Student Behavioral Support: Behavior Specialists are critical to providing support to students who are struggling to regulate behaviors that interfere with their learning and the learning of others around them. They possess a deep understanding of behavior. They provide direct behavioral instruction to students as well as providing support and professional development to the staff within their assigned buildings. They are critical to supporting the district wide initiatives of social emotional learning, behavioral response, and student climate and culture.
Mental Health Support: Mental Health Support Specialists support the needs of students who are struggling emotionally. They are a critical part of the layers of interventions available to students and their families. They provide direct mental health services to students as well as helping families navigate the complicated outside mental health systems. They work as part of Centralia School District’s comprehensive approach to supporting the mental and behavioral health of our students while providing professional development to staff and working closely with families.
Safety and Security Officer (SRO): An SRO is an active law enforcement officer that works in the school to build relationships, address behavioral concerns, and react to situations and events requiring law enforcement involvement. The District does not currently have an SRO. An SRO is an employee of the law enforcement agency but serves and works in the schools. Historically in Centralia, the District and Centralia Police Department have split the cost of the position. The SRO works in conjunction with the Safety and Security Coordinator across all schools in the district, but would focus on the middle school and high school.
Safety and Security Coordinator: The Safety and Security Coordinator position was added in the 2023-24 school year. The position works with Centralia High School and Centralia Middle School to be proactive in managing student safety and behavior, build relationships with students, staff, families, and local law enforcement, and support behavior response and intervention. The Coordinator works closely with administrators in planning and responding to needs. The Coordinator is also part of the District Safety Committee. The position is critical to the district’s efforts to continually improve safety and security. The District’s plan is to have both positions in order to serve CHS, CMS, and the other six schools.
Counselors: School Counselors serve all students in their assigned buildings and collaborate with all staff to provide classroom, group or individual interventions to support the social emotional learning provided by classroom teachers. School Counselors support families to connect with outside agencies for resources such as food, clothing, mental and physical health. They assist students in learning coping and self-regulation skills as well as providing guidance for post-high school opportunities. The state does not fund the level of counseling services needed in schools.
Instructional Facilitators & Instructional Coaches: Instructional facilitators and instructional coaches are instrumental in supporting teachers and principals in improving instruction. On a daily basis, these staff work closely with teachers as the model lessons, provide resources and work directly with small groups of students. We currently have an instructional facilitator at every elementary school and two staff that support these efforts districtwide. They are skilled professionals that are dedicated to improving the skills and abilities of our teaching staff.
