NELA Graduates & Principal Resident Work with Program to Build Resiliency
The North Carolina Resiliency Project aims to reform school culture to be more trauma-sensitive. This project hopes that by providing professional development and ongoing coaching for teachers and school staff, they will improve academic, behavioral, and social-emotional outcomes for rural students. The project creates and trains “resiliency teams” at the participating schools. Teachers receive training about how to identify students who have experienced two or more adverse childhood experiences and learn how to best support them. Adverse childhood experiences impact approximately 50% of children in North Carolina and could include experiences such as poverty, parent divorce or separation, parent death, parent incarceration, home violence, racism, living with someone with a mental illness, living with someone who has attempted suicide or who has suicidal ideation, or living with someone with a problem with alcohol or drug use.
“I have noticed shifts in the way in which our staff reacts to children as a result of this work”
Lauren Lampron, WA Pattillo Middle School Principal & NELA Graduate
Two out of the three schools participating in this project are in Edgecombe County. At WA Pattillo Middle School, NELA Cohort III graduate Lauren Lampron is principal, NELA Cohort IV graduate Julie Simpson is assistant principal, and North Carolina Leadership Academy Fellow Byron Bullock is principal resident.
NELA Cohort VI Fellow DeNeasha Strother is serving her principal residency at the other participating school in Edgecombe County, Stocks Elementary School.
NELA graduate and principal of WA Pattillo Middle School, Lauren Lampron, said, “Based on information shared with our staff during the flood last year, we saw how prevalent trauma is at Pattillo. Specifically related to ACEs (adverse childhood experiences), we’re excited to be a part of this project and this work. We meet biweekly with Elizabeth DeKonty from the NC Public Forum to discuss areas of urgency that we are able to focus. Our Resilience team is comprised of:
- Dana Alexander, Exceptional Children’s Chair
- Nedra Bruner, School Counselor
- Byron Bullock, Principal Resident
- John Cooper, School Social Worker
- Elizabeth DeKonty, Public School Forum
- Lori Jones, School Psychologist
- Eli Kane, 8th grade Social Studies
- Lauren Lampron, Principal
- Sabrina Lancaster, School Nurse, Interim School Health Coordinator
- Sheri Little, 6/7 Science
- Seth Saeugling, Researcher (ruralopportunity.org)
Thus far, we’ve centered around self care (as we have observed that adults are experiencing secondary trauma by helping children process the trauma in which they are undergoing) and student self regulation (as observed by a need for students to be able to self regulate their behaviors when frustrated).
Most recently, Principal Resident, Byron Bullock, created a powerful staff development in which the staff placed a colored dot on a card stock. Mr. Bullock lined the school hallways with individual student’s names and if teachers had a meaningful relationship with the student, a dot was placed on the card. This created a larger conversation about building stronger connections with students. The results were juxtaposed with results from student surveys in which Mr. Bullock facilitated a survey prior to our staff PD. This allowed students to identify the adults with which they felt they had a meaningful relationship.
Additionally, our Resilience team created a staff self care thermometer; we found success in having teachers articulate when they performed an act of self care (sleeping well, going to the gym, eating at every meal, resting, etc.). Once the self care thermometer was full, Mr. Bullock arranged a staff potluck to celebrate our success in caring for ourselves to ensure we can care for others well.
Although it is a new initiative and only going on for a few months, I have noticed shifts in the way in which our staff reacts to children as a result of this work. I am grateful for the work of NC Public Forum and our dedicated team. We know that our staff is committee to learning more about ACES and making an impact in the lives of our students.”
Information about this project at WA Pattillo Middle School and Stocks Elementary School was reported in the Rocky Mount Telegram. To read more, click the button below.
https://www.ncforum.org/north-carolina-resilience-and-learning-project/