By Michael Coughlin Jr.
As summer winds down and a new school year inches closer, those at Revere High School (RHS) have been working hard behind the scenes to develop a new student support team structure that will enhance how students experience RHS and get the help they need.
The new support team structure is dubbed the “house model.†As part of this new model, groups of about 450 students will be separated into five houses, each serving students in grades 9-12, each house with its own dedicated student support team.
In terms of how students will be placed into their houses, they will be placed in a way that evenly distributes student need across each of them.
Further, efforts have been made to ensure siblings are placed in the same house and so that students who have had extensive work with RHS faculty can preserve those relationships.
Although this will bring change for some students, the school is working to prioritize what is best for its kids.
Each student support team will be headed by one assistant principal who leads a team of two school counselors (guidance counselors), one social worker, and two new positions, a student support specialist and a student engagement coordinator.
Additionally, one of the houses in this model will be focused on newcomer English language learner students, called the Multilingual Learner Academy, which will give these students more support as they transition into the school.
Not only will the Multilingual Learner Academy focus on newcomer English language learners, but it will also run programming for other new students transferring to RHS to help ease the transition into the school.
There will also be an activities coordinator who will ensure that newcomers are connected to student activities at RHS, and there are also plans for a mentoring program to pair new students with upperclassmen who have been through a similar transition.
With the move to the house model, RHS is partnering with the Center for Thriving Children at Boston College, an organization RHS’ Principal Christopher Bowen called a “national leader†in student support team models.
Bowen indicated that RHS has been working with the organization over the summer to develop this model, and the organization will be with RHS over the entire year, attending support team meetings, providing coaching to the staff, and ensuring the system is working correctly.
This new model is in contrast to how RHS has previously structured the support of its students. Historically, RHS has used a grade-level structure where one assistant principal is assigned to an incoming freshmen class and then follows that class until they graduate.
In the old model, assistant principals were responsible for things like the support needs of students and other grade-level administrative responsibilities like running orientation, senior prom, and graduation.
Additionally, in the old model, students were split up among guidance counselors by the alphabet. Guidance counselors had close to 300 students on their caseload in this system.
In the older system, the support teams lacked coordination due to overlapping caseloads. “Every kid had a support team. They had an assistant principal, a social worker, a counselor, but the cohort didn’t,†said Bowen.
Bowen discussed the transition for incoming freshmen as an example of how the new system would improve support and coordination.
By distributing freshmen across the five houses or support teams, those struggling in their transition into high school will get better help since one support team is not responsible for all first-year students.
While there was not a specific event that led to this change, Bowen indicated there are a few different factors involved, one being an increase in the student population. Not only has there been a growth in the student population, but Bowen suggested that the growth has been disproportionate.
For example, Bowen indicated that last year, RHS ended the year with a senior class of around 450 to 465 students. Whereas the sophomore class was approximately 630 students, and the freshmen class “was not that far behind†the sophomore class.
“The trend is that, as the class sizes are growing and as the population of the city and then the school is growing, there’s an unequal distribution of need across the four grade levels,†said Bowen.
Another factor related to population is that RHS has seen an increase in the number of high-needs students it serves.
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education classifies a high-needs student as someone who is economically disadvantaged, an English learner, or a student with special needs.
While RHS has seen increases in those categories, it has also seen other increases in students who receive Department of Children & Families (DCF) services, students living in foster care, or students experiencing homelessness.
Statistically speaking, eight years ago, just under 50-percent of the 1,700 RHS students were considered high-needs; by this June, that has risen to about 75-percent of 2,100 students.
Regarding other factors, Bowen explained that the past two school years coming out of the pandemic have served as a stress test for the old system, which has revealed a need for change.
He gave an example of one of these post-pandemic stressors that revealed problems with the old system: the number of students hospitalized due to mental health issues.
For a student who has been hospitalized for mental health issues, not only is the safety and health of that student paramount, but often these students are out of school for long periods and need significant support as they transition back into school.
Another post-pandemic stressor identified was student conflict, like fights, which involve ensuring the immediate safety of the students, along with several other aspects such as investigating why it happened, disciplining, and planning for the re-entry of those involved.
Both of these stressors take a lot of time and staff to provide the needed support, and the old system made it challenging to provide that support while simultaneously helping students who might be having other struggles.
However, with the new model, Bowen said, “This support team model will let us not only tend to the needs of the kids who need immediate and intensive support but will also make sure that students who are not meeting their potential are better positioned to be connected to adults who can help encourage them to thrive.â€
With these changes happening, RHS will hold two events where students and families can learn more about this new model.
On Wednesday, August 16, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at RHS, a community gathering will be held for students and their families to explain some of the changes. This gathering is geared toward rising 10th, 11th, and 12th graders.
Also, the following Tuesday, August 22, the Annual 9th Grade Orientation BBQ will be held at RHS from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and is geared toward incoming freshmen and those transferring to RHS.
It should be noted that while these events are geared to specific grade levels, Bowen indicated they are open to any group in case a family cannot attend on a particular day.
Overall, Bowen seemed excited about the opportunity to employ the new model and credited the Central Office and School Committee for supporting it.
“We will have one of the most robust student support team models of any large high school in the state, in terms of adult-to-student ratio, and I think we’ll be able to really see some differences over the course of the year,†said Bowen.
