ORANGE — After a tumultuous year for Orange’s elementary schools, the district is looking to “rebuild trust” with the community for the 2019 to 2020 school year.
Part of that rebuilding is bringing in a “trauma specialist,” according Christopher Dodge, now principal at both Fisher Hill Elementary School — for preschool through second grade — and the adjacent Dexter Park Innovation School — for third through sixth grades.
The trauma specialist is Chris Green from the Institute for Health and Recovery, a Cambridge-based, statewide nonprofit. According to the institute’s website, its mission is “to develop a comprehensive continuum of care for families, individuals, youth and pregnant and parenting women affected by alcohol, tobacco and other drug use, violence/trauma, mental health challenges and other health issues.”
According to Dodge, Green first met with faculty in the spring and spoke at a staff-wide meeting on Monday. Dodge wants teachers and the community to realize the school district hasn’t “just brought in a speaker,” and that Green will be frequently in the schools as a resource for teachers dealing with traumatized students or students with behavioral problems.
“He’s going to work with each individual school and create a trauma care plan,” Dodge said, adding that Green has experience working in both residential and educational environments addressing crisis and trauma. “He’s going to basically be part of a team that meets pretty regularly and consults with teachers and staff.”
Early and often in the 2018 to 2019 school year, Fisher Hill was dogged with student behavioral problems, particularly in kindergarten and second grade. Teachers and parents reported students lashing out at teachers and classmates, throwing chairs and destroying classrooms, stabbing other students with pencils and verbally threatening others.
The disruptions led to frequent classroom evacuations, during which teachers would relocate their class to a separate part of the school to keep students away from a potentially dangerous peer. One teacher reported having to evacuate her classroom more than 30 times.
The Orange Elementary School Committee held several meetings over months to address the problem, including holding “action planning” workshops with teacher representatives. A fourth kindergarten class was launched to reduce class sizes; training in Therapeutic Crisis Interventions and Supports (TCIS) was done; grade-level meetings with the superintendent were held; there was a community forum on concerns and solutions; a lunchroom and playground aide was hired; and a “Positive Behavior Interventions Team” was convened.
But, despite the efforts, a specialist is still needed to help teachers deal with the students, who Dodge said are often victims of trauma.
“(Green) has a background doing this,” Dodge said. “Orange is not unique in having these types of problems. What I appreciated is that he’s very accessible, he gets it, he has a good sense of humor, too, and he’s all about self-care. You have to take care of yourself first.”
Dodge said part of the job fixing the problems in the school is making sure teachers have the support they need, and Green will be part of that support. Dodge added that there was a positive atmosphere in the building after Green’s first visit with the full staff.
“For me, I’ve been recognizing that this is hard work for staff. No one is saying it’s not,” Dodge said. “But when you have someone dealing with trauma, they’re not just struggling in school, but they’re struggling at home and their parents are struggling. … And geographically we don’t have the supports, as a rural school, that (urban schools) have.”
Dodge said Green’s role, and how often he will be in the buildings, is not set in stone yet and it’s something that will develop as the school year gets underway.
In addition to disruptions in classrooms last year, there were also allegations of abuse and neglect against school staff, including Fisher Hill Principal Maureen Donelan.
Although the principal of nearly seven years was cleared of any wrongdoing by the state’s Department of Children & Families, Donelan was ultimately fired without public explanation from school officials — and despite letters of support from teachers and downtown protests from parents who wanted her reinstatement.
Donelan’s lawyer later said she was made a “scapegoat” for a situation and that they would be suing the school district.
Dodge has said he acknowledges the tempestuous nature of last school year led to distrust from some of the public, and said staff has discussed often how to move forward.
“We realize last year was a hard year, and we want to rebuild that trust with the community,” Dodge said. “It’s not going to be easy, but if we’re all in this together, we can do this.”
Reach David McLellan at dmclellan@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 268.