Months after the COVID-19 pandemic began, Omaha Central High School teachers were hit with a problem that “came out of nowhere” — students were struggling with social emotional skills.
They had trouble getting to class, being respectful to others and following teacher direction. It was an issue schools across the metro area and nation were experiencing as youths were cut off from peers and mentors when school doors shuttered in 2020, taking a toll on mental health.
In a 2022 national EdWeek survey of educators, 80% said that compared to before the pandemic, social skills and maturity levels of their current students were less advanced.
“There was definitely a gap of socialization that we came back and saw some increased behaviors,” said Jamie Miller, a student support teacher at Central High.“ We tended to see this with kids that you might not know or have a personal relationship with, like you would in the classroom.”
Central High administrators went outside the district to ask for help. In 2022, the school partnered with Boys Town, the national child and family service organization headquartered in Omaha, to combat the lack of social emotional skills and increase of misbehavior. For the past two years, Boys Town has been implementing its multi-tiered education model at Central High School, and staff say they’ve seen positive results.
Boys Town and Central High employees recently presented the model at the Middle America School Mental Health Conference in Omaha.
“We started off working with Boys Town as a solution to a problem that came out of nowhere, that we were not equipped to deal with,” said Christy Flaherty-Colling, a Central High English teacher, at the May conference. “Through our collaboration and our ongoing time together, we got back to our sense of shared efficacy, we were able to develop our sense of community again and we started getting back into the business of school.”
The Boys Town Educational Model has been implemented at schools across the U.S. since 1979. The organization is currently partnered with several school districts in themetro area, including multiple buildings in the Omaha Public Schools like Central High.
Courtney Dealy, manager of Boys Town’s national training team, said the organization found that even schools that had previously used the model were in needof more training after the pandemic.
“They came back to us and said, ‘Oh, my goodness, let’s do this again’ or ‘I remember when we did this, and there were positive outcomes, so we’d like to have you all come in,’” Dealy said. “A lot of schools have been struggling with behavior since COVID. It’s a common theme.”
While student misbehavior was a problem prior to the pandemic, the issue escalated after students returned to classrooms, hindering learning and staff retention.
National mental health experts found that isolation, online schooling and increased reliance on social media during the pandemic made things worse for many kids.
In a 2023 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, results showed feelings of persistent sadness and hopelessness affected more than one-third of kidsof all races and ethnicities and was increased over previous years.
‘All doors, all floors,’ ‘4-to-1 ratio,’ other methods have positive impact
Miller said Central High originally received the training 15 to 20 years ago. Once the school partnered with Boys Town in 2022, the training began with identifying the building’s specific needs. Miller said staff first focused on including education on social skills in various academic lessons and activities.
Alesia Montgomery, a Boys Town consultant assigned to work with Central High, said teachers identified hallway behavior as a key problem — students had no urgency toget to class and often lingered in the hallways after the bell rang. Some also struggled with social skills like greeting others, receiving feedback and asking for help.
“I always say that in America, we go north, south, east or west, and we see some of the same type of things: hallway behavior, vaping in the bathroom, just acting out,” Montgomery said.
The school implemented “all doors, all floors,” which requires a teacher standing outside each classroom door during passing periods to greet students and reduce the amount of people lingering in the hallways. Boys Town staff also trained teachers how to foster better relationships with students, especially those they don’t know personally.
“We talked about the “4-to-1 ratio,” so every time you have to correct a child — we know you have to do that — look for four opportunities to reinforce (good behavior),” Montgomery said. “It doesn’t have to be anything big — like a thumbs up, ‘Look at you, girl,’ ‘You got it, keep it up.’ That’s three right there.”
Boys Town encourages teachers to wear colored bracelets to remember this strategy, with one blue to represent correction of a behavior and four yellow to represent praises.
Montgomery and Miller said Central High staff have seen positive results since the model was implemented. Boys Town employees consistently conduct observations and collect data for OPS administrators to see what progress is being made.
“We always prepare a report and we talk to the teachers individually to let them knowhow they’re doing,” Montgomery said. “One thing about Central High School that Iappreciate is that we came in to partner with them, but they came up with a lot ofideas. They had a lot of things they wanted us to do.”
Miller said hallway behaviors decreased, along with official referrals for student discipline, and students learned how to better cooperate with teachers. But the workisn’t over yet — Boys Town will continue to partner with Central High into the next school year.
“As great as we are, we have other people on other side right there with us. They’re great and they’re willing and wanting to see change,” Montgomery said. “You get what you put into it, so it’s a great partnership.”
