Minutes 09-23-21 Virtual BOCC-Schools Joint Meeting

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23 families. She said there is constant communication about how the districts can come together. She said OCS has a community engagement committee, which will host some evening meetings this year to better access the community. She said OCS and CHCCS are also working on a student equity team. She said CHCCS has more staff dedicated to this issue and is helping OCS greatly. Commissioner Fowler thanked the staff for the information. She said many of the educational disparities exist in health care too. She is glad to see the partnerships between the school districts. She said the County can do a better job in promoting the many resources that already exist. She said she would also like to see data surrounding the effects of the new code of conduct and support, as it becomes available. She said she is very keen to work together on closing the educational gap. Commissioner Greene said this is an ambitious, daunting and impressive project. She said the achievement gap has seemed intractable, despite all of the work that has been done on it. She asked if the comprehensive approach is a reset of all of the previous work, or if it is layered on top of the previous work. She said there has been a lot of work in the schools to get to this point, and asked if the County program will supersede that work. Annette Moore said no. Dr. Dena Keeling said there is a framework that OCS uses. She said to close gaps, there has to be culturally relevant teaching, and many previous efforts are not working. She said the schools have to look at instructional models that address those gaps successfully. She said having an environment where marginalized students feel like they belong is important to student achievement. She said staff training to be culturally relevant is also important. She said she wants students to feel the entire County wrap around them with support. She said all of this will need to come together to make real change. Annette Moore said breaking down systems of racism takes a community. She said this work will help all entities speak the same language and working together, as opposed to working apart. Chair Price agreed. She said this is a continuum of generations working towards equity and equality. She said progress is made each step of the way, and we have to modify to go to the next level. She said she would like members of GARE to speak at focus groups, and to consider what is happening in the home. She said economics and education all blend together, and the pandemic has shown the relationship between having a job, having food and how that affects the child. She said it is a daunting task. She said she wants to see all working together more, feeding into One Orange. Bonnie Hauser asked if there is a plan to bring this closer to families. She said she likes the Family Success Alliance (FSA), as it gives voice to the community to point out what is stopping children from getting what they need. She asked if the Family Success Alliance can be brought closer to the schools. She said more resources will be needed. Jillian La Serna said the work at the Family Success Alliance could tie into the One Orange initiative. 5. Budget and Personnel Update a. CHCCS — Chief Financial Officer, Jonathan Scott and Chief Human Resources Officer, Erika Newkirk Jonathan Scott made the following presentation: