• Social and Emotional Wellness

    As a school district, it is our intent to continue working together to create supportive learning environments that ensure that each child, in each school, feels engaged, safe, supported, welcomed, and challenged.

    Social and emotional learning is an area of our educational programming that is vital to our ability to enable each child to grow into a healthy adult, ready to face the challenges and stresses of our complex world.

    Social and emotional learning initiatives may be divided into three main areas:

    • People – In order to meet the varied needs of our students and community, we continually examine the need to add resources, including district staff and support from community partners and outside human service providers. 

     

      • School Counselors support students' academic, socioemotional and behavioral functioning in addition to helping students with course selection and postsecondary planning.
      • Student Support Social Workers/Counselors: The district employs 8 Student Support Social Workers/Counselors; one in each of our secondary buildings. Their primary roles include counseling, school-based interventions, as well as helping families and school staff to support students in crises, connect families with resources, and provide additional support. These professionals also provide support to the elementary schools to which they are assigned.
      • School Psychologists provide psychoeducational evaluations, consultation, counseling, and other interventions to support students, families, and staff.

    • Programs – The programs we employ to support the growth and development of our students and the training of our faculty and staff are critical. These include programs that identify students in need of additional support and help us to analyze areas where we can improve.

     

      • School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support (SWPBIS) SWPBIS is a framework that is fully integrated into the school culture at 一本道 Bucks middle schools. Once implemented, SWPBIS provides the behavior supports needed to improve social, emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes for all students. 
      • Student Assistance Program Student Assistance Program (SAP) staff support the districts' SAP program, which serves all secondary students - grades 7-12, as well as grades K-6 when needed.
      • Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) Training All professional staff have been trained in practical and proven suicide prevention techniques based on the models used by the QPR Training Institute, to identify warning signs and use specific strategies to help.
      • Lunch and Learn Lunch and Learn is part of a student-centered approach to scheduling that inserts “choice” into the school day at 一本道 Bucks high schools. This 65-minute period of time is designed to foster an environment that promotes social and emotional well-being as a foundation for academic achievement and life-long learning. Attached to the lunch period, students may use the time to get academic help, listen to a guest speaker, see a counselor, or participate in another activity in a supervised setting.

    • Education – We use a series of curricula and models aimed at helping students to build skills as well as how to identify those in need of more support.

     

      • Second Step is a social and emotional wellness curriculum for grades K-8. The program integrates social-emotional learning and bullying prevention to form safe and supportive learning environments.
      • PREPaRE Curriculum The PREPaRE curriculum has been developed by the National Association of School Psychologists. This evidence-based resource is ideal for schools committed to improving and strengthening their school safety and crisis management plans and emergency response. 
      • Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines - C-STAG Working with consultant experts, teams including administrators, principals, counselors, psychologists, and others have been trained in Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (C-STAG) that employ a problem-solving approach to helping students in distress and resolving problems before they escalate. This is a data-driven, research-based approach that involves both assessment and intervention.
      • Pennsylvania's Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) MTSS is a standards-aligned, comprehensive school improvement framework for enhancing academic, behavioral, and social-emotional outcomes for all students. Programs like School Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support, Response to Instruction and Intervention, and Second Step all fit within this framework.  

     

                                   For more information, please contact Justin Rubenstein at 267-893-2050.