Nixa Public Schools and the Nixa Police Department are working together to help kids who might have experienced trauma.
Through a statewide program, if law enforcement encounters a child during a call, the child’s name and three words “Handle with Care” are sent to the child’s school before the first bell rings the next day. The district isn’t given details – just that a child was present during law enforcement contact.
The message is sent to the counselor, the principal and nurse at the school, and they send the message to the classroom teacher, "so they know when the child comes to school that next morning or the morning of, depending on the time that law enforcement arrived, the kids are just handled with care," said Ashley Copley, director of student services at Nixa Public Schools. "They're treated a little bit differently. They're given a little bit of grace. So, if you have a younger child who is sleeping, we know that something happened. We don't know the details, nor do we want to know the details. We're just going to have eyes on that child to make sur that they're okay and that we're treating them through those trauma-informed lens."
If a child continues to struggle, the school will offer additional support to them.
Copley said they train their teachers not to make assumptions, "not to go to the conclusion that this child was a part of a domestic or that a crime was committed. Like, we really trained them that it could be anything from a traffic stop to a domestic and that our job is just to love that kid and make sure that that kid feels safe and loved and can get on with their day," she said.
Nixa Police Department Lt. Josh Barton said Handle with Care allows officers to know that a child they may have encountered during a call will be given extra attention at school.
"It gives them peace of mind to know that there's somebody on the back side of it checking on children to make sure that they're okay and give them some extra help if it'd needed," he said.
Nixa became involved in Handle with Care in 2022. Copley said fewer than 5% of law enforcement agencies are utilizing the program, and the Nixa Police Department is leading the way in the number of Handle with Care reports. She hopes others will jump on board.
