Carlton is a bright, cheerful looking school for K through 5^th grade students with 19 teachers and a handful of paraprofessionals along the water in Salem, MA. The school is a combination of regular education classes and special education classes with just over 60 students on Individual Education Plans. The school is well known for taking in the most challenging students, and this year is no exception. Salem is also a highly desirable town to work with for Think:Kids. The diverse population of immigrants, single family homes and blue collar families create a school setting often struggling to meet the needs of at-risk kids.

How do we do it?

Think:Kids staff meets via videoconference once a week to discuss the details of using our approach and to brainstorm about how to handle specific children's behaviors. These hour long supervision sessions are invaluable to teaching the model and for allowing the teachers to come together and talk about how they can better approach a child's challenges in multiple academic areas in the school. Think:Kids staff also talk with leadership in the school on a weekly basis and visit Carlton every month  for in person consultation.

The road to success isn't always easy!  The school had a number of crises last year. One student repeatedly became so agitated from past trauma and so violent to teachers that she was often taken away by ambulance leaving the remaining students devastated.  Frequent destruction of lockers and swearing at adults was not uncommon. At one point last winter a near riot broke out in the lunchroom when 2 boys started name calling and then throwing punches. In one particular class three girls frequently resorted to swearing, hair pulling and tipping over chairs. The head of school, and teachers were upset, angry and frustrated.

Life is better at Carlton today!

Along with some teacher and classroom shifts, leadership decisions, and utilization of our approach the school looks much better now. The kids understand their school's values and expectations, the challenging kids are worked with before they explode, and their problem solving skills are slowly emerging. The Head of School is pleased with his staff's better understanding of kids, the more humane solution to restraining kids, and the emphasis on teaching kids essential skills. We have begun to turn over the reins to the staff at Carlton to assume responsibility for continuing the work in our absence as we hope to turn our attention to other schools in Salem and other towns in Massachusetts and beyond.