Parents

 

Welcome back to school!

Hello to all new HRA families!

As HRA's counselor, my role is to see students individually to help them if they should have a need here at school, or in small groups (working on friendship, social skills, and other concerns).

I also will be going into classrooms to work with your students on a personal safety curriculum called “Safe at Last”.

We are working hard to continue to keep HRA a place where respectful behavior is at the forefront. This will be the second year that students will be learning from the Second Step program, a curriculum that emphasizes treating others with kindness.

We know that childhood and adolescence can sometimes be tricky, so if your child ever has a concern that they want to talk about, please feel free to get in touch with me. You can call me at the school or e-mail me. I also have a list of counselors in the area and am glad to make referrals.

If your child needs to get ahold of me they can ask their teacher or put a note in my box.

Please tell your children that if they see something troubling that they want to report, but prefer to do this privately, they can put a note in the bully box. There are two locked bully boxes located in our school – one is near the top of the back staircase near the blue door which is the teacher’s entrance to the office. Another is downstairs near the trophy case on your way to the cafeteria. Students have been using these frequently and we hope that it is helping to address their concerns. They do not need to put their name on the note, but a clear explanation of what is happening will help me to look into it.

This seems to have been working well so far and has allowed us to research different situations that we might not otherwise know about.

We also have a group of middle school students known as Peer Helpers. They are available for any student as a sort of buddy/mentor. Research says that kids open up more to other kids. Students can let me know if they’d ever like to meet with a peer helper, or fill out a form with their teacher.

If you ever have questions or suggestions about what we’re doing about safety in our school, please drop me an e-mail.

I always love to hear from parents and it’s important that your concerns are addressed.

I hope that this is a great school-year for you all!

 

Resources for Parents

For Today's School Kids: Pressure Starts Early