EDUCATION COMPACT BETWEEN
THE LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
AND THE CITY OF VERNON
As part of the 2022-2026 Strategic Plan for the Los Angeles Unified School District (“District” or “Los Angeles Unified”), new education compacts are to be established between the District and local governmental entities. Education Compacts with the municipal governments in the Southeast Los Angeles County region are intended to align resources and implement innovative programs to equip our students with the tools they need to be Ready for the World.
As a member of the Southeast Los Angeles County region, the City of Vernon (“City”), is served by the District and accounts for a 173-student enrollment (LAUSD SY 21-22 Enrollment). The City of Vernon has 222 residents (2020 US Census) and expands a total area of 5.2 square miles.
The District and the City may each be referred to, individually, herein as a “Party” or, collectively, as “the Parties.”
Through this Education Compact (“Compact”), the City and the District will collaborate to meet the educational needs of youth and families in the City through the end of the District’s Strategic Plan (June 2026). The City and the District may choose to revisit the Compact after June 2026 to renew their shared commitments to students and families of the Southeast Los Angeles County region.
The commitments outlined are not legally binding nor do they mandate budgetary expenditures on behalf of the Parties. They represent a shared philosophical goal of improving the educational opportunities and enriching the lives of children and families attending District sites or living within the City. The Parties recognize there may be financial expenditures associated with one or all the following aspects, however any financial expenditure shall not be made unless the responsible Party’s governing board has authorized the expenditure through its budgetary process and shall be voluntary in nature.
The Compact between the District and the City will undertake efforts that would be enriched, expedited, or enhanced through collaborative efforts in the following areas:
1. Communications and Ongoing Engagement
2. Enrollment and Positive Attendance
3. Crossing Guards and Other Traffic Safety Improvements
4. Safe and Positive School Climate
5. Student Health and Medical Services
6. Parent and Family Engagement
7. Academics and Expanded Learning
8. Connectivity
9. Facilities
10. Transportation
Communications and Ongoing Engagement
● The City and the District will work jointly on communications through the City’s website to include an educational tab/section with information on Los Angeles Unified schools and districtwide initiatives. The District will also work with the City to share city events, news and City-led programs to students, families and staff. Concerted efforts will be made to share information via social media and other communication channels. ● The City and District will explore leveraging current City events and activities to promote District services to families.
● The City and District will explore leveraging current City events and activities to promote employment opportunities.
● The City and District will promote educational initiatives to local businesses and chambers of commerce to encourage volunteering, mentorship and other opportunities to support local students and education.
● The City and the District will collaborate on opportunities to deliver specific programming for local families via the Family Academy and Cultural Arts Passport initiatives.
● The City, in partnership with the District, will convene education roundtables with local partners on efforts to strengthen student success.
Enrollment and Positive Attendance
● The City will support the District in student recruitment campaigns for District-operated schools in the City.
● The City and District will collaborate on programs, annual attendance campaigns, and other events that support school attendance to ensure all school-aged youth are enrolled in District-operated schools.
Crossing Guards and Other Traffic Safety Improvements
● The City will support safe passages for students and families by funding the crossing guard program, as funding becomes available, to support pedestrian safety, and the District will support the City’s outreach efforts to fill crossing guard vacancies. ● The District will provide additional support and training for the Traffic Safety Valet programs at elementary school sites experiencing traffic safety needs by reviewing traffic and pedestrian incident data, and identifying schools in need for outreach. The District will also promote the Traffic Safety Valet program by distributing flyers when visiting elementary schools, during our safe school inspections, and during meetings with principals.
● The District will work with the City to address traffic concerns related to school drop-off and pick-up, including exploring additional opportunities to reduce traffic congestion and enhance pedestrian safety.
● The District will provide additional support by sharing Reference Guide, 4492.2, School Traffic Safety with school administrators which details the guidelines for requesting traffic surveys, speed limit signs, pavement markings, crossing guards and other assistance to resolve traffic safety issues. Los Angeles Unified’s Office of Environmental Health and Safety (OEHS) will liaison between the City and school administrators and make requests on behalf of schools.
Safe and Positive School Climate
● The City will continue to facilitate monthly School Safety Collaborative meetings between City personnel, the District and other partners to discuss various issues impacting the school community, including but not limited to, updates on school construction and operational projects, school safety, safe passages to and from school, educational and community events, and opportunities to collaborate on seeking community partner, city and school collaborations.
● The City will continue to support daily campus safety walks led by Vernon Police Department officers.
● The District/Los Angeles School Police Department and City will identify a Law Enforcement Liaison officer from each of the respective law enforcement departments to ensure coordinated approach on issues related to youth, crime prevention and other relevant safety and area school consistent with Section 32281 (f)(1) of the California Education Code.
● The District/Los Angeles School Police Department and City will explore the possibility of entering into data-sharing agreements to assess the status of school crimes with a goal of helping to prevent crimes and improve coordination consistent with Section 32282 (a)(1) of the California Education Code.
● The City will continue to support the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program led by trained Vernon Police Department officers in the classroom.
Student Health and Medical Services
● The District and the City will work jointly to expand prevention and public education efforts to combat the public health issue of fentanyl-related overdoses and strengthen support services for students.
● The District will continue to work with the California Department of Healthcare Services (DHCS) Naloxone Distribution Program (NDP) to obtain doses of Narcan for early education centers, adult education schools and afterschool programs. ● The District, in partnership with the City, will explore the feasibility of bringing additional student health and mental health services and entities to provide whole child and school community services.
Parent and Family Engagement
● The District will develop specialized classes/workshops that address the needs of families in the Southeast Los Angeles community through the Family Academy. The City will promote these classes and workshops to the families and community members at large. ● The District will develop a training program for City personnel on the District’s Parent Portal/LAUSD App and School Volunteer Program procedures. ● The District and City will explore the feasibility of incorporating a Parent Resource Center or information into a City-owned facility (e.g., City Hall).
Academics and Expanded Learning Programs
● The District will work jointly with the City to promote the District’s various academic and enrichment programs to students and families in the Southeast Los Angeles community, including the tutoring program, summer programming, and Beyond the Bell Expanded Learning Programs.
● The District will work with the City to support programs that will assist students in bridging academic voids that may exist due to digital inequities, pandemic effects, or other outside effects that would negatively impact the learning environment. ● The District will offer the Cultural Arts Passport to families in the Southeast Los Angeles community. The District and the City will explore expanding the use of use of museums or cultural sites within the City of Vernon, if any, for the benefit of students.
Connectivity
• The District’s Information Technology Services (ITS) commits to continuing to provide connectivity to students and families with an identified unmet need through All Families Connected or other affordable and free options to ensure all families have access to reliable high-speed internet.
• The District will explore expanding Digital Divide partnerships into the City and the County of Los Angeles to explore ways to support connectivity infrastructure, expand affordable broadband and implement data sharing agreements to address the digital deserts.
Facilities
● The District and City will continue to collaborate to provide access to and use of District and City facilities for meetings, community events, athletic activities, and cultural and historic programs, among other facility use needs that benefit students and families, including, but not limited to:
○ Access to structured level parking at City Hall during school events. ● The District will work with the City to provide access to and use of District pools upon terms and conditions available to those provided to other governmental agencies. ● The District’s over twenty-year construction program will continue to rely heavily on its commitment to meaningful engagement by bringing timely and accurate information to all stakeholders (students, parents, teachers/administrators, key stakeholders, local municipalities and elected officials) and collecting feedback that guides the District’s decision-making.
● The City and District will work collaboratively to increase the amount of green space on District sites to expand access to additional green space for families and students.
Transportation
● The City will support the District in promoting the District’s free Metro passes from the Metro GoPass Program for students, by promoting it at community events, newsletters and on the City’s website if the pilot program is continued.
APPENDIX
All Families Connected
All Families Connected is a program to help ensure every student has reliable access to highspeed internet at home as well as at school. Made possible in large part by one-time federal funding, the program is helping provide students with the access they need at home to complete assignments, interact with peers, track their progress, and more. Thousands of families are eligible for this service at no cost to them. There are no income requirements. All that is necessary is for a family to inform the District that there are unmet needs in the home and to request support.
This is how it works: Parents/guardians can log on to device.lausd.net and answer a few questions about computing device and internet connectivity needs. For those whose needs are not being met, our teams check in with contracted service providers to determine services available.
The provider then reaches out to eligible families to assist with establishing service, and the District covers all costs.
Families may go to: device.lausd.net/connect for more information or to sign up for service.
Cultural Arts Passport
The Los Angeles Unified Cultural Arts Passport is a program to provide students access to the Arts. In partnership with Southern California’s finest cultural organizations and venues, the Cultural Arts Passport program ensures equal access to arts, culture and environmental experiences for every child. The Cultural Arts Passport is partially supported through generous monetary and in-kind donations from the community. Founding partners who generously support the initiative include The Broad Foundation, Creative Arts Agency, the Fender Play Foundation and other cultural institutions.
Digital Divide Partnerships
The District has existing partnerships around infrastructure to create a city-wide or community infrastructure for wireless connectivity. One example of this has been a partnership with the Los Angeles City Lighting Bureau, which focused on extending the network from District schools to city light poles. Furthermore, the District has also developed partnerships with LTE/5G and fixed broadband such as Verizon, AT&T and Spectrum to allow piggyback on our contracts with very affordable pricing for other governmental entities. Lastly, the District has partnerships with multiple entities on data sharing to help and identify hotspots and digital deserts around Los Angeles County, given that the District is the only entity with access to valuable datasets relating to family usage and service providers’ capacity.
Everyone Mentors LA
Everyone Mentors LA is a new mentoring initiative by Los Angeles Unified that will invest in the lives of historically underserved students to ensure every student graduates Ready for the World. The new initiative will match students contending with declining grades, chronic absenteeism, a need for socio-emotional support and other challenges that have inhibited their academic success with a mentor from the Los Angeles community. More information on this program can be found at https://achieve.lausd.net/everyonementors.
Family Academy
The Los Angeles Unified Family Academy is designed to leverage families’ assets to be empowered as they support their child from the early primary years to college and career success. This effort complements family knowledge by connecting them to actionable learning focused on their child’s development, as well as opportunities to accelerate their own careers and quality of livelihood. Families may expand and share prior knowledge with other parent leaders by attending learning segments offered by the Family Academy course catalog, which offers webinar and regional segments hosted in-person. The course catalog is available at achieve.lausd.net/familyacademy.
A second path to learning with the Family Academy is through four family courses which are geared for the following family audiences: youngest learners, multilingual learners, twice exceptional, and Black and African-American students. The curriculum is organized as a 7-class course experience where families engage in a culturally relevant curriculum, in a cohort learning environment, define family engagement, and develop their action plan to stay engaged in their child’s education. Course registration information is available at achieve.lausd.net/familyacademy. Families may also contact the Los Angeles Unified Family Hotline for more information: 213-443-1300.
Traffic Safety Valet Program
The Los Angeles Unified Safety Valet program is designed to help improve student safety and provide more fluid movement of vehicular traffic around schools during the morning drop off. A Valet directs drivers through a queue of traffic cones where volunteers assist students to safely exit the car. This eliminates the need for parents to exit their vehicles and for students to cross busy intersections.