59 Students
referred
through CARE 530
Youth benefited
from the SPBCSI 35
Youth in
SPBCSI programs
Health &
Wellness
Over the years, the Beacon Director has created a robust and effective CARE team to connect students and families to resources. This year, they prioritized increasing families’ participation and teachers’ understanding of the referral process at Dover.
Family
Engagement
Many families at the school knew the Beacon Director. They were out every morning checking in with parents and caregivers during drop off and sharing information about upcoming family-focused activities. They organized many longstanding events that families and students appreciated and enjoyed.
School
Culture &
Climate
The Beacon Director greatly valued positive school culture and climate. They collaborated with the recess coach to plan games, tournaments, and challenges that encouraged all students to participate and build relationships among themselves and adults at the school. They also arranged field days and a Multicultural Fair and supported the English Language Advisory Committee (ELAC).
Dover Elementary School
2022-23 School Profile
Lead Agency: Bay Area Community Resources (BACR)
100%
of youth surveyed feel
safe in their program
100%
of youth say they learn
how to make goals
100%
of youth say in this
program adults care
about them
SAN PABLO BEACON COMMUNITY
SCHOOLS INITIATIVE
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative Page 2
Dover Elementary School Profile
City Investments
Each San Pablo school worked with a lead agency. The City granted each lead agency staffing and program funding to support the overall implementation of the San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative at that school site.
Staffing
Beacon Director
The Beacon Director provided leadership and
implementation of the San Pablo Beacon Community Schools strategy at Dover. In the fall, there was an Advocate who served on the Crisis Assessment and Referral Evaluation (CARE) team to support families and students.
1.5 Full-time positions
Grant Strategies: Coordination of Community Schools and Violence Prevention & Intervention Strategy
Agency: Bay Area Community Resources (BACR)
Programs
Dover Leaders
Small youth leadership group that supports school-wide activities. 35 Youth served
Grant Strategy: Youth Development & Leadership
Agency: Bay Area Community Resources (BACR)
“That I can be with my girlfriends. I learned how to be responsible, and I really like it. I'm happy to be in this program.” — Dover student
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative Page 3
Dover Elementary School Profile
Youth Outcomes
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative programs are rooted in positive youth development practice. Youth survey data suggest programs are helping youth build personal and social competencies.
Figure 1: Youth felt empowered and supported.
Figure 2: Youth developed social competencies.
Source: Youth Surveys (N=13), 2022-23. Surveys are from programs directly funded by the SPBCSI or led by a Beacon Director.
This represents a subset of the total programs offered at the school. These figures represent a subset of the items included in the survey. Five items had scores below 70% and were excluded from the visualization.
100%
100%
100%
100%
In this program I can go to an adult for advice.
In this program the adults care about me.
In this program I feel safe.
I like this program.
77%
85%
100%
This program has helped me to stay away from fights.
I learn how to work out my problems.
Because of this program, I learn how to make goals.
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative Page 4
Dover Elementary School Profile
Community Schools Coordination
For the 2022-23 school year, San Pablo schools focused on implementing the San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative priorities focused on health and wellness, family engagement, and school culture and climate. In this section, we summarize findings drawn from interviews with the school’s Principal, Beacon Director, and lead agency supervisor, as well as documents provided by the City of San Pablo.
Like other Beacon Schools, Dover experienced staffing changes. At the beginning of the school year, a new principal started at Dover, which is one of the largest elementary schools in the district. After an eight-year tenure at the school, the Beacon Director transitioned from his role with three months left in the school. Collaboratively, the school and lead agency hired a new Beacon Director who was a Dover alumni and had worked at the site as a recess coach and a School and Community Outreach Worker. Additionally, the Beacon Director supported the recruitment, hiring, and onboarding of his replacement.
Health and Wellness
"We meet as a team with the different professionals. For example, our counselors, our therapists, speech therapists, psychologists, teachers, coach, and different folks who have a focused area. We look at referrals that have been submitted by teachers or staff regarding different concerns for students, whether academic, attendance, or maybe even a family crisis. The meetings include our case manager who connects families to different resources but also sees students one-on-one and then sometimes with the family to try to connect them with the outside resources." —Beacon Director At Dover, the Beacon Director led a comprehensive team
of staff to review referrals, discuss options, and provide services. They developed a well -established approach to support students and their families and get them
connected to important services and resources. When the CARE team noticed that some teachers seemed unclear
about the referral process, the Beacon Director printed cards that outlined the steps and relevant information, as well as a QR code linked to a Google form which teachers could keep h andy with their identification card lanyard.
Similarly, the Beacon Director helped guide the CARE
team to proactively revise its crisis protocol to better comply with the county and district requirements.
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative Page 5
Dover Elementary School Profile
The Beacon Director also worked to promote the health and wellness of adults on campus. Before they left Dover, they organized a spa day for teachers and staff to enjoy massages, healthy snacks, soothing music, and aromatherapy throughout the day.
Figure 4: CARE referrals
Students referred
◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼
School overall
◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼
65 referrals for
59 unduplicated students
8 out of 10 (88%) students referred were
Latinx.
Academic/Emotional Needs referrals
were most common.
11% of the student
population was referred.
Most students referred were in 2nd grade. 5 out of 10
students referred were male.
Sources: Cityspan Crisis Assessment Referral and Evaluation (CARE) data, July 2023; CDE, DataQuest 2022-23 Enrollment Data, accessed July 2023.
Family Engagement
“The Beacon Director interacts with families by questioning and wondering. That brings down walls the parents or community member have at that moment.” — Principal The Beacon Director hosted multiple events for families to attend and share their input about the school. They facilitated monthly wellness chats to welcome parents and caregivers back on campus.
During wellness chats, families could pose questions to school staff on a range of topics including mental health, suicide prevention, and sex education. The Beacon
Director also met monthly with a group of parents to
discuss ways to purposefully engage with families
purposefully. Along with the Principal, the Bea con
Director supported the School Site Council (SSC) and
English Learners Advisory Committee (ELAC) . Teaming
up with ELAC, the Beacon Director held workshops for
families to understand the reclassification process for English Language Learners and advocate for their children.
8%
15%
24%
53%
Health
Social
Emotional
Academic
11%
17%
5%
32%
8%
15%
2%
20%
K 1 2 3 4 5 6
Students referred School overall
51%
50%
49%
50%
Students
referred
School
overall
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative Page 6
Dover Elementary School Profile
Aware that some parents and caregivers were not comfortable using computers, the Beacon Director led an in-person social to help families complete forms for educational benefits, sign up for ParentSquare, and learn how to navigate PowerSchool. Parent attendees greatly appreciated the direct guidance and personal support provided by the Beacon Director.
School Culture and Climate
“Beacon Directors are often pulled left and right. There’s a student crisis or there’s a teacher that didn’t show up. So, we’re asked to do different things. I say ‘okay,’ but I will tie in climate and culture. I try to think outside the box to make my work purposeful and impactful.” — Beacon Director The Beacon Director frequently collaborated with teachers and staff to ensure that students experienced an inclusive and positive school culture and climate. Working with the recess coach, whose position was funded through the City of San Pablo Obesity Prevention Grant, they structured playground interactions, introduced organized games, and reduced incidents of conflict and fighting. During the rainy season, students learned to play chess and checkers inside the school gymnasium . The Beacon Director also w orked with multiple teachers to arrange activities during history months, such as a pen pal program during Hispanic Heritage Month and a Multicultural Fair that celebrated Dover’s diverse population through the arts, performances, and booths that engaged students, staff, and families.
In collaboration with colleagues who taught fourth, fifth, and sixth grade, the Beacon Director and Dover teachers provided students with opportunities to develop their leadership skills. Every Tuesday, the students met to plan events for the school, practice their organizational skills, and encourage each other’s growth as leaders. They arranged for older students to visit younger classes to read books on Women’s Day and decided which activities to lead during the school field day.
According to the Beacon Director, building the leadership skills of these students helped to build and sustain a positive school culture and climate.
Lessons Learned
At the close of the interviews, the Principal and Beacon Director reflected on their experiences from the past year.
• “The Beacon Director has a really good relationship with teachers. So they have built a lot of systems. One of the things that they worked on this year is a student council. He’s worked quite a bit with our third, fourth, fifth, and sixth grade teachers in building that this year.” – Principal
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative Page 7
Dover Elementary School Profile
• “I say that we are the luckiest of the community school directors in comparison to other directors. And the reason I say that is because the city of San Pablo has just been so supportive by creating spaces for us to have conversations and building our capacity to move the work forward.” – Beacon Director
Plans for Next Year
The Principal and Beacon Director also took time to share their plans for the coming school year. • Increase youth leadership opportunities and school-wide activities. • Create events that make all families feel welcomed and a key part of the school community.
“At community schools, what's
important is that you make
decisions collectively. It's like a
puzzle piece. Each system is a
puzzle piece, and the Beacon
Director is one of those puzzle
pieces that brings the emotional
and community engagement
part. So, I've learned not to make
silo decisions because there are
so many more factors. Because
that is what a community school
is. It's a collective helping
students.” — Principal