BECKLEY, W.Va. — A program in Raleigh County Schools that deals directly with student behavior and discipline is inspiring new legislation at the state Capitol.
Allen Sexton, director of special programs at Raleigh County Schools, said their T-4 Academy is used when an elementary school student needs to be removed from the classroom to regulate their behavior.
“We bring those students to a very small, individualized, highly specialized location where we have highly specialized trained individuals that understand childhood behavior and we provide those resources locally to them until they’re ready to transition back to their classroom,” Sexton explained on Monday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
The program is set up as a fourth tier to a three-tier program. The first level uses reinforcements for the school rules. The second step identifies a small group of students who need extra attention for following those school rules. The third tier includes individual counseling.
Sexton said teachers have asked for a fourth tier to help get a handle on students who still misbehave.
“Teachers have voiced the frustration and the opinion that they need more help. They don’t have the expertise or the training to deal with those students who, after that third layer and individual counseling layer, what do you then?” he said.
State Senate Education Chair Amy Grady, R-Mason, is a fourth-grade teacher in Mason County. She said she plans to introduce a bill that follows the T-4 model for all of West Virginia with the goal of intervening with student before the situation gets worse.
Sexton said many students who end up in the T-4 tier are dealing with trauma.
“When they come to us, the teachers and the staff are aware and are trauma-informed and able to support those students. What we’ve learned through and what we know through our educational and professional development for ourselves is that there is a traumatic brain response and that the brain changes in structure as a student experiences trauma,” he said.
The biggest challenge when it comes to implementing a program like this statewide is paying teachers, Sexton said.
“It’s not a cheap program,” he said. “Our program is in one of our building locations. We use our existing transportation and existing food service program, but then you have to staff the program.”
Sexton said they’ve seen success in their program so far.
“About 95 percent of the students have not had repeat behaviors. We could show that of those students that have had repeat behaviors, they’ve gone on to need extensive care in such as a placement facility location that provides constant, ongoing mental health supports,” he said.
Berkeley County Schools has a similar program in place called the CARES Academy works. The academy works to eliminate distractions in the classrooms to help students who need behavior intervention.
School discipline has been a major topic of discussion since in May 2023 when the state Department of Education released a report that showed more than 28,000 West Virginia students were suspended in 2022. The average student suspended lost about six days of classroom instruction, which led to poor test scores.