West Linn-Wilsonville Schools are committed to fostering safe, inclusive, and welcoming learning environments for all students. Our classrooms are well-orchestrated and joyful places of learning. We also understand that students are learning how to understand and manage their own emotions just as they are learning to understand literacy. We teach social emotional skills explicitly and most of the time, emotional regulation challenges are worked through in productive ways. For some students, emotional regulation may be more difficult. Trauma-informed practices are practices that can support all children, particularly students who may have some difficult past experiences (Edutopia Article, October 2017.)

Very rarely, a student may have a true challenge in regulating his/her emotions such that a more intensive de-escalation approach may be needed. Key staff at every school receive more intensive training on Crisis Intervention & De-escalation (CPI). The emphasis in this is on early intervention and methods for preventing or managing disruptive behavior. These staff also learn:

• How to identify behaviors that could lead to a crisis.
• How to most effectively respond to each behavior to prevent the situation from escalating.
• How to use verbal and nonverbal techniques to defuse hostile behavior and resolve a crisis before it can become dangerous.
• How to assess risk levels and consider the issues that impact decision making.
• How to use CPI's disengagement skills to avoid injury if behavior becomes physical.

CPI training complies with Oregon law for training to minimize instances where physical management of students may be necessary-only if the student is in imminent danger of harming self or others. In compliance with Oregon law, annual student restraint and seclusion data are available here: