When students address how they want to be treated by their teachers, the teachers tailor a set of rules to keep their students engaged in learning.
That’s the approach the White Hall School District has taken through a method for all grade levels called Capturing Kids’ Hearts. The program was founded by Flip Flippen, an author and former psychotherapist, who trains teachers to connect with their students on more meaningful levels to improve school culture. The program is also used in the Pine Bluff School District.
This is the second year for WHSD teachers in kindergarten through eighth grade to be trained in the program. The high school began using this method at the start of this school year.
Superintendent Gary Williams in June reported a drop in bullying cases within the WHSD from 101 in 2022-23 to 81 in 2023-24. Of the cases in 2023-24, 36 led to out-of-school suspensions, a huge drop from 84 in 2022-23. Williams cited the impact of Capturing Kids’ Hearts on the decrease in reported bullying.
“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.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“It may be different in Ms. Smith’s room than it is in social studies class, but the social studies teachers, then, guide that conversation about what it would look like in learning or our content, or maybe you’re in a class that requires a lot of collaborative groups, so how are you going to treat one another in that group?” Jones added.
Students in the district sign a behavior contract for every classroom and are also encouraged to hold their peers accountable if any violations to the contract arise, officials say. Teachers also can address violations with students through a talking point with relation to the contract.
“A lot of times, it can be handled right there without involving the office, and that’s the hope of this,” White Hall Middle School Principal Les Davis said, adding he believes the CKH method has led to a reduction in disciplinary referrals from last school year.
CKH has impacted student behavior positively at Redfield’s Hardin Elementary, leading to more time spent in the classroom, principal Jeff Glover said. He suggested the method could translate to an improvement in academic performance.
“They’re a lot more respectful, and they’re more mindful of how they interact with the teachers,” Glover said. “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.”
Teachers notice a consistency in meeting expectations of student behavior and teacher-student communications, Glover observed.
“As they go to different grade levels, they have the same expectations, and when they’re outside the building with their grade-level teachers or other grade-level teachers, they have the same expectations, so I think consistency has been the biggest thing,” he explained.
CKH also helps parents deal with student violations. At the middle school, lunch detention and Saturday morning work detail are alternate consequences that may help ease the burden on parents who otherwise may have to drop students off for early-morning detention or keep a child suspended from school supervised at home.
“The thing for us is trying to reduce our ISS (in-school suspension) consequences drastically,” said Zach Taylor, White Hall Middle School assistant principal. “This time last year, we probably had a few in ISS, but this year we only had one just based on attendance purposes. Lunch detention has been a really good program we implemented, and it’s really been beneficial. Parents have really liked the option.”
IN OTHER DISTRICT BUSINESS
During Tuesday’s regular board meeting, WHSD campus nurses were recognized for their daily work.
WHSD nurses are Kelly Andrews, the district nurse at Moody Elementary; Kristen Ramsey and Kelly Williams at White Hall High School; Jennifer Bland at White Hall Middle School; Kara Huffty at Gandy Elementary; Lisa Nutter at Hardin Elementary; and Monica Garrick at Taylor Elementary.
“We know there are things we didn’t deal with 30 years ago school as far as the severity diabetes and seizures, and to have a quality staff of nurses that tended their kids each day in their need to make sure we’re safe and taken care of, whether it be on the buses, at school, and just their help helps us all out,” Williams said.
The high school Career and Technical Education banking department received a CTE modernization grant of $29,070, which allows minimum equipment to be updated to meet the latest technology demands and opportunities within the H2 (high demand and high wage) pathways. Kathryn Austin is lead teacher.
White Hall High received a grant from the Arkansas chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention for “Project Renew.” White Hall High is one of only six schools in the state to receive the grant.
Grandparents have been eating in elementary cafeterias with their grandchildren for Grandparents’ Day.
PERSONNEL MOVES
Contract addenda were approved for John Bowman (student capacity increase), middle school head girls basketball coach Amber Clay (grades 7-9) and assistant coach Stormy Swain, high school assistant girls coach Mary Catherine Qualls and shop assistant Ray Branch, retroactive to last month.
Swain and Qualls were head and assistant middle school coaches last season.