DOWNEY – As schools around the country resume normal operations this fall with in-person learning after the COVID pandemic, educators and health professionals are noticing a drop in the social and academic skills of many K-12 students.

Luz Perez, Director of the TLC program at Downey Unified School District recounted the number of referrals she was getting at the beginning of the year regarding kindergartners who had never been to school before. “I would sit here and chuckle at some of the things they were doing, and I feel for the teachers. They [kindergartners] couldn’t keep their hands to themselves, they were running out, they didn’t want to stay.”

Pandemic protocols, which included distance learning and the closure of schools, created long-term ramifications. Children are readjusting to a formal academic setting as their families continue struggling under changing economic conditions. The year 2022 is a stew of challenges and concerns for schools nationwide.

Speaking at the October meeting of the Downey Coordinating Council, DUSD Superintendent John Garcia shared, “I will tell you that universally, across Downey Unified, when I talked to our folks, last year was the most challenging year of our career.”

Local schools are a priority for city residents. Historically deep community support underpins DUSD’s accomplishments. The district website boasts a 96 percent graduation rate, and last year U.S. News and World Report included Downey and Warren high schools in their rankings for Best High Schools. This year Downey High graduate Priscila Coronado (2015) was named President of the Harvard Law Review. DUSD is also gaining international exposure with its five Apple Distinguished Schools.

Addressing community concerns, Garcia did not shy away from a frank assessment of the difficulties ahead. “The momentum that we built every year has been completely, completely eroded by students being home.”

While he suggested it may be several years before students are back on track, “academically, socially, emotionally,” he spoke confidently about measures put in place that include clinical school therapists at every school and Wellness Centers at the middle and high schools. The afterschool arts and culture program was expanded this school year to all elementary and middle schools and is free to all children. Roughly 2,000 students (9 percent of the student body) are currently enrolled.

Public commitment to K-12 education was evident in the attendance of nearly 300 people at DUSD’s 8th Annual State of the Schools Breakfast. Attendees included members of the many service clubs that give scholarships, such as Kiwanis, Rotary, and Soroptimists, as well as PTA members and civic officials, and nonprofits such as the Downey Symphonic Society and Gangs Out of Downey.

While the event is an overt expression of public support, it is the day-to-day work of so many of these organizations and individuals, usually behind the scenes, that is foundational to DUSD’s successes.

Downey’s medium-sized population (115,000) is an asset for collaborative efforts to meet student needs. City officials, school district personnel, and civic and social organization members often know each other personally. Communication is quick; problems are understood.

Additionally, under Garcia, district programs attempt to address the needs of the entire student body, and not just high achievers. This is recognized as essential if the district is to meet its goal of having every student be college and career ready at graduation.

A close look at two agencies in Downey that serve struggling families highlights the nature and impact of collaborative work within the community.

TLC is a DUSD program with the broad mission of making every effort to mitigate whatever conditions are inhibiting a positive, successful school experience for each child.

The other organization, The Exchange Club Family Support Center, is a nonprofit whose aim is the prevention of child abuse.

Both programs were put in place decades ago with local support. Today the agencies often work closely together because of overlapping concerns with at-risk families and student mental health.

True Lasting Connections

The TLC program (True Lasting Connections) was opened by DUSD in 2000 under then superintendent Ed Sussman with the help of a California Healthy Start Grant to provide “comprehensive, school-community integrated services and activities to improve the lives of children, youth, and families.”

In exchange for start-up funds for a center that would connect families with needed health care services, the grant required proof of community commitment to keep the center ongoing.

People driving down Bellflower Blvd. have likely noticed the big TLC sign on a double-wide bungalow in a corner of the Lewis Elementary School campus.

The name means “connecting families with the resources they need,” explains Perez, who has served as director since its founding 22 years ago.

From the start, the center was supported by all of the major service groups, such as Kiwanis, Rotary, and Soroptimists. Perez recalls Kaiser doctors providing exams at the center for children whose families did not have health insurance.

Now that most children are covered by the Affordable Health Care Act, the rooms used for medical consultations have been converted to accommodate counseling services. When a family doesn’t know how to apply for medical insurance, Perez’s team will help them sign up. Perez reports that Downey’s two main hospitals, PIH and Kaiser, now contribute financial support.

Today TLC draws on resources to help students with a broad range of needs: school supplies, food insecurity, homelessness, grief counseling, dangerous home situations, etc.

“I can meet some needs without ever making a phone call,” Perez says, proudly opening closets filled with community-donated backpacks, lined paper, pencils, markers, toiletries, etc. A truck from a local church regularly makes deliveries of school supplies. In the fall TLC has a sock drive. “Socktober,” she laughs, “because kids always need socks.”

TLC’s reception area is cheerfully decorated with new furniture and children’s books donated by Delta Kappa Gamma, an organization of Downey educators. TLC’s annual 5K race in February has grown into a popular community event. In Perez’s words, community support for the TLC program remains “bigtime.”

Perez and her staff respond to student needs based on written referrals from district personnel, such as teachers, principals, clinical school therapists, etc. Parents cannot approach TLC directly.

During an interview, Perez reads from a stack. “This one says, ‘family cannot afford groceries, student reports. Limited items at home and family often relies on school lunches.’ So obviously, this is something we can handle.” There are two food banks in Downey, including one run by the Downey PTA, and Perez’s staff will reach out to the family.

“This one says ‘backpack.’ That’s very simple. We have a closet with new backpacks. We’ll just send a backpack straight to them. No need to even call the parents.”

Perez continues, “A teacher may report, ‘Student’s glasses are badly scratched and parent says they cannot afford to buy new ones.’ We can help with that.” For such requests, she will write a note on the referral slip indicating whom her caseworkers should call. Last year over 600 students received free eye exams and glasses.

Perez and her staff processed over 1500 referrals last year, answering to various needs. She is proud of her agency’s quick response rate to the school staff making referrals, letting them know that their report did not fall into a bureaucratic hole.

“Everybody will get a follow-up, and it’s going to say something. It might say, ‘referred to an outside agency’ if the family needs clothes. It might say, ‘I never got hold of the parent,’ but they’ll hear something from us. Of course, I always like to be able to say that we were able to connect them [the family] with the requested services.”

TLC hosts grief counseling sessions for students who have lost someone close to them. The sessions are an hour and a half, one day a week for eight weeks, with a maximum of 12 students per session. Groups include all ages, from 7-17 years.

“The older students seem to take on a mentorship role,” explains TLC staffer Rachel Montero. “There is camaraderie that they share, and after the first sessions, they start saying Hi to each other.”

Referrals involving mental health issues and/or thoughts of suicide require risk assessment and referral to a school psychologist. If a referral describes a home situation of high risk, Perez may call the Exchange Club FSC. The goal is to prevent child abuse.

Exchange Club FSC

The Exchange Club Family Support Center of Downey, a non-profit with the mission of preventing child abuse, was opened in 1991 at Apollo Park with Georganne Bruce as its Executive Director.

The Exchange Club itself is a national service organization, much like Rotary and Kiwanis, that was started in the upper Midwest. Bruce recounts a story that the name was adopted by a group of businessmen who met regularly to exchange ideas.

According to Bruce, the Exchange Club was very active in Downey in the 1970s and “was one of the more prominent service clubs at that time.” The Family Support Center owns its own building because of an endowment from an Exchange Club member in the 1990s.

In 1979 the Exchange Club adopted the prevention of child abuse as its national project. Chapters within a geographic area often joined together to sponsor the establishment of a child abuse prevention center.

The Downey center operates under a DBA of Family Support Center because Bruce says the words “child abuse” on her business card was off-putting for many clients.

The FSC takes referrals from courts, agencies, and schools, and sometimes from parents themselves. The core of FSC’s support for at-risk families is a parent aid program with weekly home visits. The center also offers parenting classes, and infant massage classes.

FSC serves a broader community than TLC as its services are not limited to families of DUSD students. Many FSC clients live in surrounding cities.

The myriad Exchange Club support centers across the country operate independently. “We are all responsible for ourselves,” says Bruce. “But, all of the centers across the country must have a parent aid program. That is what ties us together.”

Bruce explains that the goal is to help families avoid involvement with Children’s Services. “We work really hard to identify those families before it gets to a reportable situation, and that’s where our relationship comes in with the schools, as well as mental health agencies.”

Assistance for families begins with a very detailed Initial Needs Assessment. Parents are asked about their own childhood and history, any support system, financial problems, etc. Visits are made to observe the home.

“Our focus is truly parenting and everyday living skills, in order for them to run their homes as efficiently as possible, to lessen different stressors so they can give that time to their kids.” Visits are weekly and Bruce says they will sometimes give up to a 12-months commitment. “We recognize that changing your belief system and maybe overcoming your own past childhood issues is not an easy, quick fix.”

In 1997 Bruce expanded services to offer parenting classes. Most parenting classes, often court ordered, were offered at Adult Education schools. When Bruce talked with parents who were attending, she felt the large class sizes inhibited effectiveness.

“It’s easy for someone to hide in the back and go through the motions, get their certificate, and not gain anything,” she explained. Bruce decided to keep class size small and charge a nominal fee.

“This was not a money-making venture,” she recounted. “I needed buy-in, even five dollars.” If someone couldn’t pay, she offered to let them make payments of a dollar a week.

Most parenting classes at that time offered a curriculum that covered ages 2-12 years. Bruce felt this was too broad and wrote a grant so her staff could be trained in a 0-36 months curriculum. Bruce felt the more age-appropriate instruction was needed

“We are really focusing on communication, on reading, on talking to them [young children], on eye contact and music and playing with their kid—literally teaching parents how to play with their children.”

When FSC had to shut its doors during the pandemic, Bruce had no intention of ceasing services, and she approached her donors to provide laptops so her staff could operate virtually.

“It was a nightmare,” she recounts. Families that were already under stress for other problems now had the children home every day. Many parents had never used a tablet before. FSC “was inundated with people” because so many surrounding agencies did not offer even minimal virtual assistance.

“I had to do so much to keep my staff motivated,” she explains, “because they were experiencing secondary trauma. We all were because of the stress levels that our families were under. We’re trying to keep them motivated while we were scared ourselves.”

Bruce is proud of the assistance her agency was able to give to so many families throughout southern California and even out of state. Bruce’s Zoom classes were serving parents in Texas, Nevada, and one of the Carolinas.

The pandemic’s impact on the infant massage classes brought unexpected consequences. Bruce started offering classes in infant massage 14 years ago. The classes are conducted in person, under the supervision of someone who has been certified. The interaction is viewed as beneficial for parent/child bonding and for situations of colic.

When the pandemic started, the governing body that certifies her staff would not allow virtual sessions. They felt it was too dangerous for the baby

Ultimately, as Bruce explains, the demand for such classes could not be ignored. Many women who were former addicts relapsed to dangerous behavior during pandemic protocols because they lost their support groups. Those who became pregnant had babies who were prenatally exposed to drugs.

Testing revealed that some babies had up to five different substances in them at birth.

“I call these babies my cocktail babies,” says Bruce. She argued strongly for virtual infant massage classes because foster parents were caring for babies going through “significant withdrawal symptoms.”

Bruce concurs with Perez and Garcia about the unique difficulties that schools and support agencies are seeing this year as society tries to steer a course back to “normal.”

Free After School Programs

One local nonprofit, founded with the mission of serving all students, is today providing what is perhaps important emotional support for needy families in the form of afterschool child care and enrichment programs.

Six years ago, Downey parent Linda Saldana organized a nonprofit with the simple goal of providing afterschool music lessons to elementary students. Its name was a mouthful: the Downey Foundation for Educational Opportunity—DFEO.

Saldana inspired community groups with her vision: art was foundational to a quality education. First-graders taught by professional musicians learned to bow child-sized violins and give concerts. In less than five years DFEO’s budget was approaching half a million dollars. The afterschool enrichment program expanded to include other stringed instruments and theater and visual arts.

DUSD welcomed a partnership and offered office space at district headquarters. When schools went to virtual learning because of the pandemic, DFEO offered Zoom sessions whenever possible.

Last year, as pandemic protocols wound down and students moved back on campus, this mutually beneficial partnership enabled DUSD to optimize state grants available, under AB 130, for expanded learning opportunities.

DUSD, in partnership with DFEO, now offers free afterschool childcare at all elementary and middle schools with enrichment programs taught by professionals.

Carpenter Elementary School currently has the largest participation with 150 students. The other 16 schools are averaging 100 students each, with that number expected to rise. Almost 2,000 students, nine percent of the student body, are currently being served.

Many school districts do not have the kind of infrastructure in place that allowed DUSD to so quickly leverage its resources on such an extensive scale.

Farsighted school district planning, with support from service organizations and civic groups, laid the groundwork for this district-wide enrichment program.

Downey local nonprofit Stay Art oversees the arts enrichment part of the afterschool program. Executive Director Gabriel Enamorado says that when DFEO approached him over the summer about a program at 20 schools, he was able to draw on his large network of working artists.

“All of our afterschool enrichment teachers are professional working artists with previous K-8 experience,” he says. Exhibits of student work will be held at Stay Gallery and the Downey Theatre.

A well-known adage says, “it takes a village to raise a child.” It’s clear that the broader Downey community, throughout the years, has played an essential role in the successes of its school district and its students.