When you think of education, test scores may come to mind. Or physical buildings, equipment, school supplies. Or people – teachers and students. But it’s the underlying factors affecting a child’s education that LaChrisa Crenshaw works to resolve.
As dean of Student Support Services at KIPP Inspire Academy, Crenshaw focuses on issues stemming from situations outside of the classroom, particularly for children of poverty and disadvantaged circumstances.
“We want them to be excelling academically, but they don’t always have their social, emotional or physical needs met before it can get to that point,” Crenshaw said.
“They are not looking at all the underlying reasons that kids bring to school – their baggage in their backpacks that they have to unpack and still go through and thrive in the classroom.”
She came to KIPP two years ago as a social worker to create a community school model, which is about meeting those basic needs for students.
“The community school model is about trying to really – when you look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs – that you’re really meeting basic needs,” she said. “The social and security needs of the kids come first so you will be able to solicit their support and get them to be more productive in the classroom.”
Whether it is food, eyeglasses or emotional needs, finding service providers and community partners to take care of basic necessities help displace those worries for children.
“Also, counseling services over the past couple of years – we’ve had a lot of major things happen to students,” she said.
Stress and other health issues can exacerbate the 10-hour school day at KIPP, where learning is year-round for grades five through eight.
“From 7:10 in the morning till 5:15 in the evening; that gives them a long bus ride home, and then a hour’s worth of homework – you have to have some services on board to help students be able to tackle a full day like that,” Crenshaw said.
Student support services at KIPP also encompasses high school placement.
“Once you get your students on level and they are ready to grow and do great, you want to get them placed in high schools that help keep challenging them and be on that competitive edge to get into their colleges,” Crenshaw said.
Though the mentoring program at KIPP, Crenshaw said she reminds students that “giving back” is important.
“Academics is key – but being great people is key too,” Crenshaw said. “And be the kind of people that reach back and help others. You can achieve, but it doesn’t take anything from you to help someone else – it actually adds more to you.”
Crenshaw co-oversees a Parent University (along with a parent liaison) to build parent involvement and provide tools they need to help with their child’s growth and development. For example, physicians will teach medical issues, like obesity, or bank representatives will talk about being money smart. Parent-U has also brought in professionals to talk to parents about what to expect during puberty.
“We had Planned Parenthood come in and talk about their children’s body changes and their new interest in the opposite sex,” she said. “Anything that can help empower a parent.”
Previously, Crenshaw was a social worker in the Wellston Public School District and a treatment coordinator for the Hopewell Center. She also ran a K-12 afterschool program that served students from SLPS and charter schools.
Crenshaw is a St. Louis native who graduated from University City High School. She earned a Master’s in Social Work from Saint Louis University and a Bachelor’s in Social Work from the University of Missouri – St. Louis.
She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
Her son, Ryan Stokes is in his third year of medical school in Kansas City and she attends St. Paul AME Church.
