Did an adult in your house often push, grab, slap or throw something at you? Did you often feel that you had no one to protect you? Did you often feel that no one in your family loved you or thought you were special?
Answering yes to any of those questions adds a point to the Adverse Childhood Experience — ACE — score, and making sure children can overcome those experiences to become healthy adults is the backbone of a new initiative for the Umatilla School District.
The Umatilla School District is part of a seven-district consortium working on ACE strategies in Oregon. The consortium formed in the spring of 2014, after a conversation between superintendents about students not responding to traditional intervention strategies. The discussion turned to ACEs and different strategies for helping students succeed despite those experiences. Within a short period of time, the districts had decided to band together to change the trajectory.
As part of the consortium, each district is tackling a different strategy. When compared with larger consortium districts, such as Gresham and Portland Public, Umatilla’s small size puts it in the best position to work with staff, parent and community awareness.
“What we’re trying to do is gain an awareness for staff and use that to build resources with parents,” Heidi Sipe, Umatilla district superintendent, said Tuesday. “One of the things that’s been proven is you can get through this with counseling. The key to success for our kids is making sure they have the ability to move forward and overcome those experiences.”
To continue reading this article by Jennifer Colton, go to: http://www.eastoregonian.com/e...aces-campaign-monday
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