Pupil Services

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a federal law that protects qualified individuals from discrimination based on their disability. Section 504 forbids organizations from excluding or denying individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to receive program benefits and services. It defines the rights of individuals with disabilities to participate in and have access to program benefits and services. In the school setting, Section 504 guarantees students with disabilities a right to a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).

Section 504 Plan Referral English

Procedural Safeguards

Section 504 Plan Referral Spanish

Procedural Safeguards Spanish

Board Policy 6164.6: Identification And Education Under Section 504

If you have questions about the 504 process at your child’s school or would like to make a referral, please contact site administration for the school’s 504 Coordinator.

Illness plays a significant role in early childhood absences. As parents and guardians, it is important to understand when to send a child to school or keep them home. This infographic is a good indicator of when a child is too sick for school versus when they are healthy enough to attend school. For more information, please visit the AttendanceWorks / Spanish Attendance Works

The purpose of our Foster Youth Program is to provide educational support for children and youth in the foster care system by promoting their academic and personal success. Dixon USD provides services as part of a statewide system of programs designed to meet the unique educational needs of foster children and youth. These services include:

• Liaison services between placement and educational agencies;
• Notification of schools regarding placement and supports for students in foster care;
• Training for school staff;
• Collaboration between partner agencies, foster families, and group home staff;
• Data collection to monitor and evaluate services

Board Policy 6173.1: Education For Foster Youth

Assembly Bill 167

California Assembly Bill (AB) 167 allows a school district to exempt student in foster care from district graduation requirements when the pupil meets the following: (1) he or she is in 11th or 12th grade, (2) transfers to a school within the school district or to another school district, and (3) the district makes a finding that the student is unreasonably able to complete district requirements by the end of the student’s fourth year of high school. Students who qualify under AB167 will be eligible to use the state coursework requirements of 130 credits.

Homeless children are entitled to the protections of the McKinney Vento Act. The Act defines homeless children as “individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.” The act goes on to give examples of children who would fall under this definition:

• Children sharing housing due to economic hardship;
• Children living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or campgrounds due to lack of alternative accommodations;
• Children living in emergency shelters or transitional shelters;
• Children living in cars, parks, or public spaces

Board Policy 6173: Education For Homeless Children

Credit Reduction (California Ed. Code Section 51225.1)

California Assembly Bill (AB) 1806 allows a school district to exempt a student who is a homeless child or youth, as define by Section 11434a(2) of Title 42 of the United States Code who transfers between schools any time after the completion of the student second year of high school from school district and statewide coursework requirements as specified in section 51225.3. Unless the district finds that the student is reasonably able to complete the school district graduation requirements in order to graduate by the end of the student’s fourth year of high school. Students who qualify under AB1806 will be eligible to use the state coursework requirements of 130 credits.

For more information please contact our Homeless McKinney Vento District Liaison:

Nikole Hough – Coordinator of Pupil Services
(707) 693-6300 x8023
nikole.hough@dixonusd.org

A Parent Liaison is a person employed by the Dixon Unified School District and assigned to each school site. Although this person is not a counselor, they work to bridge the communication between school and home by helping parents get the information, support, and help they need to ensure their child’s academic and social success in school. Parent Liaisons want to empower parents and make sure that they understand what they can do to get involved, keep informed, and share information to ensure that their child does his or her best. They are also bilingual and can help staff and parents with translations at events and meetings.

What kind of assistance can the Parent Liaison provide?
A Parent Liaison can connect you with valuable resources available at your school and in Solano County.

Your Parent Liaison can help you make connections with your school through:

• Assisting with Parent/Teacher or Staff meetings
• Arranging for an interpreter
• Back to School Nights
• Kindergarten Orientation Meeting
• Helping parents find opportunities to volunteer

Your Parent Liaison can connect you to important information regarding:

• ELPAC testing
• Summer School
• Special Education
• District Programs

Your Parent Liaison can connect you to support and resources in the event of a crisis situation (emotional, physical, and financial):

• Food and clothing
• Housing
• Illness and Family Deaths
• Attendance/Tardiness
• Substance/Physical Abuse
• Divorce and Separation, Changing Family situations

How can I contact the Parent Liaison at my school?
Call the front office at your school site and ask to be connected with your student’s Parent Liaison.

Anderson Elementary:
Norma Ramirez
707-693-6300 x5519
norma.ramirez@dixonusd.org

Gretchen Higgins Elementary:
Olga Palomino
707-693-6380 x4411
olga.palomino@dixonusd.org

Tremont Elementary:
Alma Bernal
707-693-6300 x3305
alma.bernal@dixonusd.org

John Knight Middle School:
Margarita Rios
707-693-6300 x5519
mrios@dixonusd.org

Dixon High School:
Yolanda Gonzalez
707-693-6300 x7126
yolanda.gonzalez@dixonusd.org

Maine Prairie High School:
Susana Perez
707-693-6300 x7510
sperez@dixonusd.org

All Dixon Unified schools are committed to implement a positive school climate through PBIS. The goal of PBIS is to create schools in which students learn and grow. School climate has bearing on attendance rates, academic achievement, and graduation rates. Regardless of socioeconomic status, students in a positive school climate are more likely to have higher test scores and greater academic success. In addition, a positive school climate helps students to develop the social and emotional skills they will need to become productive members of society.

In short, positive school climate includes:

• A feeling of safety
• Respect
• Engagement in learning
• Involvement in school life
• Shared vision
• Involvement of teachers, students, and families

Current California Healthy Kids Surveys

Dixon Unified School District uses a variety of data to measure school climate, including suspension and expulsion data, attendance data, and the California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS). The California Healthy Kids Survey is an anonymous assessment recommended for students age 10 (grade 5) and above. It is focused on the five most important areas for guiding school and student improvement:

• student connectedness, learning engagement/motivation, and attendance;
• school climate, culture, and conditions;
• school safety, including violence perpetration and victimization/bullying;
• physical and mental well-being and social-emotional learning; and
• student supports, including resilience-promoting developmental factors (caring relationships, high expectations, and meaningful participation).

The purpose of this survey is to obtain information from the students about their knowledge, attitudes, and behavior about things that affect learning. It deals with such issues as truancy, safety, harassment, substance use, school connectedness, and learning supports.

Elementary Report: Dixon_Unified_2122_Elem_CHKS.pdf

John Knight Middle School Report: Dixon_Unified_2122_Sec_CHKS_Grd6-8.pdf

Dixon High School Report: Dixon_Unified_2122_Sec_CHKS_Grd9-12.pdf

Maine Prairie High School Report: Dixon_Unified_2122_Sec_CHKS_NT.pdf

Dixon Unified School strives to create safe and welcome learning environments where students attend and are connected to their schools. DUSD implements measures to prevent bullying in schools including ensuring each school establishes clear rules for student conduct and implements strategies to promote a positive, collaborative school climate through their PBIS programs.

Regulation 5131.2: Bullying

School Attendance Review Board (SARB) is a community and school partnership to meet the needs of youth with attendance and behavior problems. Depending on the success of the local school interventions, a student with attendance or behavior problems in school is referred through the counselor, nurse, teacher, or principal to the Coordinator of Student Services for attention. The District SARB attempts to resolve the student attendance or behavior problems with community support. The SARB committee consists of school administrators, school psychologists, District Registered Nurses, our School Resource Officer, and community members.

Who is referred to SARB?

• Families whose student exhibits irregular school attendance that has not been resolved by interventions or home contact.
• Students whose serious behavior problems have not been resolved by school efforts.

For more information regarding SARB, please contact our SARB Chairperson, Nikole Hough at nikole.hough@dixonusd.org

Dixon Unified School District is committed to supporting the whole child, which includes providing social-emotional supports to all students in need. The Mental Health Team consists of licensed Mental Health Clinicians, School Psychologists, Behaviorists and Supervised Interns assigned to each site. This webpage contains social-emotional resources for students and families as well as ways to contact the Mental Health Clinicians assigned to your student’s school site or make a Social Emotional/Behavioral Referral.

Social Emotional Support Referrals

If you are concerned about your child’s social emotional well-being, please complete the referral form below.

Social Emotional Referral

Referrals are confidential and are forwarded by email to the administrative team in the Pupil Services Department. Only those individuals with a need to know will be informed of the referral.

If this is an emergency, please call 911 immediately or take your child to the nearest hospital.

Care Solace

Care Solace takes the stress off of families and district staff by breaking down the barriers to mental healthcare. Care Solace is a resource available to district families for free.

Contact Care Solace 24/7

1 (888) 515-0595 to speak with someone from your concierge team or visit our link at https://www.caresolace.com/dixonusd.

Substance Abuse Education and Prevention

The Dixon Unified School District requires its campuses to be tobacco and electronic vaping products-free. DUSD prohibits the use of tobacco and electronic vaping products, at any time, in district-owned or leased buildings, on district property and in district vehicles. DUSD provides Tobacco Prevention Education and Intervention through a state funded TUPE grant for all students. The TUPE program provides funding for programs in grades six through twelve through a competitive application process for tobacco-specific student instruction, reinforcement activities, special events, and intervention and cessation programs for students. You can learn more about Dixon Unified Board Policy by clicking the link below.

Board Policy

What is Brief Intervention?

Brief Intervention, which consists of three to four 20-minute sessions that combine motivational interviewing (MI) and cognitive behavioral therapy by trained staff will be offered at the discretion of the administrative designee in lieu of a class suspension for drug and alcohol-related discipline offenses. Parent/guardian must consent to the intervention and the student must agree to participate in the intervention. Students who do not complete their BI counseling sessions will receive a suspension.

Students who are found to be in possession of substances, tobacco, or alcohol can participate in the Brief Intervention(Ed Code 48900(c)(k)(Drug Possession or Use (Alcohol, Tobacco, and all other Drugs)).

If a student is under the influence at school, they are to be sent home for a one day suspension and can agree to participate in the Brief Intervention upon their return (Ed Code 48900(c)(k)(Drug Possession or Use (Alcohol, Tobacco, and all other Drugs)).

Students selling a controlled substance on campus cannot participate in Brief Intervention and will be recommended for expulsion per Ed Code 48900(c)(k), 48915(a1)(c3) Providing, Selling, or Buying a Controlled Substance.

Purpose:

Drug- and alcohol-involved middle and high school students markedly reduced their substance use following three to four 20-minute sessions that combined motivational interviewing (MI) and cognitive behavioral therapy. The students also reported significantly fewer substance-related symptoms of substance use disorders during the 6 months after the intervention compared with the 6 months before it. Studies show this method to be a more effective consequence than suspension for reducing substance use in adolescents.

GLBT National Youth Hotline
The gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) youth talkline provides telephone, online private one-to-one chat and email peer-support, as well as factual information and local resources for cities and towns across the United States.
Hours: Monday-Friday, 1:00-9:00 p.m. and Saturdays, 12:00 – 5:00 p.m.
800-246-7743 (PRIDE)
Email: help@GLBThotline.org

National Sexual Violence Resource Center https://www.nsvrc.org/find-help
The National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) is the leading nonprofit in providing information and tools to prevent and respond to sexual violence.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline https://988lifeline.org/
The lifeline is a 24-hr, toll-free suicide prevention service available to anyone in suicidal crisis of their friends and loved one.
800-273-8255 (TALK)
Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: 988

National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/
The NEDA Helpline is available Monday-Thursday from 9 am – 9 pm ET, and Friday from 9 am – 5pm ET. Contact the Helpline for support, resources and treatment options for yourself or a loved one.
Helpline volunteers are trained to help you find the information and support you are looking for. Reach out today!
Helpline: (800) 931-2237

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233, www.thehotline.org/
911 or visit your nearest hospital emergency room if you can get there safely