‘Safe and Happy Heights’

Addressing student needs in Vestavia Hills City Schools has always been the number one priority, Aimee Rainey, director of student services, said. 

That’s why, she said, this year, they directed their focus to expanding resources not just for academic needs, but behavioral needs, as well. 

For the 2018-19 school year, VHCS created a more systematic approach to emotional and behavioral needs and expectations for students, in addition to offering services and preventative measures for existing or potential mental health issues. 

In implementing what they learned this year, Vestavia Hills Elementary Cahaba Heights Principal Alicia Hunsberger said they have been able really hone in on “raising kids who are not only smart, but kind.” 

“You would never expect a child to come into your classroom just reading; you’d have to actually teach them how to do that. So, we don’t have that expectation that kids already know how to behave. We don’t make those assumptions — we make sure we teach it,” Hunsberger said. 

In the summer of 2018, each school in Vestavia Hills City Schools sent a team of administrators and teachers for the first time to take part in a multiday training focused on developing a personalized school plan for Comprehensive, Integrated Three-Tiered models of Prevention, better known as CIT3. VHECH, for example, chose to personalize their new developments as “Safe and Happy Heights.”

“What we learned from the research we were presented with is just the reminder that most of your problem behaviors go away if you’re addressing them school-wide, like if you are pre-teaching how to behave and if you have behavioral norms in your school that everyone is expected to follow,” Hunsberger said. 

Teaching those behavioral norms on a regular basis, Rainey said, has been a key component in the school system in the 2018-19 year.  Hunsberger said VHECH and the other Vestavia schools took their personality and the things they already had in place and established it more officially into a behavior matrix. 

The personalized VHECH motto reads: “I will be safe. I will be respectful. I will do my best.” 

Throughout the school and in every classroom, Hunsberger said, are posters reminding student about behaviors and how to follow the motto. Each week, classroom teachers are responsible for a morning meeting that focuses on talking about behavior and particular character traits. The counselors also discuss these in classrooms each month. 

In addition, teachers are required to fill out behavior screeners for every student three times a year, in order for school systems to better identify those in need of extra services for behavioral problems or mental health.

Having that screening in place, Hunsberger said, allows them to identify students in need easier, quicker and in a more systematic way. 

“We do have kiddos who are super quiet, and the screeners helped us to identify if there’s someone who we are not tapping into their needs,” Hunsberger said. “We don’t want anyone to fall through the cracks, so I think this systematic approach has helped us in that way.”

Since the beginning of the year, Hunsberger said VHECH has established a positive reward system, including nominating students each morning on the announcements to get a Heights Hero Award, which involves verbal praises and a paper award to take home.

Hunsberger said so far, the teachers have “loved having those common languages.” It makes it easier for students to know what is expected of them everywhere, not just their classrooms; from the bathrooms to the art rooms to carpool, the behavior expectations is the same now. 

“The positive piece about it is the kids like it. They like to know from one teacher to the next there’s the same expectations. They also love when they’re caught doing the right thing,” Hunsberger said. 

Since the beginning of the year, she said, there has been a huge shift in classroom behavior and the behavioral referrals for the year “have been cut in half” from what they had mid-year last year, even with the addition of more students.

“Culturally, it’s made a difference in our kids being excited about doing the right thing, being able to talk about it,” Hunsberger said. 

Rainey said although the school system has always offered one-on-one counseling for students in need through Impact Counseling, they have increased their partnership this year to offer more one-on-one counseling. Small group counseling is now offered for referred students, as well, Rainey said. 

Robin Parks Ennis, associate professor of special education at UAB, said she has been providing support and direction for VHCS as the system implements the new changes and works to provide framework for students and their mental health needs. 

“Obviously, we think about kids who need intensive support through Impact [Counseling], but we also think of it on a preventative level, so having more morning meetings, creating a caring, supportive environment in the classroom, those are all things we know from research help prevent further mental health issues from developing,” Ennis said.

If a kid has enhanced levels of anxiety, knowing “the big three” — I will be safe. I will be respectful. I will do my best. —  and the common language throughout the day is good, Ennis said. The new changes have shown students “bonding at school, feeling more secure.” 

“We all recognize that if a kid is hungry or scared or experiencing trauma, then they aren’t ready to learn, and that’s why we try to do all these things on the front end,” Ennis said. 

Additionally, VHECH plans to start a book study for parents called Raising Kind Kids. They’ve also started sending resources home to parents about behavior and character learning that is going on at the school. 

During their in-school pep rallies for learning, Hunsberger said this is the first year they have invited parents to come and be involved. Afterwards, Hunsberger said, she has been leading sessions for parents on behavior expectations at school, which several dozen parents have attended. 

Hunsberger said she is currently working on summer programs for students who have won Heights Hero Awards. For more on individual changes at the other Vestavia Hills City Schools, go to vestavia.k12.al.us.