From Wendi Aghily, Ed.D., Director of Special Education:
For many years, the District has contracted with a variety of external agencies to provide services to our students with the highest level of needs, including social-emotional and other needs. For the past several years, we have been engaged in returning some of the external programs to instead district operation, and have done so with success. This includes our programs formerly operated by Spectrum at a variety of campuses, along with a program formerly operated by Families First at one of our campuses. These transitions have enabled our students to move more easily between public school programs while also maintaining the level of supports they require to be successful learners.
Earlier this year, we worked with Seneca Family of Agencies to return the operation of our programs located at two comprehensive middle school sites to District operation for the 2020-21 school year. Finally, the latest step in the process is for the District to take over the operation of the program located on the Glenbrook Middle School campus. This program has been a successful collaboration between Mt. Diablo Unified School District and Seneca Family of Agencies for several years. The program has served students from our district along with other students from the county. At this time for a variety of factors, and in collaboration with County Behavioral Health, we are moving ahead with separating from the agency and running an internal program.
The District will operate the program on the same campus with the same level of staffing. We have already begun securing staff and establishing the equipment and supplies needed to run the program. We anticipate a smooth transition for students as they begin to transition to new providers this summer.
Seneca Family of Agencies will continue to operate a program to serve the students within the county who reside in other districts. That program will be located in Easy County in order to fill a void in that region and it is expected that mental health services will increase for that part of the community. Seneca also operates in West County and in Alameda County in school based models and those programs will continue to serve students from surrounding districts in those locations.
Staff from Seneca are highly trained and we are eager to offer them employment for which they are qualified however we also respect their personal decisions to remain with the agency if that is their preference. In order to ensure we have the same high quality program, we are working with a variety of platforms to recruit therapists, teacher and support staff for the program.
We anticipate that this change will result in improved services for students in the county as we create two programs that can serve them. We also anticipate increased employment options for the staff who work the students and families as the two programs operate and grow. Finally, and most importantly, we believe this change will enable us to continue to serve our students in the type of program that can meet their needs and enable them to grow and meet their own personal goals.
For more information about MDUSD Special Education and the Social Emotional Educational Collaborative Programs click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment