Kanawha County Schools details multi-tiered social-emotional learning supports

Mr. Duffy, a student-support presenter for Kanawha County Schools, told the school board Monday that the district is delivering a countywide social-emotional learning, or SEL, system that combines classroom lessons, targeted interventions and agency partnerships.

“The core components of that plan … support each student's academic success, their college and career readiness, and their social emotional well-being,” Mr. Duffy said, summarizing the district’s comprehensive school counseling program aligned with state policy 2315.

The district described the program as standards-based and organized as a multi-tiered system of supports: tier 1 prevention for all students, tier 2 targeted interventions for students identified as at-risk, and tier 3 intensive supports for those with the greatest needs. Elementary schools use a digital SEL curriculum in its sixth year (identified in the presentation as the Second Step program) and administer pre- and post-SEL surveys for grades 3–8 through Panorama Education to measure changes over the school year.

At tier 2, counselors provide small-group and brief solution-focused individual counseling and manage emergency crisis interventions. For tier 3 needs, the district said it has memoranda of understanding with about eight local mental-health agencies to allow school-based therapy during the school day for students who cannot access services outside of school because of transportation or financial barriers.

High school supports highlighted a mix of prevention and intensive services. The district described the Building Assets and Reducing Risk (BAR) program as a successful tier 1 initiative that begins with ninth graders and emphasizes data and relationship-building. All students in grades 8–12 are now required to have a personalized education plan (PEP); the district said the PEP is now digital.

The district also described a Bridge program, run in partnership with Mission West Virginia and funded by state and foundation grants, that places full-time school-based mentors supporting students in foster care and kinship placements. The presentation said each bridge mentor carries a case load of about 35 students and that graduation rates for students participating in the Bridge program are above 95 percent. The district said it has placed bridge mentors at Herbert Hoover, Sissonville, Riverside and Nitro and is seeking to expand to all eight high schools.

Mr. Duffy said the district will press for more collaboration and data-driven practice by asking each school’s student-support team — which includes the assistant attendance director, counselor, nurse and school psychologist — to meet twice monthly to review data and coordinate supports. The district also plans countywide professional-development days for counselors, psychologists, social workers and nurses focused on topics the presentation listed as vaping prevention, suicide prevention training, chronic absenteeism and mental-health crisis response.

Board members asked for operational clarifications. When asked how many counselor vacancies the district currently has, Mr. Duffy said there were no vacancies but noted several counselors are on family medical leave. He also said confidentiality obligations under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, govern counselor communications and that teachers can refer students to counselors via referral forms or QR-code referral systems; school-based attendance or student-assistance team meetings can include parents when appropriate.

Board members praised the district’s student-support staff and community partners for rapid crisis response and for recent additions to counselor staffing. The presentation closed with district staff thanking board leadership for support of recent hires and the work of counselors countywide.

The presentation was informational; no formal board action on SEL was recorded.