Student After Care (SAC) Supervisors and Assistant Supervisors serve a diverse group of students daily at 32 sites throughout Boulder Valley School District (BVSD). From grade levels to academic ability levels to emotional and behavioral health levels, SAC staff must manage each student’s needs and create a safe environment outside of school hours for students and staff.
To help SAC staff manage student needs and their own, we’ve partnered with the City of Boulder’s Housing and Human Services Department to invest $25,000 so two employees from each site can obtain 6 hours of professional development in Calming Kids Mindfulness and Yoga.
What is Calming Kids?
The Calming Kids training will introduce balancing the physical body, calming the energetic body and becoming mindful of thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Easy exercises to loosen the body, breathing practices, and relaxation techniques will be presented for staff to instruct students, as well as, how these tools can support the adult teacher.
Yoga and mindfulness education for the classroom setting provides strategies to support social-emotional wellness and brain integration. Participants will learn a curriculum for elementary age students enabling them to teach and model techniques for students, to assist with academic performance and cultivate a greater capacity for a compassionate community.
Benefits of mental health training
These training sessions will teach SAC supervisory staff how to regulate their own emotions amidst challenging situations and how to teach strategies for students to self-regulate within these same challenging situations.
What happens before and after school impacts the learning and experiences during the school day and at home.
Providing professional development in this area of mindfulness and social-emotional health also signals to SAC staff how much they are valued and appreciated. Our goal is to empower SAC staff with tools they need to succeed and build confidence in their abilities to do their job of taking care of our students outside of the school day.
Future investments
We are committed to meeting the social-emotional needs of BVSD students and educators and continue to seek out ways we can support this integral part of education in Boulder Valley’s schools.
