WPS Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski and Administrator of Student Interventions and Safety Christopher J. Rogers. (Photo by Amy Porter)
WESTFIELD – Westfield Public Schools has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office and Sandy Hook Promise, a national non-profit organization dedicated to violence prevention education.
The AG’s office contacted Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski and Administrator of Student Interventions and Safety Christopher J. Rogers two weeks ago about a grant opportunity to work with Sandy Hook Promise on a violence prevention program for students in grades 6 – 12 over two years, at no cost to the district.
Czaporowski and Rogers said they wanted to bring the program to Westfield because it fits in with their goals of encouraging positive relationships between staff and students, so that all students feel safe and secure. Czaporowski also said there was some mention of bullying in the survey the district sent out last year. “This will be a proactive step to respond to the feedback we received.”
They were also somewhat familiar with the training, the first phase of which Abner Gibbs Principal Stacy Burgess successfully implemented last year in the elementary school. The program, “Start with Hello,” trains students on how to recognize social isolation within their school and classroom, and how to reach out and help. Start with Hello offers evidence-based training and empowerment program geared to middle and high school students to recognize social isolation.
“This will be more in depth,” Czaporowski said, adding that they will be working with the sixth grade at Westfield Intermediate School, seventh and eighth grades at Westfield Middle School, and both high schools.
Each school will go through three formal trainings for all students and staff members, one for each phase. The Sandy Hook trainers will deliver Start with Hello to students in a 45-minute assembly-style training, for a maximum of 500 students, so some schools may need to schedule more than one. All school staff will be required to attend the trainings.
Rogers will be the official point of contact. “I will be helping the four schools facilitate this, and working directly with the AG and Sandy Hook Promise,” he said.
Rogers said ever since the tragedy at Sandy Hook in December, 2012, the organization has been doing “fantastic work,” training millions of students and adults across the country.
“We are very happy, excited and honored to be collaborating with them. They’re the ones doing the work, we’re learning from them,” Rogers said.
Later in the year, the second phase, “Signs of Suicide,” a youth suicide prevention program, will be implemented. Signs of Suicide teaches students to recognize the symptoms of depression and suicide and to tell a trusted adult if they observe these signs in a peer or themselves.
Signs of Suicide is delivered in a train-the-trainer format: a Sandy Hook Promise trainer delivers the four-hour training to select school staff, and then the trained school staff deliver the program to students during a 50-minute class period.
Rogers said Phase III will begin in the fall of 2020. “Say Something” trains students to identify signs and threats, especially on social media, and tell a trusted adult.
Czaporowski said the program is for the safety of the whole community. “If our students don’t feels safe and secure, it’s more difficult to learn,” he said.
Rogers said they will also be working with the high schools and the middle school to start student leadership clubs, called SAVE (Students Against Violence Everywhere) Promise Clubs.
The clubs will lead school-based actions to introduce and sustain anti-violence programming after the trainings have taken place, and tie in with Start with Hello. Rogers said Start with Hello is the foundation of the whole program. “We don’t want one student to feel socially isolated,” he said.
The district hopes to launch the program during the national Call to Action week, Sept. 23 to 27, but that will depend on the availability of trainers.
“The bottom line of this is to teach youth and adults how to identify and intervene and get help for individuals before they hurt themselves,” Rogers said.
“We want intervention before it gets to that point,” added Czaporowski.
