Bullying and other forms of misbehavior in schools are a constant source of struggle and frustration for teachers and administrators. But White Hall appears to be getting the upper hand.
The district is in its second year of a program called Capturing Kids’ Hearts, and the before-and-after statistics appear to show the program is working. In short, the program helps teachers connect with students in better ways and also encourages student buy-in with accountability standards that students follow.
When students step out of line in how they are treating others, everyone takes notice.
“A lot of times, it can be handled right there without involving the office, and that’s the hope of this,” said Les Davis, principal at White Hall Middle School.
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Said Jeff Glover, principal of Hardin Elementary School in Redfield: “They’re a lot more respectful of how they interact with the teachers. They know they’re treating them like they want to be treated. They’re being treated fairly and using respect. I just think they think a little more before they react and talk and speak.”
Superintendent Gary Williams sees the big picture of what’s going on in the district, and at least initially, the numbers of negative occurrences have dropped.
Incidents of bullying fell from 101 to 81, year over year, and out-of-school suspensions plummeted from 84 to 36. He said he believes the Capturing Kids’ Hearts is one of the reasons behind the improvements.
“A lot of our teachers said, ‘You know, it helped me understand kids, but it also helped me learn more about our kids and learning about relationships within my teams.’ Because we do ask our teachers to collaborate a lot when working with students,” said Debbie Jones, assistant superintendent for curriculum.
The program has been used for students through the eighth grade, and now the high school has started using it as of the first of this new school year.
In academia, programs come and go, but they generally have more to do with academics than behavior. This new strategy, however, appears to be changing what goes on within the classroom and across the educational landscape. Perhaps, it will be successful in instilling the simple concepts of The Golden Rule, which, in several variations, has been around as long as mankind.