Los Altos district reports rise in challenging student behaviors, outlines tiered supports

Sequim Bennett, a district special-education staff member, told the Los Altos School District Board of Trustees that staff have seen an increase in challenging student behaviors since the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among transitional kindergarten and first-grade students.

The board heard that staff believe a mix of causes — longer early-intervention wait lists, higher prevalence of adverse childhood experiences, and “toxic stress” — are driving some of the changes in classroom behavior. "We have seen an increase of challenging behaviors in schools, especially in our younger grades, TK through first grade," Sequim Bennett said during the update.

Why it matters: District leaders said rising behavior needs create pressure on classroom instruction and on specialized services. The presentation framed the response through a multi-tiered system of supports. At the board meeting, staff outlined what supports exist at each tier and where the district wants to expand capacity.

What the district described: - Tier 1 (universal): direct teaching of rules and procedures, social-emotional learning (Character Strong), Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and Safety Care crisis-management training for staff. - Tier 2 (targeted): KidSTART (a social-skills curriculum for kindergarten–second grade) and Playzone (structured recess supports). Staff said KidSTART is structured as a rotation so the full class benefits while one or more target students receive additional instruction. - Tier 3 (intensive): behavior strategy plans, social-skills groups run by psychologists and behaviorists, and deployment of behavior technicians and instructional assistants for push-in or short-term pull-out supports.

Christina Rouda, identified in the meeting as the district’s special education coordinator, described the district’s staffing and program mix and said psychologists and behaviorists are “integral as part of that tier 1 support,” adding the district has three main behaviorists who help run programming across sites.

Staff also described family-facing work: psychologists and other staff said they frequently liaise with families and connect households to outside therapy resources as needed. Board members and staff noted long wait lists for early-intervention providers such as home-based ABA (applied behavior analysis) and RBTs (registered behavior technicians) and said that shortage limits options for home-based collaboration.

A parent who spoke during public comment, identified in the record as Parent (public commenter), described long wait lists and praised the district’s instructional assistants and school-based supports for her child Emma, saying, "Emma's growth is incredible, and it doesn't mean she looks like another student. ... She misses going to school during the summer — that's all we want for our children."

Board questions and next steps: Trustees asked whether Tier 3 supports are delivered inside or outside the classroom; staff said supports are primarily push-in with some early pull-out for direct instruction before fading back into the classroom. Staff said they are considering a shift toward a coaching model to build teacher capacity and reduce reliance on direct services provided by district staff.

Meeting context and constraints: Staff cautioned that some assessments show roughly 64 percent of children have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience (as cited in the presentation) and that a score of four or more ACEs correlates with greater developmental impact. They also said the district’s capacity has been helped by structures established during and after the pandemic but that budget and staffing pressures may affect future program availability.

Ending: Trustees thanked staff and the parent for their comments and acknowledged the district will continue to prioritize supports for students while monitoring budget and staffing constraints.