Danville School District 118 board members have agreed to extend four separate programs providing extra support to relieve stress for both students and staff members. Hannah Clingan is Director of Program Development for a program called ‘It’s In Your Head’….
{AUDIO: ‘’What we have seen post-pandemic overall is an increase in stress, and anxiety, and fear, the unknown. And also all of these extra rules and regulations that we have to jump through in order to get anything done. And that’s put a lot of extra stress on the staff in our schools – and on the students as well.’’}
Clingan was speaking to school board members at their meeting Wednesday night. It’s In Your Head’ provides programs to mitigate stress, including small group discussions and workshops. After piloting the program last year at the Kenneth D. Bailey Academy, school board members have agreed to expand it to other schools. The cost will be up to $130-thousand dollars per year plus $25-thousand dollars for KDBA.
It is one of four programs the Danville School Board agreed to extend to provide more support for both students and staff. Other program extensions which were approved include:
- It Takes a Village Mentoring – up to $195-thousand dollars to hire mentors who go into schools to meet with students. The program starts working with students at the third grade level helping them with social and emotional skills.
- Community Action After School Programs – providing programs from kindergarten through grade 12.
- DEF20 – is a program started last year which helps students by using physical fitness. The program costs up to $50,000 and is held at Danville High School.
District 118 is paying for the programs primarily with money that was received because of the COVID pandemic. But School Board President Dr. Randle Ashton noted that funding source is not going to stay around much longer. ‘’We have a lot of programs in place. It’s a luxury we have at the moment,’’ said Ashton. ‘’We get to see what works and doesn’t work. I hope we’re able to continue (these programs) forever. But I think in reality we’re going to have some hard choices in the next five years.’’
School Board Vice-President Shannon Schroeder noted the board reviews the programs carefully. ‘’It’s not a rubber-stamp,’’ said Schroeder. ‘’You have to show you’re getting results.’’
