黑料福利社

Sara Cordova's education career began as a kindergarten and first-grade teacher. She wishes the Handle With Care program, which she oversees for the Yakima School District, was an option then.

Cordova, the district's director of safety and security, spoke about the program during the Yakima Domestic Violence Coalition monthly meeting Tuesday. Through Handle With Care, the school district is notified by the Yakima Police Department if an officer responds to a situation at a student鈥檚 home.

The notifications make administrators and staff who work directly with the students aware of the trauma. Teachers may decide to talk to the student about the incident, depending on the situation and behavior. Teachers can refer students to a counselor or offer extra support if needed.

"It really has been an incredible program for our schools, our staff, our children and our families," Cordova said of the police-school district partnership, which is beginning its fifth year.

Handle With Care also provides insight into emotional support needs with students' families. "So our schools don't just support students in the classroom; they also support the families who love and care about those kids as well," she said.

The principal of Robertson Elementary in Yakima also spoke about the difference Handle With Care has made at her school.

"I don't know what I would do without it," Carrie Davis said. "Having that heads-up so that the beginning of the day, the teacher is ready and prepared ... my kiddo might need more support, or they might be sharing something, or not sharing something.

"It just helps you get in that right mindset."

Cordova gets an automatically generated email every school morning listing Handle With Care notifications. She scans the email for where students are enrolled and alerts school principals and counselors, who then alert other staff members who need to know. Incident details aren't shared, but school staff who are involved occasionally ask for more details, Cordova said.

Data and trends

Cordova provided numbers and some trends from administrators and authorities on Tuesday.

The program began in the 2021-22 school year, with the first year a pilot program that started in September and ran through July 31. Others since then have started Aug. 1 and run through July 31.

For the 2021-22 school year, there were 1,102 Yakima School District students who had Handle With Care notifications, according to a slide in Cordova's presentation. For 2022-23, there were 1,761 notifications for YSD students from Aug. 1 to July 31. For 2023-24, there were 1,254 YSD students. For 2024-25, there were 1,910 YSD students with notifications.

They're seeing some patterns. "We get more Handle With Care notifications in September," Cordova said; stress levels are high then as students and families are settling back school routines. And November and January are higher than December, she said.

Numerous students have been the subject of more than one Handle With Care notification.

"A lot of times those kids, the ones that are over and over on the notifications, those are kids who are runaways," Cordova said. "We have a lot of high school age kids, especially, but also some middle school and a couple of elementary kids who run away.

"But we also do have a lot of kids who are constantly being exposed to domestic violence," she added.

Chris DeVilleneuve, threat assessment coordinator for Educational Service District 105, also shared its Handle With Care statistics.聽ESD 105聽began tracking Handle With Care data in the 2024-25 school year,聽DeVilleneuve said. The data includes Yakima County school districts other than the Yakima School District.

ESD 105 had 2,642 Handle With Care notifications in the 2024-25 school year,聽DeVilleneuve said. "It helps that we have this awareness because one of the things we do is really focus on is social emotional behavioral interventions in schools," he added.聽

One of the things that ESD 105 is still working on is working with the Yakama Tribal Police Department,聽DeVilleneuve said.聽

"We've had zero notifications with the tribal police department so that's one thing that we're continuing to work on," he said. "Hopefully we're going to be able to work with them and get them to report as well."

Long-term solution

Those involved with the Yakima Domestic Violence Coalition have been working together for more than four years to address the persistently high levels of domestic violence and intimate partner violence in Yakima and Yakima County. The Handle With Care program is an important way to break the cycle, supporters say.

"Handle With Care is our most effective long-term solution to domestic violence in our community," said Yakima police Capt. Chad Janis, who coordinates the coalition meetings.

Janis also spoke about the Aug. 9 homicide of聽Guadalupe Cordova, 33, which detectives have characterized as domestic violence. Yakima police were called to the 1200 block of West Washington Avenue at 2:39 p.m. for an assault with a weapon and found Cordova and her 13-year-old son had been shot. The 13-year-old was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at MultiCare Yakima Memorial Hospital, according to a YPD news release. The suspected shooter was 36-year-old Roberto Leyva Sanchez, who had been married to Cordova. In a confrontation in downtown Yakima later that evening, Leyva-Sanchez fired at officers, who returned fire and killed him,聽according to court documents.

Davis, the principal of Robertson Elementary, didn't want to say too much at the meeting. "But I will say that the events over the weekend are impacting some of our kiddos," she said.聽

"We're trying to see how can we help prepare for the beginning of the year, to make sure that when our kiddos come, they are as supported as possible, and that we as a staff support each other and talk through those things as well," she said. "Any of you that supported our kids this weekend, thank you."

For the 2024-25 school year, Robertson Elementary had 60 students on Handle With Care, she said. Robertson has .

Robertson sees many students attend all the way from kindergarten through fifth grade, so "often we know a lot about kids," Davis said.

"What we try to do is figure out what is it that a child really needs to support them, and how do we make sure that we are taking care of that. and providing those basic needs and that social emotional support the way that they need it most," she added.