When a youngster at Lincoln Elementary School in Blue Island had a meltdown right before a holiday pageant in December, two social workers came to the rescue and calmed the lad so he could continue in the festivities.
That might not have been possible were it not for a large grant to help boost the mental health and well-being of K-8 students in Cook County School District 130, which serves about 3,000 students at 13 school sites in Alsip, Blue Island, Crestwood and Robbins.
The district was able to hire more mental health staff thanks to a nearly $10.8 million Project COOK (Creating Opportunities and Outcomes is Key) grant awarded by the U.S. Dept. of Education that began in 2023. The funds are awarded in five annual installments through 2027.
Since receiving the grant, the district has been able to add 18 mental health workers to its existing staff of 15, and there is now a team of one lead clinician, two social workers and a counselor at every school.
Recalling the holiday pageant meltdown, Violeta Salgado, a longtime social worker at Lincoln Elementary, said “we had a little person who was very upset.”
“Two of us were able to work with him to get him to a better place so he could enjoy our holiday show,” she said.
It’s not just helping one student. Salgado said the grant is helping improve the comfort level and academic ability of all the school’s 336 students.
“One of our kindergarten classrooms had a couple of little people who really had a hard time verbalizing their emotions and would get really upset,” said Salgado. “Now they’re able to verbalize how they’re feeling and ask for that help.”
The district this year also added two new programs funded by the grant: Peekapak Social Emotional Learning Curriculum for K-12 and Second StepR for bilingual (Spanish) classes.
The need for such programs was accentuated by the pandemic, and its effects still are being felt in the educational community, Salgado said.
She said she has seen emotional challenges peak in the last few years.
“COVID was a very hard thing for the whole world but I think specifically for our students,” Salgado said, pointing to the isolation and inability to socialize with peers. “We really saw an increase in anxiety.”
The Peekapak program offers a place for students to “check-in” with their feelings, she said, while empowering staff to help students be successful.
“It’s giving our students that emotional language and teaching them it’s okay to have an array of feelings,” said Salgado.
Other help from the grant includes curricular resources, such as a guide on how teachers can help students monitor their social-emotional and mental health skills.
“A student might become increasingly angry over small experiences in the classroom or something might trigger a student and then they have this emotional release that might be considered a little out of alignment with what we would normally expect,” said Stephanie Delgrosso, the district’s assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, who oversaw the grant with the support of Superintendent Colleen M. McKay. “We obviously came back post-pandemic, like a lot of school systems, and were faced with this increase in behavioral occurrences.”
That’s changed with the grant help and the proof is in the falling number of office discipline referrals and “school avoidance” issues, said Delgrosso.
“They can build emotional intelligence, positive relationships and handle social challenges,” she said.
The district has also been able to team up with outside agencies, such as Solid Ground Behavioral Services in Blue Island, which provides behavioral help.
Staff are analyzing data on improvements, such as fewer disciplinary actions and absences, she said.
“One of the major changes is we’re able to provide more foundational support to our students with regard to mental health … like basic levels of support so they don’t escalate into mental issues,” said Delgrosso. “We are very grateful to have this opportunity.”
Salgado said the additional support means a lot to her, beyond just her role as a social worker. She has had four children who attend school in the district.
“It’s a wonderful thing,” she said. “It’s more overall support and it’s needed, it’s greatly needed.”
Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
