TCOE Dispatch 2024-08 by Jeff Morris

Welcome back to school everyone!!  

The Trinity County Office of Education team is excited to be starting another school year with you and your education teams.  :)

As our office and the needs of our school districts evolve, we continue to adapt to the needs of our school’s staff, students, families and communities.  

Wellness Coaches:  This year is no exception, as we continue to place significant emphasis on student health and wellness.   Through our team’s efforts we’ve been able to secure both grant funding and prioritize our own funding to ensure that our Wellness Coach / Liaison program continues in addition to retaining our mental health programming, other health services and support for special education.

Instructional Support Coaches: On the Education Services front, we’re thrilled that our Instructional Support coaches will be starting their 2nd full year as a team.  We’ll continue to coordinate After School and Tobacco Prevention programming and our usual swath of events, in addition to providing musical instruction to a number of school districts.  

Business Office Continues to Evolve: The business office has also changed over the last few years with our staff handling business operations for a number of districts in addition to the traditional roles of AP processing, payroll and other aggregate functions.

For a full list of our employees you can see our org chart here or go to the staff page on our website.

We’re looking forward to a successful school year and are excited about supporting our local school districts, students and families.

An inspiring display of collaboration and skill, WorkAbility I students work with the Trinity County Office of Education, participating in a series of hands-on projects for Native American, Day McKinney-Vento, and Foster Youth programs.

Two highlights are the students' involvement in completing an ongoing leather project for Native American Day, and the sublimation and creation of drink-ware for the McKinney-Vento and Foster Youth Programs.

Students used this technique to create custom drink-ware for the two youth programs' upcoming end-of-year meeting. This project was particularly impactful, as it equipped students with new technical skills and experience with specialized equipment.

These activities underscored the positive impact of collaborative educational initiatives. The student's hard work demonstrated the significant benefits of such programs in empowering youth and preparing them for future success.

For more information on our Workability Program, visit: https://bit.ly/TCOE-Workability

An inspiring display of collaboration and skill, WorkAbility I students work with the Trinity County Office of Education, participating in a series of hands-on projects for Native American, Day McKinney-Vento, and Foster Youth programs.

Two highlights are the students' involvement in completing an ongoing leather project for Native American Day, and the sublimation and creation of drink-ware for the McKinney-Vento and Foster Youth Programs.

Students used this technique to create custom drink-ware for the two youth programs' upcoming end-of-year meeting. This project was particularly impactful, as it equipped students with new technical skills and experience with specialized equipment.

These activities underscored the positive impact of collaborative educational initiatives. The student's hard work demonstrated the significant benefits of such programs in empowering youth and preparing them for future success.

For more information on our Workability Program, visit:

As the 2023 - 2024 school year glides towards completion, our county wide education team looks back at a year filled with activity supporting local school districts, successes of local kids and teams while at the same time planning for the upcoming year.  
 

RECRUITMENT

As we wind down the current school year, we are already preparing for next year.  Our budget and business office folks have been “in the trenches” of the upcoming school year for a few months already, developing financial strategies while also keeping a close eye on the state budget negotiations.  
 

With an eye on future years, we are also proud to announce that the Trinity County Office of Education (TCOE) has launched a new recruitment video that features staff and leaders from every school district in the county. 
 

Funded by TCOE, and produced by Happy Valley Film Co., the video promotes working at local school districts and life in Trinity County overall.  We launched the video on social media this week and already it’s garnered a huge response! 
 

RETIREMENTS

It’s with a combination of happiness and sadness that we say goodbye to Laura Dawson and Ann Hill, who are both retiring at the end of this school year.   With combined decades of service to the schools and kids of Trinity County, Laura and Ann are both leaving a legacy of great works and impact for us to continue.  We are hoping to see them both out enjoying their new lives in the community!! 

DRIVEN BY DATA

While our school districts recently wrapped up this year’s standardized testing sessions, we spent a good chunk of time supporting districts based on last year’s test scores that are outlined on the California Dashboard and the California Test Results websites that give two different views of standardized test results, by county, district and school site .  Our Differentiated Assistance work has started to yield results for our local school districts and we’re looking forward to working with all school districts on continuous improvement objectives. 
 

We’re also pretty pumped up about our emerging use of data and analysis tools at multiple districts.  Many of our school districts are using either the IXL or iReady diagnostic platforms to help individual students fill in their knowledge gaps and grow their individual strengths.  Our instructional coaches are working with many faculty members in the implementation of these supportive tools.  Additionally, we recently hosted a session with representatives from our data analysis platform, Qualtrics, that we’re utilizing more and more countywide to assist districts with everything from test scores, attendance, and health referrals to community feedback and overall community demographic profiles.  We hope to expand use of all of these tools in the upcoming school year! 
 

HAPPY SUMMER / SEE YOU NEXT SCHOOL YEAR
All in all, we are incredibly proud of the accomplishments of our local school districts over the past year and are looking forward to both some down time over the summer (hit the rivers and lakes is the advice from our recruitment video) while also planning for the upcoming year.   

Highlights

• Grants: TCOE Mini Grant Applications Now Open!
• Legal: New Legal Guidance Regarding Health
• Events: Qualtrics Training and more!
• Learning Corner: CTE in the North State
• Professional Development: So many options it's a little overwhelming!!

TCOE Dispatch 2024-04 by Jeff Morris

On the evening of April 16, Hayfork Elementary School hosted local families to dinner and an evening of fun activities for the community’s “Little Learners”!

Sponsored by the Trinity County Local Childcare Planning Council, local kids and their families were treated to dinner (courtesy of Casa De Castellanos) and explored and participated in a wide variety of activities including early literacy, brain development, the importance of play, water safety, and oral health and nutrition. Kids received life jackets, books, sensory bins, dental hygiene kits, and piggy banks.  All part of the Little Learning Spaces program.

“This event was so much better than I expected”, said one local parent, “I couldn't get my kid to leave! I even bribed him with ice cream and sprinkles, but that didn't compare with the fun he was having. Great fun for the whole family."
 
Many local partners contributed to this event to support stronger community connections, improve safety, and share early learning resources.

Participating agencies and partners included the Trinity County Sheriff’s Department, Human Response Network, Trinity County Public Health, Trinity County First 5, Mountain Kids Therapy, UC Cal Fresh, Far Northern Regional Center, Barnes PlayCare, Ready Set Goal, Trinity County Office of Education and Hayfork Elementary School.  Special thanks to Sadie “Book Butterfly” ***en and the Workability Squad from Mountain Valley USD.

Burnt Ranch Elementary will be hosting their own Little Learning Spaces event on Tuesday, April 30.  

Spread the word!!

    Grants: ECybermission Mini Grant
    Legal: Artificial Intelligence for Public Agencies
    Events: Trinity County Annual STEAM EXPOs
    Learning Corner: Why It Matters - The Morning Meeting
    Professional Development: Neuroscience: Transformative Education Practice Sessions

TCOE Dispatch 2024-03 by Jeff Morris

March of 2024 was a FULL month of events, planning and coordination for our team at the Trinity County Office of Education!!

From planning for and facilitating History Day, the Countywide Spelling Bee and the Love & Logic parenting classes, to planning for the upcoming STEAM and Young Artist Showcase events, TCOE’s Ed Services team has had a power packed month of activities.

History Day at Burnt Ranch Elementary
Nestled above the wild and scenic Trinity River, Burnt Ranch Elementary School hosted this year’s Trinity County National History Day competition. Competitors included 4th – 8th graders from two participating Trinity County schools competing for medals and a chance to attend the National History Day state finals at California State University Sacramento on April 19 –21. Within the theme “Turning Points in History”, out of the 57 projects that were entered, Naiya Tamura, Brayden Cooney, and Kelsea Allen from Burnt Ranch Elementary were chosen as the top finalists. Sensi Sullivan and Oliver Stewart were chosen as finalists from Trinity Center Elementary.

Spelling Bee at Hayfork Elementary
Student word gladiators from six local school districts dug into their vowels and consonants battled it out, with a hearty few becoming this year’s spelling champions

Grades 4 -6 / 1st Place: Brodie Reid, Weaverville Elementary / 2nd Place: Finn French, Weaverville Elementary / 3rd Place: Aevaley Connor, Hayfork Elementary
Grades 7 -9 / 1st Place: Aedan Grepo, Junction City Elementary / 2nd Place: Tulianna Briddle, Burnt Ranch Elementary / 3rd Place: Wesley Dresselhaus, Douglas City Elementary

Love and Logic at Trinity County Library, Weaverville
A robust number of families attended the first in a multi-session series to further develop their parenting and relationship skills.  Throughout the sessions attendees will learn how to turn parenting into a rewarding teaching activity while also learning practical tools for adults to use with children of all ages and help to create health relationships and maintain them over the long haul.  

Don’t miss these upcoming events!!
 

Young Artist Showcase - Saturday, April 06
4:00 – 8:00 pm, Highland Art Center, Weaverville

STEAM Events
Hayfork – Thursday, May 30
9:30 am – 12:00 pm, Hayfork Elementary School    

Weaverville – Wednesday, April 11
4:30 – 6:30 pm, Weaverville Elementary Gym
  

Highlights

    Grants: Applications Available for Extreme Heat Facilities and Planning Grant  
    Legal: Purchasing and Procurement Guidance Webinar
    Events: County Spelling Bee and STEAM Nights Coming Up!
    Learning Corner: Recommended Literature List Update Now Available
    Professional Development: California Dyslexia Initiative Virtual Training, June 11 - 12