2025 ACSA Every Child Counts Symposium

Administrators and aspiring administrators, from general education to special education, don't miss out on this opportunity to learn key skills to help build and improve efficiencies and practices around special education at your site through the Six-Circle Model - patterns (operations), structure, process (strategies), relationship, information, and identity. All six circles are important to creating organizational success and by working within this framework, it allows us to see the critical and interdependent impacts of people and how to create a culture with values that provide an infrastructure to achieve powerful and creative results._x000D_
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Stay ahead of potential conflict at your school-site by learning how to best support your special education case managers and IEP teams (parents included!) to save everyone time in and out of the IEP. Participants will gain tangible skills and resources on how to become a more effective manager, minimize conflict, and build relationships with your families.

This involves more than just physical accessibility; it requires a commitment to creating a supportive and adaptive learning space that meets the unique needs of every student. Inclusive classrooms benefit all students by promoting empathy, understanding, and collaboration.

Continuous improvement has taken hold in education! What does that look like in your context? Are you looking for strategies to reinvigorate your improvement efforts? Join this session to workshop transitioning plans into action. Workshop improvement routines and strategies, including grab-and-go activities and communication strategies for leveraging hearts and minds as part of your improvement efforts. Plan to have an improvement plan (e.g. CIM, DA, LCAP, etc.) on hand for reference.

Empathy interviews allow you to gather qualitative data from those closest to the problem and often, furthest from the resources. This session introduces the concept and gives participants time to practice this meaningful skill and debrief with their peers and presenters as well as discuss the process for analyzing empathy interview data. Participants will have access to tips and resources throughout the interactive session and leave with the knowledge to use this powerful tool._x000D_
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A student's truancy journey begins at their school site. We often have a well-established SARB process at the district level, but what preventative steps exist at the site level? Who do we engage? What does the SART process look like prior to the student being referred to the district-level SARB? Explore this destination transformation with a veteran administrator with over 12 years overseeing SART/SARB. As a participant, you will navigate this frontier through the exploration of: legal mandates; program implementation; sample documents, handbook, and a framework. You will walk away with tools to implement upon your return to your site and/or district.

THIS SESSION WILL PROVIDE THE ATTENDEE WITH A FOUNDATIONAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE VARIOUS TYPES OF DRUGS AND CURRENT DRUG TRENDS AND SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF USE. IT WILL COVER PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION STRATEGIES AND DISCUSS THE IMPORTANCE OF OF DEVELOPING SYSTEMS THAT ADDRESS TEEN DRUG AND ALCOHOL USE FROM A MULTI-TIERED, TREATMENT BASED APPROACH. _x000D_
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AREAS TO BE COVERED: 1. TYPES OF DRUGS AND CURRENT DRUG TRENDS 2. SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF USE 3. PREVENTION MEASURES 4. INTERVENTIONS 5. A SUPPORTIVE, TIERED APPROACH TO DRUGS AND ALCOHOL USE 6. NARCAN AND HOW TO USE IT ATTENDEES WILL BE TRAINED ON THE USE OF NARCAN.

In-school encounters are liable for the poor academic results acquired by foster/homeless youth, which means foster youth’s dealings with teachers, administrators, and other adults on campus will have significant impacts on academic and social outcomes. Foster and homeless youth trail academically compared to other students. Entry into foster care results in the likelihood of being retained in grade level and poor performance on standardized assessments. It has been reported that 30% of youth shared placement changes that resulted in missing at least one month of school. _x000D_
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During this presentation, we will discuss staff members' vital roles in the academic and social/emotional success of foster/homeless students. Participants will discuss staff members' changing mindsets and what strategies are best used to enhance the positive academic and social/emotional outcomes of foster/homeless youths at their school sites. _x000D_

This workshop will help LEA's identify implementation strategies for establishing a wellness center, including identification and support of students experiencing homelessness, establishing community partnerships to leverage resources, and highlighting a district-wide system of support. Furthermore, we will highlight pathways to sustainability that include the Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) Grant through the California Department of Education and through the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI) Statewide Multi-Payer School-Linked Fee Schedule program that is part of California's Master Plan for Kids' Mental Health.