About

About the Partnership

The Monterey Peninsula Unified School District (MPUSD), The National Center for Youth Law (NCYL), and The Monterey County Office of Education (MCOE) have come together to form a strong partnership with the shared purpose of supporting students and families who are experiencing homelessness and/or housing insecurities. This collaboration was formed in 2018 when NCYL partnered closely with MPUSD’s Multi-Tier Systems of Support (MTSS) team to support students experiencing homelessness. This collaboration incorporates all aspects of the NCYL Compassionate Systems Framework which seeks to create conditions by which young people are seen, heard, and encouraged, while experiencing adults as allies and supporters. MCOE’s leadership has become vital in increasing our impact and community engagement.

Meet The MPUSD Team

Donnie Everett

Assistant Superintendent of Multi-Tiered Systems of Support with the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District (MPUSD); Donnie oversees support services for student’s preschool through 12th grade. In an effort to develop creative ways to respond to the ever-increasing needs of youth and families, MPUSD became a demonstration site, in partnership with the National Center for Youth Law. This partnership focused on developing a comprehensive Tiered Systems model for supporting vulnerable student populations, focused on students experiencing homelessness.

Carlos Diaz

District McKinney-Vento and Foster Liaison; Carlos serves as the lead liaison for all of MPUSD and oversees the family resource center. He partners directly with families at all levels to provide support and connect them with the in-house resources that MPUSD has to offer (i.e. food, clothing, hygiene supplies, bus passes, etc.).

Aaron Wood

Director of Multi-Tiered Systems of Support with Monterey Peninsula Unified School District (MPUSD); Aaron supports our Mental Health and Social Emotional supports as well as our district’s positive climate and culture efforts through a PBIS framework. Aaron also supports the districts MTSS initiative through supporting sites with developing strong systems of support for students with academic, behavioral, and/or social emotional needs.

Andrea Diaz

School Social Worker; Andrea serves as a school based social worker for all the district’s middle schools. She supports both McKinney-Vento and Foster students with basic needs (i.e. clothing, food, shelter, etc.), education (i.e. attendance, grades, transportation, etc.), and therapeutic interventions.

Debora Ogarrio

Community Liaison Leader as part of the Student Support Services team; Debora primarily serves the district’s elementary schools.

Meet The NCYL Team

Michelle François

Senior Director of Compassionate Education Systems (CES) at the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL); Michelle leads NCYL’s Compassionate Education Systems Initiative to ensure that all young people experience compassion, love and respect in their day to day lives at school, feel welcome in their school communities, are supported to thrive in school, and are afforded respect and opportunity to express their values, perspectives and preferences in educational decision making. Her role encompasses CES as a whole, including all CES sites in both California and Arizona.

Kayla Schivo

Senior Program Manager, Compassionate Education Systems Monterey at the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL); Kayla leads the Monterey Demonstration Site where she works with NCYL liaisons and their partner school district, MPUSD, to support students and families who experience homelessness. A large part of her role as program manager is to use data and evaluation to identify gaps in services, improve best practices, and continue to push the work. None of this would be possible without the whole team.

Margaret Olmos

California Director of Compassionate Education Systems at the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL); Margaret is the Director of the Compassionate Education Systems team in California which aims to improve the educational outcomes of young people experiencing homelessness, involved in the foster care system, and on juvenile probation. This initiative works in local communities to ensure students experience compassion by the many adults entrusted to support them and are supported on their path to graduate from high school and the futures they want for themselves.

Erica Parker

Education Liaison; Erica serves as an education liaison across two high schools, Monterey High School and Educational Options, where she serves students and families who are identified as McKinney-Vento. She partners directly with young people and their families to support a variety of needs such as basic needs (i.e. clothing, food, shelter, etc.), education (i.e. attendance, grades, transportation, etc.), and personal growth (i.e. goal setting, college and career planning, etc.).

Aracele Ortiz

Education Liaison; Aracele serves as an education liaison across two high schools, Marina High School and Seaside High School, where she serves students and families who are identified as McKinney-Vento. She partners directly with young people and their families to support a variety of needs such as basic needs (i.e. clothing, food, shelter, etc.), education (i.e. attendance, grades, transportation, etc.), and personal growth (i.e. goal setting, college and career planning, etc.).

Meet The MCOE Team

Donna Smith

Program Coordinator II with the Monterey County Office of Education’s Homeless Children and Youth Services; The Homeless Children and Youth Services Program serves all school districts, charter schools, alternative education programs, preschool programs, and higher education programs throughout Monterey County. It is our mission to provide support, service, and leadership to all of our collaborative partners dedicated to providing assistance and support to children and youth experiencing homelessness.