Lu Verne, Algona staff get trauma sensitivity training

ALGONA—With COVID-19, students and staff are feeling overwhelmed and uncertain about the upcoming school year, Justin Blietz, a trainer in restorative procedures, told teachers during a work session last week.

“Are we going back to school? Are we not going back to school? What is it going to look like?” he said to the teachers from the Lu Verne Community School District and new teachers in the Algona Community School District. “They’re fearful, potentially. This is the time we really need to pull together and support each other. We need systems and structures to do that. Providing support and developing relationships and community isn’t something that just happens naturally. It takes work. And that’s something we really need to focus on.”

Jon Hueser, superintendent and principal at the Lu Verne Community School District, said it is the district’s first training on social emotional behaviors. Algona Community School District started it last year. The Lu Verne Community School District will continue the training in August and then during a couple of early-out days in the fall.

For more of the story, see the July 30 edition of the Kossuth County Advance.