For nine weeks, MPS students can transfer to a center of mindfulness. Here’s how it works

When 16-year-old Melania saw a younger student throwing a fit in the hallway at the Milwaukee Public Schools Success Center, she asked the girl if she wanted a hug.

“I just ended up sitting there for 10-ish minutes and just held her, and she calmed down,” Melania said. “She just needed someone to be there to hold her. For me, too, I just want someone to be there.”

At the Success Center, Melania said, there’s always someone she can talk to. She’s in her final month at the center, a unique building where select MPS students can spend nine weeks focusing on their mental health with focused attention from teachers, therapists, yoga instructors and mindfulness practitioners.

Melania, 16, talks about attending the Success Center at 3872 N. Eighth St. “I love it here. I feel like everyone is so positive. They are all so nice,” said Melania.

As students across the country continue reporting greater mental health challenges, Milwaukee’s Success Center stands out for its high marks from its students and their parents. Over the next three years, as school board members directed, it will expand to serve students as young as K-4.

The center currently serves students in grades four through 12. It hosts three cohorts each year of about 12-15 students each.

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In asking for the expansion, board members noted school staff needed more options for young students with behavioral challenges “that extend beyond what current programs can address.” Unlike other programs that place students outside their regular schools, the Success Center is voluntary, not punitive. It emphasizes the value that students can bring to their community.

“You are not defined by the worst thing you’ve ever done,” said Andrew de Lutio, program coordinator at the center. “You do bring value. It’s our job to help you understand what that value is, and to sometimes help the adults around you understand what that value is, but you do. Sometimes hearing that over and over again, you start to believe it.”

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Andrew de Lutio, program director at the Success Center, said, “You are not defined by the worst thing you’ve ever done. You do bring value. It’s our job to help you understand what that value is.”

The program began in 2019 as part of MPS’ 53206 Initiative, which aims to expand students’ learning opportunities and well-being in a high-poverty ZIP code. The center has taken over the former Green Bay Avenue School building on Eighth Street south of Capitol Drive, but it accepts students from across the district, including 102 students from 55 schools so far.

Here’s how it works.

How do MPS students get into the Success Center?

School staff can refer students to the Success Center when their behavior challenges “create a significant barrier to their success” at school, and when the school has already tried other strategies. Then, it’s up to the family to opt into it, with opportunities to tour the school, talk to staff or even do a trial run of the program.

If parents haven’t received a referral but are interested in the program for their children, they can speak to their school’s psychologist or social worker.

The Success Center, 3872 N. Eighth St., is where Milwaukee Public Schools students with behavioral challenges go for a nine-week program before returning to their regular schools.

Many of the students who come to the center had been getting in physical fights regularly at school, de Lutio said. At the center, staff and students have time to consider why that’s happening and to address the bigger picture.

“We have seen time and time again that the most difficult behavior a child engages in is a small, small part of a larger story,” he said. “If we just focus on that, the externalizing behavior, we’re missing all of this story behind that behavior that might require a completely different set of interventions.”

Many students have survived traumatic events or circumstances, de Lutio said, especially since the pandemic. Some are experiencing deep depression and severe anxiety. A common theme: grief.

“Grief of all kinds: grieving lost relationships, lost family members,” he said. “We have not had a cohort that was not struggling with grief in some capacity.”

What happens at the MPS Success Center?

In the morning, students and staff circle up and talk about how their previous day and night were. Some might ask to talk to a staff member one-on-one, like 13-year-old B.A.F. did on Tuesday. The student asked to be identified by their initials.

B.A.F. said they’ve appreciated the close attention from staff who’ve helped them find who they want to be. B.A.F. has fixed up their guitar, and they want to be a professional photographer.

B.A.F., 13, has learned coping strategies at Milwaukee Public Schools Success Center, 3872 N. Eighth St.

“The people here make you feel important, and they make you feel like you have a place in the world, and that you are worth it and deserve to be loved, and that’s what I really love about this place,” the student said.

Students receive a schedule each morning, which can include a mix of individual and group therapy and activities, generally with just a few other students at a time.

Most sessions are led by partner organizations paid by MPS. Marquette University’s Peace Works program teaches students how to resolve conflicts, practice empathy and use grounding techniques. Lutheran Social Services provides group and individual therapy. There’s also support from Inner Light Yoga Studio and Bloom Center for Arts and Integrated Therapies.

Students also get assignments from their regular schools to keep up with the curriculum. A MPS special education teacher and paraprofessionals help students with their work.

While students follow their schedules, they’re able to take breaks. One room has an “emotional carwash”: a coatroom lined with streamers and animal photos students taped to the wall. Another room has a green camping tent, where it’s OK take a nap.

“Our students really struggle sometimes with being able to get some rest at home,” said Willie Maryland, a program coordinator at the center. “We found out sometimes students don’t sleep, and they just need some time to relax.”

Students can rest in a tent at the MPS Success Center.

At lunch, staff and students are matched up on a rotation to be “lunch buddies.”

After nine weeks at the center, students move back to their schools. For about three weeks, they continue to get support from center staff to ease the transition. Each student can have a unique progression, sometimes returning to the center for some days of the week until they’re ready to move on.

B.A.F., who said they got bullied at their regular school and would get angry quickly, said they’ve learned how to express their feelings in a healthy way, “not go into straight fight mode.”

“Flight and fight mode were pretty much all I knew,” B.A.F. said. “It’s OK to take breaks, it’s OK to get water and ask for help.”

Melania said she can get irritated quickly but she is learning what helps her in those moments: “I’m still working on it but music and now, deep breathing. It never helped me before but just breathing.”

According to Marquette University’s Center for Peacemaking, 93% of students who completed a 2021 exit survey agreed that their time at the Success Center was helpful, along with 100% of parents and guardians.

How much does the MPS Success Center cost?

Superintendent Keith Posley said the Success Center will cost about $1.6 million for the next school year, increasing to $2.2 million the following year, and landing at $2.4 million as it expands to serve all grades.

There’s no cost to families for the program, including therapy, which is covered by the district.

How will the MPS Success Center expand?

School board member Henry Leonard and former board president Bob Peterson in February asked administrators to craft a plan for expanding the center for younger grades, noting school staff needed more options for young students with behavior challenges “that extend beyond what current programs can address.” At that time, the board voted in support of planning expansion.

Administrators presented the expansion plan this month. Bridget Schock, director of contracted school services for MPS, said the board doesn’t need to vote again on the plan, though it will be up to the board to approve the growing the budget for the center.

Under the plan, third-graders could start attending the center in January, followed by first- and second-graders in the fall of 2024. Kindergarten students in K-4 and K-5 would start the following year.

As younger students join the center, MPS plans to add early childhood therapy, including play therapy and a family therapist, Schock said.

Contact Rory Linnane at rory.linnane@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @RoryLinnane. 

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: MPS Success Center provides behavior-challenged students with help

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