SANDPOINT — When it comes to social and emotional wellness of students, starting programs as early as kindergarten can be crucial.

"We are very aware, very conscious and very mindful of what is going on with our youth in this district; I think we have a pulse, and implementing programs in the correct way takes time — it's not a quick fix," said Joy Jansen, director of special education in the Lake Pend Oreille School District, during Wednesday's Social and Emotional Learning meeting at Sandpoint Middle School.

Wednesday's meeting, attended by a small group of school staff and officials, focused on programs within the school district that promote social and emotional wellness in students, grades K-8.

Middle school can be a difficult transition, not only for students, but for staff. Getting to know the students is difficult when a new group of seventh-graders enters the school each year and soon move on to high school, said SMS principal Casey McLaughlin.

"In middle school, every student at some point needs social emotional help," McLaughlin said.

Last year, McLaughlin said, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention hosted a workshop at SMS attended by more than half of the middle school staff.

"The idea was to give our staff a good idea of how to identify students that are in crisis or in a position where they need extra help," he said.

McLaughlin said the goal is to identify those students in crisis and offer help, but also to provide social and emotional learning to all students.

The middle school is utilizing homeroom time to connect with kids and help them connect with other students through social and emotional learning. The problem, McLaughlin said, is homeroom is only 16 minutes per day, which he doesn't feel is enough time to make a true impact. He said a leadership class started at the middle school using Project Northland curriculum through a grant by 7B Drug Free. Project Northland is designed to discourage substance use and promote positive youth development in middle school students. The goal is to implement that program into the homerooms.

Sandpoint High School implemented a program this year using eight Sources of Strength, a program focused on suicide prevention and social emotional wellness. McLaughlin said the middle school received a grant for Sources of Strength and plan to implement it in the future.

During the meeting, Jansen addressed social and emotional learning efforts in the elementary schools. In partnership with Kaniksu Health Services, the district focuses on "psycho educational" skills with elementary students. 

"It is not true mental health therapy," she said, adding it is more of the social and behavioral skills, such as getting along with others.

Jansen recently discovered CASEL, the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning made up of five core learning competencies: self awareness, self management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making. While researching CASEL, she discovered it is aligned with Second Step, a program designed to promote social and emotional competence and self-regulation that has been used in the schools before. The programs work together as a collaborative of social and emotional learning.

"By increasing social and emotional learning in students, all of those five core concepts, what you do is you get an increase in academic success," Jansen said.

Second Step curriculum was purchased this year for each school, from Head Start through eighth grade, for use by the counselors and teachers.

Currently, the elementary school's share two counselors, one is provided by Kaniksu Health and the other was appointed by the school district. The counselors started a classroom program for second and fourth grade students, and to date, Jansen said, the two counselors have done 261 class presentations, 22 small group presentations and 12 individual sessions.

The district plans to continue with efforts at all grade levels in order to promote success and social emotional wellness in the students. Geraldine Lewis, member of the Panhandle Alliance for Education and LPOSD trustee, is happy with the district's efforts, but said the success of students goes beyond school life.

"It's the community's responsibility for the social and emotional health of their children," Lewis said. "The school is one great avenue for us to address it, because that's where our kids are for eight hours a day, but it is a community issue."