IP 2025 (Elmer Wood).docx

Implementation Plan (June 2025 Update) – Elmer Wood Elementary

CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY SCHOOLS PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM:
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

Instructions

This California Community Schools Partnership Program (CCSPP) Implementation Plan Template has been created by the State Transformational Assistance Center for Community Schools (S-TAC), in partnership with the California Department of Education (CDE). This template was designed to support implementation applicants with the requirement of submitting an implementation plan (per site) as part of their Request For Application and to support CCSPP grantees with community school implementation more generally. It should be considered a dynamic document that is periodically updated to reflect the progress and needs of your community school(s), legislative updates, and course corrections informed by your continuous improvement and school community engagement processes. The Local Education Agency (LEA) is referenced throughout the template to encourage collaboration between the LEA and sites on the implementation of the CCSPP.

The Implementation Plan should be guided by the California Community Schools Framework (CA CS Framework), and the Capacity-Building Strategies: A Developmental Rubric. To build on existing objectives for community schools, alignment with overarching LEA goals and objectives as stated on Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs) and School Plans for Student Achievement (SPSAs) is strongly recommended.

LEAs and school sites must work collaboratively with community partners, including families/caregivers, staff, students, district leaders, inter-agency representatives, etc., to develop and review the CCSPP Implementation Plan. The Lead LEA, working with school sites, is responsible for the plan and the oversight of any community partners or subcontractors. The LEA should include any partners in the development and review of the plan. It is recommended that the plan be reviewed biannually (twice a year), at least. Note that the Implementation Plan Template asks you to focus on the critical processes that each school and LEA must develop in order to execute the vision of community schools in order to achieve desired outcomes. The Annual Progress Report (APR) will ask grantees to reflect upon and report on those outcomes.

The Implementation Plan will be submitted to CDE as part of the Cohort 3 Implementation Grant by those who are applying. This Implementation Plan Template will be updated as the CCSPP accountability system is developed.

CA CS Framework Overview

A community school is any school serving pre-Kindergarten through high school students through a “whole-child” approach, with an integrated focus on academics, health and social services, youth and community development, and community engagement. It is an equity-driven and assets-building school transformation program.

Adopted in 2022, the CA CS Framework identifies 4 Pillars of Community Schools, Key Conditions for Learning, Cornerstone Commitments, and Proven Practices as follows:

Pillars of Community Schools: Integrated Student Supports; Family and Community Engagement; Collaborative Leadership and Practices for Educators and Administrators and; Extended Learning Time and Opportunities

Key Conditions for Learning in a Community School: Supportive environmental conditions that foster strong relationships and community; Productive instructional strategies that support motivation, competence, and self-directed learning; Social and emotional learning (SEL) that fosters skills, habits, and mindsets that enable academic progress, efficacy, and productive behavior, and; System of supports that enable healthy development, respond to student needs, and address learning barriers.

Cornerstone Commitments of Community Schools: A commitment to assets-driven and strength-based practice; A commitment to racially just and restorative school climates; A commitment to powerful, culturally proficient and relevant instruction; and a commitment to shared decision making and participatory practices.

Proven Practices of Community Schools: Community Asset Mapping and Gap Analysis; A Community School Coordinator; Site-Based and LEA-Based Advisory Councils, and Integrating and Aligning with Other Relevant Programs.

The California Community Schools Framework is synthesized through the Overarching Values and operationalized through the Capacity-Building Strategies: A Developmental Rubric.

More information about these key concepts or community school components can be found at https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/ag/ag/yr22/documents/jan22item02a1.docx and at https://www.acoe.org/Page/2461, including the CA CS Framework.

Capacity-Building Strategies Overview

The S-TAC has launched the Capacity-Building Strategies: A Developmental Rubric to serve as a road map for both LEAs and school sites and is meant to enhance the adoption, implementation and sustainability of community schools. The Capacity-Building Strategies include a focus on:

Shared Commitment, Understanding and Priorities
Centering Community-based Learning
Collaborative Leadership
Sustaining Staff and Resources
Strategic Community Partnerships

The Developmental Rubric can be accessed here, and is best used as a side-by-side companion document as grantees are completing this implementation plan.

CCSPP: IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

School Site Contact Information

Elmer Wood Elementary School

Laurie Havel

Principal

(209) 357-6143

lhavel@aesd.edu

Strategies, Priorities and Goals

Describe the main process goals and action steps for the school site’s community schools initiative. Add lines as needed. Use the phase-specific activities outlined in the Developmental Rubric as a guide.

Strategy 1: Shared Commitment, Understanding, and Priorities

When interest-holders unite in a shared understanding of and commitment to the community

school strategy, it drives democratic collaboration and transparency. Deep listening and authentic

relationship-building (via a robust Needs and Assets Assessment process) are critical to identifying

collective priorities and for monitoring progress towards meeting shared goals.

Part A: Shared Commitment, Understanding and Priorities Built Around the Overarching Values

After engaging interest-holders to answer the question, “why a community school for my school?”, share your response to that question in the box below. In your response, be sure to Indicate how your site’s understanding of community schools reflects its commitment to the CA CS Framework through the Overarching Values (Overarching Values can be accessed here):

Racially-just, relationship-centered spaces
Shared power
Classroom-community connections
A focus on continuous improvement and possibility thinking

Describe the developmental plans for ensuring these values are reflected in your community schools work:

Elmer Wood Elementary School and Atwater Elementary School District (AESD) share a common vision for implementing a whole-child approach that is centered on the Overarching Values of the California Community Schools Framework and includes the broad and meaningful participation of Bellevue Senior students, teachers, staff, parents, family members, community stakeholders, and educational partners. AESD secured a CCSPP Round 2 Planning Grant to conduct initial community schools planning in collaboration with Elmer Wood Elementary and to engage with key school stakeholder groups and community-based partners in an effort to better understand local needs and assets. AESD secured a CCSPP Round 3 Implementation Grant to transform Elmer Wood Elementary into a community school. Efforts to date have supported Elmer Wood Elementary and AESD community school leaders in identifying and articulating needs and assets related to areas such as student academic achievement, social-emotional well-being, physical health and nutrition, mental and behavioral health, and overall positive student development. The needs and assets assessment process has also enabled Elmer Wood Elementary and AESD to determine the degree to which the school and its stakeholders understand the CA CS Framework and its Overarching Values, and this ongoing assessment process continues to guide Elmer Wood Elementary and AESD in defining the CCSPP Implementation Project’s vision, goals, and strategies.

The overall vision of Elmer Wood Elementary and Atwater Elementary School District’s CCSPP Implementation Project is to strengthen identified need areas by employing a community schools model in order to meet the needs of students, families, and community members. To fulfill this vision, Elmer Wood Elementary and AESD are collaboratively working to accomplish four CCSPP Implementation Project goals:

CCSPP Goal 1: Enhance site- and district-level coordination and delivery of integrated student support services in order to improve students’ academic achievement, socio-emotional growth, and positive youth development.

CCSPP Goal 2: Increase opportunities for authentic engagement with parents and family members and build the capacity of parents and families to effectively partner in their child’s education and healthy youth development.

CCSPP Goal 3: Build the individual and collective capacities of teachers, support staff, and administrators to address the academic, behavioral, and socio-emotional learning needs of students within a multi-tiered system of supports.

CCSPP Goal 4: Enhance expanded learning opportunities to improve students’ academic achievement, social-emotional well-being, physical fitness, and mental/behavioral health.

These four CCSPP Implementation Project goals align with the Four Pillars of the California Community Schools Framework and will advance Elmer Wood Elementary’s efforts to promote the Framework’s Four Cornerstone Commitments and Overarching Values. To ensure broad participation and shared ownership in the community schools initiative among students, teachers, staff, families, and community members, Elmer Wood Elementary and AESD are developing and disseminating materials and resources that promote the CCSPP Project. This includes developing print and digital materials (e.g., banners to hang in high-traffic areas on campus, brochures, flyers, social media messaging, videos) that inform school community members about community school services and events and showcase the CCSPP Project's impacts in order to garner growing support for and participation in the community schools initiative. All Elmer Wood Elementary stakeholders are encouraged to actively engage in the CCSPP Project through participation in Community School Advisory Council meetings, focus groups, surveys, and other opportunities to share their voices and provide perspectives useful in shaping and continually refining the community schools initiative. Further, new professional learning to be delivered as part of the CCSPP Project will continually build the capacity of Bellevue Senior leaders, teachers, and staff to implement and promote the Overarching Values of Community Schools and ensure that the initiative increasingly values racially-just and relationship-centered spaces, shared power, classroom-community connections, and a focus on continuous improvement.

To continually improve Elmer Wood Elementary’s whole-child school improvement initiative and its alignment to the Overarching Values of the CA CS Framework, Elmer Wood Elementary is collaborating with AESD and other AESD community schools to engage in site-specific and LEA-wide evaluation, collaborative reflection, and continuous quality improvement. These efforts include frequently assessing fidelity of implementation through the use of resources such as the Capacity Building Strategies Developmental Rubric, the Whole Child and Family Supports Inventory, and other locally developed tools designed to measure the impacts of the CCSPP Project. As a result, Elmer Wood Elementary and AESD are working to define what works; ensure increasing community school alignment to the CA CS Framework; continually refine strategies, services, and structures; and leverage lessons learned to inform future community school efforts that will benefit Elmer Wood Elementary students and families.

The Elmer Wood Elementary Community School Advisory Council will collaborate with the Community Schools Coordinator to incorporate frequent review of the CA CS Framework into the evaluation and continuous quality improvement process as well as the annual revisions of Elmer Wood Elementary’s Needs and Assets Assessment and Implementation Plan. All community school stakeholders and partners are invited to participate in these Community School Advisory Council engagements to ensure broad, equitable participation and shared ownership in the process of continual refinement of Elmer Wood Elementary’s community school initiative.

Part B: As part of the planning process, you have gone through an initial process of understanding needs and assets. As you initiate the implementation grant process and obtain site-level resources, please reflect on how you will go deeper in this needs and asset assessment process to engage the entire community in identifying their top community school priorities and vision. Please reflect on how you will engage different groups (administrators, certificated staff, classified staff, students, family members, community members and community partners) and identify the processes (e.g., surveys, one-on-one interviews, focus groups, visioning exercises, meetings/forums, etc.) you will use to engage them. Describe how you will engage historically marginalized student and family groups.

Atwater Elementary School District’s Community Schools Leadership Team is led by the Educational Services Department, which is charged with ensuring the success of all AESD students by providing quality support to students, staff, and parents. The AESD Educational Services Department oversees a number of major services and programs related to the community schools initiative, including health services, after school programs, categorical programs, special education, early childhood education, and library services, among others. The AESD Community Schools Leadership Team partners with Elmer Wood Elementary leaders and stakeholders to conduct a number of needs assessments, including (1) administering Culture and Climate Surveys to students, staff, and parents/families; (2) completing a Community Schools Self-Assessment to determine the degree to which Bellevue Senior is implementing the CA CS Framework with fidelity (i.e., visioning, engaging, transforming); (3) conducting listening sessions to gather student, staff, and parent feedback; and (4) collecting qualitative feedback from students, parents, family members, teachers, staff, and community partners through a Community Schools Stakeholder Survey.

The Atwater Elementary Community Schools Leadership Team is collaborating closely with the Elmer Wood Elementary Community School Advisory Council to engage in ongoing, site-level community school needs and assets assessment that includes intentional engagement with historically marginalized groups by ensuring all community school planning efforts are linguistically and culturally appropriate. This includes engagement with the Elmer Wood Elementary English Learner Advisory Committee and other local stakeholder groups charged with serving traditionally underserved and underrepresented groups. To further ensure the broad participation of these groups, Elmer Wood Elementary and AESD continue to build strong partnerships with community-based organizations in order to leverage local expertise in effectively reaching all groups and ensuring equitable access to and participation in the community schools initiative.

Further, Elmer Wood Elementary and AESD continually work to meaningfully engage all community school stakeholders and partners through ongoing needs and assets assessment, which is formalized in Elmer Wood Elementary’s annually updated Needs and Assets Assessment and used inform data-driven continuous quality improvement that considers the perspectives of diverse Elmer Wood Elementary stakeholder groups. These efforts include the following:

Data Analysis: The AESD Community Schools Leadership Team annually compiles and analyzes numerical metrics, which include evaluating standardized assessment results, attendance information, school climate survey results, and similar resources that lend perspective on the scope or intensity of phenomenon that may warrant intervention. These efforts include analysis of school and community data sources related to education, health, student/family characteristics, attendance, behavioral data, health statistics, and many other domains.

Document Review: The Leadership Team collaborates with Elmer Wood Elementary leaders and stakeholders to gather documentation and artifacts that demonstrate the school’s strengths and improvement areas. This include annual review of the School Accountability Report Card (SARC), School Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA), Culture and Climate Surveys, evaluation reports from projects related to one or more of the Four Pillars of Community Schools, and Atwater ESD Local Control and Accountability Plans.

Community Resource Scan: Twice per year, the Leadership Team and Elmer Wood Elementary Community Schools Advisory Council inventory community-based service providers operating within Elmer Wood Elementary and district boundaries. This inventory is organized into a CCSPP Community Schools Partnership Matrix that outlines the role of each existing partner. In addition to providing a concise summary of active community partnerships, the Matrix also aid in identifying service gaps that may exist or that might contribute to future community schools efforts.

Stakeholder Perspectives: Elmer Wood Elementary and AESD’s CCSPP Leadership Team meaningfully engage with students, parents, family members, teachers, staff, administrators, and a broad range of key community partners and stakeholders to better understand the many perspectives of those committed to partnering with Elmer Wood Elementary and the district to support the community schools initiative. Stakeholder perspectives are frequently gathered both formally and informally through community schools meetings, open forum discussions, interviews, focus groups, and an annual Community Schools Stakeholder Survey.

Part C: As sites complete the needs and asset assessment process, they identify collective priorities that form the initial focus of their community school implementation efforts. Given your preliminary needs and asset assessment, please share three draft collective priorities that you anticipate arising as you achieve deeper engagement with students, staff, families and community members.

One of the priorities should align with a support listed in the Whole Child and Family Supports Inventory (e.g., integrated student supports, authentic family and community engagement, collaborative leadership, extended learning time and opportunities, positive and restorative school climate, community-based curriculum and pedagogy, etc.). The collective priorities you list below may be the same goals you will ultimately report in the APR, or they may change throughout the course of your first year as you continually engage students, staff, families and community members.

Draft Collective Priority	Outcome/Indicators you aim to improve
Priority 1: Enhance site- and district-level coordination and delivery of integrated student support services in order to improve students’ academic achievement, social-emotional growth, and positive youth development. (Pillar 1: Integrated student supports).	To determine success in achieving Priority 1, Elmer Wood Elementary compares baseline and actual annual outcomes, including (1) standardized test results (e.g., CAASPP, ELPAC) to determine increases in student academic achievement; (2) School Climate Survey results to assess factors such as school climate, student engagement, and social-emotional development; and (3) multiple measures that assess student behavioral outcomes, such as rates of attendance, suspension, and chronic absenteeism.
Priority 2: Increase opportunities for authentic engagement with parents and family members and build the capacity of parents and families to effectively partner in their children’s education and healthy development. (Pillar 2: Family and community engagement).	To determine success in achieving Priority 2, Elmer Wood Elementary (1) conducts parent, family, and community member surveys and focus groups to obtain qualitative feedback regarding the perceived quality of community school services, access to needed community services, and improved home-school-community engagement and (2) compares year-to-year results of the completed Whole Child and Family Supports Inventory.
Priority 3: Build the individual and collective capacities of teachers, support staff, and administrators to address the academic, behavioral, and social-emotional learning needs of students within a multi-tiered system of supports. (Pillar 3: Collaborative leadership and practices for educators and administrators).	To determine success in achieving Priority 3, Elmer Wood Elementary administers teacher/staff surveys to give educators the opportunity to provide feedback regarding the perceived quality of professional learning and improvements to the community school’s collaborative leadership and shared decision-making structures and processes. To further assess improvements in school-wide fidelity of community schools implementation, Elmer Wood Elementary administers a Community Schools Self-Assessment that quantifies expectations for implementation of each community school component aligned to the California Community Schools Framework. The Self-Assessment categorizes each component as visioning, engaging, or transforming. Applying this Self-Assessment at the site level allows for comparison of implementation progress over time and across AESD community schools and the use of implementation levels as an independent variable in outcome studies.

Strategy 2: Centering Community-Based Learning

Community-Based Learning (CBL) builds on the rich, diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds of

students, families, and educators. Delivered in learning environments that are

relationship-centered and ensure a sense of belonging, CBL builds on community assets, cultural

wealth, funds of knowledge, and indigenous ways of knowing. Community-Based Learning is

powerful instruction that increases student engagement by connecting classroom learning to

real-life experiences and to issues that are relevant to students’ lives and communities, improving

their sense of ownership and agency.

Describe your goals and action steps to assist educators in learning about students and families as well as understanding the theoretical roots and practical elements of community-based learning.

Site Level Goals and Measures of Progress

Goals

Action Steps

Provide educators with opportunities to observe teachers in their home school who are experienced in integrating CBL into their classrooms.

Identify educators experienced with community-based curriculum and pedagogy and secure commitments from these educators to serve as leaders in supporting other teachers, staff, and administrators in exploring and implementing community-based learning strategies.

Develop a calendar of CBL observations and opportunities for collaboration within Elmer Wood Elementary’s professional development infrastructure.

Frequently assess success in employing CBL curriculum and pedagogy by annually completing the Whole Child and Family Supports Inventory and Community Schools Self-Assessment and identifying CBL improvements and gaps.

Collaboratively complete the Whole Child and Family Supports Inventory twice per year (fall and spring).

Annually complete the Community Schools Self-Assessment.

Compare year-to-year WCFSI and Self-Assessment results to determine growth and improvement areas related to CBL curriculum and pedagogy.

Articulate improvement plans to be implemented during the subsequent year based on WCFSI and Self-Assessment findings.

Strategy 3: Collaborative Leadership

Shared decision-making ensures all interest-holders have a voice in the transformation process and fosters shared power of the strategy. Collaborative leadership improves coordination of services, fosters supportive relationships, results in decisions that are widely accepted and implemented, and supports sustainability of the effort.

At the system level, LEAs establish a system-level steering committee/advisory council to conduct exploration activities and to provide crucial guidance to school-level implementers. At the site level, schools map and assess the current shared governance structures (where and how decisions are made) in their building and community, identifying all existing school-site and local neighborhood teams, networks, or working groups to understand their purpose and composition. Schools then launch or revise site-level shared leadership structure(s) to facilitate democratic participation and decision-making among students, staff, families, and community members.

Describe your goals for strengthening collaborative leadership.

Site Level Goals and Measures of Progress

Goals

Action Steps

Provide equitable opportunities for all Elmer Wood Elementary stakeholders and partners to meaningfully engage in community school planning, democratic decision-making, implementation, collaborative review, and continuous quality improvement.

Cultivate and maintain a diverse Community School Advisory Council with membership reflecting the gender, racial, ethnic, and linguistic composition of the Elmer Wood Elementary school community.

Provide training opportunities to Elmer Wood Elementary leaders, teachers, and staff as well as to all decision-making entities (e.g., Advisory Council) in order to build individual and collective capacity to engage in effective collaborative decision-making.

Effectively incorporate community schools messaging, planning, review, reflection, and opportunities for feedback into key stakeholder engagements at both the district and site levels (e.g., LCAP, SSC, ELAC, DELAC).

Gather input from key educational partners, including students, parents/guardians, family members, school personnel, and school community members in order to collect information that is useful for ongoing community schools planning and continuous quality improvement efforts.

Annually update the Needs and Assets Assessment and Implementation Plan to reflect community school stakeholder input.

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

At the start of the community schools planning process, the AESD Educational Services Department formed a district-level Community Schools Leadership Team and supported Elmer Wood Elementary and each AESD school in formalizing a site-level Community School Advisory Council. These governing bodies are critical to ensuring diverse stakeholder groups, and particularly those from historically marginalized groups, have a voice in community schools planning. As part of Elmer Wood Elementary’s CCSPP Implementation Project, the Community Schools Leadership Team continually collaborates with the Community School Advisory Council to engage stakeholders through a multi-step needs and assets assessment, which directly informs ongoing community schools planning, implementation, and continuous quality improvement efforts.

As Elmer Wood Elementary continues to move forward in implementing the community schools initiative, the Community School Advisory Council will continue to serve as the initiative’s local governing body and will continue to be supported by AESD’s district-level Community Schools Leadership Team. The chair of the Community School Advisory Council serves as Elmer Wood Elementary’s leader in guiding the Advisory Council in site-level community school planning, implementation, and continuous quality improvement. The AESD Community Schools Leadership Team and Elmer Wood Elementary Community School Advisory Council will meet quarterly to collaboratively review school and community needs assessment data, plan and refine services delivery, and engage in continuous quality improvement. This meaningful stakeholder engagement and collaboration within and between the school and district ensures effective shared governance and shared responsibilities for the process of school transformation.

To ensure that this system of shared governance operates efficiently and effectively throughout CCSPP Project implementation, AESD’s full-time Community Schools Coordinator is charged with (1) serving as the AESD lead in implementing the CCSPP Project and overseeing overall implementation of the community schools process, programs, partnerships, and strategies at the site and district levels; (2) chairing the AESD Community Schools Leadership Team; (3) convening with site-level Community School Advisory Councils to effectively manage partnerships and communications across AESD community schools, partners, and stakeholders; (4) participating in community meetings to build relationships and collaboration with community organizations and to leverage all available services that benefit AESD students, families, and community members; (5) overseeing site- and district-level data management related to CCSPP Project goals; and (6) collaborating with key stakeholders to assess the project's success and engage all stakeholders in ongoing project review and continuous quality improvement efforts.

Strategy 4: Sustaining Staff and Resources

A focus on staffing and sustainability ensures that the necessary human and financial resources are available to maintain the strategy over time, and to sustain continuous progress and improvement.

Describe your goals and action steps for ensuring that: staffing serves the target student population, LEAs recruit and hire diverse, multilingual staff to support site-level work, including an LEA-level Community School Director/Coordinator. Schools hire site-level coordinators. Both sites and systems develop sustainability plans to ensure core staffing is sustained through long-term funding.

Site Level Goals and Measures of Progress

Goals	Action Steps
Hire and retain all personnel required to (1) implement the CCSPP Project with fidelity; (2) accomplish all project goals and target performance outcomes; and (3) ensure staff reflect the characteristics of students, parents, families, and communities served by Elmer Wood Elementary.	Develop or update job descriptions for each position. Broadly and strategically disseminate job postings to secure a diverse applicant pool that mirrors the characteristics of the Elmer Wood Elementary school community. Compile applications and conduct interviews. Hire for new positions, with preference given to qualified multilingual applicants.

Key Staff/Personnel

School Psychologist	The School Psychologist will (1) conduct psycho-educational assessments, including functional behavioral assessments, behavior intervention plans, and educational related mental and behavioral health assessments; (2) conduct crisis management and intervention with students and their families; (3) provide year-round case management support for students and families dealing with trauma and personal crises; (4) actively connect students and their family members to available support services; and (5) support Elmer Wood Elementary teachers and staff by providing professional learning designed to build local capacity to address students' mental, behavioral, and developmental needs.
Early Education Intervention Teacher	The Early Education Intervention Teacher will (1) provide early intensive academic intervention and supports to students requiring targeted assistance; (2) develop and implement personalized intervention plans that align with each student’s academic and development needs and goals; (3) collaborate with Elmer Wood Elementary teachers to ensure consistent delivery of effective targeted instruction for students identified as high-need; (4) provide direct supplemental services to high-need students to ensure they advance toward meeting their academic and developmental goals; and (5) collaborate closely with each student and the student’s parents, family, teachers, counselor, therapist, psychologist, and any other Elmer Wood Elementary support staff member supporting the student in order to coordinate and braid support services that advance the student toward meeting academic and development goals.
Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA)	The BCBA will (1) support all students with behavioral needs and promote positive behavior modification that results in school readiness and increased student success; (2) provide parent education classes in areas relevant to student success including topics pertaining to social-emotional growth, behavioral strategies, mental health and safety, and academic success; and (3) provide training for staff and students in strategies to increase social-emotional competencies as well as strategies to facilitate mediation in complex situations.
School Counselor	The School Counselor will actively support the goal of increasing student attendance, decreasing student discipline, and increasing students' connection with school and the school community. Counselors will assist in implementing Restorative Practices, enhancing the implementation of Positive Behavior Intervention Support services, and supporting the whole school environment with training of trauma informed care practices. Counselors will also support the mental health of students and assist in increasing the meaningful connection that students have to their schools.
Community Schools Coordinator	The Community Schools Coordinator will (1) serve as the Atwater Elementary School District lead in implementing the CCSPP Project and oversee overall implementation of the community schools process, programs, partnerships, and strategies at the site and district levels; (2) chair the Community Schools Leadership Team; (3) convene with site-level Community School Advisory Councils to effectively manage partnerships and communications across AESD community schools, partners, and stakeholders; (4) participate in community meetings to build relationships and collaboration with community organizations and to leverage all available services that benefit AESD students, families, and community members; (5) oversee site- and district-level data management related to CCSPP Project goals; and (6) collaborate with the external evaluator to assess the project's success and engage all AESD stakeholders in ongoing project review and continuous quality improvement efforts.

Describe the plans or steps you are considering to build sustainability beyond the life of your implementation grant:

Atwater Elementary School District’s Community Schools Leadership Team and Elmer Wood Elementary’s Community School Advisory Council will continue to collaboratively complete assessment tools and efforts recommended by the State Transformational Assistance Center for Community Schools (S-TAC) and CDE (e.g., Capacity Building Strategies Developmental Rubric, Whole Child and Family Supports Inventory, Needs & Assets Assessment annual revise, Implementation Plan annual revise), which will improve the fidelity of CCSPP implementation, guide data-driven continuous quality improvement efforts, and inform the community schools initiative’s long-term sustainability plans. AESD’s Community Schools Leadership Team and the Elmer Wood Elementary Community School Advisory Council will convene quarterly to collaboratively review and discuss evaluation results and determine the project’s fidelity of implementation and impact. During the final meeting of each year, these governing bodies will engage stakeholders in determining project strengths and weaknesses and making improvement decisions to be implemented in the subsequent year.

Rigorous project evaluation at both the site and district levels combined with ongoing collaborative reflection and continuous quality improvement will ensure CCSPP investments result in school-wide transformations that benefit students, families, staff, and community members during and beyond the CCSPP grant period. In addition to using evaluation results to guide continuous improvement efforts and fulfill CCSPP reporting mandates, the Leadership Team will document the successes of the community schools model and share findings with its community schools partners and stakeholders as well as with educational researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to contribute to the body of evidence supporting whole-child educational models. Further, the CCSPP Project’s evaluation reporting will provide insight to guide AESD and Elmer Wood Elementary leaders and stakeholders in understanding the long-term return on investment of the CCSPP Project, resulting from funds generated by CCSPP impacts, such as increased average daily attendance, decreased need for intensive interventions (Tier III) due to early identification and intervention, teacher retention, and other cost-saving school improvements resulting from the community schools initiative. The Leadership Team will present these findings to the AESD Board of Trustees and other district and school stakeholder groups well-positioned to support ongoing community school efforts by leveraging local resources and integrating CCSPP Project expenditures into the AESD LCAP. The Community Schools Leadership Team is also be charged with prospecting and securing resources and direct funding from diverse sources (e.g., private foundations, community partners, Federal discretionary grant programs) in order to effectively braid all available resources that may benefit Elmer Wood Elementary’s community schools initiative and ensure the initiative transcends the five-year CCSPP funding period.

Strategy 5: Strategic Community Partnerships

Developing strategic community partnerships allows schools and LEAs to build a stronger network of support and culturally responsive programming and resources for students, educators and families, and to foster a more inclusive, democratic and supportive learning environment that benefits everyone in the community.

In alignment with strategies developed in response to the deep needs and asset assessment, schools identify and establish school-community partnerships who share a holistic focus on students, families and the community. This section should demonstrate your goals and action steps to ensure community partners are actively involved in the planning, development, and continuous improvement of the community school.

Site Level Goals and Measures of Progress

Goals

Action Steps

Foster robust community partnerships with key individuals and organizations well positioned to support the CCSPP Project by leveraging the local resources needed to establish and expand the Elmer Wood Elementary community school.

Frequently update the Community Schools Partnership Matrix (at least twice per year) in order to define existing partnerships and identify prospective partnerships that may benefit the community school initiative.

Conduct outreach to existing and prospective partners to encourage their participation in community school engagements (e.g., Community Schools Leadership Team and Advisory Council meetings) and determine how partners can best leverage resources that benefit Elmer Wood Elementary students, families, and communities.

Execute partnership agreements (e.g., memoranda of understanding, letters of agreement) with all community partners that describe the partnership and partner roles, responsibilities, and commitments.

During at least two Community School Advisory Council meetings per year, formally review and refine partnership agreements to better address emerging needs and service gaps.

Describe the partnerships you have established or plan to establish, and how your school’s partnerships will be responsive to the vision and priorities of students, staff, families and community members:

AESD’s Community Schools Leadership Team has collaborated with the Elmer Wood Elementary Advisory Council to formalize a Community Schools Partnership Matrix that outlines the role and primary responsibilities of each of Elmer Wood Elementary’s primary community school partners. AESD and Elmer Wood Elementary formally review and update this Partnership Matrix twice per year to define the commitments of each partner; effectively braid school community resources to meet the needs of students, staff, families, and community members; and identify prospective new partnerships that could strengthen Elmer Wood Elementary’s community school initiative. Elmer Wood Elementary’s current Community Schools Partnership Matrix is provided below.

Organization	Key Community Schools Roles and Responsibilities
Caring Kids, Merced County of Office of Education	Provides resources and services to children ages 0-5 and their families to help support health and optimal child development (self-regulation and social skills).
Strengthening Families Program, Merced County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services	Provides mental health outreach and support services to individuals, families, and communities. School-, community- and home-based services for individuals of all ages with mild to moderate behavioral health issues. One-on-one mentoring, support and activity groups, and mental health education.
Castle Family Health Centers	Castle offers individual and group therapy for children and adolescents. Three locations in Atwater and Winton. Provides mental health outreach and support services to individuals, families, and communities. Castle is a safety net provider contracted with the Alliance to provide primary care. Behavioral health services are available for established Castle patients.
Golden Valley Health Centers (GVHC)	GVHC behavioral health team consists of Licensed Mental Health Clinicians and Associates, Recovery Services Specialists, Case Managers and Psychiatrists. Program aim is to increase integrated behavioral health services, provide prevention and early intervention, increase behavioral health awareness and empower patients and their families. GVHC is a safety net provider contracted with the Alliance to provide primary care. Behavioral health services are available for established GVHC patients.
Beacon Health Options	Beacon Health Options manages behavioral health services for the Alliance. Alliance Medi-Cal members can get a referral to behavioral health providers who are accepting new patients for the treatment of mild to moderate mental health conditions. Services include individual and group therapy, psychiatrist visits, psychological testing, treatment related to autism and emotional support during and after pregnancy and through the child’s first year of life.
NAMI, Merced	NAMI advocates for access to mental health services, treatment, support, and research. They are committed to raising awareness and building a community for hope. They offer outpatient services and operate a crisis hotline for individuals seeking immediate attention and a warm line for problem resolution or referral. This service is provided 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for individuals who are in immediate need of mental health services due to mental illness. An immediate examination is provided to determine if psychiatric hospitalization or other care is required.
Sierra Vista Child and Family Services	Sierra Vista operates a program for children K-12th grade that teaches social-emotional skills aimed at reducing impulsive and aggressive behavior while increasing social competence. They also offer assessment, individual/family counseling, case management and care plan development in Merced County. Programs include: The Therapeutic Intervention Program (T.I.P.) provides school-based mental health counseling to schools in the Merced Union High School District, Delhi Unified School District, High, and Los Banos Unified School District. Clinicians provide screening and assessment to identify social, emotional, and behavioral symptoms. Individual, family, parent, and crisis counseling are available to assist students and their families. Road to Resiliency works with pregnant women with known histories or current substance use and mothers of substance exposed infants. The ISN-Y program works with youth with mild/moderate mental health issues to support those who have experienced failure within the system. Head Start is a collaborative program between Merced County Office of Education and Sierra Vista that provides education and support for parents of children ages 0-5 who are struggling with social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties. iMatter program goals are to improve classroom environments, improve parenting and improve behaviors in children.
ASPIRAnet	Aspiranet’s services include foster care and adoption support, residential group home care, support for youth making the transition from foster care to adulthood, mental and behavioral health services, intensive home-based care, and community-based family resources. The behavioral health division provides mental and behavioral services to at-risk youth and their families.
Central Valley Regional Center	Part of a regional system of support for people with developmental disabilities and their families. Assessment, individual/family counseling, case management and plan development for children and youth.
Merced County Community Access to Recovery Services-Mobile Crisis Response Team (CARS)	Provides point of access for referrals, central point of entry appointment for screening of behavioral health services, linkages to community resources and behavioral health crisis services. There are five programs within the Community Access to Recovery Services Division which are: ACCESS, Central Intake, Crisis Stabilization Unit, Triage Services and the Mobile Crisis Response Team.
CARE (Community Assistance Recovery Enterprise), Turning Point Community Programs	Provides intensive mental health services designed to partner with individuals with severe psychiatric disorders. Health crisis services.
Valley Crisis Center - CARE	The only domestic violence emergency shelter and sexual assault agency in Merced County. Offers counseling/support group services for youth in crisis, including substance abuse education and treatment. Offices in Merced and Los Banos. Services include school-based education on how to talk to youth about bullying, and bystander education.