TCOE Dispatch 2024-10 by Jeff Morris

Earlier this month, students from Hayfork and Southern Trinity High Schools got outside of their comfort zones to experience life skills and training at two very different venues. 
 

Hayfork High School students held a budget / grocery store day with paraprofessional, Jaime Curry, in pursuit of creating a month-long food budget for their individual households.  This involved decision making on meals and what to buy for a single shopping trip to sustain them for a FULL MONTH, with a budget of $ 300 or less. 

Students took turns shopping and running the cash register to ring each other up as if they were going through a check out line.  This activity focused on money and math skills while also emphasizing interpersonal “soft” skills like customer service.   The “store’s” ambiance was also enhanced with a fireplace in the background. 

The Southern Trinity High crew went further afield for their life skills adventuring.  Shop teacher Cindy Dixon took the crew of students to Shasta College to participate in a CTE academy.  Southern Trinity High students spent their day auditing the Shasta College engine-repair courses.  Students received hands-on experience in everything from changing spark plugs to learning about diesel engines and touring the machining classroom.  They then took turns compression testing an engine before they took a bit of a left turn into the “Hot Shop”, where they were given a private showing of Shasta College’s new glass-blowing class and watched a demonstration of the craft in real time.  Overall, students were exposed to a wide variety of hands-on coursework that they could take part in after their high school career comes to a close. 
 

The sessions for both schools were supported by the Trinity County Office of Education’s Workability Coordinator, Stephanie Rebelo. 

Last Monday a team of policymakers from the State of California toured four school districts in Trinity County and had an eye-opening experience of the challenges and grit that locals face to support the students of Trinity County.

Two teams consisting of TCOE (Trinity County Office of Education) and CYBHI (Children and Youth behavioral Health Initiative) representatives departed from Weaverville at 7:30am. The first leg of the tour was the longest commute the team made that day to Southern Trinity Joint Unified School District in Mad River. Returning North, the teams made their way to Mountain Valley Unified School District before returning to Weaverville for a quick lunch break at the TCOE office.

Reenergized and ready to go, the two teams made their way to Junction City Elementary School before they visited their final destination - Burnt Ranch Elementary School.

The eleven hours spent on the road and on foot walking the school sites provided an invaluable first-hand understanding of the geography, and more importantly, the challenges that students, families and teachers face daily to support the educational and health systems within Trinity County.

The Children and Youth Behavioral Initiative is a 4.6 billion dollar initiative that is transforming the way California supports children, youth and families. Representatives from the state spanned multiple departments such as the department of public health, Health Care Access and Information, Health Care Services and the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative.

Built on a foundation of equity and accessibility, the CYBHI works to re-imagine a more integrated, youth-centered system that meets the needs of all young people, particularly those who face the greatest systemic barriers to wellness. The initiative’s goal is to enable California kids to find support for their mental health and substance use needs where, when and in the way they need it most.

The following day, the teams reconvened as part of a special Safe Schools Collaborative meeting to debrief the prior day’s exchanges and also to have a broader conversation about logistics, support and partner agencies that play a role in children’s behavioral health.

“We were thrilled that the team reached out to us to learn more about rural California,” said Trinity County Superintendent Fabio Robles, “we hope that these relationships can inform and improve the delivery of state resources and support not just for Trinity County, but also for rural school districts across California.”

TCOE Dispatch 2024-08 by Jeff Morris

Welcome back to school everyone!!  

The Trinity County Office of Education team is excited to be starting another school year with you and your education teams.  :)

As our office and the needs of our school districts evolve, we continue to adapt to the needs of our school’s staff, students, families and communities.  

Wellness Coaches:  This year is no exception, as we continue to place significant emphasis on student health and wellness.   Through our team’s efforts we’ve been able to secure both grant funding and prioritize our own funding to ensure that our Wellness Coach / Liaison program continues in addition to retaining our mental health programming, other health services and support for special education.

Instructional Support Coaches: On the Education Services front, we’re thrilled that our Instructional Support coaches will be starting their 2nd full year as a team.  We’ll continue to coordinate After School and Tobacco Prevention programming and our usual swath of events, in addition to providing musical instruction to a number of school districts.  

Business Office Continues to Evolve: The business office has also changed over the last few years with our staff handling business operations for a number of districts in addition to the traditional roles of AP processing, payroll and other aggregate functions.

For a full list of our employees you can see our org chart here or go to the staff page on our website.

We’re looking forward to a successful school year and are excited about supporting our local school districts, students and families.

An inspiring display of collaboration and skill, WorkAbility I students work with the Trinity County Office of Education, participating in a series of hands-on projects for Native American, Day McKinney-Vento, and Foster Youth programs.

Two highlights are the students' involvement in completing an ongoing leather project for Native American Day, and the sublimation and creation of drink-ware for the McKinney-Vento and Foster Youth Programs.

Students used this technique to create custom drink-ware for the two youth programs' upcoming end-of-year meeting. This project was particularly impactful, as it equipped students with new technical skills and experience with specialized equipment.

These activities underscored the positive impact of collaborative educational initiatives. The student's hard work demonstrated the significant benefits of such programs in empowering youth and preparing them for future success.

For more information on our Workability Program, visit: https://bit.ly/TCOE-Workability

An inspiring display of collaboration and skill, WorkAbility I students work with the Trinity County Office of Education, participating in a series of hands-on projects for Native American, Day McKinney-Vento, and Foster Youth programs.

Two highlights are the students' involvement in completing an ongoing leather project for Native American Day, and the sublimation and creation of drink-ware for the McKinney-Vento and Foster Youth Programs.

Students used this technique to create custom drink-ware for the two youth programs' upcoming end-of-year meeting. This project was particularly impactful, as it equipped students with new technical skills and experience with specialized equipment.

These activities underscored the positive impact of collaborative educational initiatives. The student's hard work demonstrated the significant benefits of such programs in empowering youth and preparing them for future success.

For more information on our Workability Program, visit:

As the 2023 - 2024 school year glides towards completion, our county wide education team looks back at a year filled with activity supporting local school districts, successes of local kids and teams while at the same time planning for the upcoming year.  
 

RECRUITMENT

As we wind down the current school year, we are already preparing for next year.  Our budget and business office folks have been “in the trenches” of the upcoming school year for a few months already, developing financial strategies while also keeping a close eye on the state budget negotiations.  
 

With an eye on future years, we are also proud to announce that the Trinity County Office of Education (TCOE) has launched a new recruitment video that features staff and leaders from every school district in the county. 
 

Funded by TCOE, and produced by Happy Valley Film Co., the video promotes working at local school districts and life in Trinity County overall.  We launched the video on social media this week and already it’s garnered a huge response! 
 

RETIREMENTS

It’s with a combination of happiness and sadness that we say goodbye to Laura Dawson and Ann Hill, who are both retiring at the end of this school year.   With combined decades of service to the schools and kids of Trinity County, Laura and Ann are both leaving a legacy of great works and impact for us to continue.  We are hoping to see them both out enjoying their new lives in the community!! 

DRIVEN BY DATA

While our school districts recently wrapped up this year’s standardized testing sessions, we spent a good chunk of time supporting districts based on last year’s test scores that are outlined on the California Dashboard and the California Test Results websites that give two different views of standardized test results, by county, district and school site .  Our Differentiated Assistance work has started to yield results for our local school districts and we’re looking forward to working with all school districts on continuous improvement objectives. 
 

We’re also pretty pumped up about our emerging use of data and analysis tools at multiple districts.  Many of our school districts are using either the IXL or iReady diagnostic platforms to help individual students fill in their knowledge gaps and grow their individual strengths.  Our instructional coaches are working with many faculty members in the implementation of these supportive tools.  Additionally, we recently hosted a session with representatives from our data analysis platform, Qualtrics, that we’re utilizing more and more countywide to assist districts with everything from test scores, attendance, and health referrals to community feedback and overall community demographic profiles.  We hope to expand use of all of these tools in the upcoming school year! 
 

HAPPY SUMMER / SEE YOU NEXT SCHOOL YEAR
All in all, we are incredibly proud of the accomplishments of our local school districts over the past year and are looking forward to both some down time over the summer (hit the rivers and lakes is the advice from our recruitment video) while also planning for the upcoming year.   

Highlights

• Grants: TCOE Mini Grant Applications Now Open!
• Legal: New Legal Guidance Regarding Health
• Events: Qualtrics Training and more!
• Learning Corner: CTE in the North State
• Professional Development: So many options it's a little overwhelming!!

TCOE Dispatch 2024-04 by Jeff Morris