I've recently been reflecting on my years as an administrator at Whaley School. I've been at Whaley for 8 years; no other administrator can say they've stayed at this school as long as I have, and I am proud to say that I have accomplished such a great feat!
BACKSTORY Whaley School is a separate day school for students that exhibit profound behaviors. Whaley is deemed their LRE, or Least Restrictive Environment for a period of time (it varies) in order for students to gain the tools and strategies necessary for them to successfully enter back into their neighborhood school. When I first entered as administrator at Whaley School, the walls were all stark white, and with the metal detector located at the entrance of the building, it looked more like an institution than a school. Some staff were set in the ways in which they worked with our population of students, and "this is how we've always done it" seemed to be a regular phrase. The particular year I began, our district had recently switched from MANDT to NCI as a system for de-escalation techniques. Our staff was very new to this system and would frequently ask if they could just revert back to what they knew; it was easier. I instituted regular practice on a quarterly basis so that our staff was apprised of the techniques and they could become second nature. While NCI only requires you to have a refresher every year, I wanted our staff to know the techniques thoroughly, so every quarter they "refreshed". I took it even one step further by becoming a trainer myself. How can I call myself an instructional leader to all when I am not knowledgeable in an area we are required to use daily? A hallway situated in the middle of the school was used to help de-escalate students when they would leave class; it was originally called the Practice Hall. This hall was meant to be used to "Practice the correct behavior" in order to return to class. Intervention coaches ran the hallway and would help students to figure out what happened in class and what they needed to do to successfully reenter their classroom without reoccurring behaviors (side note: an intervention coach at Whaley is a beefed-up security person specializing in de-escalation techniques). Sometimes, the students would stay an "extra-long" amount of time to stay out of class, to play cards, and more. FAST FORWARD TO TODAY While we still have our metal detector up front, we also have our mission posted directly next to it for all to see and know. Our walls and ceilings have been splattered with positive sayings and color; Whaley looks like a school. It not only looks like a school; it feels warm and inviting to come into each day. Music plays as the students arrive and I stand up front to greet each and every student and staff as they walk in the door. We've developed a unique database system that houses data surrounding engagement, goals and objectives, behavior data, intervention data, and check-in/check-out data. This data systems helps our staff understand the how, when, why, what and who of a student. . . on paper. But the real understanding comes from the relationships we build at Whaley! Each year I ask teachers to start their first week or two building relationships with their students and creating activities that allow our students to build relationships with one another. Of course, staff go over what the expectations are within the classroom and the school, however, building rapport with students from the get-go is most important aspect of the beginning of school. Staff carry this same idea when students arrive back from Winter break; two weeks is a long time and a lot can happen in that time frame, so we work on those relationship skills once again-and always. It's here where I need to tell you why relationship building at Whaley School is so important (I know, it's important at every school). But at Whaley, our students are 100% at risk. Well over 70% of our students are in foster care, another 20% of our students are being raised by relatives other than their biological mother and father, and all of our students are very vulnerable in many different ways. Our students come in with Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) at very high numbers. Caring relationships at school are important to our students and to our families because it's truly what our students need before any learning can take place. In some cases, breakfast and lunch at Whaley are the only meals a student will have each day. Adult students continue to come to school, not only to earn necessary credits for graduation, but to eat. Staff have become the second family for our students as they can count on us every day and in some cases at night, as well. Our staff have been known to create dinners for students, knowing they have siblings at home that need meals, too. We started our PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) implementation almost five years ago. At first, buy in was tough; giving kids PACK cash for doing what they should already be doing? I'd respond- Don't we get paid for our jobs? We slowly gained momentum with staff, and in fact, staff members are our biggest contributors to our school store! PBIS brought structure to our hallways, lunchroom, entryway, bathrooms, and classrooms. Students knew what they were expected to do in all of these areas now and a routine was in place. SEL (Social Emotional Learning) in our school has grown exponentially. Staff infuse SEL in their lessons each day creating community and connection. Teams work together at the Elementary, Middle, High School and Life Skills levels to talk about what works for kids in their classrooms so that others can benefit from the same successes across all school settings. About that hallway where students went down to talk about what happened in class and how to get back to class successfully? It still exists. However, now we call it a crisis recovery room. When students are upset or angry, they are essentially in crisis, they need more, they need us to listen. They also need to help us figure out (with their help) what went wrong and what we can do together to help solve these problems so they are successful more often. We did take it a step further; we created a sensory room for our students. When they feel anxious or on edge, students are able to access this room in order to meet their needs for sensory integration in order to de-escalate, or better yet, avoid escalation altogether. We continue to look for ways to support our students. We seek out new and innovative ways to offer purposeful professional development and continued intentional training so that we meet every student's need, every day! It's been an amazing transformation and has taken some time for Whaley to look and feel as it does today. In fact, two weeks ago, a retired teacher from Whaley School came in to substitute teach. At the end of the day he made it a point to come into my office and say, "I just wanted to tell you that you have a really great routine here; everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing, and it really works for kids."
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