OUHSD Informational Bulletin
Providing safe, welcoming & supportive school environments
April 19, 2021
Dear Oroville Community,
The Oroville Union High School District Governing Board is committed to providing equal opportunity for all individuals in education. District programs, activities, and practices shall be free from unlawful discrimination, including discrimination against an individual or group based on actual or perceived characteristics of race, color, ancestry, nationality, immigration status, age, ethnicity, religion, parental or pregnancy status, marital status, medical information, mental or physical disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, or any other legally protected status or association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics.
Throughout the 2020-2021 school year, OUHSD has worked with staff, students, parents and the community to redesign our intervention policy in order to ensure that all students’ social-emotional and behavioral health are fostered and create a safe, healthy and nurturing climate, and ensure that all students are receiving equitable opportunities to be successful in the classroom. A progressive intervention plan, to replace the long-standing discipline matrix, will be considered by the Supportive School Climate Committee at its upcoming meeting on May 3rd, and then to the OUHSD Board of Education on May 19th. More information about the upcoming Supportive School Climate meeting is provided later in this bulletin.
Our positive intervention policy will focus on students and staff being Safe, Respectful and Responsible. The District will develop a plan for full implementation within three years of Culturally Responsive-Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (CR-PBIS), which will include:
A social-emotional learning curriculum, restorative practices, and conflict resolution in tiers one and two;
A specific plan for increasing mental health, social work, and counseling services through staff trained to provide trauma-informed services and/or by increasing partnerships with outside entities and agencies, and training. This plan will also include supplemental and concentration funding to support interventions in all three tiers, and to provide early access to services for students identified as needing support;
Methods by which students in need of tier three interventions will be referred, assessed, and supported.
As part of the CR-PBIS plan, the District will create school-site teams that include students/student input, parents and guardians, general and special education teachers, social workers, counselors, Campus Supervisors/Universals, and school-site administration.
Culturally Responsive Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (CRPBIS) is an educational initiative grounded in local to global justice theory with the ultimate goal of educational systems change. Using various types of data collection, local schools work with members of their communities to identify tensions within schools, pose new solutions, and test their effectiveness.
Current OUHSD Student Demographic Data
During the 2019-2020 school year, OUHSD had 1,298 discipline interventions, 158 suspensions and five expulsions. During the 2020-2021 school year, OUHSD has had five discipline interventions, one suspension, and zero expulsions. That is a fantastic change in disciplinary actions. OUHSD changed our approach to discipline during the 2020-2021 school year to focus more on interventions, instead of punitive measures. The data is lower to the changes in practice, as well as having fewer students on campus during a large portion of the school year.
The Supportive School Climate committee met in January and March to discuss the steps the OUHSD is taking to change our discipline practices. Our staff is working to finalize a Progressive Intervention Policy that includes three levels of intervention: Level I - teachers; Level II - counselor/Social Worker; and Level III - administration. Each level includes interventions to deal with behavioral issues, such as phone calls home, morning and afternoon counseling check-ins and drug/tobacco courses as well as positive interventions, such as receiving school gear, front of the line lunch pass, game pass and positive phone calls home.
We have a Supportive School Climate Committee page on our website dedicated to this committee, and includes meeting minutes, district data, equity resources, and other information that has been reviewed by this committee.
The focus of this committee is to:
(a) emphasize the District’s commitment to treating all students fairly and equitably in the administration of discipline without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender identity, disability, religion or foster youth or homeless status;
(b) discuss what is expected of students and staff under the revised policies and practices;
(c) describe the alternative means of correction that will be available and implemented;
(d) explain the law, research, and evidence supporting the steps and practices the District will be implementing to provide a safe, welcoming, and supportive school environment; and
(e) the ways in which parents, guardians, and education rights holders can partner with the District to provide a safe, welcoming, and supportive school environment.
We invite our OUHSD community to participate in the committee’s last meeting of this year scheduled on May 3rd at 5:00 p.m. via Zoom (Meeting ID: 878 1559 5479 Passcode: 383806).
Topics to be covered include: Progressive Intervention Plan, Data Update, Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP), and Progress on DOJ Findings. The agenda will be posted on April 26, 2021.
As we work together to make the high schools in the Oroville Union High School District great places for kids to learn, please do not hesitate to contact me by telephone at (530)-538-2300 x 1107, or by email at cwillenb@ouhsd.net if you have questions, concerns and/or comments that I can assist you with.
Respectfully,
Dr. Corey Willenberg Superintendent