New program in Pocatello schools makes difference
The Pocatello/Chubbuck School District is implementing new programs to fight bullying and prevent suicide. Friday the district trained employees in a program to help students understand the impact of their actions.
A lot of the training involved discussing different types of situations, like a missing item (theft), trouble with a group project or consistently negative behavior. The goal was to then figure out questions to ask – to help students feel empathy either for the student their behavior affected – or to figure out what decision they could make instead of the decision they did.
Kent Hobbs, student support services director, said they want to make sure to do right by kids, and one way to do that is by constantly improving and updating their programs. Friday’s program focused on talking in a circle, as part of restorative justice (restorative practices).
“In doing bully prevention training, in doing training with kids to understand the choices they make and the impact of the choices they make,” said Hobbs, “We’re trying to build that sense of community so that people trust each other.”
The idea is to help students understand maybe they didn’t make the best decision, and the consequences for that choice. That’s the justice portion. The restorative part comes with affirming statements, like, “You made a mistake, no one’s perfect, it doesn’t mean you are a bad kid.”
Hobbs said the school district already began implementing Restorative Practices last spring at New Horizons Center. He said teachers are already reporting there is much better interaction between the students and the teachers.
“This is just another one in those processes where we’re trying to get new skill sets that work with a lot of the things we’re already doing so we have just that much better of an environment for learning,” said Hobbs.
He said the district has seen a decrease in things like aggressive behavior, verbal aggression and even severe tardiness.
All school district employees will go through this training. The district hopes to hold workshops for parents once all the employees are trained.
