Mono Cares - Introduction

This Handbook is the current standard operating reference for Mammoth Unified School District’s (MUSD) Coordinated Ecosystem of Care, intended for use by MUSD staff, district leaders, and partner agencies who deliver, coordinate, or support services within the Ecosystem.

The Ecosystem connects students and families with timely mental, emotional, behavioral, social, and practical support by drawing school, district, and partner providers into a single coordinated operating framework, so that every student receives seamless services across the system. Built through the collaborative work of MUSD personnel and the partner agencies that deliver essential care to Mammoth students, the Ecosystem has become central to how MUSD supports students and contributes to healthy students who are able to fully engage in their education.

The practices that hold the Ecosystem together are documented and standardized in this Handbook. Each member of the Ecosystem team will find written guidance on the operational questions that arise day-to-day, including:

How to refer a student for support
How to respond to a crisis
What services are available and how they are assigned
Who is responsible for what services
Where the boundaries of school-based support lie
How to communicate with families and community partners

Guiding Principles

The Coordinated Ecosystem of Care is guided by five principles which set the standard for how it operates across its sites, staff, and partners. These principles were identified as critical aspects of a sustainable system that served both the needs of all MUSD students and staff.

01 - Shared knowledge
Everyone who plays a role in ensuring MUSD students are cared for has access to knowledge about how the system operates. Critical information is documented in writing for easy access.

02 - Clear Boundaries
School-based support has a defined scope. Staff know what aspects of student care fall within their role, what does not, and when to refer a student to a community provider.

03 - Capacity Management
School-based services are time-bound, goal-focused, and reviewed on a regular cycle. Exit criteria are applied consistently so that resources remain available for students who need them most.

04 - Equitable Access
The Ecosystem is built to reach every family. Processes are kept simple, communication is plain, and services are delivered to remain accessible. Language, culture, insurance status, and geography are accounted for in the delivery of all aspects of care.

05 - Long-Term Sustainability
Roles, supervision, documentation, and billing are structured to sustain and scale services over time.

District as Anchor

Through the Coordinated Ecosystem of Care and partnership with local organizations, MUSD serves all students, addressing behavioral, emotional, social, and mental health needs alongside wrap-around needs such as food security, housing, and access to community resources, so that these needs do not become barriers to learning and participation in school. Within this broader scope, foster youth, students involved in the juvenile justice system, students experiencing homelessness, and other high-need populations receive priority, consistent with Assembly Bill 2083 and Mono County Behavioral Health specialty criteria. All services are delivered at no cost to families, ensuring equitable access for every student in the district.

Scope of district-supported services

The role of MUSD district staff in this Ecosystem is to provide and support important psychoeducation to build student capacity and agency to manage their own well-being: the teaching of skills, strategies, and coping mechanisms that support students' emotional and behavioral well-being and their ability to access and participate in their education. These district-supported services are delivered across all MUSD school sites, within the educational mission of the district. On the other hand, psychotherapy, the clinical treatment of a diagnosed mental health condition, is the role of external partners. Students who require psychotherapy or other clinical services are connected to licensed mental health professionals through the Tier 3 community-provider pathway.

MUSD Scope - Psychoeducation

Teaching skills, strategies, and coping mechanisms
Delivered in classroom, small-group, and 1 on 1 settings
Time-bound, school-focused, stabilization-oriented
Provided by PPS-credentialed staff and Certified Wellness Coaches

Partner Scope - Clinical and Wrap-Around Services

Psychotherapy, psychiatric care, and substance use services
Specialty mental health (in-patient, acute, ongoing)
Child welfare, social services, juvenile justice support
Delivered by licensed professionals from partner organizations

Roles of partner agencies

Mono County Behavioral Health, Mammoth Hospital, Mono County Social Services, Mono County Probation, and contracted clinical providers each contribute work that the district itself cannot perform. These include diagnosis, psychotherapy, psychiatric care, child welfare investigation, and intensive case management. Embedded hospital-based clinicians work alongside district staff on school sites, operating under their own clinical licenses and separate from district-delivered services. The Mono Cares Universal Referral is the single front door into the Ecosystem.

The Education Code and related Commission on Teacher Credentialing standards establish what schools may do, while the credentials held by individual staff members determine what each position is authorized to deliver. The statutory framework is detailed in Section 1.4. Because scope of practice is tied to credentialing, the specific authority of each position is described alongside its role in Section 2.

Legal Foundation

The framework below summarizes the legal infrastructure for a Coordinated Ecosystem of Care across five domains: interagency coordination, school-based service delivery, referral protocols, sustainable funding, and student privacy. Maintaining the Ecosystem’s alignment with this legal infrastructure is a critical safeguard for the district.

Domain = Interagency Coordination
Statutory Authority = CA Assembly Bill 2083 (2018)
How it Grounds the Ecosystem = Establishes the state framework for coordination among the six core child-serving agencies: education, child welfare, juvenile justice, behavioral health, regional centers, and managed care.

Domain = Tiered Service Delivery
Statutory Authority = CA Community Schools Partnership Program
How it Grounds the Ecosystem = Requires participating schools to deliver trauma-informed, integrated supports through a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) — the framework under which Coordination of Services Teams (COST) and the tiered service architecture operate.

Domain = School-Based Services
Statutory Authority = CA Education Code §44266; §49422
How it Grounds the Ecosystem = PPS standards authorize PPS-credentialed staff to deliver schoolwide prevention, counseling and guidance, consultation, and family and staff training. §49422 permits lawfully contracted licensed mental health professionals to deliver services on school sites.

Domain = Referral Protocols & Training
Statutory Authority = CA Education Code §§49428.1, 49428.2 (SB 153, 2024)
How it Grounds the Ecosystem = Requires districts to maintain clear referral protocols for behavioral health concerns and to train staff to recognize and respond. The Mono Cares Universal Referral and COST monitoring satisfy these requirements.

Domain = Sustainable Funding
Statutory Authority = CA Children & Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI)
How it Grounds the Ecosystem = CYBHI billing rests on Welfare & Institutions Code §5961.4, Health & Safety Code §1374.722, and Education Code §49600 (expanded). Allows MUSD to bill Medi-Cal and commercial insurance for eligible services at no cost to families.

Domain = Records, Privacy & Reporting
Statutory Authority = FERPA, HIPAA, CA Penal Code §§11164–11174.3
How it Grounds the Ecosystem = The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and California mandated reporting statutes govern documentation, consent, and confidentiality. Detailed procedures are in Section 7.

Youth Behavioral Health Training Certification

Under Education Code §49428.2, MUSD will certify to the California Department of Education by July 1, 2029 that 100 percent of certificated employees and 40 percent of classified employees with direct contact with students in grades 7 through 12 have completed Youth Behavioral Health Training at least once. The district uses Youth Mental Health First Aid, provided at no cost through the California Department of Education’s partnership with Blue Shield of California, to meet this certification.