Wellness System

Starr King’s Wellness System of Care is a web of comprehensive services to increase attendance and better enable students and their families to optimize student learning. The Wellness Team is composed of district staff and members of partner organizations who provide a range of support services on many levels – individual student, family, classroom and whole school.

Introduction to members of the Wellness Team: (categorical designations are not exclusive)

• Administrative: Greg John, Principal
• Attendance: Miles Tarver, Student Advisor
• Physical Health: Mary Jue, School Nurse
• Mental Health: Sabrina Peters, Learning Support Professional; Kruti Patel (MH intern, YMCA Urban Services); Shirelle Lawrence (Edgewood Center, Primary Intervention Program)
• Family Services: Claudia Delarios-Moran, Parent Liaison & Evangeline Abouabdalla, Wellness Center Coordinator
• After School Program Link: Jorge Garcia, ASP Director
• Instructional Link: David Malizia, RSP

Wellness Services include (partners and breakdown in parentheses):

• nutrition and health education (Frances Wong, NEP; 4^th/5^th Grade Obesity Prevention Program, resources for teachers, Child Safety Awareness)
• physical activity promotion (Playworks, Trekkers, Track & Field Program)
• health screening (district mandates, referral)
• medical care plans & medication, medical case management
• daily snack program
• mental and behavioral support (individual and group counseling, behavior plans, case management, push-in classroom support)
• mentoring (adult staff with student, # students served)
• referral to basic family resources (employment, food, clothing, housing)
• parent workshops (monthly)
• free food pantry

Wellness Partners:

• San Francisco Human Services Agency
• Potrero Hill Family Resource Center
• Economic Opportunity Council of SF
• Urban Services YMCA
• Catch Grant, UCSF
• San Francisco Food Bank
• Potrero Hill Recreation Center
• Potrero Hill Community Conveners
• Nutrition Education Program, US Department of Agriculture

Accessing Wellness Services

All staff and parents are welcome to speak to any member of the Wellness Team if they have a question or concern. If a parent is concerned about their child’s learning, for whatever reason, they can make a “request for assistance” by filling out a referral form (available in the main office) and then giving it to their child’s teacher or to Mary Jue, School Nurse. The form, aka 1.0, will then come to the Wellness Team who then decides what the next step might be (such as recommending in-class interventions, obtaining more information, or a meeting with parents, etc.). A team meeting with parents is referred to as a “Student Success Team” (SST) meeting where more information is gathered and interventions brainstormed. Another meeting is generally set to evaluate how the student is doing after interventions have been put into place.