Report 2019-104 Recommendation 7 Responses

Report 2019-104: Youth Experiencing Homelessness: California's Education System for K-12 Inadequately Identifies and Supports These Youth (Release Date: November 2019)

Recommendation #7 To: Greenfield Union School District

To comply with federal law and best practices, Greenfield should, before academic year 2020-21, ensure that school staff who provide services to youth experiencing homelessness receive training as federal law requires. Further, as set forth in best practices, the LEA should provide this training at least annually, and the training should include the definition of homelessness, signs of homelessness, the impact of homelessness on youth, and the steps an LEA should take once school staff has identified a youth as possibly experiencing homelessness.

1-Year Agency Response

The Annual McKinney-Vento training was distributed to all staff. Due to COVID-19 LEA school closures, a video link was provided via zoom. Attached are the completed sign-ins for all district staff including Maintenance, Operations, and Transportation staff as of Nov. 12, 2020. An updated MOT sign-in has been uploaded. All district staff have been informed of the contact person located at each site and the Support Services Office. Staff include school social workers, counselors and/or the LEA's McKinney-Vento Liaison. In 2020-21, Greenfield hired a full-time Student Services Liaison Behavioral Specialist that will support at-risk McKinney Vento and Foster Youth students.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

6-Month Agency Response

Annual McKinney-Vento training was completed as of June 3, 2020. On March 17, 2020, LEA closed schools due to Covid-19, which delayed the last few scheduled trainings See Training Folder and Sign-in sheets folder as well as the Powerpoint training presentation and Preschool McKinney Vento virtual training video. All district staff have been informed of the site contact person(s), which include school social workers, school counselors and/or the LEA's McKinney-Vento Liaison.

(District McKinney-Vento Training Schedule 2019-20 and MV District PPT Presentation Training 2019-20) and Preschool MV Training Video 2019-20

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Partially Implemented

Greenfield has developed training that includes the definition of homelessness, signs of homelessness, the impact of homelessness on youth, and the steps an LEA should take once school staff have identified a youth as possibly experiencing homelessness. Although Greenfield provided evidence that it trained staff for school year 2019-20, it did not provide any evidence that it requires this training to be provided annually.

60-Day Agency Response

Not fully implemented.

Annual training has begun however, not all departments or school sites are trained. All 8 elementary schools and 1 middle school finished McKinney-Vento training prior to December 20, 2019. The District's Administrative Leadership Team, school site secretaries and clerks, MOT, Transportation and Nutrition Services Department participated in the annual training on November 25, 2019. In January, the two middle schools and the preschool staff will all be trained, followed by the remaining departments by May 31, 2020.

The LEA has initiated an aggressive plan to develop and provide McKinney-Vento training including definitions, signs of homelessness, impact of homelessness on youth, and steps the school staff takes if there is a possibility that youth are experiencing homelessness. All district staff have been informed of the site contact person(s), which include school social workers, school counselors and/or the LEA's McKinney-Vento Liaison. Included in the evidence is the district's McKinney Vento Training Schedule.

(District McKinney-Vento Training Schedule 2019-20 and MV District Presentation Training 2019-20)

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

All Recommendations in 2019-104

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.