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But if that student witnessed a shooting, a drug raid at home or saw a parent arrested the night before, discipline wouldn’t be the most effective measure.
Starting this fall, Henrico County Public Schools teachers will know which of their students may have been involved in a traumatizing event the night before school, thanks to the “Handle with Care” program.
If a law enforcement officer or first responder encounters a child during a call, that child’s information will be given to school before classes start the following day. No details of the event will be shared – only a note with the name of a student and the words “handle with care.”
Cortney Berry, the Henrico County Public Schools emergency manager, said that school counselors, administration and teachers will provide trauma-informed care in order to support the identified children when they come to school.
“If [a student] comes into school and normally I’m my cheerful self talking to everybody, but today I don't want to speak to anybody and I have my head down in class, as opposed to (the teacher) telling me to get my head off the desk and ask why I'm not paying attention, they will have a better understanding that something has happened and I'm just going to let Cortney rest for a little bit and then check in on her and see how she's doing,” Berry said.
HCPS is partnering with the county’s police department, fire department and mental health unit to implement the program.
The Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services will provide in-person training to all HCPS school-based mental health providers, as well as another training for school administration teams in conjunction with the school services unit during a joint training day this summer with HCPS and the Henrico County Police Division. HCPS teachers, aides, and other identified faculty and staff will receive a separate, online training in late summer or early fall.
During school, teachers will observe the behavior of identified students and refer them to a school counselor if they exhibit problems, whether those are emotional, behavioral or academic. Schools will provide a space for specialized trauma therapists, and provide trauma-informed training to all school employees.
Teachers also will incorporate several interventions to mitigate the effects of trauma for students identified through the program, such as sending students to the clinic to rest if they have trouble staying awake or focusing, re-teaching lessons or postponing testing.
In Virginia, 12 localities currently use the program and eight are scheduled for trainings this summer, according to Betsy Bell with the DCJS. Henrico will be the first locality in the greater Richmond area to implement the program.
Sen. Barbara Favola (D-Arlington) said she hopes that all localities eventually will be required to implement the program.
“When a child misbehaves in school, so often people think they don't care about being there or the behavior is a symptom of the school environment, or the child's disinterest in learning – and that may not be the case at all,” Favola said. “Being able to discern that a child is really suffering helps that child and the whole community if we can get to the kid, provide services and help the family – because police don't go to incidents where the family is fully functional.”
The program first was piloted in West Virginia in 2013 and quickly gained interest nationwide. In Virginia, the program is run by the DCJS.
While HCPS officials already had conducted some initial research on the program, a task force developed this academic year to address the uptick of youth violence in schools identified Handle with Care as a priority and made the decision to implement it this fall.
“We're trying to figure out some of the core roots of why our kids are acting out, and it goes beyond just the enforcement piece,” said Henrico Police Chief Eric English.
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Anna Bryson is the Henrico Citizen’s education reporter and a Report for America corps member. Make a tax-deductible donation to support her work, and RFA will match it dollar for dollar. Sign up here for her free weekly education newsletter.
