District outlines multi-tiered SEL, reports baseline survey showing strong student connections

Heather Lewis, the district's health resource advocate and mental wellness and mental health specialist, gave the Board of Education an extended update on social-emotional learning (SEL) and mental wellness programming at the Feb. 3 meeting.

Lewis told the board she used a fellowship with CASEL (the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) to redesign SEL at the high school and to pilot a personalized model this school year. She said the district is keeping the TRAILS curriculum (noted in the presentation as the district’s cornerstone) while adding voice-and-choice components, tiered supports and optional activities designed to boost engagement.

Lewis said the district collected 271 optional student survey responses and 23 staff responses at the high school. Using that feedback, staff created a “choose-your-own-adventure” SEL offering for students, kept TRAILS lessons in health classes and added shorter video lessons and quarterly “video-only AOT” days to reach students who preferred videos. She described a recurring “Willie Wellness” half-hour every other Tuesday where students sign up for small-group or experiential options (examples given: sun-lamp use, making bath salts, a smoothie station and other coping-strategy activities).

The presentation covered supports at all grade levels. At the elementary level, Lewis said every teacher in Discovery and Explorer receives a weekly SEL lesson or activity and that she personally pushes into classrooms on a multi-week cycle. At the middle school she said weekly wellness AOT sessions have been “enthusiastically attended.” Tiered services include daily calm-room availability, scheduled small-group (tier 2) sessions, and tier-3 drop-in access to mental-health professionals during AOT time.

The district recently purchased Panorama for districtwide SEL screening, Lewis said, and she and building administrators have reviewed baseline results. Lewis highlighted survey findings presented to the board: 84% of high school students, 86% of middle-school students and 92% of Explorer (elementary) students reported feeling connected and supported; self-management scores were 73% (high school), 82% (middle) and 78% (Explorer). She characterized those results as “in the green” when compared to national baselines and said data will be collected again in spring to track change.

Lewis credited staff buy-in, school social worker Kate Wilcox and other mental-health staff for implementing the multi-tiered model and named partner resources and apps used in programming (Calm, PeaceMinded and the TRAILS curriculum). She said some grant funding helped cover licenses and that the district received a $50,000 GSRP startup grant to convert a classroom to full Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP) status; other grants funded Panorama and classroom resources.

Board members asked clarifying questions about participation, scheduling and whether parents will be invited to presentations on sensitive topics; Lewis said speakers such as a substance-abuse presenter are scheduled for March 4, and that administrators will coordinate parent outreach for select topics.

Lewis closed by saying many impacts are anecdotal (teachers texting about students using breathing techniques, students reporting use of strategies) and that Panorama baseline data gives staff a measurable way to shape interventions and follow up in spring.

Ending: Board members thanked Lewis for the presentation and asked staff to return with follow-up data after the spring Panorama administration so the board can review measurable changes and any recommended next steps.