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THE PESA POST
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Parents, Educators/Teachers & Students in Action

August 25, 2022
IT'S BACK-TO-SCHOOL TIME, AND PESA IS HERE TO HELP
We’ve got a host of services to ease the transition onto campus
As we head into a new school year, it appears that for the first time in more than two years, things are starting to get back to some semblance of—dare we say it?—normalcy. Still, the pandemic and remote learning have had major impacts on the academic and social lives of young people. PESA has several programs and services that can help address these issues and support students and teachers coping in the aftermath of unprecedented societal disruption. Following are some of those offerings:

The Community Attendance Assistance Program (CAAP) — CAAP provides support for students who are truant and/or chronically absent. This program utilizes a holistic approach to determine the root cause of absenteeism and then provides the necessary services to help the student get back on track. 

School Discipline — PESA staff utilize transformative-justice practices such as mediation between students and teachers, emotional counseling and academic support to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline. Our approach to reducing instances of inappropriate student behavior in the classroom is based on our overall model of proactive versus reactive response as well as becoming a trusted individual in the student’s life. Often, PESA staff are in the classroom assisting the teacher, monitoring the student who has had issues in the past and assisting when the student starts to have a negative response to a situation. By creating this bond, PESA staff is able to transform the behavior while avoiding learning loss.

Academic Tutoring and Mentoring — Our tutoring/mentoring program is designed to encourage school participation as well as outside learning. The majority of our tutors and mentors are college students who are not only able to help with school work, but also with encouraging students to think about and plan for their futures. Tutors are paired with students based on similar interests and life experiences in order to cultivate trust and facilitate long-lasting mentor-mentee relationships. We also have specialized programs for English learners and students with dyslexia.

Civic Engagement Program — The purpose here is to educate youth on how to become responsible community activists. Students learn to question, inquire and advocate for change, to work through proper channels and procedures rather than resort to civil unrest. Participants learn about great movements in history, such as the civil rights movement, where not only did activists participate in protests but they also turned to the courts and legislators to successfully bring about change. Students participate in Teen Court and mock trials and prepare and present white papers on neighborhood issues to community leaders. Due to the success of this program, we have been invited to partner with Link Learning and the Career Technical Education Department of the Los Angeles Unified School District. 

Interested in learning more about any of these programs? We invite you to reach out to us. ■

If you’d like to support PESA’s many social and educational initiatives, please contact us.