Use the links below to skip to the specific response you wish to view:
- Birmingham Community Charter High School
- California Department of Education
- Greenfield Union School District
- Gridley Unified School District
- Norwalk‑La Mirada Unified School District
- San Bernardino City Unified School District
- Vallejo City Unified School District
Birmingham Community Charter High School
October 23, 2019
RE: Audit Report 2019-104
Dear State Auditor:
The single school independent charter LEA of Birmingham Community Charter High School (BCCHS) is in receipt of your office’s report on its audit entitled “Youth Experiencing Homelessness” and identified as Report 2019-104. We appreciate your careful and thorough review of our LEA’s Homeless Education Program including our identification of and services to youth who may be experiencing homelessness. We have reviewed your report and we are responding to your recommendations as detailed further below.
Findings and Recommendations:
A. FINDINGS OF THE AUDIT:
- The Housing Questionnaire used by our LEA does not follow best practices and may deter families from honestly completing it.
- There is a lack of training of staff members and a lack of dedicated time spent in the identification of youths experiencing homelessness.
- There is a need for greater public dissemination of information regarding the rights and protections of youths experiencing homelessness.
- There is a lack of coordination of services for youth experiencing homelessness.
B. LEA RESPONSE TO AUDIT RECOMMENDATIONS
- The LEA will redesign the student residency questionnaire (SRQ) to include the following:
- Language to mitigate the stigma associated with the disclosure of homelessness
- Language to mitigate the fear surrounding disclosure - specifically as it relates to immigration and child protection services
- Language to explain the purpose of the collection of information regarding housing
- Language to explain the rights and protections afforded to youths experiencing homelessness
- Language to explain that all children, regardless of immigration status, are provided with a free public education by federal law
- The LEA will ensure that all families complete an SRQ.
- The LEA will track the receipt of all SRQs and contact the families of students who do not return a completed SRQ.
- The LEA will review completed SRQs and respond to identified youth experiencing homelessness within a timely and efficient manner.
- All LEA employees including administrators, counselors, enrollment staff, teachers, support personnel and cafeteria staff will be trained on an annual and an as-needed basis in the identification of youth experiencing homelessness, their rights and protections, and the services available to them within 30 calendar days of the start of school.
- The annual training will include a working knowledge of:
- the definition of homelessness
- the signs of homelessness
- the impact of homelessness
- the educational rights and protections available to homeless students
- the next steps once a student has been identified as homeless
- Employees with a greater exposure to youth who may be experiencing homelessness will meet on a regular basis to discuss initiatives regarding the homeless education program including the rights and protections of identified youths and the services available to them.
- A poster from the National Center for Homeless Education outlining the educational rights and protections of homeless youths will be disseminated to all offices and posted on all public bulletin boards and classroom spaces within the LEA.
- The LEA will conduct a media release including the aforementioned information at the beginning of each school year. The media release will be distributed to local shelters, food banks and public libraries.
- The information regarding the educational rights and protections of youth experiencing homelessness is posted on our website and includes the contact information for our Homeless Liaison.
- The LEA is actively responding to the recommendations of the CA State Auditor regarding the coordination of services for youth experiencing homelessness as detailed below:
- The LEA will make contact with other local agencies that provide support and services to youth experiencing homelessness to establish partnerships and implement MOUs.
- The LEA will compile a list of support organizations and the services that they provide to youth experiencing homelessness and their families. The list will include the following types of service agencies:
- counseling services
- social welfare services
- meal services
- health care services
- housing services
Birmingham Community Charter High School is currently in the process of implementation of each of the above-referenced recommendations. Under the advisement of your office, we hope to dramatically improve our homeless education program by increasing awareness of the issue, reforming the identification process and providing greater access to the services and supports afforded to youth experiencing homelessness. We look forward to an ongoing partnership with your agency to ensure our continued growth in this important policy area.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Thank you,
Ari Bennett, CEO/Principal
a.bennett@birminghamcharter.com
818.758.5202
Comment
CALIFORNIA STATE AUDITOR’S COMMENT ON THE RESPONSE FROM BIRMINGHAM
To provide clarity and perspective, we are commenting on Birmingham’s response to our audit. The number below corresponds to the number we have placed in the margin of Birmingham’s response.
Throughout the audit process, we engaged in numerous conversations with Birmingham regarding our recommendations. However, until it submitted this response, Birmingham did not advise us of the actions that it now asserts to have taken to implement this recommendation. As a result, we were unable to review and analyze the changes it claims to have made to its website. However, we look forward to reviewing any documentation Birmingham provides as part of its 60‑day response to our recommendations to demonstrate the actions it has taken to implement this recommendation.
California Department of Education
October 24, 2019
Elaine M. Howle, State Auditor
California State Auditor
621 Capitol Mall, Suite 1200
Sacramento, CA 95814
Subject: Youth Experiencing Homelessness - California’s Education System for K-12 Inadequately Identifies and Supports These Youth, Report Number 2019-104, November 7, 2019
Dear Ms. Howle:
The California Department of Education (Education) appreciates the opportunity to comment and provide proposed corrective actions for the recommendations outlined in the California State Auditor’s (CSA) Audit Report titled, Youth Experiencing Homelessness - California’s Education System for K-12 Inadequately Identifies and Supports These Youth.Perspective Comments
To provide additional perspective to the CSA’s audit report, Education has the following comments.
Page 19:
The source for the data displayed in the chart should also note that these data are publicly available on DataQuest, Education’s public data reporting website.
Education noted a few discrepancies with the data cited in the chart. The non-homeless dropout rate is 9.0%, not 6.0% as cited in the chart. Additionally, the percent of non-homeless students who “Did Not Graduate” is 16%, not 12% as cited in the chart. Education cannot confirm the corresponding LEA data citations provided in the report narrative because the LEA names have been redacted. As such, Education recommends that the CSA verify the corresponding LEA data citations provided elsewhere in the report narrative.
It is also important to note that some students who “Did Not Graduate” still completed high school through some other means than receiving a regular high school diploma or they returned as fifth year seniors to continue their high school education.
Page 28:
Both acronyms for the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth are incorrect. It should read NAEHCY, not NAECHY.
Also, in the first paragraph the last sentence states that the National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE) uses 5 percent of the economically disadvantaged student population as a reasonable benchmark for identifying students experiencing homelessness; however, Education informed the CSA that NCHE also uses 2.5 percent of the total student population as a reasonable benchmark for identifying students experiencing homelessness.
Education also informed the CSA that the most recent publicly available data (2013–14 and 2014–15) submitted by states to the National Center for Educational Statistics show that California ranks 2nd and 6th nationally using the first benchmark and 4th and 13th nationally using the second benchmark for the respective years. This information provides the necessary missing context to show how California performs in identifying homeless students relative to other states.
Page 53:
On the middle of the page it indicates that the state coordinator only reviewed between 12 and 21 LEAs for homeless education compliance. It is important to note that this is approximately 10 to 15 percent of the LEAs that are selected by Education for monitoring.
Page 67:
The second paragraph states that Education reserved less than 2 percent of its allocation for state level activities. It is important to note that Education does not determine funding for state level activities; this is done by the Department of Finance.
Page 74:
In the middle of the page, the report states that “to gain reasonable assurance of the completeness of the data” the CSA compared the number of LEAs in the CALPADS point-in-time data with the number of LEAs in the cumulative end-of-year data. Because CSA found 18 more LEAs in the cumulative end-of-year data than in the point-in-time data, they concluded that the CALPADS data provided by Education was of undetermined reliability. In fact, the point-in-time and end-of-year are two separate data submissions in CALPADS with different business rules. Additionally, schools open and close throughout the year, which contributes to the observed differences in the data. It is not an indication that either CALPADS data source is of undetermined reliability.
As previously mentioned, Education appreciates the CSA’s work on this topic and provides the following responses to the recommendations below.
Recommendation 1
To ensure that youth experiencing homelessness have access to the necessary services to help them succeed in school, by August 2020, Education should establish guidance for implementing data-sharing agreements between the LEAs and other organizations that provide services to these youth.
Education’s Comments and Corrective Actions
Concur. Education will strengthen existing website resources for youth experiencing homelessness by posting guidance regarding data sharing among LEAs and other agencies. Education is committed to ensuring that students have access to necessary services which will assist them in succeeding in school.
Recommendation 2
To ensure that it has the resources necessary to effectively meet its responsibilities under federal law, Education should complete a staffing analysis by May 2020 to determine the resources needed to meet its responsibilities for homeless education. This analysis should consider the resources needed to implement all of the recommendations in this report. If Education determines that it needs additional resources, it should take the necessary steps, including reallocating existing resources within the department, to secure the needed resources.
Education’s Comments and Corrective Actions
Do not concur. As discussed with the CSA, Education already determined that additional resources were needed to meet its homelessness education responsibilities. The 2019 Budget Act authorized 1.5 FTE and an additional consultant was added to the Homeless Education program. At this time, Education does not anticipate needing additional resources for this program; however, if the homelessness education workload increases and more staff are needed, then Education will take the necessary steps to effectively meet our responsibilities.
Recommendation 3
To effectively monitor LEAs and help them identify additional youth experiencing homelessness, Education should do the following:
- Develop a method for determining those LEAs that may be underidentifying youth experiencing homelessness. For example, Education could determine which LEAs identified fewer than 5 percent of their economically disadvantaged youth as experiencing homelessness.
- Education’s Comments and Corrective Actions
- Concur. Education is developing a method to determine LEAs that may be underidentifying youth experiencing homelessness. In addition, Education currently provides, and will continue to provide, technical assistance to LEAs that report zero youth experiencing homelessness.
- For those LEAs it determines may be underidentifying youth experiencing homelessness, Education should provide general guidance on its website or through group emails to help them increase their identification rates and, as resources permit, could provide detailed technical assistance to selected LEAs that Education believes may be at the most risk of missing a greater number of youth experiencing homelessness.
- Education’s Comments and Corrective Actions
- Concur. Education will strengthen existing website resources by developing and posting guidance for LEAs that may be underidentifying youth experiencing homelessness. In addition, Education currently provides, and will continue to provide, technical assistance to LEAs that report zero youth experiencing homelessness.
To ensure that all LEAs receive necessary guidance and training, Education should perform the following:
- Review the guidance documents and templates, including the housing questionnaire and poster, that Education makes available on its website for LEAs and ensure that all the documents reflect current best practices. For example, the questionnaire and the posters should include the rights and protections afforded to youth experiencing homelessness and their families to alleviate any apprehensions of identifying themselves as experiencing homelessness. Education should then make all LEAs aware of these revised documents.
- Education’s Comments and Corrective Actions
- Concur. Education will review and update website resources, including guidance documents, templates, and the poster to ensure that best practices are included. In addition, Education will update and post the revised housing questionnaire on its website. Furthermore, Education will continue to notify all LEAs when changes and additions to resources are made to the website.
- Inform all LEAs of the requirement to disseminate information about the educational rights of youth experiencing homelessness in locations frequented by families of such youth, including schools, shelters, public libraries, and food pantries. Further, Education should encourage LEAs to inform families and youth about protections afforded to those experiencing homelessness. For example, it could encourage LEAs to accomplish this through their housing questionnaire.
- Education’s Comments and Corrective Actions
- Concur. Education will continue reminding LEAs of their responsibility to post educational rights, including protections, for youth experiencing homelessness. In addition, Education will continue to encourage LEAs to: (1) inform parents and guardians in a manner and format that is easily understandable; and (2) disseminate and/or post the information in locations frequented by the families.
- Revise its training modules to ensure that they reinforce all best practices recommended by the U.S. ED and other homeless education experts.
- Education’s Comments and Corrective Actions
- Partially concur. Education recognizes the importance of enforcing best practices in training and will revise its training modules to include best practices by the U.S. ED and other homeless education experts when appropriate.
- Develop training modules as outlined in the state plan, for LEA staff who provide services to youth experiencing homelessness. These training modules should include the provisions of law and the definition of homelessness, procedures for identifying and enrolling youth experiencing homelessness, and the services that Education expects LEAs to provide to these youth.
- Education’s Comments and Corrective Actions
- Concur. Education will develop training modules as outlined in the state plan, for LEA staff who provide services to youth experiencing homelessness. Education will ensure the training modules include: (1) provisions of law; (s) the definition of homelessness; (3) procedures for identifying and enrolling youth experiencing homelessness; and (4) the services that Education expects LEAs to provide to these youth.
If you have any questions regarding the Education’s comments and/or corrective actions, please contact Kimberly Tarvin, Director, Audits and Investigations Division, by phone at 916-323-1547 or by email at ktarvin@cde.ca.gov.
Sincerely,
Lupita Cortez Alcalá
Chief Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction
LCA:kl
Comments
CALIFORNIA STATE AUDITOR’S COMMENTS ON THE RESPONSE FROM EDUCATION
To provide clarity and perspective, we are commenting on Education’s response to our audit. The number below corresponds to the number we have placed in the margin of Education’s response.
We provided Education with a redacted draft report that contained only those portions relevant to it. Therefore, the page numbers that Education cites in its response do not correspond to the page numbers in our final report.
As we do with all auditees, during Education’s draft review period we reached out to its staff and offered to work with them to discuss any factual or editorial changes to the draft report text, if warranted, to ensure that Education’s comments were constructive and focused on the recommendations. We are disappointed that Education chose to ignore our offer and instead chose to comment on areas that could have been handled through a simple telephone call.
We have revised Figure 2 and the surrounding text on page 14 regarding the rates at which youth experiencing homelessness dropped out or did not graduate. However, this revision did not change our conclusions. We have also revised the two instances on page 20 to correct the acronym for the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth.
Education’s comment seems to imply that the number of youth experiencing homelessness who did not graduate may be overstated, which would make the gap between graduation rates for these youth and their peers not experiencing homelessness less than the 31 percent and 16 percent rates shown in Figure 2 on page 14. Although we do not disagree with Education’s statement that some students who “Did Not Graduate” may complete high school through other means, this is true of all youth. As a result, we have no reason to believe that the disparity between the graduation rates among youth experiencing homelessness and their peers would be greatly affected.
We describe in detail on page 41 that the National Center for Homeless Education uses 5 percent of economically disadvantaged youth and 2.5 percent of total enrollment to determine whether an LEA is at high risk of underidentifying youth experiencing homelessness. In fact, as we state on that page, had Education used the National Center for Homeless Education’s method, it would have identified that two‑thirds of the State’s nearly 2,300 LEAs may be at high risk of underidentifying youth experiencing homelessness.
Education’s comment regarding its national ranking compared to other states obfuscates the fact that many California LEAs are failing to identify all youth experiencing homelessness. As we explain on page 20, our analysis of Education’s CALPADS data found that in academic year 2017–18 a majority of California LEAs—74 percent—identified less than 5 percent of their economically disadvantaged students as experiencing homeless. We considered this result to be indicative of Education failing to sufficiently oversee LEAs’ efforts to identify and provide services to youth experiencing homelessness.
We stand by our conclusion about the reliability of Education’s CALPADS data. As we state on page 57, we follow the standards established by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which require us to assess the sufficiency and appropriateness of computer‑processed information. We did not conduct a comprehensive data reliability analysis of CALPADS because the supporting documentation for its data is maintained among California’s approximately 2,300 LEAs, making such an analysis impractical. Further, on page 58 we describe that the limited data reliability analysis that we did perform—a comparison of the number of LEAs in Education’s point‑in‑time data to the number of LEAs within its cumulative end‑of‑year data—resulted in a discrepancy of 18 LEAs. Although Education claims in its response that the two data submissions have different business rules, it did not specify how these rules would affect this comparison. Regardless, because we could not determine the reliability of the data, we concluded that CALPADS data were of undetermined reliability, in accordance with the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s standards.
Although Education states in its response that at this time it does not anticipate needing additional resources for the program, the state coordinator told us during the audit, as we describe on page 50, that it still needs additional staff. We also conclude on that same page that Education has not clearly identified how many staff it needs to adequately meet its responsibilities under the homeless education program. Further, the governor vetoed Assembly Bill 16 in October 2019, which would have provided Education an additional 1.5 staff for its homeless education program. In his veto message, the governor noted that the need for additional staff was better considered during the annual budget process. Because Education would need to substantiate any request for additional staff when making a budget request, we believe that it is critical for Education to perform a staffing analysis to determine exactly how many staff it will need to meet all of its responsibilities for its homeless education program. Without such an analysis, Education lacks a basis to secure the necessary resources to administer the State’s homeless education program appropriately.
Education’s assertion that it currently provides technical assistance to LEAs that report zero youth experiencing homelessness is grossly overstated. As we indicate on page 40, Education uses CALPADS data to identify those LEAs that report having zero youth experiencing homelessness enrolled in their schools. However, the “technical assistance” that Education provides to these LEAs is simply a letter that describes the federal reporting requirements for youth experiencing homelessness, defines homelessness under the McKinney‑Vento Act, and asks the LEA to ensure that future counts of youth experiencing homelessness are accurate. Besides this letter, the state coordinator does not provide any other technical assistance to support LEAs that report zero youth experiencing homelessness.
Education’s assertion that it currently reminds LEAs to disseminate information that describes the legal protections for youth experiencing homelessness is false. As we state on page 44, neither the housing questionnaire nor the informational poster that Education developed for LEAs to use include information for parents and guardians about the legal protections afforded to youth experiencing homelessness.
Greenfield Union School District
October 18, 2019
Elaine Howle, CPA
California State Auditor
621 Capitol Mall, Suite 1200
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Ms. Howle,
The Greenfield Union School District has reviewed the draft report, “Youth Experiencing Homelessness: California’s Education System for K-12 Inadequately Identifies and Supports These Youth”. The management team has provided a brief description of actions and practices that have or will be implemented as a result of the report recommendations.
Our district will be working diligently to advance identification of students experiencing homelessness as well as adopt guidance and best practices provided by the National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE).
Greenfield is committed to provide needed resources and services to families experiencing homelessness and support all students to become successful and productive members of our community.
Sincerely,
Ramon Hendrix
Superintendent
Greenfield Union School District Response to “Youth Experiencing Homelessness:”
October 17, 2019
Greenfield Union School District is dedicated to improving the McKinney-Vento (MV) program and practices. The LEA has implemented the following actions:
Staff Training: MV & Signs of Homelessness Training will be provided to all staff and facilitated by the Director of Support Services (MV Liaison) and site Social Workers or counselors.
- Certificated: Includes administration, teachers, programs, and support staff
- Classified: Includes site clerical / program assistants, Nutrition Services, Family Resource Center, Maintenance Operations and Transportation
Underidentified Youth Experiencing Homelessness: Greenfield Union School District has updated its procedures regarding dissemination of the Residency Questionnaire to all returning students. Questionnaires will be offered by school office staff any time a change of address is made by parent/guardian. Questionnaire forms were provided to all returning students as of August 2019.Based upon recommendations in the report, additional updates may be necessary.
Distribute Information about Educational Rights: Community Outreach within district boundaries was initiated. The MV Liaison initiated Community Outreach on June 24, 2019 and the District’s School Social Workers continued the distribution of information through September 11, 2019. Support Services maintains a list of contact names and locations where MV enrollment information and pamphlets were provided/posted. District procedures will be developed to complete this process annually.
- Medical Clinics, Library, Hotels/Motels, Local businesses (including laundromats, grocery and convenience stores, restaurants, gas stations)
Shelters, food pantries, or soup kitchens are not located within district boundaries. However, Support Services has confirmed that MV posters were posted in public places by other LEAs.
Website/Webpage: The LEA distributes the MV Enrollment poster available on the CDE website. The CDE website nor the Department of Education provide protection rights statements. The LEA will develop an updated MV poster to include Protection Rights. LEA is currently working with the Information & Technology Department to update the website to include a webpage dedicated to MV that will include the name of the MV Liaison and resources for families experiencing homelessness.
Separate page devoted to MV and educational rights
Attach MV pamphlets and Residency Questionnaire
Identified MV Liaison contact information
Include protections set forth in federal / state laws
Staffing: LEA will re-evaluate roles and responsibilities of the Director of Support Services / MV Liaison and support staff to determine any necessary adjustments needed to increase support, resources, and services to youth experiencing homelessness.
Comment
CALIFORNIA STATE AUDITOR’S COMMENT ON THE RESPONSE FROM GREENFIELD
To provide clarity and perspective, we are commenting on Greenfield’s response to our audit. The number below corresponds to the number we have placed in the margin of Greenfield’s response.
Throughout the audit process, we engaged in numerous conversations with Greenfield regarding our recommendations. However, until it submitted this response, Greenfield did not advise us of the actions that it now asserts to have taken to implement these recommendations. As a result, we were unable to review and analyze the changes it claims to have made. However, we look forward to reviewing any documentation Greenfield provides as part of its 60‑day response to our recommendations to demonstrate the actions it has already taken and any other actions it takes to implement these recommendations.
Gridley Unified School District
October 22, 2019
California State Auditor
Elaine M. Howle, CPA
621Capitol Mall Suite 1200
Sacramento, California 95914
Re: Gridley Unified School District Response to State Auditor’s Report
“Youth Experiencing Homelessness: California’s Education System for K-12 Inadequately Identifies and Supports These Youth”
Dear California State Auditor:
We appreciate the recommendations made by the state auditor’s office to help strengthen our systems and protocols for our students and families experiencing homelessness. We look forward to the continued implementation of these recommendations as we improve upon serving our homeless students and families.
Sincerely,
Jordan Reeves
Superintendent
Gridley Unified School District
Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District
October 24, 2019
Elaine M. Howle, CPA
California State Auditor
621 Capitol Mall, Ste 1200,
Sacramento, CA 95814
Re: McKinney Vento Audit
Dear Ms. Howle,
The district is in receipt of your office’s report on its audit of the McKinney Vento program at Norwalk La Mirada Unified School District. The report notes some of our best practices; it also presents a few recommendations for our review.
Enclosed you will find our responses to the recommendations identified from your report.
If you have any questions, please contact me at (562) 210-2117.
Sincerely,
Patricio I. Vargas, Ph.D.
Assistant Superintendent Educational Services
Norwalk La Mirada Unified School District
cc: Hasmik Danielian, Ed.D., Superintendent
LEAs
To comply with federal law and best practice, [Norwalk-La Mirada] should, before academic year 2020-21, do the following:
Recommendation
- Ensure that school staff who provide services to youth experiencing homelessness receive training as federal law requires. Further, as set forth in best practices, the LEA should provide this training at least annually, and the training should include the definition of homelessness, signs of homelessness, the impact of homelessness on youth, and the steps staff should take once [the] LEA has identified a youth as possibly experiencing homelessness.
Response to the Recommendation
The Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District currently provides training to our principals, assistant principals, school counselors, psychologist, social workers, and enrolment staff on an ongoing basis. Training material includes the definition, signs, and impact of homelessness for families and youth. Additionally, we provide trainings to attendance clerks, counselors, and mental health providers. The Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District will enhance its practices to ensure that teachers and other support staff will also receive training as federal law requires on an annual basis. This training will include, but not be limited to, the definition of homelessness, signs of homelessness, and the impact of homelessness on youth, as well as the steps staff should take to ensure we support youth experiencing homelessness.
Recommendation
- Distribute information about the educational rights of youth experiencing homelessness in public places, including schools, shelters, public libraries, and food pantries, frequented by families of such youth, as federal law requires. Further, to mitigate families’ and youth’s hesitance to disclosing their living situation, the LEA should include the protections set forth in federal and state laws in the information [it] distribute[s]
Response to the Recommendation
The Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District currently disseminates our homeless education information via posters and flyers throughout the district in places frequented by students, parents and staff such as the front office, cafeterias and libraries. The Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District will expand its current practices regarding the distribution of information about the educational rights of youth experiencing homelessness in public places, including shelters and food pantries, frequented by families of such youth, as federal law requires. Additionally, the information will include the protections set forth in federal and state laws to mitigate families’ and youth’s hesitance to disclosing their living situation.
Recommendation
- Publish information on [its] website about the educational rights and protections of these youth.
Response to the Recommendation
The information pertaining to the educational rights and protections of youth experiencing homelessness has been updated on the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District website as of October 24, 2019 under the Student & Family Services McKinney-Vento Program webpage.
Comment
CALIFORNIA STATE AUDITOR’S COMMENT ON THE RESPONSE FROM NORWALK-LA MIRADA
To provide clarity and perspective, we are commenting on Norwalk‑La Mirada’s response to our audit. The number below corresponds to the number we have placed in the margin of Norwalk‑La Mirada’s response.
Because Norwalk‑La Mirada updated the information on its website at the time it provided its response, we were unable to review and analyze the changes it claims to have made to its website. However, we look forward to reviewing any documentation Norwalk‑La Mirada provides as part of its 60‑day response to our recommendations to demonstrate the actions it has taken to implement this recommendation.
San Bernardino City Unified School District
October 24, 2019 Sent via Email and U.S. Mail:
California State Auditor
Attention: Elaine Howle, State Auditor
621 Capitol Mall, Suite 1200
Sacramento, California 95814
Dear Ms. Howle:
This letter serves as a written response to the California State Auditor’s draft report entitled “Youth Experiencing Homelessness: California’s Education System for K-12 Inadequately Identifies and Supports These Youth”, which details an audit conducted as the result of a Joint Legislative Audit Committee request.
I would like to express my appreciation on behalf of the San Bernardino City Unified School District to you and your staff for the professional approach in conducting this audit and for the insight provided on opportunities for growth in how we serve one of our most vulnerable and deserving student populations.
San Bernardino City Unified School District recognizes the areas of improvement needed in serving students in homeless situations as identified in the report and is committed to aligning district policies and best practices to all state and federal legislation pertaining to the rights and services for our students.
In response to the recommendations in the report, SBCUSD will:
- Ensure that all school staff, who provide direct services to youth experiencing homelessness receive training as federal law requires. Further, as recommended as best practices, SBCUSD will provide this training at least annually, and will include the definition of homelessness, signs of homelessness, the impact of homelessness on youth, and the steps staff should take once a student has been identified as possibly being identified as homeless.
- In addition to distributing information about the educational rights of youth experiencing homelessness in all schools and SBCUSD department buildings, information will also be placed in public places including libraries, shelters, food pantries and other locations frequented by families of such youth, as federal law requires. In addition, as recommended in the report as aligning to best practices, SBCUSD will include the protections set forth in federal and state laws in the information distributed, to mitigate families’ and youth’s hesitance to disclose their living situation.
- Publish information on the SBCUSD websites about the educational rights and protections of youth experiencing homelessness.
As of the time of this response, this information has been added to the SBCUSD website. This information is located within the Specialized Programs Department page, under the A.T.L.A.S. (Access for Learning to All Students) program, the program serving our families and youth in homeless situations.
As of the time of this response, SBCUSD has coordinated a committee of department and program leads to create a plan that will ensure that all state and federal required trainings are provided to district staff as determined by legislation. Included in this plan is that all district staff directly serving students in homeless situations will receive mandatory training as stipulated above. Future committee meetings and collaboration with union representation will determine explicitly how and when these trainings will be offered.
Current practices include liaisons visiting every school in SBCUSD at the beginning of every school year to ensure that the state provided posters are posted and visible in the front office. Liaisons provide new or additional posters to schools as needed. In addition, state provided posters, A.T.L.A.S. pamphlets and liaison business cards are provided at local motels, community agencies and shelters frequented by youth and families experiencing homelessness. As SBCUSD cannot mandate or require public and private business to keep this information visible on their premises, liaisons will schedule regular visits to meet with managers and staff at these locations to provide additional information, if needed. In addition, A.T.L.A.S. liaisons will go to the other public locations, as recommended in the report, to provide information that will benefit youth and families. Regularly scheduled visits to these additional locations will be added to the liaisons’ rotation.
Also, as recommended as best practices, information will be added to all posters and pamphlets stating the protections set forth in federal and state laws to mitigate families’ and youth’s hesitance to disclose their living situation. Specifically, this additional information will be added onto state provided posters with adhesive- backed paper and text with this information will be added to all pamphlets and information posted or sent to families and school sites.
I hope this response serves as evidence of our cooperation and commitment to serving all students experiencing homelessness in our schools.
Respectfully,
Angela Urquidies
Director, Specialized Programs
Comment
CALIFORNIA STATE AUDITOR’S COMMENT ON THE RESPONSE FROM SAN BERNARDINO
To provide clarity and perspective, we are commenting on San Bernardino’s response to our audit. The number below corresponds to the number we have placed in the margin of San Bernardino’s response.
Throughout the audit process, we engaged in numerous conversations with San Bernardino regarding our recommendations. However, until it submitted this response, San Bernardino did not advise us of the actions that it now asserts to have taken to implement this recommendation. As a result, we were unable to review and analyze the changes it claims to have made to its website. However, we look forward to reviewing any documentation San Bernardino provides as part of its 60‑day response to our recommendations to demonstrate the actions it has taken to implement this recommendation.
Vallejo City Unified School District
October 23, 2019
Elaine M. Howle, CPA
California State Auditor
621 Capitol Mall, Suite 1200
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Ms. Howle,
Attached is my response to the audit report titled “Youth Experiencing Homelessness: California’s Education System for K-12 Inadequately Identifies and Supports These Youth.”
Sincerely,
Adam Clark, Ed.D,
Superintendent
October 23, 2019
Dear Elaine Howle, California State Auditor:
In response to the findings and recommendations within the "Youth Experiencing Homelessness: California's Education System for K-12 Inadequately Identifies and Supports These Youth," as related to the Vallejo City Unified School District, we agree with the findings and concur with implement the recommendations.
Thank you,
Adam Clark, Ed.D.
Superintendent