By Tyler Dahlgren

Room 109 flanks the entrance to Central Elementary in Fairbury, an unassuming space that has housed study halls and make-up exams in years past. The small room blended in quite ordinarily with all the rest, rarely drawing as much as a second glance from passers-by. 

As Kim Roberts was preparing for her first year as principal of Central Elementary this past summer, she did everything she could to familiarize herself with her new school and staff. She held meet-and-greets with staff and familiarized herself with the great work that had been done by former superintendent Sean Molloy and her predecessor Jared Haag.

The top area for improvement at the school, she learned, was in behavior management and de-escalation practices, especially among PreK-2nd grade students.. Conveniently for Roberts, ESU 5 mental health clinician (and her husband) Sean Roberts and the previously mentioned administrators had already begun to explore innovative solutions.

“Something was in the works, but nothing had started yet,” said Kim Roberts. “After receiving that feedback from the staff, I knew it was a good time to take it off and get it running.”

What it was, the Roberts weren’t quite yet sure, so Sean approached the Jeffs’ Wellness Crew, a group of students in grades 7-12 and staff tasked with implementing mental wellness initiatives across the district. His suggestion? A sensory-friendly space at the elementary where students could learn self-regulation tactics.

“They were all on board with it,” he said. “We talked about different themes and voted on a forest setting, because it kind of matches the area to a certain extent with the state park nearby.”

Excited to get to work, the Roberts’ had just the room in mind. Over the summer, Room 109 was reimagined.

Welcome to The Jeffs’ Den, an enchanted and safe space complete with calming green undertones (painted by special education teacher Adrian Bowen), LED lighting, a teepee, pillows and a sensory canoe to boot. Everything in the den is geared towards helping a student calm down.

“It’s a room that the students can ask to use,” said Sean. “Visits are quick, usually about five minutes, and they’re either student-prompted or teacher-encouraged. They’re never forced to use it or expected to use it. It’s a choice thing, and any student at any time is allowed to use the room.”

The Jeffs’ Den fits squarely into ESU 5’s Wellness4All program, which is anchored in FPS by The Wellness Crew. Similar spaces are more common at the middle and high school levels, but it’s a unique venture at an elementary school.

“In anything we do, we want to make sure we don’t enable our kids, but help them become more independent as they get older,” said superintendent Dr. Devin Embray, who is in his first year at FPS after coming from Iowa. “We’re offering techniques and strategies that help them become aware of what’s going on, the dysregulation that they have at a young age and how they can develop effective coping strategies and skills.”

There’s always an end to a means for any student entering The Jeffs’ Den, said Kim, who likes to take a less-is-more approach for utilizing the space, often limiting visits to a quick three-to-five minutes. Time spent in the den is well-coordinated, with an adult always present.

“There are times where a student needs a minute to be by themselves before you do the initial energy check,” Kim said. “We typically do that energy check to determine where they’re at before we get started. Are they a hibernating bear, sleepy and sluggish? Are they a hound on the hunt, ready to learn? Or are they a busy bee, amped up and overstimulated?”

She credits speech pathologist Kylie Ferringer and occupational therapist Cammy Holloway for their outstanding support of The Jeffs’ Den, and said the additional training the pair have given Central staff on sensory and calming strategies has been invaluable.

“It’s hard sometimes, because I think there’s always going to be a little bit of concern around that removal from the classroom,” Kim Roberts said. “So we have also encouraged staff members to simulate The Jeffs’ Den model and a tier-one approach in their classrooms, and that’s really been a positive as well. Even if the kids aren’t using The Jeffs’ Den, they sometimes use the calm-down corner in their own classrooms.”

The Jeffs’ Den has already been correlated with a boost in academic success. Coincidentally, absence from the classroom due to behavioral issues has declined, too. There’s a log that’s kept just outside of the room, which is utilized through the MTSS process. Already, it’s a pretty smooth process, thanks in large part to the fantastic collaboration between ESU 5 and the district.

“We’re shorthanded, in my opinion, in counseling and some other areas, but we make up for that by being able to partner with the service unit to have those dynamics around mental health and all the things Sean does in our district around this week’s Mental Health Awareness Week,” said Dr. Embray. “It’s been eye-opening to see all the different activities we do and the relationships that exist here between staff at all levels. Everybody plays a big part in making sure we have a pulse with these kids.”

There’s perhaps no group with a greater feel for the pulse of Fairbury’s students than The Wellness Crew, who Sean challenges to think outside the box throughout the entire year. Time and time again, the group answers the bell.

“There’s hope among them that we can continue to grow this room and this model,” said Roberts. 

Where there’s hope, there’s a way.

Just take a look into Room 109.