8 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY JUNE 1-7, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com NEWS A few months before its 40th anniversary, Chartwell School, a private school in Seaside focusing on students with dyslexia and other learning differences, received a $45 million donation from Charles “Chuck” and Claire Jacobson’s estate. Jacobson was a board member at Chartwell and was dyslexic. “[He] was very involved in our mission and what we do, because it’s the type of learner that he was,” says Danielle Patterson, head of the school. Chartwell School started in 1983 with a teacher and six students; today the school has 180 students in grades 1 through 12. The donation will support students at Chartwell and beyond. Funds will provide financial aid and go toward a new building allowing Chartwell’s high school to expand its athletic and STEM facilities; the new facility, now in its design phase, will increase the capacity for high school students from 70 to up to 300. Funds will also go to expanding Chartwell’s teacher training institute, where teachers from other private and public schools learn tools and techniques to increase literacy in their own classrooms. The institute uses different methods, including the Orton-Gillingham approach for teaching kids with dyslexia, and the latest science around reading, such as research showing teachers should focus more on phonetics. MPUSD teachers will attend Chartwell’s threeday training this summer and fall, with a focus on foundational skills for grades K-3. MPUSD will pay Chartwell $45,000 to train 105 elementary teachers. “The purpose is to develop our capacity to serve all readers well, particularly who struggle with early literacy,” MPUSD Superintendent PK Diffenbaugh says. The ABCs Chartwell School receives a $45 million gift, and plans to expand teacher literacy training. By Celia Jiménez When the new executive director of the Housing Authority of the County of Monterey, Zulieka Boykin, came on board in December of last year, she inherited a set of monumental challenges after a string of directors came and went over several years, each leaving behind systemic problems that bogged down the system of issuing federal housing vouchers. One of the agency’s most pressing problems when she arrived was its failure to issue most of the 269 Covid-19 emergency housing vouchers it had in its possession. In January, Boykin reported to the HACM board of directors that only 74 were in use, or 27 percent. Not only had nearly 200 vouchers gone unused since the start of the program in May 2021, a deadline was looming. HACM had to assign all of the emergency vouchers to recipients by the end of September 2023, or give them all back. Boykin declined to comment on why HACM had taken so long to issue vouchers before her arrival, instead focusing on efforts since she was hired. She and representatives of local agencies and nonprofits that serve people who are homeless began meeting weekly to increase the assignment of vouchers. As of May 30, 139 people are in units and another 99 are actively searching for landlords to accept the vouchers, Boykin says, leaving 31 vouchers unassigned. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development records on May 30 show HACM with just under 50 percent of units leased, compared to 76 percent nationwide. Statewide, 74.6 percent of units are leased out of 17,206 emergency vouchers. HUD issued the vouchers two years ago as the pandemic wore on with the goal of getting those most vulnerable—unhoused people, those about to lose their homes and those fleeing domestic violence—into safe, secure rental housing quickly. The plan was for each region’s Continuum of Care—in the case of Monterey and San Benito counties, the Continuum is the Coalition of Homeless Service Providers based in Seaside—to screen applicants, then refer them to HACM, the HUD-approved agency to approve applications and distribute vouchers. According to Genevieve LucasConwell, executive director of the Coalition, they have made 800 referrals to HACM as of May, a 3-to1 ratio considered “best practice,” since some people who applied may drop off for different reasons or fail to qualify in the final application process. Lucas-Conwell says in the weekly meetings they’ve worked to identify those who are most vulnerable, such as those who are chronically homeless, people with families, or who have medical conditions, among other factors. Once someone is referred to HACM, candidates work with case managers who assist them in getting their paperwork completed. If they are successfully assigned a voucher, the case manager assists them in securing housing. Boykin says they are providing additional case management to assist the 99 people searching for housing. “Additionally, I hope we can increase landlord interest in the voucher program to offer more opportunities,” she says. That includes actions taken last year by HACM and approved by HUD to increase payments so landlords receive more in rent while tenants are able to pay less. Genevieve Lucas-Conwell, executive director of the Coalition of Homeless Service Providers, is working with others to assign emergency housing vouchers. Catching Up People in urgent need of housing went without, despite the existence of emergency vouchers. By Pam Marino Teacher Stacey Whitman at Chartwell School. Jodi Amaditz, director of teaching and learning at Chartwell, says many teachers don’t learn how to teach reading foundations effectively. Only 74 vouchers were in use, or 27 percent. DANIEL DREIFUSS DANIEL DREIFUSS
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