Van Buren middle school putting “Reset Room” to good use

VAN BUREN, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA)— Students at a Van Buren middle school have a new place to relax and de-stress from situations they may face during the school day.

Calming rooms are a quiet space for students to calm down when faced with a stressful situation. However, the room at Butterfield Trail Middle School goes by a different name.

“Vast majority of people when you tell them “hey calm down” Most of their reactions are don’t tell me to calm down. And so we didn’t really throw out a trigger word,” said Butterfield Trail Middle School councilor Kim McCormick.

This is why it’s called the Reset Room. McCormick says this is a place for students to reset their mind.

“They are not use to saying ‘Wait you are going to give me a minute to get my thoughts together?’ Because they are so used to being directed back to an academic task,” said McCormick.

Butterfield Trail Middle School was one of 75 schools across Arkansas selected by Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield to get a $2,500 grant to build calming rooms. Even though the Reset Room isn’t completely finished, it’s already getting used.

“The response and the results we’ve seen I’ve been overwhelmed with because it truly is a space that we’ve been able to see students come in to utilize and be able to go back into the classroom,” said Rachel Morrison, another councilor at the school.

She says students aren’t the only ones reaping the benefits of the room.

“We have staff walk by to come see me and they will be like ‘Oh can we come in there too?’ And it’s like absolutely! Everybody sometimes needs a minute,” said Morrison.

The room has a range of different items such as coloring books, fidgets, music, and even kinetic sand. Despite the benefits McCormick says it’s important to make sure students don’t become dependent on the room.

“The goal is to teach them some ways to recognize what’s happening what are some things they can do in the moment and if they still need that room that’s okay but over time we want them to kind of be able to recognize and deal with and what are some things they can try,” said McCormick.

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