Resiliency in School – Provide Green Zones for Red Flags

Written by Tim Buckley, October 2024

The effects of the Covid pandemic are still being felt. Some are positive ripples that acknowledge, and then address the stress in students and teachers alike.

Schools across the state have received grant funding to create Wellness Centers that provide teachers a place to chill out, calm their frazzled nerves and regain an attitude necessary to teach effectively.

Cummings Elementary School Principal Andy Kronser added another layer to that, successfully winning a grant two years ago from the American Heart Association, to provide a Wellness Center for students. “It’s a way to support their physical, emotional, and behavioral wellbeing,” he said.

What has this to do with CBEL?

• Cummings Elementary, in the heart of Keizer, is the hub of CBEL’s fourth Neighborhood Family Council.

• Principal Kronser’s entrepreneurial attitude about student wellness and achievement includes the development of community partnerships that embrace the neighborhoods around the school where the students’ families live. CBEL is their newest partner.

Here’s a peek behind the curtain of those wellness rooms: if people in the classroom are distracted because of hunger, emotional upset or physical pain, they won’t be learning what they need to grow to adulthood with an even, or better, shot at success in the world. It’s a core principle behind The Pair of Aces work being done by Wendy Ellis and CBEL.

Kronser understands that adverse childhood experiences are plentiful in his classrooms. Likewise, he knows that that adversity stems from the adverse conditions in the neighborhoods from which they arrive every day. Poverty, housing insecurity, lack of economic mobility, violence, and discrimination are difficult for any family to overcome.

There are two parts to Kronser’s strategy. Part one is to send students home emotionally balanced and academically curious. “That means making sure that students and staff have the emotional support they need to succeed,” he said. The second part is to make the school a place where families come together for celebration, fun, learning and acknowledgement. That’s where the Cummings Neighborhood Family Council comes in.

Principal Kronser grew up in Monmouth and Salem, got degrees and licensure from Western Oregon University, University of Northern Texas, Oregon State University and George Fox University.

Part of his savvy about education comes from teaching and administration of small rural schools. In both Central and North Marion school districts, he “wore a lot of hats.” Small towns, with similar problems as cities, pose unique creative challenges to the small staff serving those rural schools in the Willamette Valley. “In addition to teaching, I was the early learning coordinator and the Title III (English Learner) program developer and coordinator before becoming Assistant Principal (pre-K – 2nd grade) and then Principal at North Marion Primary,” he said.

Wellness in the Classroom Starts with Wellness in the Individual

The Cummings school culture begins with a belief that prevention and proactivity precede development. The school employs a behavioral specialist and instructional assistant who staff the Wellness Center. “On the wall is a ‘Mood Meter’ that students can use to indicate where they’re at,” Kronser said. “We help them shift from the red zone to green before they go back to the classroom.”

Using the RULER approach to emotional learning and regulation, the Wellness Center is equipped with small sand boxes, drawing and coloring tools, a small trampoline, a body sock, a tent, a library and a listening station. “Choosing among these things, and with the interaction with staff, the students learn self-regulation skills,” Kronser said.

"Students access the room based on their need,” he added, “and they can access the room whenever they need a wellness break.” (What a difference from a decade or two ago, when punishment - the Principal’s Office and detention - was the answer to all students’ emotional fallout!)

“For years, our Equity Team has come up with ideas to improve student attendance and engagement,” Kronser continued.  “We use school events as an attractor, to get families comfortable about being here.  We’re trying to normalize the idea that the school is more than a place where your child goes to learn. We want to be better known as a community of care,” he said.

Wellness in the City Starts with Wellness in the Neighborhood

Wellness – whether in the individual or in the community - begins with a sense of belonging, Kronser continued. “We can’t do it alone, either as a school or a community,” he said. “In order to be a welcoming place, we need partnerships, and the Neighborhood Family Council is a wonderful new addition.”

Some of Cummings’ partners include Keizer United Way and Lions Club, Keizer Network of Women, John Knox Church, the Assistance League, West Keizer Neighborhood Association, and the Cummings Parent Teachers Association.

It’s too early to say how the Cummings NFC will add to the mix of efforts already established. After a couple of orientation and training meetings with CBEL NFC coordinators, the Council will begin to assess what things it might do to increase civic engagement, extend the sense of belonging, and provide added support for success of students and families alike.

The new NFC members are:

• Kris Adams - Chair

• Elizabeth Heredia

• Omar Alvarado

• Craig Spotts

• Ramiro “RJ” Navarro