REDMOND, OR -- School districts around the country have reported behavioral issues among students, following pandemic-related closures. In Redmond, Superintendent Charan Cline says this fall school staff are focused on student kindness, “We took a survey with our kids last year and asked them about school and how it was going, and what they told us was school is doing pretty well and the teachers were pretty good and they cared about them. But, they, themselves, the students didn’t treat each other well. So, we’ve been thinking and working really hard this year to reinforce treating each other well, treating each other kindly and respectfully. It is across all grades. We surveyed from kindergarten to seniors in high school, and it was a consistent message across the entire spectrum.”

Cline says staff are seeing more aggressive behaviors since returning from virtual learning, “I think there was an issue of students somewhat being unsupervised during the pandemic; plus, what we see in online behavior tends to be very extreme and aggressive. And so, what we’ve had come back to us is students who treat each other poorly with poor negotiation skills.”

Dr. Cline asks the community to help by reinforcing positive behaviors outside the classroom, as well.