'She actually listens.' Aiken social worker works with students to curb fighting, truancy
More than 200 students at Aiken High School faced discipline for fighting last school year, according to recently released state report card data. About 170 students were disciplined for exhibiting disobedient or disruptive behavior at school.
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Kids don't act out "just because," the school's social worker, Cherisse Parrish, says. "There's something going on."
And responding with discipline and no mediation, she says, isn't the answer. If kids don't have a conversation after fighting, "they're not learning from that."
The school, located in College Hill and serving more than 1,100 students, also has a truancy problem, Parrish says. Last year Aiken had a chronic absenteeism rate of 65.8%. That means two-thirds of the school's students missed 18 or more instructional days in the 2021-22 school year. The state's chronic absenteeism rate was just over 30%, up about six percentage points from the previous school year.
Parrish, who is in her eighth year working with Aiken students, says her job is to intervene before students get written up for acting out or being violent. She's working to keep kids in school and out of trouble through mediation and social and emotional learning practices - with both students and teachers.
"She actually listens," Destinie Harris, 15, says of Parrish. "Other adults, they will, like... we'll feel like they don't listen. Or they will just shut us out. But when we go to Ms. Parrish she'll actually sit there and actually listen to us."
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Wearing black slacks and silver hoop earrings, Parrish starts this year's first advisory group meeting by passing out lollipops, Twizzlers and other candy to students. This advisory class has girls only. Most of the girls are already comfortable with each other and with Parrish, but some of the younger students keep to themselves.
Parrish says she started advisory four years ago. There were eight students in the class then. Now there are more than 20. In weekly small group sessions, students tackle a range of mental health topics, from peer conflicts to self esteem to how to cope with feelings of anxiety. These are skills that students can use at home and in their community, Parrish says. And even within the school building, she hopes these conversations trickle down to prevent altercations.
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"I want my older kids to be able to speak to the younger kids later on," she says.
At the first meeting, students shout out issues they hope to address in advisory: family dynamics, emotional regulation, holding grudges, peer drama, drug use and attitude problems.
Sometimes big feelings are hard to control, one student says. Everyone agrees that they are dealing with difficult situations at home. And most say they feel generational trauma is one of their biggest burdens.
"Nothing should get you to the point where you'll fight or get in trouble," Parrish says to the girls. And the triggers don't stop in adulthood. "I understand how it is. I get it."
Parrish tells the group that she got into trouble when she was a teenager, too. But consequences are different once students turn 18, she says. She wants them to get their emotions under control and learn about positive coping skills before becoming adults.
One student shares that she has already been through five therapists, and that none of them have clicked.
"I can sense when people don't care," she says.
Parrish cares. And her students know that. But there are over one thousand students in the building, and only one Parrish.
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Parrish says her office is a revolving door of students who need help or want to talk through issues on a daily basis. She doesn't have the time to meet all of their needs.
The school brought in another social worker this year. Jared Knight will replicate the girls' advisory group with the school's teenage boys, Parrish says.
There are more than 220 full-time mental health professionals employed by the district. Cincinnati Public Schools serves 35,860 students, according to state data. That leaves each mental health professional (which includes psychologists, school social workers and school counselors) with 158 students.
The district also works with MindPeace, an umbrella agency that coordinates all of the school-based mental health partners providing support for students. Those partners include:
Best Point.
Beech Acres.
Talbert House.
Poppy's Therapeutic Corner.
Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health.
Central Clinic.
TriHealth.
Lighthouse Youth and Family Services.
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
NewPath.
Through those partnerships, students have access to additional psychiatrists, specialized nurse practitioners and other treatment services as needed.
Home troubles are 'a burden' on how a student thinks throughout school day
Parrish says this year's seniors are a special group because she has worked with those students since they were in seventh grade.
"They were, like, arguing, bickering with each other" when she first met those girls, Parrish says. "Now they're doing conflict resolution. Like, they do their own mediations together, without me present."
That's success in Parrish's eyes.
She works with teachers, too, to explain triggers that may set off certain students and how to deal with behavior issues. Her next goal is to bring parents into the school and try to bridge relationships between kids and the adults in their lives - because issues at home, Parrish says, are one of the biggest contributors to negative behaviors at school.
"It's a burden on how I think throughout the day," 15-year-old Jada Martin-Showes says. "And I know I have to go back home to that. So it's going to constantly be on my mind."
When she's stressed, Martin-Showes says it can affect her school work. She notices her classmates withdraw from social interactions and become less talkative when they are experiencing mental health issues, too. But when she's having an off day, Martin-Showes says, Parrish reminds her how to focus on herself and safely handle whatever situation is bothering her.
Advisory has helped Martin-Showes see that she's not alone in her anxieties.
"I know I'm not the only one," Martin-Showes says. "It's given me options on what I can do to help (myself) when I hear from other people."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: CPS social worker fights to keep girls in school and out of trouble
