Partner Post Cultivating Opportunities: Reading School District Principal Partners with the Initiative to Provide Trauma-Focused Professional Learning

“As a teacher, I knew I was affecting the 25 kids in my class, but I felt like I could do more,” says Rowbee’C Kasisky, principal at Reading’s 10^th and Penn Elementary, “which is what led me to where I am now.”

And do “more” she has.

With almost 18,000 students, Reading is Pennsylvania’s fourth largest school district. More than 300 students in grades PreK-4 attend 10^th and Penn, where Kasisky has served as principal for eight years.

The 10^th and Penn community has focused professional learning (PL) on equity, poverty and trauma-informed practices to support students in their community over the past three years. Kasisky says her staff studied the impacts of poverty and trauma to understand what some families in their community were facing.

“The school counselor and I put our heads together to identify our students’ needs and any gaps in practices or understanding,” Kasisky says. “Until we understand and begin to navigate the impacts of poverty, trauma, whatever is affecting our building most, we will forever be reactive. By first working to understand and support students and families, we can be proactive, which feels better for everyone. Then we can focus on the academics.”

Kasisky and her team equipped classrooms with “calming corners,” sensory tools, timers, fidgets, and more. Then they taught staff and students when these resources might be needed and modeled how to use them. Kasisky says they also used restorative practices and self-reflection for students to build on their positive learning environment.

To extend these efforts, Kasisky partnered with the Initiative to build a sustained, inquiry-based PL community focused on trauma-informed practices during the 2022-2023 school year.

Participating educators will begin with a summer launch day in July, teaming up with Initiative personnel to form an inquiry community and generate wonderings. They will meet regularly from September through May to refine their questions, collect and analyze data, reflect critically on their practices, take action, and share their learning with others.

Kasisky says she looks forward to seeing where this journey will take the 10^th and Penn community. She envisions participating educators working together—learning new strategies, building best practices, extending their family support systems—as they explore how to “do more” as a supportive community school.

“As educators, we can get nervous trying new things,” Kasisky says. “But through this partnership, my staff will receive support to grow their practices—with people learning alongside them."