92 Students
referred
through CARE 591
Youth benefited
from the SPBCSI
Health &
Wellness
Without a consistent Beacon Director on site until the last four months of the school year, the Principal filled in as the CARE team facilitator. The lack of a Beacon Director for an extended period was challenging for the school to keep up with CARE coordination.
Family
Engagement
Helms staff continued to hold in-person parent coffee chats twice a month . With the help of community service providers, the Beacon Director was able to organize an information night for rising sixth-grade families in the spring.
School
Culture &
Climate
In the short time the Beacon Director joined Helms, they relaunched the Rainbow Alliance and organized five school tours for rising sixth graders to visit the school that are led by seventh- and eighth-grade students in the Leadership Club.
Helms Middle 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 in this
program adults care
about them
83%
of youth report they
try harder in school
SAN PABLO BEACON COMMUNITY
SCHOOLS INITIATIVE
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative Page 2
Helms Middle 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 Helms. During the 2022-23 school year, Helms experienced three separate Beacon Director transitions. After three months with no Beacon Director, the third and final Director was hired in February.
1 Full-time position
Grant Strategy: Coordination of Community Schools
Agency: Bay Area Community Resources (BACR)
Programs
Leadership Club1
Student leadership group that organizes school -wide activities and campaigns to build a positive school culture.
Grant Strategy: Youth Development & Leadership
Agency: Bay Area Community Resources (BACR)
“I like how by us Just participating in this club we help our school and plan fun thing for our school.” — Helms student
“It helps you learn how to help people and plan things.” — Helms student
1 The Leadership Club program did not have updated student attendance for 2022-2023.
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative Page 3
Helms Middle School Profile
Events
The Beacon Director organized a variety of events throughout the school year to improve school culture and climate and engage with parents and families.
12 Events
234
Average
Student Attendance*
32 Average
Family Attendance*
Sample of 2022-23 Helms Events
Teacher
appreciation week
Helms staff teamed up to lead different activites each day to show appreciation for teachers. Parents also organized a potluck. Teachers received goodie bags on the last day.
Leadership Cinco
De Mayo
Celebration
For Cinco de Mayo, the Leadership Student Ambassadors helped prepare and decorate a celebration for 7th and 8th grade lunch. The Leadership students made banners, blew up balloons, and helped staff to pass out snacks to their peers.
8th grade field trip Eighth grade student graduates were invited to Kennedy Grove to play sports and games and enjoy a cookout. Students and staff played board games, volleyball, football, and soccer.
Helms Pep Rally The Beacon Director and Studio510 planned and organized this event. All the activites were sports-related and engaged students and staff in friendly competition.
Source: Cityspan Events data, June 2023. *Averages calculated across events that provided attendance data.
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative Page 4
Helms Middle 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.
Figure 3: Youth demonstrated commitment to learning.
Source: Youth Surveys (N=6), 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.
100%
100%
100%
In this program the adults care about me.
In this program I feel safe.
I like this program.
100%
100%
100%
This program has helped me to say “no” to things I know are wrong.
In this program I can go to an adult for advice if I have a serious problem.
This program has helped me to stay away from violence and fighting.
83%
83%
83%
83%
This program has helped me to care more about my school.
This program has helped me to try harder in school.
In this program I am better at planning ahead.
This program has helped me to participate more in class activities.
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative Page 5
Helms Middle 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.
Over a 10 -month period, H elms had three different Beacon Directors, including a three -month break without any Director. The previous year, the long-time principal announced their departure.
As such, Helms started 2022-23 with a new principal and one less Assistant Principal for the entire year. Despite these staffing challenges, Helms staff and administration assessed how to best apply their resources and time to provide consistent community school coordination as they conducted a search for a replacement. Once hired, the Principal, City of San Pablo, West Contra Costa Unified School District, and Bay Area Community Resources (BACR) all helped onboard the new Beacon Director to ensure that they were prepared to organize activities and programs at Helms.
Health and Wellness
"I have very strong feelings about social emotional time in the school day. I believe that our students need it. I believe that our adults need it. I think it's a system we should have. We're a full-service community school and we have so many children that have so much need." — Principal
Community partners played an important role on the CARE team at Helms. They provided critical resources to ensure that students’ needs are addressed based on referrals from teachers and staff and the support of the school psychologist. The absence of a Beacon Director made the coordination of services challenging and created a backlog of referrals. The CARE team members tried their best to attend to an increasing number of referrals this school year. Unlike previous years, they did not have the time to engage in meaningful problem-solving and collaboration with community service providers. With the support of staff from the City of San Pablo and BACR, the new Beacon Director was quickly onboarded to the referral and tracking process and ensured that students and their families were connected to the appropriate resources. They expressed great appreciation for the comprehensive onboarding they received from both organizations and fellow Beacon Directors.
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative Page 6
Helms Middle School Profile
Figure 4: CARE referrals
Students referred
◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼
School overall
◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼◼
96 referrals for
92 unduplicated students
8 out of 10 (81%) students referred were
Latinx.
Academic Needs referrals
were most common.
16% of the student
population was referred.
Most students referred were in 8th grade. Nearly 6 out of 10 (58%) students referred were female.
Sources: Cityspan Crisis Assessment and Referral Evaluation (CARE) data, July 2023; CDE, DataQuest 2022-23 Enrollment Data, accessed July 2023.
Family Engagement
“We have so many systems in place to support their children.” — Principal
The Principal recognized that many families were less engaged in Helms as compared to other middle schools. To encourage more families to come on site, they and their staff implemented a variety of new strategies. For example, in lieu of a one -time suspension for a student, their parents or caregivers were asked to shadow the student for a day. After the experience, families gained a better understanding of their child’s experience in a comprehensive urban middle school. As a result of shadowing their child, t he Principal reported that the school became more accessible for families. This partnership between families and staff at Helms enabled the Beacon Director to readily step into their role of connecting families with relevant resources and build ing a stronger community.
18%
18%
24%
40%
Health
Social
Emotional
Academic
16% 47% 53%
7 8
Students referred School overall
58%
46%
42%
54%
Students
referred
School
overall
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative Page 7
Helms Middle School Profile
School Culture and Climate
“I could go in school one day and be the coordinator, but I may have to be the onsite security guard or the principal. You just never know. So it's about showing up.” — Beacon Director
At Helms, a positive school culture and climate mean t
that every student could identify at least one adult they trust on campus. According to the Principal, only three students during the school year told them that they
could not name a trusted adult. They shared that for
most students, the Beacon Director was that trusted
staff person because they can build authentic
connections with them through the activities, events,
and programs they manage.
For the new Beacon Director, they recognized the need
to take on many roles to promote a supportive
environment for all students. They helped with the
Leadership Club and relaunched the Rainbow Alliance.
For the following school year, t hey hoped to organize events, such as Homework Diners, where families can do homework with their children while having a catered meal, which was a success at the community school they worked at previously.
Lessons Learned
At the close of the interviews, the Principal and Beacon Director reflected on their experiences from the past year.
• “It's been a challenge for us all. And so instead of taking it persona lly, we just make sure we communicate well , and that we have each other's back. We show up for each other when we're needed. There are times when we are wearing many hats that has nothing to do with our job role, but if it's going to help us to get through the day and to be that connection piece, we do it.” – Beacon Director
Plans for Next Year
The Principal and Beacon Director also took time to share their plans for the coming school year. • Improve communication with families and work with them to address attendance concerns.
San Pablo Beacon Community Schools Initiative Page 8
Helms Middle School Profile
• Reintroduce homeroom or advisory time with teacher input to provide social - emotional support for all students.
“Because we had a vacancy for such a
long time having the new Beacon
Director has been really great.” –
Principal