling the core commitments.

We are deeply committed to the Cornerstone Commitments identified in the CCSPP Framework. We would categorize our commitments and structures in support of these commitments as evolving; that said, our emergence out of the pandemic has tested many of our baseline practices in a way that requires new thinking and approaches. The community school framework aligns with our school vision, and values, in integrating whole child systems of support and building a racially just relationship-centered school.

Assets-Driven and Strength-Based Practice
We recognize that our community has significant strengths alongside needs. We plan to anchor our work in strengths-based practices, staff will receive ongoing professional development in areas such as, positive behavioral supports and culturally sustaining and responsive pedagogy focused on asset-building and strengths-based practices.

Racially Just and Restorative School Climates
We will implement positive behavioral interventions and supports, and restorative practices. We plan to provide additional training in racially responsive and trauma-informed practices.

Powerful, Culturally Proficient and Relevant Instruction
We have made a concerted effort to recruit and hire staff members that reflect the demographic profile of our students; for example, 78% of teachers identify as persons of color. All staff members engage in consistent professional development to ensure instructional practices support our scholars in culturally relevant and responsive practices.

Shared Decision Making and Participatory Practices
Our school has a committed Instructional Leadership Team that includes teachers and other core staff members; all significant data and decisions related to instruction are vetted through this team. Further, we have recruited highly engaged parents to lead our School Site Council and have a diverse Community School Leadership Council.

Using these grant funds, our school will invest in the following:

• Staffing for a mental health counselor to support the significant emotional and behavioral health needs of our school community.
• Hire a Community School Coordinator to lead the COST team and support a comprehensive Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) model.
• Ongoing professional development and collaboration to ensure staff members are aligned and committed to the core aspects of our community school practices (internal and external training) including, trauma-informed practices, inclusion, positive behavioral supports, MTSS, shared decision-making practices and Universal Design for Learning.
• A comprehensive social-emotional growth system (Sown-To-Grow), where students can share their emotional well-being and experience at school and also build critical SEL skills over time.
• Increase out-reach efforts to build positive relationships and remove barriers.
• Parent and teacher leadership development.
• Positive behavioral supports, universal interventions at Tier 1, activities for student engagement.

Measurable Goals and Activities

Identify the school's goals and activities, and describe how progress towards goals will be measured (i.e., SMART goals).

We have established clear, measurable goals in support of our plan:

• 100% of teachers will be trained on the core aspects of our community school practices and how new roles/partnerships will expand whole-child support by June 30, 2027.
• 100% of students will have access to high-quality Tier 1 emotional well-being support on a weekly basis. We will begin with a weekly emotional check-in, and expand into social-emotional skill-building (Sown-To-Grow) by June 30, 2025.
• 100% of students will have access to high-quality Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions based on their determined needs starting by June 30, 2025, with complete implementation by June 30, 2029. We will expand our MTSS system to include emotional well-being inputs, and we will demonstrate a response to those inputs in a timely manner. Families will be collaborative partners in this process.
• Students will improve their social-emotional learning capacity, as measured by pre/posts on an annual SEL screener. By 8th grade, 80%+ of students will show improvement or high levels of capacity in Self-Awareness, Self Management, Social Awareness, Responsible Decision Making, and Relationship Skills by June 30, 2029.
• Students will experience a stronger sense of belonging, as measured by pre/posts on an annual SEL screener. By 8th grade, 80%+ of students will show improvement or high levels of capacity in the sense of belonging measures by June 30, 2029.
• Decrease the percentage of students with chronic absenteeism by 5% (currently 34%) by June 30, 2029.

Key Staff

Describe the system of shared governance and site-level leadership structure at your community school (this could also be a visual like an organizational chart of other graphic).

The following roles are designated as leaders of the community school approach at our school:

• Community School Coordinator
• Leadership Council
  • Principal
  • Student Advisor
  • Teachers
  • Parents
  • Community School Coordinator
  • Family Liasion
• Planned Implementation Structures
  • Weekly implementation meeting of key roles and leadership team
  • Monthly progress updates to the Instructional Leadership Team, School Site Council, and school staff
  • Annual presentation to the Governing Board

Coherence Policy and Initiative - LCAP Connections

Our community school goals are fully aligned with our district's LCAP, under Goal 3: Create a safe and supportive learning environment. Strategies include: providing support to the most vulnerable populations; improving student engagement and attendance; improving school climate; and increasing parent engagement.

Goal 1 in our district LCAP, Pupil Outcomes: Increase student success in English Language Arts/Literacy, Math, and Science by providing high-quality instruction that promotes college and career readiness with academic interventions and differentiated instruction to decrease the achievement gap. Aligned strategies: intervention support, additional support staff, culturally relevant instruction, and student engagement.

Strategic Community Partnerships

We plan to partner with the following organizations to implement our vision:

• Sown To Grow, a comprehensive SEL and training partner that supports student emotional wellbeing, MTSS, and our community school needs model.
• Alum Rock Counseling Center 0.2 FTE Counselor providing Tier 2 counseling for students who have Medi-Cal.
• Santa Clara County Behavioral Health School Linked Services provides funding for family liaison and parent engagement activities.
• Partnership Agreement Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana (MACLA).
• Healthier Kids Foundation for health screenings and follow-up for failed screenings.

Artifacts Overview

Applicants may submit up to five artifacts total for each school site.

1. Artifact 1: Community Asset Mapping and Needs/Gap Analysis - Graphic and Report Findings
2. Artifact 2: Roster and Minutes ; Shared Decision-Making Council
3. Artifact 3:
   1. Partner Agreement - Memorandum of Understanding with Santa Clara County Behavioral Health School Linked Services
   2. Letter of Support - Alum Rock Counseling Center
   3. Letter of Support - Healthier Kids Foundation
   4. Partner Agreement - Memorandum of Understanding with Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana (MACLA)
   5. Letter of Support - Sown To Grow

By Raquel Topete, Principal
rtopete@mpesd.org
(408) 223-3770

Goals and Priorities

August Boeger Middle School is deeply committed to the concept of whole child-focused community schools. Based on our activities, we are seeking funding to invest in our plan to build a whole-child-focused community school. We have designed our implementation to focus on integrated student supports in Year 1 and will continue to build and develop across the comprehensive school model over the course of the 5-year grant.

School Overview, Needs and Assets

We serve a beautifully diverse community, including significant populations of students who have been historically underserved: 2.4% African-American, 73% Hispanic, 1.7% Pacific Islander, 77.5% eligible for free or reduced lunch, 39.8% English learners, 17.1% students with IEPs, and 6.2% Homeless with insecure housing.

On the California Healthy Kids Survey, only 56% of students report total school connectedness, and only 61% report having a caring relationship at school.

The Community School Leadership Council worked together over the last 18 months through our Planning Grant to gather and analyze data. Members were integral in the collection and analysis of the data.

Summary of Assets Overview

We have invested significantly in our school model to support these student populations. For example, we have the following systems of support in place:

• Site leaders participate in district DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) Advisory Committee to identify areas to improve equity and belonging. The DEIB committee developed project-based units on diversity. There is a designated time and resources to teach social-emotional learning and diversity (DEIB) lessons built into the school day.
• Extended learning opportunities for students, including a before-school "Sunrise" program, and comprehensive after-school care, which includes tutoring, and sports, and a six-week summer program with priority given to students historically underserved.

Summary of Needs

Need Integration of Student Supports
The availability and coordination of resources is not readily available or well-articulated. No clear MTSS system.

Need Improvement in Whole Child Supports
There is a need to improve support to meet the needs of all students.

Need Improvement in Student Achievement
Gaps in student achievement and targeted support for intervention, especially for students who are homeless, students with disabilities, and Hispanic and biracial students.

Core Commitments

Describe the school's commitment to implement core principals, including the Cornerstone Commitments identified in the Framework. Describe the developmental phase for exploring, emerging, evolving, and excelling the core commitments.

As a leadership team, we are deeply committed to the Cornerstone Commitments identified in the CCSPP Framework. We would categorize our commitments and structures in support of these commitments as evolving; that said, our emergence out of the pandemic has tested many of our baseline practices in a way that requires new thinking and approaches. The community school framework aligns with our school vision, and values, in integrating whole child systems of support and building a racially just relationship-centered school.

Assets-Driven and Strength-Based Practice
We recognize that our community has significant strengths alongside needs. We plan to anchor our work in strengths-based practices, staff will receive ongoing professional development in areas such as, positive behavioral supports and culturally sustaining and responsive pedagogy focused on asset-building and strengths-based practices. Staff will collaborate to share best practices and learning plans.

Racially Just and Restorative School Climates
We will implement positive behavioral interventions, supports, and restorative practices. We plan to provide additional training in racially responsive and trauma-informed practices.

Powerful, Culturally Proficient and Relevant Instruction
We have made a concerted effort to recruit and hire staff members that reflect the demographic profile of our students; for example, 70% of teachers identify as persons of color. All staff members engage in consistent professional development to ensure instructional practices support our scholars in culturally relevant and responsive practices.

Shared Decision Making and Participatory Practices
Our school has a committed Instructional Leadership Team that includes teachers and other core staff members; all significant data and decisions related to instruction are vetted through this team. Further, we have recruited highly engaged parents to lead our School Site Council and have a diverse Community School Leadership Council.

Using these grant funds, our school will invest in the following:

• Increased staffing for a mental health counselor to support the significant emotional and behavioral health needs of our student community.
• Hire a Community School Coordinator to coordinate activities.
• Develop a comprehensive Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) model.
• Ongoing professional development and collaboration to ensure staff members are aligned and committed to the core aspects of our community school practices (internal and external training opportunities), trauma-informed practices, inclusion, positive behavioral supports, MTSS, and shared decision-making practices.
• A comprehensive social-emotional growth system (Sown-To-Grow), where students can share their emotional well-being and experience at school and build critical SEL skills over time.
• Increase outreach efforts to work and parents to build positive relationships and remove barriers including the establishment of a parent resource center.
• Parent and teacher leadership development.
• Positive behavioral supports, universal interventions at Tier 1, activities for student engagement, reinforcement of positive expectations, and meaningful engagement.

Measurable Goals and Activities

Identify the school's goals and activities, and describe how progress towards goals will be measured (i.e., SMART goals).

We have established clear, measurable goals in support of our plan:

• 100% of teachers will be trained on the core aspects of our community school practices and how new roles/partnerships will expand whole-child support by June 30, 2027.
• 100% of students will have access to high-quality Tier 1 emotional well-being support weekly. We will begin with a weekly emotional check-in, and expand into social-emotional skill-building (Sown-To-Grow) by June 30, 2025.
• 100% of students will have access to high-quality Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions based on their determined needs starting by June 30, 2025, with complete implementation by June 30, 2029. We will expand our MTSS system to include emotional well-being inputs, and we will demonstrate a response to those inputs in a timely manner. Families will be collaborative partners in this process.
• Students will improve their social-emotional learning capacity, as measured by pre/posts on an annual SEL screener. By 8th grade, 80%+ of students will show improvement or high levels of capacity in Self-Awareness, Self Management, Social Awareness, Responsible Decision Making, and Relationship Skills by June 30, 2029.
• Students will experience a stronger sense of belonging, as measured by pre/posts on an annual SEL screener. By 8th grade, 80%+ of students will show improvement or high levels of capacity in the sense of belonging measures by June 30, 2029.
• Decrease the percentage of students with chronic absenteeism by 5% (currently 25.2%) by June 30, 2029.

Key Staff

Describe the system of shared governance and site-level leadership structure at your community school (this could also be a visual like an organizational chart of other graphic).

The following roles are designated as leaders of the community school approach at our school:

• Community School Coordinator
• Leadership Council
  • Principal
  • Student Advisor
  • Teachers
  • Parents
  • Community School Coordinator
  • Family Liaison
• Planned Implementation Structures
  • Weekly implementation meeting of key roles and leadership team
  • Monthly progress updates to the Instructional Leadership Team, School Site Council, and school staff
  • Annual presentation to the Governing Board

Coherence Policy and Initiative - LCAP Connections

Our community school goals are fully aligned with our district's LCAP, under Goal 3: Create a safe and supportive learning environment at all school sites where students attend and are connected to their schools. Strategies include: support to most vulnerable populations; improving student engagement and attendance; improving school climate; and increasing parent engagement.

Goal 1 in our district LCAP, Pupil Outcomes: Increase student success in English Language Arts/Literacy, Math, and Science by providing high-quality instruction that promotes college and career readiness with academic interventions and differentiated instruction to decrease the achievement gap. Aligned strategies: intervention support, additional support staff, culturally relevant instruction, and student engagement.

Strategic Community Partnerships

We plan to partner with the following organizations to implement our vision:

• Sown To Grow, a comprehensive SEL and training partner that supports student emotional wellbeing, MTSS, and our community schools model.
• Alum Rock Counseling Center 0.2 FTE Counselor providing Tier 2 counseling for students who have Medi-Cal.
• Santa Clara County Behavioral Health School Linked Services provides funding for family liaison and parent engagement activities.
• Parents in School Innovation, with training and coaching for staff on culturally responsive pedagogy and equitable leadership practices.

Artifacts Overview

Applicants may submit up to five artifacts total for each school site.

1. Artifact 1: Community Asset Mapping and Needs/Gap Analysis - Graphic and Report Findings
2. Artifact 2: Roster and Minutes ; Shared Decision-Making Council
3. Artifact 3:
   1. Letter of Support - Sown To Grow
   2. Letter of Support - Alum Rock Counseling Center
   3. Letter of Support - Healthier Kids Foundation
   4. Partnership Agreement - Santa Clara County Behavioral Health School Linked Services
   5. Parents in School Innovation

By Jeannette Carson, Principal
jcarson@mpesd.org
(408) 258-7288

Goals and Priorities

Robert Sanders Elementary School’s goal is to enhance equity in our community and accelerate our efforts to reimagine schools so that all students and families thrive. We are seeking funding to invest in our plan to build a whole-child-focused community school. We plan to work closely within a network of community schools within our District. We have designed our implementation to focus on integrated student supports in Year 1 and will continue to build and develop across the comprehensive school model over the course of the 5-year grant.

School Overview, Needs and Assets

We serve a diverse community, including significant populations of students who have been historically underserved. Our unduplicated count for 2023-24 was 85.1%; 80% eligible for free or reduced lunch, 74% Hispanic, 1.8% African American, 1.7% Pacific Islander, 46.6% English learners, 16.4% students with IEPs, and 7.9% Homeless with insecure housing. Our school was heavily impacted by the pandemic and has worked hard to engage our community.

School Leadership worked together over the last four months to gather and analyze parents, staff and student surveys, archival data and met with focus groups. Our school leaders also consulted and planned with our community partners.

Summary of Assets Overview

We have invested significantly in our school model to support these student populations. For example, we have the following systems of support in place:

• Site leaders participate in district DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) Advisory Committee: to identify areas to improve equity and belonging. The DEIB committee developed project-based units on diversity to teach social-emotional learning and diversity (DEIB) lessons built into the school day.
• A comprehensive extended learning program with before & after-school care, intersession, and a six-week summer program 
• A full- day full-year, early learning California State Preschool located on site. 
• Collaboration with existing CCSPP schools in the district, sharing expertise and resources.
• School -Linked Services- Family Case manager works with families and students to provide community resources, and support families in meeting their needs.

Summary of Identified Needs Based on Asset Mapping & Needs Assessment

Integration and availability of Student Supports

The availability and coordination of resources is not currently available or well-articulated. There is no clear MTSS system. There are significantly more students in need of mental health and academic supports than staff capacity.

Conditions of Learning

Gaps in productive instructional strategies that support motivation, competence, and self-directed learning. There are significant gaps in student achievement and targeted support for intervention, especially for students who are homeless, English learners, Hispanic and students with disabilities.

Core Commitments

Describe the school’s commitment to implement core principles, including the Cornerstone Commitments identified in the Framework.

Robert Sanders is deeply committed to the Cornerstone Commitments identified in the CCSPP Framework. We would categorize our commitments and structures in support of these commitments as evolving; that said, our emergence out of the pandemic has tested many of our baseline practices in a way that requires new thinking and approaches. The community school framework aligns with our school vision and values, in integrating whole-child systems of support for ALL students and building an equity-based relationship-centered school with strong community partnerships.

Assets-Driven and Strength-Based Practice

We recognize that our community has significant strengths alongside needs. We plan to anchor our work in strengths-based practices, staff will receive ongoing professional development in areas such as, positive behavioral supports and culturally sustaining and responsive pedagogy focused on asset-building and strengths-based practices. Staff will collaborate to share best practices and learning plans. 

Racially Just and Restorative School Climates

We will implement positive behavioral interventions, supports, and restorative practices. We have worked hard to reduce exclusionary discipline and plan to provide additional training in racially responsive and trauma-informed practices

Powerful, Culturally Proficient and Relevant Instruction

We have made a concerted effort to recruit and hire staff members that reflect the demographic profile of our students; for example, 70% of teachers identify as persons of color. All staff members engage in consistent professional development to ensure instructional practices support our scholars in culturally relevant and responsive practices. 

Shared Decision-Making and Participatory Practices

Our school has a committed Instructional Leadership Team that includes teachers and other core staff members; Further, we have recruited highly engaged parents to lead our School Site Council and plan to provide further training and support.

Using these grant funds, our school will invest in the following:

• Increased staffing for a part-time mental health counselor to support the significant emotional and behavioral health needs of our student community. 
• Hire a Community School Coordinator to support implementation
• Develop a comprehensive Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) model
• Ongoing professional development and collaboration to ensure staff members are aligned and committed to the core aspects of our community school practices (internal and external training opportunities), trauma-informed practices, inclusion, PBIS, MTSS, and shared decision-making practices as well as supportive environmental conditions and productive instructional strategies.
• A comprehensive social-emotional growth system (Sown-To-Grow), where students can share their emotional well-being and experience at school and also build critical SEL skills over time.
• Student and parent engagement activities and support based on stakeholder input to remove barriers.
• Parent and teacher leadership development 
• Positive behavioral supports, universal interventions at tier I, activities for student engagement, reinforcement of positive expectations, and meaningful engagement

Measurable Goals and Activities

We have established clear, measurable goals in support of our plan:

• 100% of teachers will be trained on the core aspects of our community school practices and how new roles/partnerships will expand whole-child support by June 30, 2030.
• 100% of students will have access to high-quality Tier I emotional well-being support weekly. We will begin with a weekly emotional check-in and expand into social-emotional skill-building. (SowntoGrow) by June 30, 2026.
• 100% of students will have access to high-quality Tier II and Tier III interventions based on their determined needs starting by June 30, 2025, with complete implementation by June 30, 2030. We will expand our MTSS system to include emotional well-being inputs, and we will demonstrate a response to those inputs in a timely manner. Families will be collaborative partners in this process.
• Students will improve their social-emotional learning capacity, as measured by pre/posts on an annual SEL screener. By 5th grade, 80%+ of students will show improvement or high levels of capacity in Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Responsible Decision Making, and Relationship Skills by June 30, 2030.
• Students will experience a stronger sense of belonging, as measured by pre/posts on an annual SEL screener. By 5th grade, 80%+ of students will show improvement or high levels of capacity in the sense of belonging measures by June 30, 2030.
• Decrease the percentage of students with chronic absenteeism by 5% (currently 21.2%) by June 30, 2028.

Key Staff

The following roles are designated as leaders of the community school approach at our school:
A Community School Coordinator who will lead and help monitor implementation, work closely with site leadership and Principal and support relationships and engagement.
The Leadership Council; composed of the Principal, Teachers, Parents, Community School Coordinator, and Family Liaison: Will work together to expand model, continue to gather stakeholder feedback and evaluate progress towards goals.

Planned Implementation Structures

• Bi-Weekly implementation meeting of key roles and leadership team
• Monthly progress updates to the Instructional Leadership Team, School Site Council, and school staff
• Annual presentation to the Governing Board

Coherence Policy and Initiative - LCAP Connections

Our community school goals are fully aligned with our district’s LCAP, under Goal 1 and 3 in our district LCAP:

Goal 3

Create a safe and supportive learning environment at all school sites where students attend and are connected to their schools. Strategies include supporting the most vulnerable populations, Improving student engagement and attendance, Improving school climate, and Increasing parent engagement. 

Goal 1 in our district LCAP, Pupil Outcomes

Increase student success for all student subgroups in English Language Arts/Literacy, Math, and Science by providing high-quality instruction that promotes college and career readiness with academic interventions and differentiated instruction to decrease the achievement gap. Aligned strategies: Intervention support, additional support staff, culturally relevant instruction, and student engagement.

Strategic Community Partnerships

We plan to partner with the following organizations to implement our vision: 

• Santa Clara University, student engagement and community service
• Sown To Grow, a comprehensive SEL and training partner that supports student emotional wellbeing, MTSS, and our community schools model
• Alum Rock Counseling Center .2 FTE Counselor providing tier II counseling for students who have Medi-Cal.
• Santa Clara County Behavioral Health School Linked Services provides funding toward family liaison and parent engagement activities.

Artifacts Overview

Artifact I - Community Asset Mapping and Needs/Gap Analysis- Report Findings, Results of SEL Screener, Surveys and Focus Groups 
Artifact II -Roster and Minutes - Shared Decision-Making Council 
Artifact III - Letters of Support & Partnership Agreements

• Letter Santa Clara University
• Partnership Agreement -Alum Rock Counseling Center 
• Partnership Agreement- Healthier Kids Foundation 
• Partnership Agreement - Santa Clara County Behavioral Health School Linked Services provides funding toward family liaison and parent engagement activities.