[From: MINNPOST | 11.28.16]

On Nov. 9, educators at Bruce Vento Elementary in St. Paul fielded an onslaught of tough questions from students. Some wanted to know if they would be sent away, or if their parents would be sent away. Others were trying to make sense of the wall, wondering if Donald Trump intended to build a wall between black and white people. And at least one student raised the concern that black people would be forced into slavery.

This list of post-election inquiries from students in a public preK-5 school may sound hyperbolic. But to these children — who are trying to make sense of adult conversations and news clips at home — asking questions of this magnitude isn’t an attempt at seeking attention. It’s simply an attempt to brace themselves for, potentially, yet another wave of adverse circumstances. The vast majority of students at Bruce Vento are already living in a state of uncertainty that goes hand-in-hand with poverty, coping with things like hunger at home and acts of violence in the communities they fled, along with the communities they now live in.

She told them about the limits of the president’s power — as established by a system of checks and balances — and spent time reviewing classroom rituals and routines to reinforce a sense of stability and safety they’d come to expect at school.

They met on the carpet again the next day to continue vetting concerns students had about a Trump presidency. “The main thing is the environment we’ve created means we can talk about anything,” Imbertson said. “The students know the different resources they have here.”

A few years ago, staff and leadership at Bruce Vento began investing heavily in trauma-informed methods of student support in the hopes that students would make more significant academic gains once their basic human needs were addressed. In partnership with the University of Minnesota Extension and various community partners, the school has undergone a drastic transformation both in terms of how the space is utilized and how students’ needs are met through a more holistic approach.

To read the full article, click HERE.