PRIEST RIVER — Students who are "at risk" are generally defined as those who struggle with academic and behavioral issues.

These students tend to require intervention to succeed in school, and with a population of "at risk" students in the area, Priest River Elementary recently hired a response to intervention specialist, Michael Jenkins, to help out the kids who need it.

"We have some at risk families here in Priest River and we have some kids with difficult backgrounds ...," said PRE Principal Connie Kimble. "We have some other kids who are really far behind, below grade level, and as hard as we try, it is difficult to get them caught up in a single classroom full of kids. And then we have some kids with pretty extreme behavioral issues that stem from family of origin issues."

For the first half of the year, Kimble said her job was focused strictly on behaviors. With kids in her office constantly, it proved difficult for her to get anything else done. Most larger schools with "at risk" students have a response to intervention team, which Kimble said PRE does as well. Jenkins sits on that team, which looks at interventions that can be implemented to help get kids up to grade level. So far, Jenkins said he is enjoying getting to know the PRE youth.

"It's fun working with them and watching them grow," Jenkins said.

Kimble touted Jenkins' ability to get non-compliant student to be compliant within minutes, and said he is "really adept" at creating positive relationships with the students.

"He just has that really special interaction with the kids," Kimble said. "So far we have seen a decrease in behaviors and an increase in skills. I feel like I can actually do the job that I was hired to do now."

Working closely with school administration, the school counselor and teachers, Jenkins said he works with the kids in small groups at each grade level for math and reading interventions, with the type of work depending on the grade-level. During assessments two weeks ago, Jenkins said of the three groups they had tested at the time, each one had shown progress.

"We are always excited to see kids advancing and showing some progress," Jenkins said.

After the assessments, he said, the team would decide whether to keep working with the same students, or if they had progressed enough to move on to other students who might need some assistance.

PRE's 420 students make up of 40 percent of the West Bonner County School District's population, Kimble said, and without an assistant principal, Jenkins helps fill that gap as well.

"He has kind of been my right-hand man," she said. "He wears a few different hats and I am really grateful to him."

Jenkins holds a master's degree in education and has classroom and administrative experience. Jenkins said he served in the military before beginning his education career as a classroom teacher. He did that for about nine years, he said, then decided to got into administration, working as an assistant principal. He started the 2017-2018 school year as an assistant principal in Texas, where he is from, leaving over winter break to move to Priest River and take the position at PRE.

"It's a great, great place to work," Jenkins said. "I love the small-town feel. It's got a great community feel to it where everybody kind of knows each other and it reminds me a lot of home."

Mary Malone can be reached by email at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.