Goal 4: Progress Updates
Read the current year Strategy 4 updates below, or read previous updates in the accordions labeled by year.
Report 3: June 9, 2025
The Student and Staff Mental Health & Wellness Supports committee has met six times this school year on September 10, October 15, November 26, January 14, February 25 and April 8, 2025. The committee has maintained focus on the primary goal for Year 3 by addressing components needed to create an annual Mental Health Committee data report given to the Board of Education that is inclusive of student data on discipline referrals, the percentage of students in Tier 2 and Tier 3 on the Social-Emotional
Learning (SEL) screener which is Character Strong, the number of students that have participated in a risk assessment whether it is internalized or externalized behavior, staff opportunities for and participation in wellness activities, and student and staff absenteeism.
Throughout the year, at the beginning of each committee meeting the belief statement, goal and accountability measures are reviewed. Team protocols established to guide the committee's work are reviewed before each meeting. Another feature of each committee meeting is the educational moment that focuses on establishing common ground through learning together. Due to the diverse backgrounds of committee members, it is important to encourage learning and understanding of a variety of components supporting Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Social Emotional Growth (SEG).
The educational moments for the remainder of the year focused on the new curriculum from Character Strong, detailing information on the SERVE Model that staff are encouraged to incorporate into their daily routines with students. In February, the committee focused on the discussion following the Character Strong video, “This is Not My Priority”, which challenges individual mindsets and prioritizing time to do what is important. In April, the educational moment focused on improving student engagement through safer school environments and the benefits of behavioral threat assessments.
During the Board of Education mid-year update, the committee shared concerns regarding the committee’s ability to meet the criteria for meeting its annual goal based upon the timelines in which district data would be completed and authenticated for the school year. Data collection dates range in several areas, but a sizable portion of the data is not finalized until the end of school year, which would prevent reporting to the board in early June. The board modified the date for the first mental health
report presented to be by Fall of 2026. This will allow the committee to finalize the data collection and establish the processes for collecting and aggregating information.
Through the deconstructing of the goal, the committee has recommended following data collection
sources for the areas to be reported:
● Discipline Referrals - Documented in Skyward and End of Year Reports to KSDE. Data
finalized by June 30th.
● Student Tier Levels - Documented in Character Strong, through Student Screener and
Panorama Education program.
● Students that Participated in a Risk Screener - The product to be utilized is to be determined as the externalized tool will be determined by Matt Liston and his team and the recommended internalized screener is the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale, which is what the majority of social workers and counselors have been using. Continued work is needed to see if it can be embedded with the externalized screening tool for data collection. Continued committee work is needed to develop the processes for data collection, building and district implications, while protecting student confidentiality.
● Student Absenteeism data will be collected via Skyward attendance records finalized by
June 30 each year.
● Staff Absenteeism - Continued work with Human Resources regarding what data needs to
be reported and how. Information will be collected through Frontline and Skyward and
finalized by June 30 each year.
● Participation and Opportunities for Staff Wellness - Information will be collected through
the Health and Wellness Committee under the supervision of Human Resources with
information finalized by October.
By modifying the timeline of this goal, the committee will be able to report in the fall regarding the previous year's data to accomplish this goal. Areas of refinement in the internalized and externalized screener, processes and staff training will be the focus for the upcoming year. Continued discussions with Human Resources will clarify the information provided for the report.
It was important to this committee that data was aggregated by the school year, with a consistent data source. The schedule is important to guide processes and insure accountability of the goal request. Data should not require in depth collection, analyzation and conclusions, but rooted in our student and district collection methods used for state and federal reporting and accreditation for the district. It is also important that all buildings comply with recording information for an accurate report.
This committee has served with dedication, passion and integrity to best represent diverse perspectives into the recommendations for data collection and the representation of the mental health and wellness of students and staff in Derby Public Schools. This committee looks forward to finalizing the areas of need as described in this report to further the year end goals.
Report 2: February 10, 2025
The Student and Staff Mental Health & Wellness Supports committee has met four times so far this year on September 10, October 15, November 26, 2024, and January 7, 2025. The committee will meet at least two more times before we wrap up the goals for 2024-2025. The committee continues to focus on the primary goal of this committee for Year 3 with creating an annual Mental Health Committee data report to be given to the board that will include data on discipline referrals, percentage of students in Tier 2 and Tier 3 on the Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) screener, and number of students that participated in the a risk assessment, staff opportunities for and participation in wellness activities, student and staff absenteeism.
At the beginning of each committee meeting the belief statement, goal and accountability measures are reviewed. Team protocols that were established to guide the work of the committee are reviewed prior to each meeting. The committee selected the following: Trust and contribute to the process, be respectful to everyone’s time, stay positive, be respectful, and be kind. Additional values are agreed with kindness, be a polite listener and speaker, and create a safe place. This is important as diverse perspectives must be expressed and valued.
An educational moment is shared at the beginning of each committee meeting to encourage learning and understanding of a variety of components supporting Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Social Emotional Growth (SEG). During the third committee meeting in November, the committee participated in an activity,
“How do you know”? Examples of student written expression on paper and a drawing were examined, discussed, and outside of context could be examples of internalized and externalized behaviors that could be potentially harmful to the student or others. Upon evaluation and investigation, the words were lyrics to a song that a student was listening to, and the picture was a student drawing a picture of his family snorkeling. Following the discussion in October, administrators and social workers do not have a district screening tool to initiate the investigation of encounters such as this. This educational moment demonstrated situations that are common in our schools today.
The committee started deconstructing the annual goal based upon the areas established in the goal were discipline referrals, percentage of students in tiers two and three based upon the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Screener, students participating in risk assessments, participation in wellness activities, and student and staff absences. Considerable discussion, follow up and discussion focused on this process. Some critical points that were determined via the committee included:
- Data needs to be consistent in data source and collection to guide processes and accountability.
- Data should not require in depth collection, analyzation, and conclusions, but rooted in our student and district collection methods used for state and federal reporting and accreditation for the district.
- Seek to strengthen and improve areas in need of additional tools, resources, or procedures to improve student and staff outcomes.
Deconstruction of the goal continued from November into January. Student discipline data should be consistent and collected through Skyward following typical processes set forth for annual reporting. The concern for reporting in May is that this data is not collected and finalized until June. As the committee examined other areas, timelines are not in sync with the annual reporting of data to the Board of Education unless it is one year in arrears, or the report deadline is changed. Another example was the district report for participation in the Wellness Committee which was completed in October. New information will not be available until October 2025. This is an area that will require more discussion before a recommendation can be made.
The Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Screener that will measure SEG will be through Character Strong, which is the newly implemented SEL curriculum. This measure will be consistent in collection districtwide, but again, data will not be readily available until June 2025 for the school year. The area that continues to garner significant focus is that the district needs a districtwide risk assessment that is inclusive of internalized and externalized behaviors and structures for consistent reporting. The new Panorama Education program is a vital tool in the collection of data, which will allow for evaluating trends and outcomes in many areas but is not inclusive of highly confidential student data such as this.
During the month of January, considerable discussion emerged following the data regarding the low participation of staff wellness, which was reported as 20% in October 2024. District staff expressed concerns about workload, “extra” work, and expectations that are expressed with intensity such as addressing student performance outcomes with students received from open school boundaries, struggling students, and absenteeism. It was noted that while the district tried to remove some items off the plate, the new state mandate for LETRS training increased the workload significantly with time away from the classroom, creating substitute plans, and homework for the training, in addition to often reteaching information from being out of the classroom. While many new initiatives are good, the time and stress are being felt by staff.
Lastly, it was determined that student and staff absenteeism can be collected, but once again, this information is not typically collected and analyzed until June. There were expressed concerns regarding how to track the absences of staff regarding earned time off and designated family, emergency, and medical leaves. Further discussion is needed to establish a recommendation for consistent reporting of information. This committee continues to have strong diverse attendance with different perspectives.
Continued focus with overall goals, learning, and discussion will continue to further this committee towards its year end goals.
Report 1: November 25, 2024
Strategy 4, Student and Staff Mental Health & Wellness Supports committee has met two times so far this year on September 10 and October 29, 2024. Membership of this committee consists of 46 individuals, including students, parents, classified and certified staff, BOE members, and community stakeholders. In addition to the dates listed above, this committee is scheduled to meet four additional times to complete the tasks to reach committee goals on November 26, 2024; January 14, 2025; February 25, 2025; and April 8, 2025. Additional dates will be added if needed. The primary goal of this committee for Year 3 is creating an annual Mental Health Committee data report to be given to the Board that will include data on discipline referrals, percentage of students in Tier 2 and Tier 3 on the Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) screener, and number of students that participated in the a risk assessment, staff opportunities for and participation in wellness activities, student and staff absenteeism.
The first committee meeting included introductions, a belief statement, and accountability measures were reviewed. Team protocols were established to guide the work of the committee during the year. The committee selected the following: Trust and contribute to the process, be respectful to everyone’s time, stay positive, be respectful, and be kind. More values are: Agree with kindness, be a polite listener and speaker, and create a safe place. While the committee has a single goal this year, the committee discussed the purpose of the goal, which is to determine important data markers that will be used to demonstrate improvement in mental health and wellbeing. Guiding questions for the discussion included why the data was needed, what needs to be in place to collect data, what is missing or needed to collect the data, and how will the plan be created to meet the goal.
During the second committee meeting in October, team protocols were shared and the Educational Moment focused on a video clip, KINDNESS as shared through the newly implemented SEL curriculum, Character Strong. The committee briefly discussed the video clip and district staff shared insight of the curriculum implementation so far this year. The committee will collect and report out the data. A tabletop activity, Deconstructing the Goal, was the main activity for this session as the group split into groups of four to complete a graphic organizer. This was used to assist with breaking down the goal, seeking common language, determining what information is needed, and tools needed for measurement. Additional areas that emerged through discussion included risk assessments and the importance of districtwide tools, consistent protocols, and follow through. The committee will continue to examine suggestions made through meetings regarding the development of possible recommendations.