Capital School District task force highlights student connections, mentorship

DOVER — As part of Capital School District’s effort to remedy behavior issues at its facilities, a trauma and school connectedness task force has been established.

The group, whose last meeting was Tuesday, includes administrators, students, teachers and community stakeholders.

Among the highlighted topics was how the district is identifying students who need help, using data and a procedure that identifies kids that may need better relationships with their teachers.

“We put all the students names up on the wall, have staff go through, identify, put a dot literally next to every student that they have a connection to, that they know something about,” said assistant superintendent Dr. Victoir Cahoon. “We can (then) connect a staff member, at least one staff member, to those students who didn’t have any dots. ... I think it’s very important for students to have some type of connection to the school.”

A large part of the talk at the task force’s meeting was centered on one of the district’s proposed remedies for challenging behaviors: group mentoring.

A partnership between the district and the Wilmington-based mentoring nonprofit Connecting Generations would have volunteers come in weekly to guide students. The mentors could rotate each week, and each would be asked to visit once a month.

Those volunteers seem to be the most important piece of the behavior puzzle, and a large part of the battle is getting them to step up.

“Sometimes, we think we don’t have the time. Sometimes, we think we don’t have the energy. Sometimes, we think, ‘I’m not the one to do this,’ but you really are,” said Tanny Dickerson, the director of creative mentoring at Connecting Generations

With a ratio of 10 students to one mentor, sessions would utilize discussions, games, role-playing and field trips.

The task force also had some questions to answer from the meeting’s attendees, like which topics the mentors should be trained on, what subjects would engage students and which other organizations Capital School District should approach to match mentors and children.

In response, task force members highlighted understanding where students are coming from, their environment, their interests and their goals. They also discussed how to include those who speak English as a second language.

According to superintendent Dr. Vilicia Cade, Capital administrators hope to implement the group mentoring program for the start of next school year. Those interested can apply at capital.k12.de.us .

Meetings of the task force are open to anyone, and the next will be May 28.