Staff in Rolla Public Schools are learning how to defuse possible violent situations through a method called non-violent crisis-intervention training.
That was what the School Board learned Thursday, as several district officials gave a presentation on the program, created by the Crisis Prevention Institute based in Brookfield, Wis., and its implementation in the schools.
“When I first approached it, I thought it was just about restraining someone,” said Jim Pritchett, principal at Mark Twain Elementary.
The training, however, according to Stacey Reed, the district’s director of special services, Dr. Susan Bowles, Wyman Elementary principal and Pritchett, is about de-escalation and prevention of school violence without more violence.
So far, more than 50 district employees have been trained and future training sessions are scheduled for the fall and spring of next school year.
Currently, there is proposed legislation in the U.S. House and Senate, requiring schools to “train staff by a state-approved training program on physical restraint or seclusion.”
“We feel doing this now, while we have funding, we are being proactive,” said Reed.
