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School Climate Subcommittee

September 10, 2020

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Social- emotional learning, mental, and behavioral health

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Key ideas

  • Positive relationships and student well-being must be the priority for the reopening of schools
  • We must address the trauma experienced by all students and families, and acknowledge the disproportionate impact on black and brown students, families, and staff.
  • All CPS “spaces” should be healing spaces that leverage trauma-sensitive practices.
  • Families and students don’t need “fixing,” they need opportunities to define for themselves what they need and the best ways to support them.
  • CPS must plan for inclusive and authentic reflection - individually and collectively - to understand and address areas of needed improvement.
  • CPS must continue to build on both its internal strengths and the considerable strengths and expertise among students, families, and community partners.

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Foundational Aspects of Healing Spaces

Developed by Student Wellbeing Working group

Student Well Being

Both Student and Staff Well Being

Staff Well Being

  • Support well-being from the ground up: regulation (emotional & behavioral) and relationships first, reasoning & learning come later
  • Responsive to student needs (ex: let the pace be driven by students)
  • Space for students to take a mental break
  • Build in natural opportunities for expressing feelings, connecting & coping throughout the day (i.e., class meetings, journaling, play, outside time, 1:1 time with adults)
  • Regular times built in for students to check in around how they are doing (both individually and as a full class group)
  • Create school-wide structures & practices that promote regulation, engagement, and skill-building for BOTH adults & children (i.e., enhanced social-emotional learning practices that incorporate both developmental & trauma-informed practices)
  • Looking at our work through an equity lens
  • Acknowledging the losses we’ve had as a community
  • Employing storytelling as a basis for healing for all students and adults; ensures they have a voice as part of their own healing process
  • Priority placed on building relationships between educators and students to create a foundation of trust and safety and maintaining this priority throughout the year
  • Transparency and consistent communication from adults/CPS to students (and their families) around what we know about changing school plans in response to COVID
  • In the moment support for educators to provide space to recollect oneself and then also to have 1:1 healing space for child before rejoining the full community
  • Ensure physical safety and provide a menu of options based on individual wellbeing needs of adults and their families
  • Providing paid opportunities for peer support
  • Reflective supervision for teachers and staff (e.g. social work model for reflective 1-1 or group supervision)
  • Clear communication (e.g. in asking for feedback, sharing results and impact and influence on work)
  • Increased educator understanding of trauma sensitive best practices as well as managing the phases of group development effectively
  • Time and space allotted for educators to connect with families to also build the foundation of trust and safety
  • Making sure to the center the work on educators of color and varied perspectives

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KEY COMPONENTS OF THE PLAN

Student Learning Time Designed to Build Relationships, Community, and Skills

SCHEDULES

  • Every student schedule has dedicated time for building connections, community, and skills.
  • Elementary: daily morning meeting
  • Upper school: daily morning advisory session
  • High school students: both advisory sessions (new) and community meetings (improved)

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  • Movement and screen breaks, which are important to students’ overall wellbeing.

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  • Small group opportunities to build relationships and provide more personalized instructional support that will better serve students’ academic, social emotional, and mental health needs.

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KEY COMPONENTS OF THE PLAN

Student Learning Time Designed to Build Relationships, Community, and Skills

SEL COMPETENCIES

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  • CPS adopted CASEL competencies and established a grade band framework

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  • Build skills with educators and directly with students

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  • JK-5 Educator Collaboratives developed shared instructional materials and activities for the first weeks of schools.

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KEY COMPONENTS OF THE PLAN

Student Learning Time Designed to Build Relationships, Community, and Skills

Health Education

Goal: increase protective factors and reduce risk factors through skill building , content acquisition and experiences.

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  • The SEL Competencies, Physical Education and the National Health Education Standards are aligned and complementary.
  • CPS’s health curriculum focuses on these skills: decision making, analyzing influences, accessing valid and reliable information, communication, goal setting and advocacy.
  • Approach this year: shifting further towards a more holistic wellness view of how students wish to experience and learn about their overall wellness.
  • An example: CRLS adjusted wellness learning modules (e.g. COVID-19 and Stress)

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Protective Factors

Risk Factors

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KEY COMPONENTS OF THE PLAN

Student Learning Time Designed to Build Relationships, Community, and Skills

SEL is lived for students in through many aspects of their student life...

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Physical Education

Athletics

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Visual & Performing

Arts

  • Perspective taking
  • Development of identity
  • Creativity
  • Health competition
  • Goal setting
  • Authentic relationship building

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KEY COMPONENTS OF THE PLAN

Building Staff Capacity to Use Trauma-Informed and Restorative Practices

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8. Staff schedules: dedicated time each week for student and family connections as well as planning, collaboration, and training.

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9. Expanded team of school-based social workers, who provide dedicated expert support to address students’ individual needs AND identify patterns of need for districtwide response.

  • Example: distriwide intervention in Grade 2 and 3 managing anxiety

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7. Professional development to build staff capacity in a variety of ways, including through department trainings, school-based sessions, educator meet-ups for peer learning, coaching, and required and optional online training.

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Sample topics:

  • Managing Group Dynamics
  • Navigating the Middle Years (grade 3 - 7)
  • Managing Student Anxiety
  • Digital Pedagogy that Builds Peer Connections

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KEY COMPONENTS OF THE PLAN

Building Staff Capacity to Use Trauma-Informed and Restorative Practices

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10. Mediation Training and Services & Restorative Justice Practices will continue to be available to staff, students and families.

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CPS, individual schools and many departments have begun participation in training to help them understand and participate in Restorative Circles.

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Sitting in Circle is deeply rooted in the traditional practices of African and Indigenous peoples all over the world.

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Circle Practice can be seen as a means to build trust and relationships.

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Circles help build a positive classroom, workplace and school culture.

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Delivered properly, they give people an opportunity to speak and listen to one another in an atmosphere of safety, decorum and equality. They can be used to build community, share information, develop strategic plans and address harm in a Restorative manner.

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KEY COMPONENTS OF THE PLAN

Structures to Identify and Provide Differentiated Support to Students and Families

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  1. Student Social emotional learning survey

  • Every CPS student will be matched with a designated staff member who will conduct weekly one-on-one check-in’s to build relationships and support student well-being. See attachment for more details.

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  • Starting school year with listening conferences with every family

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  • Student Support Team, meet weekly to plan differentiated support

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  • District Rapid Response Team provide more intensive support in a timely way.

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  1. Partnerships with expert support
    1. Riverside Community Care: therapeutic services, crisis intervention services, free & confidential mental health services.
    2. Cambridge Teen Health Center
    3. Becoming a Man (BAM) program
    4. BRYT: Bridge for Resilient Youth in Transition program

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  • Support family/caregivers, including resources, trainings, and virtual gatherings

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  • Launch of CPS Community Support Center: one-stop phone, email, and text helpline

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Weekly

Student Outreach

Information Shared/Gathered During Family Conferences

As part of family conferences, identify preferred communication mode and allow families to opt-out. Check-in with opt-out families in October.

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Matching

Each school assigns every student to an adult, based on previous relationships and what's known about students.

      • JK-5: Consider not matching any student with current classroom teacher to avoid inequities. Coordinate matches for households with multiple siblings in school.
      • 6 - 8: Utilize advisory structures | 9 - 12: Utilize CM structures
      • Consider having staff short personal video introduction
      • Establish a team/backup so if educator is out, student is still contacted
      • Adjust matches as needed for relationship success.
      • Consider a reflection point where students are able to reflect on what is/isn’t working

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Outreach Expectations

Staff connect with students one-on-one to build relationships.

      • Conversations: asset-based, student-driven, focused relationship building.
      • Translations through Language Line
      • IF Mutually agreed upon, can be in-person, outside, public space, social distancing
      • For older students, use Google Calendar w/ appt slots for students to choose
      • Require training for staff

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Followup

      • By Friday at 5pm each week, document students “not reached” in reporting tool
      • Students flagged for Student Support Team (not reached, not engaged, or need support.)
      • Report to School Committee biweekly

Starting week of 9/21

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All schools are required to conduct individual, live check-in’s with students each week to build meaningful relationships between students and staff.

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Overarching purpose:

How are you?

What do you need?

How can [our school] better support you?

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KEY COMPONENTS OF THE PLAN - LONG-TERM

NEW Office of Equity, Inclusion & Belonging

NEW Office of Equity, Inclusion & Belonging to provide “enhanced collaboration, coordination, impact, and equity lens for this work”

  • Racial Equity & Anti-Racism
  • Family Engagement
  • Student Well-Being
    • Social Emotional Learning
    • Mental & Behavioral Health
    • Culture & Climate
    • Discipline
    • Bullying
    • Incident reporting and response

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Collaboration across the Department:

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  • Office of Students Services - mental health services
  • Office of Teaching & Learning - health & wellness department; guidance counselors
  • Office of Human Resources - Employee Resources Groups
  • Office of Strategy - data and communications
  • Schools

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KEY COMPONENTS OF THE PLAN - LONG-TERM

State SEL & Mental Health Academy

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CPS was accepted into the state’s SEL & Mental Health Academy, which will support a district-wide team/taskforce of multiple stakeholders over the course of three years to develop a comprehensive structure, professional development plan, and evaluation strategy for addressing student social emotional, mental, and behavioral health.

Next steps:

  • Clarifying internal coordination
  • Recruit team / taskforce
  • Share findings of Youth and Family Mental Health Services in the City of Cambridge & CPS: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats - Analysis and Recommendations

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Continuing the conversation

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School Climate Subcommittee

September 10, 2020

15

Social- emotional learning, mental, and behavioral health