May 7, 2018
J
EDCAL 3
California Model School Attendance
Program winners announced for 2018
The California Department of Ed-
ucation has announced that 16 school
attendance programs were recognized as
Model School Attendance Review Boards
(SARBs) for their exemplary practices to
reduce chronic absenteeism and increase
student attendance.
“Students can’t learn if they aren’t in
class,” said Superintendent of Public In-
struction Tom Torlakson. “The role of these
school attendance champions is critical to
ensuring that kids are in school each day
and those students who are having atten-
dance problems are properly supported.
These dedicated professionals are creating
a cohesive and collaborative circle between
the parent, the school and the community.
They are shining examples of what can
occur when everyone is pulling in the same
direction to ensure that all students have
the chance at academic success.”
The announcement of the Model
SARBs follows the availability of state-
wide chronic absenteeism data in Decem-
ber 2017 for the first time in California,
providing a new understanding of chronic
absenteeism patterns in schools, districts
and counties statewide. These data high-
light the importance of efforts by local
SARBs to reduce the number of students
who are missing more than 10 percent of
the days enrolled.
Model SARBs are using absenteeism
data with their partners to target where
resources are needed most. Their strategies
can be models for counties and districts
with high concentrations of chronic absen-
teeism.
The Model SARB awards will be pre-
sented at the California Association of Su-
pervisors of Child Welfare and Attendance
State Conference on May 9, in Fresno.
The 16 Model SARBs:
Anaheim Elementary School District
Charter Oak Unified and Covina-Valley
Unified School Districts
Hawthorne Elementary School District
and Wiseburn School District
Kern High School District
Lucia Mar Unified School District
McFarland Unified School District
Moreno Valley Unified School District
Mount Diablo Unified School District
Nuview Union School District
Ocean View School District
Orange Unified School District
Pomona Unified School District
San Bernardino City Unified School
District
San Jacinto Unified School District
Stanislaus County Office of Education
Val Verde Unified School District
Placing a priority on preventing
catastrophic heat illness in students
The following article was written by the
California Interscholastic Federation for
EdCal.
Today, more than 90 percent of Califor-
nia high schools begin their fall semester
in August. Athletic practices are occurring
all summer and fall when it can be hot and
humid in many parts of California. Exer-
tional Heat Stroke (EHS) is preventable,
but there are still tragic occurrences each
year of “near-misses” with emergency room
visits and hospitalizations.
According to the Center for Disease
Control, heat illness during practice or
competition is the leading preventable
cause of death among U.S. high school
athletes. With our wide and diverse climate
zones from cool coastal beaches to moun-
tains, valleys and deserts, it is imperative
that education and training of admin-
istrators, coaches, parents and students
play a vital role in this preventable illness.
Assembly Bill 2800 would authorize heat
illness training to be fulfilled through
entities offering free online or other types
of training courses. The California Inter-
scholastic Federation, through the National
Federation of State High School Associa-
tions (NFHS), offers a free online class that
would fulfill this new proposed require-
ment. Upon successfully passing the class,
the coaches are issued a certificate and
added to a statewide data base that allows
for school and school district verification
of completion, identical to the free CIF
NFHS Concussion program.
Why is this important?
Recently, California experienced ex-
tremely hot summer and fall seasons, and
the aforementioned “near misses” and trips
to the emergency room is disturbing. While
there are more than 831,000 student-ath-
letes participating on school campuses,
none of these individuals should suffer or
die from exertional heatstroke. In fact, EHS
is the leading cause of preventable death in
high school athletics.
What is heat illness?
Exercise produces heat within the body
and can increase an athlete’s body tempera-
ture. Add to this a hot or humid day and
any barriers to heat loss such as padding
and equipment, and the temperature of the
individual can become dangerously high.
The body normally cools itself by sweating.
But under some conditions, sweating just
isn’t enough. In such cases, a person’s body
temperature rises rapidly. Several factors
affect the body’s ability to cool itself during
extremely hot weather. When the humidity
is high, sweat will not evaporate as quickly,
preventing the body from releasing heat
quickly.
There are progressive steps to Exertional
Heatstroke.
• Heat stress: Heat stress occurs when
a strain is placed on the body as a result of
hot weather.
• Heat cramps: Painful muscle spasms
in the abdomen, arms or legs following
strenuous activity.
• Heat syncope: Sudden dizziness or
fainting experienced after exercising in the
heat.
• Heat exhaustion: A warning that the
body is getting too hot. The person may
be thirsty, giddy, weak, uncoordinated,
nauseous and sweating profusely. The body
temperature is usually normal and the pulse
is normal or raised. The skin is cold and
clammy.
• Heat stroke: Heat stroke is a serious
condition, and is sometimes fatal, so imme-
diate medical attention is essential when
problems first begin. A person with heat
stroke has a body temperature above 104°
F. Other symptoms may include confusion,
combativeness, bizarre behavior, faintness,
staggering, strong rapid pulse, dry flushed
skin, lack of sweating, possible delirium or
coma. Heat stroke occurs when the body
becomes unable to control its temperature.
The body’s temperature rises rapidly, the
sweating mechanism fails, an d the body
is unable to cool down. Body temperature
may rise to 106°F or higher within 10-15
minutes. Heat stroke can cause death or
permanent disability if emergency treat-
ment is not given.
Preventative steps
Minimizing risk and reducing injuries of
California’s student athletes is of para-
mount importance, not only to adminis-
trators, but also the CIF and to the 70,000
high school coaches in California. The
CIF founded in 1996 a Sports Medicine
Advisory Committee (CIF SMAC) that
is comprised of 20 of the most preemi-
nent sports medicine physicians, certified
athletic trainers and health care providers
in the state to enhance and promote policy
decisions help minimize risks and reduce
injuries, including heat illness.
The CIF continues to evolve its safe-
ty protocols at the recommendation of
the CIF SMAC to best reflect the most
recent advances in sports medical science.
Reducing risks and minimizing injuries of
California’s student athletes has been and
remains CIF’s top priority.
Free online heat illness prevention
training
Through the National Federation of
State High Schools (NFHS), a free online
course is designed to give information
needed to minimize the risk of exertional
heat stroke among your athletes. The course
presents seven fundamentals, which, when
followed, will minimize heat related illness-
es of the students who participate:
• Start slow, then progress.
• Allow for individual conditioning,
medical status.
• Adjust intensity and rest.
• Start sessions adequately hydrated.
• Recognize signs early.
• Recognize more serious signs.
• Have an emergency action plan.
Emergency action plans
The Education Code requires schools to
have Emergency Action Plans (EAP) for
the school day, but they are not required for
before/after school activities. According to
the CIF, 68 percent of the 1.9 million high
school students participate in afterschool
activities on our campuses and 72 percent
of our coaches are “walk-ons,” meaning not
members of the regular faculty. This makes
it even more important that afterschool
coaches have an EAP and know what to do
when the campus may be empty and they
are facing a situation such as heat illness,
where seconds can make the difference in
life or death. To assist schools to bridge
this planning gap, the CIF mailed to all
high schools in 2015 a nationally recog-
nized Emergency Action Planning guide
for athletics and activities. This guide helps
schools establish their afterschool emer-
gency procedure regardless of the venue;
the gymnasium, theater, football stadium or
softball field. The guide can be downloaded
for free on the CIF website at http://bit.
ly/2rgDZ3v.
Questions for consideration
• Who in the district is ensuring that all
coaches have met the minimum Education
Code requirements?
• Do our schools have an Emergency
Action Plan for afterschool events?
If yes, does our athletic director make
sure that all coaches, including walk-ons,
know and understand the district expecta-
tions? How are they completing this task?
• Do our schools have a Certified
Athletic Trainer available at practice and
contests? If no, who is responsible to deal
with student injuries, emergencies and
treatment?
• Do our schools have quick and easy
access to ice tubs in case of a heat illness
emergency? (These tubs can be as simple as
filling a kiddie swimming pool and adding
ice, very inexpensive)
• Do our schools have adequate water
available at all practice locations?
Additional resources
CIF Heat Illness Prevention Material
from the CIF SMAC: http://cifstate.org/
sports-medicine/heat_illness/index.
CDC – Preventing Heat Illness: https://
www.cdc.gov/features/prevent-heat-illness/
index.html.
On April 22, ACSA
launched its Fatal
School Violence Task
Force, a group that or-
ganically and quickly emerged after the
February Leadership Assembly and the
shootings in Parkland, Fla. Our leaders
and members were clear – we have to
do something.
And as President Grover Cleveland
once said, “What’s the use of being
elected unless you stand for some-
thing?” My fellow ACSA state board
members, along with Executive Direc-
tor Wes Smith, knew we needed to do
something – and not delay.
This task force is focusing on fatal vio-
lence on school campuses: shootings,
stabbings, etc. The work of this team is
to help prevent kids from being killed.
What the data tells us is that when a
call goes in to 911, it can take up to 15
minutes for law enforcement to arrive,
with an average of 3.5 minutes to arrive
at the scene of an incident on a cam-
pus. For our rural schools and districts,
we know that average is not their re-
ality. The incidents on most campuses
generally end way before law enforce-
ment can get there.
That is where ACSA comes in.
This task force is focusing on a number
of angles, with a goal of completing our
work and sharing the resources in fall,
including at conferences and meetings
statewide. For large urban, small rural,
and all districts in between, the task
force will compile the most reliable
resources, safety devices, communica-
tion plans and logistics for recommend-
ed drills. All the critical needs will be
fully vetted for you.
Have you thought about what types
of lockdown drills are effective? How
frequently should they be practiced?
How do you communicate those drills
to the school community so you are not
sharing key information that might be
used by someone trying to do harm to
students and staff? The key to our work
will be to focus on how to build capac-
ity within your system for any adult to
make a decision.
What about facilities themselves? Let’s
face it – there isn’t enough money to
fence in every school, add cameras
to every hallway and to replace all
windows with bullet-proof glass. What
locks work best on doors? Are window
coverings needed? How many of us
who have been in small districts or
have been superintendent/principals
know what the best approach is unless
we hire one of the many consultants
flooding us with the solutions to ad-
dress our fears? I’ll be honest...I didn’t
know where to sta rt and I don’t think
I’m alone. So, this task force is pulling
together the best advice and resources
on facility needs as well.
There are many questions to be ad-
dressed. When you have an incident
of fatal school violence, what do you
communicate? When? To whom? Are
you in charge or is law enforcement?
Have you considered that your phone
lines will be inundated and you may not
be able to get calls out? And when it
turns out your safety plan personnel for
communication are at a conference at
the other end of the state, then what?
Have you considered building in redun-
dancy to your plan?
See GONZALES, page 6