At Swigert, we recognize that social and emotional support for our students if often as important as academic support. With that in mind, we have implemented several school wide programs to give administration, teachers and staff tools to help.
School Psychologist: Kim Irk, our School Psychologist, and her para Silvia Herdandez, are at Swigert 5 days a week to support students.
Classroom Morning Meetings: Every classroom begins the school day with a responsive classroom morning meeting with a focus on IB Learner Profile traits and mindfulness.
Restorative Justice Practices: A program that is aimed at resolving disciplinary problems and is based on respect, responsibility, relationship-building, and relationship-repairing. Read a great article explaining this and mentioning DPS.
No Nonsense Nurturer Approach: A four-step model rooted in building strong, positive relationships with students so they can reach high levels of academic success in classrooms. Teachers are trained in strategies that include precise directions, positive narration, and fair, consistent accountability systems.
In the fall of 2021, we began to roll out the Zones of Regulation. To learn more about this great program, click HERE or the picture below!
Bullying
Second Step Bullying Prevention: A holistic approach focused on core social-emotional skills that are particularly important for bullying prevention, including empathy, emotion management, and social problem solving. It also teaches friendship building and how to be assertive.
Bully Reporting: If your child is being bullied please help him or her report it immediately. It is best to report it when it occurs and to the adult in charge of that setting. However, sometimes the situation requires a different approach to reporting. Regardless of how or to whom, please, please be sure this is reported. This is for the good of all students involved. We will work with your child, the other student, and the other student’s parents to remedy the situation. However, student privacy laws stipulate that we may only discuss a student’s behavior with his or her parents. As the parent of the victim, information about the other student and any consequences will be limited.
If your child is engaging in bully behavior, we will confidentially address the situation respectfully and with the attitude that all our children are learners. You will be contacted to partner with us in helping your child identify and learn more positive and productive ways of interacting with peers.
Safe2Tell Program
All 4th and 5th grade students receive a class lesson on the Safe2Tell resource currently utilized in Denver Public Schools. Safe2Tell’s mission is, “To ensure that all Colorado students, parents, teachers, and community members have access to a safe and ANONYMOUS way to report any SAFETY CONCERNS, with a focus on early intervention and prevention through AWARENESS and EDUCATION.” The goals of the classroom lesson are to:
Teach young people that reporting anything related to the safety of anyone is their responsibility.
Teach young people how to tell a trusted adult that they have a safety concern.
Create a climate in which young people feel comfortable sharing sensitive information regarding a potentially threatening situation.
Additionally, the staff of Swigert Elementary completed Safe2Tell training to help them properly respond to students who provide the types of information listed above.
