Therapists say the return to the classroom has been a struggle for many students, even leading to violent outbursts. In the Rochester area alone, Genesee Mental Health says they received 185 referrals for students in just three weeks.

At the same time, a recent federal survey shows that nearly 20% of students between 12 and 18 have experienced some type of bullying.

But now a circle, and some conversation, is starting to build positive change in one school district.

Three times a week, Terrance Shelton gathers different groups of students into large circles during the day. It’s one of his main duties as a climate coach at Akron Public Schools.

“Our role is to make sure primarily, in a nutshell to make sure the building is a safe, caring, healthy place for everyone who is involved,” Terrance explained.

The circles give the students and staff at Barber Community Learning Center a chance to tackle different topics.

“Some of you have sickness going on, some of you have lost family members that are very close to you, brothers and sisters, things like that and we don’t know, we don’t know we don’t know what people bring to this building,” Terrance said.

Most recently, Shelton brought a group of sixth graders together to candidly discuss the bullying issues going on in their school.

“What is really concerning me with you all this year in particular is that there seems to be this gang kind of mentality, if one do it, then all of them feel the same way,” Terrance said.

He started working at the school eight years ago and since then, the school has seen major improvements with student’s behavior.

“To really walk through steps, coping steps and strategies to teach them how to manage those emotions and that is hard for adults,” he said.

He plans to continue the circle conversations about bullying to help the students work through any issues.