Not even a year into a new program at Le Roy High School that is focused on student success, Jen Bertrand reported to the Board of Trustees on Tuesday night that several students are already showing great improvement both socially and academically.
Bertrand, the Grade 9-12 Intervention Specialist for the district, is working with 52 students in the Student Success Center. Six are seniors, 10 juniors, 22 sophomores, and 14 freshmen.
Successes look like this:
- A student who felt he had no friends and set a goal this year to make at least one friend. He's joined a club on-campus of kids with a similar gaming interest and is making friends.
- There is another student who felt inhibited but has now part of a school music program.
- There is a student who is motivated to improve his grades because Bertrand arranged for him to meet a favorite rock star via Zoom if he produces a favorable report card.
- And there is the student who at the beginning of the year was too embarrassed to ask for help, too embarrassed to participate in peer tutoring. Now he's a campus advocate for peer tutoring.
All of the students in the program deal with anxiety or depression and several have been through traumatic experiences.
Bertrand said the success center essentially provides a "life coach" to troubled students, offering support on getting assignments done, helping with developing good work habits, organization, time management, painting social and mental health, ensuring these skills are transferable to other classes and situations.
"We try to capture those magic moments really showing the students they're not alone," Bertrand said.
Bertrand shared, without revealing names, the feedback she's received from her fellow teachers for the board to read. For example:
- "The work that Jen has been doing with our students in her program is genuinely monumental. I have seen a significant correlation between the students she is working with and an increased amount of work completion, communication, improved classroom behavior, and overall work ethic. For example, one student, in particular, has been working incredibly hard. He is focused in class, participates in discussions, and thoroughly completes his work. While he still has some off days, I am confident that the work he is doing with Jen has made a huge impact."
- “I have noticed many positive changes in the behaviors and attitudes of the students enrolled in the 9-12 Learning Center with Mrs. Bertrand. Most notably, the students interact with me more, ask questions and advocate for themselves. In general, their attitude toward school is much more positive, like they are beginning to believe in themselves. Mrs. Bertrand was made for this position and she works really hard to support our students academically, but with social-emotional health issues.”
- “As a teacher who has some repeat customers, I have seen a significant academic improvement in the students that I had last year that are now in the learning center. Not only has assignment completion improved, but the quality of work has improved as well. When a student puts on an assignment that one of the things they are grateful for is Mrs. B, you can tell they see, and are proud of, the improvement too.”
She also shared anonymous quotes from students:
Before taking on this new role at the school, Bertrand was the tech coach at the high school. At a board meeting in June, she heard High School Principal Tim McArdle discuss his desire to create an intervention program. The idea resonated with her.
"I thought, 'I want to do that,' she said. "There was just a light in me to do help these students."
