How Your Student is Being Supported

Every student's wellness is a priority for the Los Altos School District (LASD). Your student's physical and mental health is nurtured through caring teachers and staff at your school, as well as a variety of wellness and school-based mental health services:

• Parent Education Speakers
• PE Classes (with health and wellness-focused lessons)
• School Psychologists
• Family Engagement Facilitator
• Mental Health Counselors
• Social-Emotional Learning
• LASD Teacher Training

All LASD teachers received extensive training on ways to create a strong school-based social-emotional learning (SEL) program. They’ve had professional development in Trauma-Informed Practices, Emotional Resilience, CASEL’s 5 Core Competencies, and more.

Read on to learn more about LASD student wellness.

Parent Education Speakers

Throughout the school year, parents of LASD students can attend the MVLA Parent Education Speaker Series, offering nationally and internationally recognized experts who discuss a wide range of topics relevant to parenting. Funded by LAEF, LAMV PTA Council, MVEF, and MVLA High School Foundation, these talks are free to parents in our school districts. 

Parent speaker topics this school year include:

The Price You Pay For College: An Entirely New Road Map
The Opposite of Spoiled:  Raising Kids Who Are Grounded, Generous, and Smart About Money
Yes, Your Teen Is Crazy
The Question Is the Answer:  Practical Strategies to Unleash Critical Thinking At Home
The Addiction Inoculation:  Raising Healthy Kids in a Culture of Dependence
Implicit and Unconscious Bias:  Bridging the Distance Between Our Professed Values and Daily Behaviors
Raising Well: The 25 Questions Every Kid Must Answer to Build a Meaningful Life
Kids Are Watching Pornography:  Here’s How to Talk About It

Physical Education (PE) Classes

Elementary school students in TK through 6th grade, attend PE with a certified PE teacher funded by LAEF, twice a week, except 3rd graders who attend PE three times a week. This year's teachers are Mary Alber, David Cerecedes, Doug Core, Jay Heeb, Candice Marquis, Josh Ortman, and Pearl Garvin. 

Students in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade focus on PE activities that help improve motor skills, movement patterns, balance, manipulative skills, special awareness, coordination, cooperation, sportsmanship, and physical fitness.  The activities are aligned with the California Physical Education State Standards.

Students in 4th, 5th, and 6th-grade focus on fitness, specialized skills, and sports activities. These activities are closely aligned with the California Physical Education State Standards. Each class usually starts with student-led stretching, and a warm-up run. Depending on the weather, many of the following units will be covered in the upper grades throughout the school year: Soccer, Ultimate Frisbee, Racquet Sports, Basketball, Football, Softball, Hockey, Volleyball, Fitness Testing, Recreational Games, and Junior Olympics. Emphasis is placed on skills acquisition, teamwork, cooperation, and sportsmanship. During February, California state-mandated fitness testing is administered to measure performance in cardiovascular strength/endurance, muscular strength/endurance, and flexibility. Fitness for life is also emphasized in this program. The Junior Olympics is a District-Wide friendly competition with all schools in LASD, usually scheduled for the last Saturday in April. This is one of the highlights of the year.

Junior high students at Blach and Egan attend PE four days a week and Health one day a week to develop a better understanding of a healthy and fit lifestyle physically, emotionally, mentally, and socially. PE includes a combination of team sports (ex. soccer, basketball, flag football, lacrosse, etc.) and individual sports (ex. dance, tennis, badminton, table tennis, bowling, disc golf, and archery at Blach). Students also participate in fitness activities like running, curl-ups, push-ups, and flexibility. 
Junior high Health class includes instruction in wellness, study skills, drugs, family life, nutrition, and bullying.

School Psychologists 

Each LASD school has a school psychologist who supports both the special education department and the general welfare of students. Psychologists work closely with classroom teachers to create safe learning environments. They may lead social skills groups with targeted students, teach problem-solving skills in a classroom, or counsel students in their office who are struggling to fully engage in their education due to anxiety or depression. More intensive support is also available to elementary and junior high school students through our school district as recommended by the school psychologist or principal. At the district level, an additional school psychologist was added for the 2021-22 school year to support mental health and academic interventions and new behavior technicians are now available to help all schools with disruptive behavior and to assist with constructive play at lunch. Parents who feel that their child needs extra mental health support should reach out to their school psychologist or principal.

Family Engagement Facilitator  
New this year, LASD added a family Engagement Facilitator to reach out to support families in need and link them with resources in the community as well as connect them to support within the schools. 

Mental Health Counselors

Every LASD school has counseling and mental health services, provided by CHAC therapists, available to help students referred by the school psychologist or principal. CHAC therapists are trained, experienced professionals who strive to remove barriers to learning so students can get back in the classroom. With funding support from LAEF and other sources, CHAC provides individual and group counseling for students, along with grief and crisis intervention services. CHAC therapists for junior high are trained in the unique needs of students this age. Additional parent consultation and family services are available through the CHAC Clinic in Mountain View. 

New this year, CHAC added the “Back Together” program which uses art therapy to work with students to address and verbalize their feelings and provide a safe space at school.

In addition to CHAC therapists, each junior high has a mental health therapist, partially funded by an El Camino Healthcare District Community Grant, focused on supporting the more acute needs of that student population and the overall wellness community at the school. 

Social-Emotional Learning

Elementary school students have a “Morning Meeting”, which is a component of Responsive Classroom. Students gather each school day to build community and proceed through four sequential components: greeting, sharing, group activity, and a morning message. Responsive Classroom is a student-centered, social-emotional learning approach to teaching and discipline. It comprises a set of research, and evidence-based practices designed to create safe, joyful, and engaging classrooms and school communities for both students and teachers.

Junior high students attend “Advisory”, a required class, once a week. Adult and peer connectedness are central to fostering academic engagement and learning at this age. The Advisory class is designed with this as a priority, recognizing the critical importance of social-emotional skill-building.

Advisory incorporates the 5 Competencies of Social Emotional Learning through interactive discussions, videos, and activities. The class curriculum is supplemented with the use of the Responsive Advisory framework and Suite 360.

LASD Teacher Training

LASD remains committed to equipping our teachers to effectively support student wellness through continued professional development. 

All LASD teachers have received extensive training on ways to create a strong school-based Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) program. SEL is the process through which students learn and then apply skills to understand and manage emotions, set goals, foster positive relationships, and practice making good decisions. Some teachers also received training on mindfulness for staff and how to implement those practices in their classroom, attended a Mission Be workshop on mindfulness, or participated in other wellness and mental health learning opportunities.

All staff members (certificated and classified) have been trained about suicide warning signs using Keenan SafeSchools and LASD psychologists-facilitated discussions to follow up after the training to ensure all staff understood and could recognize the warning signs. 

Let’s thank our teachers and staff for investing in the physical and mental health of our students.

Find out what's happening in other LAEF funded programs this school year.