Every morning at 9 a.m. sharp, Pittsburgh Arlington PreK-8 Principal Crystal Caldwell meets her five-member staff group outside her office for the morning huddle. On a rainy Wednesday morning in May, they were joined by community partners from A+ Schools for their routine walk around the building.
Caldwell held a sheet of paper with a checklist of questions: What’s coming up in the next 24 to 72 hours that may be a concern? What are some key safety notes? What are the day’s plans for working with students who lack basic necessities, as well as those who have been involved in violence or could be exposed to violence?
As they walked, social workers Elizabeth Blackhurst and Andrew Henry, Assistant Principal Mike Dreger and restorative practice Project Assistant Alexa Marotta reviewed situations involving several students.
One child had been throwing grass at classmates and taking another student’s hairband. A middle-schooler who had a history of running away needed new clothes. A student on probation was struggling with attendance because of issues with their probation officer. Two siblings recently placed in their grandmother’s foster care had received needed socks, sweatshirts and deodorant from the school.
The group talked through strategies and issues that could arise among those students and were ready to begin the school day.
Arlington in numbers
- Enrollment: 335
- Economically disadvantaged students: 83%
- Suspension rate: 20% of students suspended at least once this school year (compared to 23% last year)
- Chronic absenteeism rate: 54% students were absent for 10% of more school days (same as last year)
“Instead of just every once in a while meeting, I wanted to meet every single day … so that we could talk about the real underlying issues of what was going on,” Caldwell said. “And we’ve uncovered so much — like self-esteem issues lead to fights, neighborhood drama that we can resolve before it gets here.”
The huddle launched at the beginning of this school year and has already produced dramatic results. In an email, Caldwell said the school recorded just seven fights this school year, compared with 105 during the same period last year. Along with a proactive approach to tackling school violence, Arlington’s latest initiative to reduce fights in the building has relied on a stable staff and leadership, community partners and resources to create a positive school culture.
Safety and belonging
Inside the school entrance, a large screen displays Arlington’s four student houses: Altruismo, Amistad, Isibindi and Rêveur. That morning, Altruismo was leading with 4,159 points.
Arlington is one of the nine Pittsburgh Public Schools that have adopted the house system through the Ron Clark Academy. Each house reflects a core value that they want students to embody.
Altruismo emphasizes giving and empowering others, Amistad values friendship, Isibindi promotes courage and Rêveur celebrates dreamers and idealists. Students are rewarded points for positive behaviors such as safety, accountability, being organized and respectful. Educators at Arlington said this has resulted in a steady improvement in attendance and discipline rates.
The house system is part of PPS’s broader Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports [PBIS] effort that Caldwell brought on to reduce violence in schools. While the morning huddles help staff identify concerns and coordinate responses, restorative mediation practices are used throughout the day to address conflict and rebuild relationships.
Before PBIS, Arlington saw disproportionately high discipline rates among Black girls. A majority of those issues stemmed from a lack of self-esteem and self-efficacy, Caldwell said. Once teachers and support staff recognized those issues, they began focusing on students’ strengths to build confidence and a sense of belonging.
Lori Balzer’s fourth-grader is in a special education class at Arlington. When he enrolled in the school two years ago, Balzer’s son struggled with managing anger and behavioral issues. “He would get mad if somebody would bump into him,” she said. “He has anger issues, so anything can set him off.”
Over time, Balzer has noticed a visible change in him. She said her son is now in a class with a therapist and two teachers who are present at all times and who have helped create a safe space for students with disabilities.
”Now he knows, you know, don’t just get into the middle of the fight, go to the teacher and say what’s happening.”
She added that the school used therapy and interventions such as taking away field trip privileges or positive rewards, and arranging meetings with students he fought with, to help them reconcile.
“A big reason why we do [restorative practices] is because, even if you’ve resolved the conflict between the two students, the student knows that they harmed the school community, so sometimes they still feel shunned. Almost even if no one’s actually doing anything, they still have that guilt and shame,” Caldwell said.
As trust in staff has grown, students have become more willing to proactively share problems they are facing both inside and outside school.
Caldwell said in contrast with recent years, incidents among girls have dropped lower than incidents among boys this year.
“We talk about like, ‘Well, what club could we start that they might all like to be a part of to give them some other identity?’ Or, ‘How can we showcase that this girl is a phenomenal writer?’” Caldwell said. “Like we think about their school setting and what strengths we see in them that they don’t see in themselves.”
A visible and steady leadership
At the beginning of Wednesday morning’s huddle, Caldwell asked her staff to share a recent success for the school.
The assistant principal said staff morale was at an all-time high.
Community partners and the huddle team credit much of that improvement to Caldwell’s steady leadership.
Henry, a social worker who joined Arlington in 2021, said the school cycled through five principals in two years before Caldwell arrived. This is Caldwell’s third year as school principal and he said her consistency has made a visible difference.
Being visible has been a big part of Caldwell’s effort to gain trust in the community. She has organized door-knocking events in the neighborhoods, met with families and filled vacancies in the building. Her efforts have also reduced staff turnover.
Other initiatives included establishing the school’s first Parent-Teacher Association and hiring Marotta as a full-time employee. Marotta came to Arlington as a restorative practices coordinator through the University of Pittsburgh’s Just Discipline Project, which aims to support schools in enhancing relationships and reducing suspensions.
Marotta now conducts restorative healing circles every morning based on social-emotional learning skills and works with the staff to support mediations and build relationships to help students peacefully resolve conflicts. She has also trained the school staff in restorative practices to address the root causes of fights.
At the end of Marotta’s Pitt contract, Caldwell decided to hire her full-time so she could continue that work. “I saw the difference she was making, even in a part-time capacity that she was here last year,” she said.
Meeting needs beyond safety
That Wednesday morning, the staff of A+ Schools and Arlington stood outside the building’s elementary school entrance to welcome students for the annual Walk and Roll to School Day.
They greeted each student entering the building, keeping count of how many walked to school or how many rode a bike. The initiative is to promote safe routes to school in partnership with the city’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure. Safety is also a reason the city created new sidewalks around the school two years ago.
PPS board member Eva Diodati, who represents Arlington, said the school has long struggled with negative perceptions but its progress on reducing fights has helped challenge that narrative.
Amid the progress, the school may be heading for dramatic change.
Under the district’s Future-Ready Plan, Arlington would transition to a 6-8 middle school and receive students from South Brook 6-8, which would close. Elementary students would move to Concord, Phillips and Roosevelt. Diodati said programs such as the house system will create consistency across middle schools and give students something to look forward to as they transition from elementary grades.
As Arlington awaits the board’s decision on its future, efforts to curb violence extend beyond discipline policies. School leaders say creating a safe environment also means addressing the unmet needs students bring with them into the classroom. Arlington was one of the first PPS schools to become a full-time community school through Pittsburgh Area Community Schools.
Danielle Gill is the community schools site manager at Arlington. Her job is to ensure that students who face barriers to attending school, such as transportation, clothing and food or housing insecurity, have their needs met within the building. This year, the school launched a full-service resource room. She works with local churches and the Pittsburgh Community Food Bank to stock the room with fresh produce, dairy, snacks, personal hygiene materials and a clothing rack for students in need.
Gill said about 75 to 80 students get a Friday backpack filled with snacks, and about 10 to 30 families receive a food box every other week. In recent months, that frequency has increased because of SNAP cuts.
“The more needs you have, first of all, the less you’re going to be able to focus on school,” Caldwell said. “Because you’re thinking about how hungry you are, you’re thinking about how you’re in yesterday’s socks, you know, like you’re distracted.”
Lajja Mistry is the K-12 education reporter at Pittsburgh’s Public Source. She can be reached at lajja@publicsource.org.
This story was fact-checked by Cilia Catello.
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