Thousands of families participated in San Jose Unified School District's first-ever back-to-school webinar ahead of the first day of classes, addressing an array of topics from academic programs to resources.
Rigo Palacios, with the district's Office of Family Engagement, says an important part of the communication with families is informing them of the new mental health resources that are available.
"We are contracting with local agencies to provide mental health support resources for families," he said. "So, that is one new offering that’s expanded beyond what we were offering last year."
Families also asked questions about transporation, free and reduced lunch and how to get involved. One thing that wasn't addressed in the webinar was a civil grand jury report titled "District Adrift."
In June, the civil grand jury found San Jose Unified had too much leadership turnover, lacked an overall plan for school safety and left much of the planning to individual campuses. The civil grand jury also dinged the district on how it handles employee investigations and on a lack of tranparency.
The San Jose Unified board rejected the grand jury recommendations on addressing turnover, hiring and employee investigations but said it would explore whether or not a more coordinated safety and emergency approach would be more effective than allowing local campuses to decide what’s best for them.
It will also consider how to provide more transparency for the district that does not stream its meetings and does not allow people to attend remotely.
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The district’s first board meeting is on Aug. 22.
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