District social services staff highlight growing needs: Gaggle alerts, McKinney-Vento counts and community partners
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Summary
District social services staff reported increased demand for student supports: social workers recorded thousands of student contacts, Gaggle flagged 299 alerts this year with social workers responding to nearly half, and McKinney-Vento eligible counts were cited. Presenters emphasized community partnerships and tiered interventions.
The Washington Elementary School District social services department presented an overview of its work, describing staffing, programs and recent data that illustrate rising needs among students and families.
Amanda Klein (director of social services) said social workers are placed at every campus (32 schools) and that most hold master’s degrees or licensing through the state. The district highlighted the Washington Resource and Information Center (RIC), funded by First Things First, which offers prevention and early-literacy services at three district sites. The district also credited community partners such as HonorHealth Desert Mission and HelpNow for large-scale food and snack-pack distributions.
Klein reported program metrics: last year social workers impacted 6,772 students and families (6,696 the year before); in the first semester of the current year they had already impacted more than 5,000 students and families, and 1,441 students participated in small-group instruction during the first semester. The presentation noted 299 Gaggle alerts this year with social workers responding to almost half, and cited McKinney-Vento counts of 528 eligible students last year and 312 so far this year. Klein said 85% of threat assessments resulted in no ongoing threat or were easily resolved; 12% required school-based interventions and 3% required outside-agency support.
Board members praised the work and asked about suicide/self-harm assessment slides; trustees and staff discussed the role of relationship-building and in-person interventions alongside monitoring technology. Board members urged continued focus on capacity building (interns, mentoring and training) and noted the role of social workers in sustaining classroom instruction by supporting students with targeted interventions.
The presentation concluded with thanks to community partners for holiday support and large-scale distributions that reached hundreds of families.