Student mural lends pride, stops damage in Iowa City school program

IOWA CITY — Blank white walls in a room outside the principal's office were a frequent target for kicks, punches or angry scrawls from students dealing with emotional outbursts at the Theodore Roosevelt Education Center in the Iowa City school district.

'There was a lot of damage,' Principal John Netty said. Holes in the walls were patched, only to need patching again a month later. Students accompanied to the room by their classroom teacher or paraeducator didn't seem to find much calm in the sterile space, Netty said.

'I wanted to do something different and I felt like we needed the right people working with the students in the room,' said Netty, who started at Theodore Roosevelt Education Center in February 2016. The program, which averages about 43 students a day, focuses on those in grades seven through 12 having trouble in their home schools because of their behavior, mental illness or brushes with the law.

Netty talked with his team members, who came up with the idea to have students paint a mural in what was then known as Room 10. Hani Elkadi, an art teacher who is now retired, worked with students to paint several panels with student portraits and inspirational phrases.

'I am actually on the mural,' said Raven Mitchell, 14, an eighth-grader who attended the education center from March 2016 through November. An administrator 'volunteered me to go inside the room with an artist, who drafted our faces on the wall. We painted them.'

Raven now is back at South East Junior High, doing well, but she likes to think she left a mark on the education center program and hopes students don't damage the mural.

So far, no one has.

Theodore Roosevelt Education Center staff have logged 97 student interventions since Aug. 31, but none has resulted in a call to police and no students have caused damage to the room since the mural was painted, Netty said.

'The kids are just as angry, but they are leaving that alone,' he said.

A big part of the change is a new procedure that calls for students to be accompanied to the room by a preferred teacher or administrator not connected to the previous classroom conflict. After an initial calm-down period, the adult helps the student develop a plan for how to handle things better the next time.

Room 10 is now called the Plan Room.

'One of the kids who was a regular here before still comes here,' said Hamza Omar, a Juvenile Court liaison for the education center. 'Now, he bounces a ball or throws it at the wall. He doesn't tear things up.'

A second phase of the mural is in the works, with students likely to paint a 'Zen zone' with images that make them feel calm, Netty said. There is a yoga mat and ball chair. Administrators bring in clay or other toys to help kids vent their emotions, Omar said. These changes are in line with national trends showing school districts using meditation, yoga and multisensory rooms instead of detention or seclusion.

The Iowa City school district has a committee studying how student seclusion and restraint are being used in the district. The group is expected to make recommendations to the school board June 13.

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