Sweetwater Union High School District

Sweetwater Union High School District is working on enhancing the mindset, skills, and shared leadership practices that allow for the intentional design of school systems that support the whole child through a three-part Community of Practice series.

The district's whole-child approach has evolved from years of work to support students beyond academics, beginning with Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports (MTSS). These efforts revealed the need for greater coherence across initiatives rather than parallel systems. When the district received funding for 12 community schools, it became clear that this work could not be layered onto existing structures; SEL, MTSS, and Community Schools needed to move toward an integrated system.

Last year, potential community school grantees met in a learning space co-designed by teams from the Teaching & Learning and Student Support Services departments, bringing together administrators, certificated staff, and classified staff. Their collaboration surfaced a shared desire to continue learning together and strengthen whole-child practices across roles and sites.

This year, that work expanded into a three-part learning series open to all schools, not just the original community school cohort. The series focuses on building a shared whole-child language, using MTSS and Community Schools as coherent anchoring frameworks, applying holistic data to understand student needs, and identifying existing practices across the district to enhance and connect them into a more integrated effort.

Throughout the process, district departments have partnered with school teams to elevate strengths already in place through resource mapping, student feedback (empowerment circles-empathy interviews), and link them to a broader whole-child lens. What began as a grant for 12 schools has grown into a districtwide understanding that coherence across initiatives, shared vision, and integrated systems are essential for sustainable whole-child support across Sweetwater. Schools will soon showcase their learning at the Whole-Child Showcase, where each team will highlight the ways it is bringing a whole-child lens to life.