HOUSTON, Texas — Meeting non-academic needs in order to help improve student achievement is part of the idea behind a first-of-its-kind center that opened Monday at Westbury High School.
"It’s providing everything and anything that our students need," principal Susan Monaghan said. "No task, no problem is too large. Come talk to us, tell us what you need, and that’s what we’re all about.”
Believed to be the first facility of its kind in the nation, the Wraparound Transformation Center, or WTC, offers high-risk students and their families social and emotional support to which they may not otherwise have access.
"We’re looking at everything that we can do to actually service the whole family,” Westbury wraparound specialist Craig Zeno said.
There’s a laundry room where clothes can be cleaned and a pantry that's stocked with items for families who may be food insecure.
"There’s, like, shampoo, conditioner, feminine products," Westbury junior Leonardo Reyes said. "Anything they need, they can come.”
Reyes is a "wraparound ambassador" who’s helping to spread the word to the school’s more than 2,000 students.
"We offer a lot of resources that don’t necessarily appeal to the academics," Reyes said. "But, in a way, they help them succeed.”
The Houston Independent School District said it hopes to have wraparound specialists on every campus by 2022, while community hubs, like the one at Westbury, is open to its feeder elementary and middle schools as well.
"My favorite quote is from Frederick Douglass," HISD wraparound services director Jarad Davis said. "It is easier to build strong children than it is to repair broken men.”
Wraparound specialists are HISD employees.
Many of the services offered are through partnerships with agencies like the health department.
The pantry and laundry room at Westbury are courtesy of Kroger.
The video below is an inside look at the center: