California Safe and Supportive Schools

Promoting Attendance and Reducing Chronic Absenteeism | Renewed Focus on School Connectedness and Student Engagement

Webinar Recording

Promoting Attendance and Reducing Chronic Absenteeism | Renewed Focus on School Connectedness and Student Engagement

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Watch the webinar recording here:

Transcripts can be found here.

Description:

This session will explore the connection between students’ connectedness and engagement at school and their attendance. The session will begin with an overview of research that emphasized a need for strong school connections, especially for students who struggle with attendance. Hawthorne School District will discuss its renewed focus on strong connections to reduce chronic absenteeism.

Presenters:

Jenny Betz (she/they) is a Senior Program Associate with WestEd’s Resilient and Healthy Schools and Communities team, providing professional development, coaching, and technical assistance to support inclusive, equitable, and student-centered learning environments. With more than 20 years of experience in the nonprofit and education fields, Betz has supported hundreds of state, regional, and local education agencies in advancing school climate, social-emotional learning (SEL), equity, and educator wellness through strategies including culturally responsive practices, trauma-informed approaches, student leadership, community engagement, LGBTQ+ inclusion, bias-based bullying prevention, and effective data use. Betz also brings experience supporting district and school teams with strategic planning, implementation design, and improvement strategies that promote sustainability and alignment with local goals. Their work is grounded in collaboration, reflection, and a commitment to equity and continuous learning.

Rudy Salas is the Director of Pupil Personnel Services for the Hawthorne School District. With 26 years in education, he has served as a classroom teacher, English learner specialist, assistant principal, principal, and coordinator of curriculum and instruction. He is committed to strengthening student connectedness and improving attendance outcomes.

Stronger Connections | Our Stories of Strength: Using Photovoice to Explore Youth Psychological Strengths and Improve School Climate

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Watch the webinar recording here:

Transcripts can be found here.

View the webinar Padlet here.

Description:

Our Stories of Strength is a school-based program that is co-designed with youth to improve psychological well-being by integrating youth voice strategies with concepts and tools derived from positive psychology and narrative therapy. The program aims to illuminate and refine youths’ personal narratives of resilience and empowerment and to improve perceptions of school climate by building narratives around collective support and alliance. Using photovoice strategies, participants identify sources of personal competence, interpersonal support, and institutional support.

In this webinar, Our Stories of Strength adult researchers, educators, and youth collaborator-participants will describe key program activities and program benefits.

Presenters:

Dr. Meagan O’Malley is a Professor of School Psychology at California State University, Sacramento (CSUS), where she prepares graduate students to apply evidence-based methods in psychoeducational assessment as well as academic and mental health interventions. Dr. O’Malley leads an active research program focused on school climate, school mental health, and psychoeducational assessment practices. A central aim of her work is to support educators and families in empowering youth from historically underrepresented groups, including students with disabilities.

 

Dr. Sruthi Swami is an Assistant Professor in the School Psychology M.A./Ed.S. program at Sacramento State University and a Nationally Certified School Psychologist. Her work focuses on the impact of racism and discrimination on the mental health and identity development of racially and ethnically minoritized youths and adolescents. Dr. Swami engages in applied research with local high school students on building resilience in the face of trauma.

 

Dr. Jeremy DeWayne Greene is a nationally certified school psychologist, professor of school psychology, and poet/hip-hop artist. Although residing within the Sacramento region, his familial roots remain firmly planted in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Utilizing a narrative approach, Dr. Greene has a passion for advocacy via the promotion and strengthening of voices often minimized by society at large. Thus, in his free time, Dr. Greene enjoys gathering and sharing the stories that he has heard along those winding roads…stories that also include his time living and working as a school psychologist in Shanghai, China (from 2017 to 2019).

 

David Wong is an educator with over 25 years of experience in English Language Arts instruction and a longstanding commitment to equity and access for historically underserved student populations. He has taught across California and Texas, bringing a statewide and cross-regional perspective to instructional leadership, program implementation, and student advocacy.

Grounded in a student-centered teaching philosophy that emphasizes voice, agency, and academic identity, David is dedicated to advancing equitable, engaging learning environments that promote academic confidence, college and career readiness, and long-term student success.

 

Hadia Ahmad is a second-year undergraduate student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she is pursuing a triple major in Legal Studies, Psychology, and Sociology. She was born and raised in Sacramento, California, and is a first-generation Pakistani American student. Her academic interests center on the intersections of law, mental health, and social inequality, with a focus on understanding how systemic factors impact diverse communities. When in high school, Hadia was a participant-researcher in the development of Our Stories of Strength, and is credited as an author on a study recently published in the Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community.

 

Tristan Puelicher is an Irish Indo-Fijian student in his senior year at California State University, Northridge. Pursuing a degree in Psychology, his studies and interests are centered on social change, political advocacy, and psychiatric healing from a psychological perspective. He began his involvement in the development of Our Stories of Strength as a participant-researcher in the tenth grade. In addition, he is credited as an author on a study recently published in the Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community. Post-university, Tristan intends to pursue a career rooted in community service, systemic change, and mental healing.

Stronger Connections Mini Session | Paper & Presence – A Guided Origami Session

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Watch the webinar recording here:

Transcripts can be found here.

Description:

Participants will be guided through a simple, hands-on activity they can do comfortably in their own space. This offers a chance to give the mind a break by focusing on a small, creative task, engaging the senses and creating a moment of grounding through active mindfulness.

Facilitator:

Natalie Echeverria is a Prevention Services Facilitator with the Kern County Superintendent of Schools, where she provides support to districts and schools to improve attendance, enhance school safety, and promote student mental health. Working within the School-Community Partnerships and Whole Child framework, she specializes in family outreach and parenting education. She facilitates professional development training for districts and schools, and through classes and community engagement, she raises awareness and shares evidence-based practices designed to strengthen relationships between families and schools.

Stronger Connections Mini-Session | Basics of Mindfulness for Self-Care and Managing Difficult States

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Watch the webinar recording here:

Transcripts can be found here.

Description:

Basics of Mindfulness for Self-Care and Managing Difficult States: Mindfulness is the capacity to be aware of our experience as it happens. The fundamentals of mindfulness can be practiced in meditation. This session will offer guidance in mindfulness meditation and its use in managing physical pain and navigating difficult emotions.

Facilitator:

With over 15 years of health and wellness experience, Serena Hoenig brings a strong foundation to her work facilitating healthy lifestyles. Serena is a UCLA Semel Institute–trained mindfulness facilitator who offers secular, evidence-informed teachings that emphasize mind–body awareness and integration. Informed by her lived experience with ADHD, she thoughtfully incorporates accessible accommodation strategies to support diverse learners.

Stronger Connections Mini-Session | Mindful Rhythm, Sound, and Movement for Self-Care

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Watch the webinar recording here:

Transcripts can be found here.

Description:

In this interactive session, you’ll experience how simple rhythmic activities can be used as a mindfulness practice to shift mood and energy, manage stress, facilitate self-expression, encourage dialogue, teach empathy, and promote kindness. Research has shown that synchrony through rhythm is rewarding to the brain and increases connection and compassion toward others. The activities in this session, drawn from an evidence-based and trauma-informed curriculum, invite participation even among the most reserved of youth—enabling them to be seen, heard, and connected.

Please bring to the session:

  • Something pleasant sounding on which to drum, such as a pillow, bucket, large plastic water jug, or large food storage container.
  • Something to use as a shaker, such as a supplement bottle, box of mints, or plastic container filled with rice.

Facilitator:

Ping Ho, MA, MPH, is Founder/Director of Arts & Healing Initiative, which transforms lives through the innate power of the arts, guided by mental health practices, to foster healing, connection, and resilience for all. Ping developed Beat the Odds®, an evidence-based drumming program for social-emotional skill building, a Certificate Program in Social Emotional Arts (SEA), and a SEA Toolkit training program. She co-authored, with Erica Curtis, the 2019 National Parenting Product Association award-winning book, The Innovative Parent: Raising Connected, Happy, Successful Kids through Art (Ohio University Press).

Stronger Connections | Addressing Student Suicidality Webinar

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Watch the webinar recording here:

Transcripts can be found here.

View the webinar Padlet here.

Description:

Recent data from the California Healthy Kids Survey indicate a promising statewide reduction in students’ suicidality since 2018. In San Diego County, student suicide ideation and chronic sadness among middle and high school students have also dropped since 2022. What investments have been made in San Diego County in mental and behavioral health systems? What strategies are being implemented to better support students?

Join this session to learn about San Diego County Office of Education’s Creating Opportunities in Preventing and Eliminating Suicide (COPES) initiative. The COPES initiative provides standardized training alongside suicide risk screening in 440 schools and developed a new countywide database of resources to provide students with individualized resources.

Participants will learn about:

  • Data collection strategies, including how to measure and track outcomes
  • Key components and tools that can be adapted
  • Crisis response protocols to effectively intervene and keep students safe
  • Peer programming strategies to support each other and foster positive cultural change

The session will include hands-on materials for adaptation and use, review of real-world data tools and trends from San Diego County, and opportunities to engage with resources honored by the California School Boards Association Golden Bell Award.

Speaker:

Heather Nemour is a Program Specialist: Student Wellness & Positive School Climate for the San Diego County Office of Education’s Student Support Services division. She provides coaching, technical assistance and training to the 42 school districts and charter schools across the county in suicide prevention, positive school climate and mental health & wellness. She chairs the San Diego County Suicide Prevention Councils Education Sub-Committee and Children, Youth & Families Behavioral Health Councils System of Care Council’s Education Sub-Committee. On a statewide level, she works with the California Department of Education leading statewide grants on suicide prevention and mental health in schools.