Constructing Compassionate Foundations
By Dr. Tony Baldwin, BCS Superintendent
I
f there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years
as a school administrator, it’s this: Growing
up is challenging for every child. Students are
constantly balancing varying degrees of stress in
the forms of loss, illness, heartbreak, nutrition,
financial problems, family instability, and personal
relationships. You name it and a child here in WNC
is struggling to deal with it right now.
As parents, we work hard to raise our children to be
thoughtful and considerate; yet as educators we
know students will not always make appropriate
decisions in reacting to certain situations. With
this as our motivation, Buncombe County Schools
has been integrating foundational supports to
help our students effectively deal with adversity.
Under the leadership of Student Services Director
David Thompson, BCS has successfully implemented
a framework of Positive Behavior Interventions
and Supports (PBIS). School counselors and social
workers throughout the system have worked with
teachers and administrators to enhance their
abilities to proactively recognize good behaviors
from students rather than a reactive response
to negative actions. I am pleased to report the
result of these efforts has been a reduction of
discipline issues in our schools.
on building resiliency and trauma sensitive
support. You may not know that student mental
and emotional health is frequently cited when
school staff are asked about what factors impact
school climate and student learning.
The Compassionate Schools Initiative from
Washington State University was selected as
our training model to carry out the grant’s
focus. Likewise, community partner agencies
are assisting to provide professional support.
Behind this initiative is considerable research
regarding changes in brain chemistry that occur
as a result of chronic stress or trauma.
Furthermore, the research suggests that children
with backgrounds of chronic stress have the
tendency to respond to “threatening” situations
through a flight, fright, or freeze response.
Helping students develop resilience to better
cope with future encounters of stress or trauma
is at the heart of the Compassionate Schools
Initiative. Actively teaching social and emotional
skills represents improved learning and academic
performance.
I am extremely proud of our approaches to
learning and growing in the best interests of
our students, families, schools, and school
communities. Building resiliency in our students
Recently, BCS received a comprehensive school through compassionate support and emphasizing
counseling grant through the U.S. Department of the power of positive behavior recognition are
Education. The grant’s purpose is to address the two initiatives that distinguish BCS and our
social/emotional needs of students by focusing community partnerships in these efforts.
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