The Enhanced Gang Intervention Program, in cooperation with Valley State Prison (V.S.P.) initiated the ReDIRECT program. This intensive intervention tool, not SCARED STRAIGHT, reminds students of the choices made that could land them into Prison. This program takes selected students who tour the State Prison in Chowchilla, then have one-on-one with Prison mentors specific to the students’ gang affiliation and dispels the street-gang narrative that gangs support them, protect them etc.
Since then, collaborations have existed between school officials, law enforcement and community based organizations. Record low numbers were seen by the impact of direct contact with students and parents, Law Enforcement and the District all working together. During the Covid Pandemic, with limited in-person contact with students, the MUSD saw an increase in gang involvement, association and membership. In 2023, at the request of the School Board, Gang Intervention was re-started and Hector Garibay, former law enforcement with the MPD was hired. Since this time, the original Intervention Programs already established didn’t meet all the criterias now facing our student population. The Enhanced Gang Intervention Program was initiated.
In 2024, the Madera Unified School District, the Madera County District Attorney’s Office, the Madera County Sheriff’s Department, Madera Police Department, Madera County Probation department, Madera County Mental Health Department and the Camarena Health Services Programs embarked on the collaborative development of Gang Collaborative to intervene in the growth and recruitment of criminal street gangs in the district of Madera Unified. The collaboration specifically focused on preventing younger children from joining gangs through a simultaneous prevention and intervention approach.
Prevention Strategies
MUSD Enhanced Gang Intervention is a three-tiered approach;
Tier 1: Education
Tier I, focusing heavily on school-wide core features which are in place within the MUSD and are available to all students of the 3rd Grade, 5th Grade and 6th Grade respectively. The majority of students have historically responded positively to these systems and practices. However, a smaller group of students have required some additional interventions and support to address either externalizing or internalizing behaviors consistent with gang affiliation.
Tier 2: Documentation
Tier II, interventions are an opportunity to provide additional structure, specific to the needs of these identified students and provide them opportunities to learn and practice skills, and receive more frequent feedback related to specific social-emotional-behavioral areas of need.
Tier 3: Enforcement
Tier III, individualized interventions are intensive and customized support for specific students who have not appeared to have changed their behavior from Tier 1 and Tier II intervention strategies
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Public Hearings regarding the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP), Budget Overview for Parents and the Proposed Budget for the Madera Unified School District will be held before the governing board of the district at Madera Unified School District Board Room, 1902 Howard Road, Madera CA 93637 on June 9, 2026 at 6:00 pm. The proposed budget will be available for inspection at the district office, 1902 Howard Road, Madera CA 93637 on June 4, 2026. Any member of the public may appear and be heard concerning the Local Control Accountability Plan and any resident of the district may object to the proposed budget or any item in the budget.
