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Whole-child director reviews SEL, social-work and TK work; warns of legislative threat to TK transportation and funding
Summary
Colleen, the district's whole-child director, summarized social-emotional learning work, counseling and social-work supports, truancy diversion efforts and transitional kindergarten operations; she said a state bill under consideration could reduce TK funding and eliminate transportation funding, creating local gaps.
The board received a broad update on the district’s whole-child services, including social-emotional learning (SEL), counselors and social workers, truancy diversion and transitional kindergarten (TK). Staff described current services and raised a legislative concern about TK funding.
Why it matters: Whole-child services support student safety, engagement and readiness to learn; changes to TK funding or transportation would affect program access for the district’s youngest students.
SEL and resilience work: Colleen (whole-child director) described Washington’s six SEL standards and the district’s SEL leadership team, which includes teacher representatives and counselors. The team is studying hope science and strategies to build students’ "pathways" and "willpower" (agency) for reaching goals. Colleen said the team is piloting classroom tools, noting that the district uses elementary reading curriculum anchor charts, middle-school advisory lessons and other materials selected by staff.
Counseling, social workers and community engagement: Colleen said the district’s counselors meet regularly and that counselors and social workers support credit retrieval, crisis response and community referrals. She noted the district has two social workers (one state-funded portion plus Title IV supplement), who also act as McKinney-Vento liaisons for unhoused students and help coordinate truancy diversion via the Community Engagement Board (CEB). The CEB provides a diversionary, community-led review of attendance problems before a case would move to juvenile truancy court.
Transitional kindergarten risk: Colleen warned that a bill moving through the legislature could reclassify TK funding (removing parity with K–12 basic education funding), require TK be funded like ECAP (a lower rate) and stop funding TK transportation. She said that change would force local budget trade-offs and could limit access for families who rely on bus service; the bill’s status remained uncertain and state-level negotiations were ongoing.
Other supports: Colleen summarized partnerships with the regional ESD (student support specialists), the Latino Civic Alliance (gang-prevention family supports) and community health (student health center). She asked the board to continue supporting the cross-department coordination needed to sustain the programs.
