State approves Central Unified SIM plan; district to implement changes targeting over‑identification, $5.57 million reserved

The California Department of Education approved a compliance and improvement monitoring plan for Central Unified on Feb. 10, district Special Education Director Laurie Henkel told the board, a step that moves the district from corrective review to monitored implementation.

Henkel, who led the presentation, said the plan responds to a state finding that the district had over‑identified students with emotional disabilities and that the district will address four root causes including inconsistent policies and trauma‑informed practice. "If the district develops policies, practices and procedures, train staff on them and monitors the implementation for fidelity ... then students will not be overly identified as students with disabilities," Henkel said.

The plan targets a cohort of 272 students drawn from schools with higher numbers of referrals, absences or students who nearly met or did not meet academic standards. Henkel described two primary activities: updating and aligning the district’s multi‑tiered system of supports (MTSS) with culturally responsive practices to increase attendance for the focal students, and strengthening trauma‑informed and culturally responsive discipline practices to reduce office referrals and suspensions.

District staff identified measurable outcomes: by December 2027 the MTSS updates aim to increase daily and period attendance of focal students by 5 percent yearly and the disciplinary changes aim to reduce referrals and suspensions for the cohort by at least 5 percent. Henkel told the board that the plan period begins July 2025, runs through Sept. 30, 2027 for state monitoring, and that the district’s internal implementation monitoring extends through December 2027.

To fund the work, Henkel said the district has set aside $5,573,241 from special education and general‑education funds as required, with spending to be completed by September 2027. She described multilayered data collection for the plan — focus groups, empathy interviews, case file reviews and an outside data dive by Ascendancy Solutions — and said quarterly progress reports will go to the state.

Trustees pressed on composition of the planning team, teacher involvement and the role of outside consultants. Henkel said mandated state representatives, psychologists, site administrators, HR, parents and outside partners participated and that teachers and classified staff were included in focus groups. She said the outside vendor’s role was to synthesize community feedback and data, not to substitute for internal work.

The board did not vote on the SIM plan at the meeting; Henkel said the district will seek board approval at a subsequent meeting and will provide quarterly updates as required by the state.