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March is Employee Appreciation Month! We’re celebrating our team members all month long by sharing their stories. Read more about Josiah Kanagy, Lead Academic, Behavior, and Social Support (ABSS) at our Lancaster, PA campus, and how he has helped change even the toughest students. 

What is your favorite thing about working here?

My favorite thing about working at New Story Schools is interacting and working with a wide variety of students while being in a position where I can pair and work through problems with them, while seeing their growth as students and as people.  

What keeps you coming to work each day?

Knowing that there are students who will miss me even if they don’t show it every day, as well as seeing the moments when the students are able to find success and get excited about it. 

How do you make an impact on students’ lives?

For a lot of students, just having somewhere to go that has consistent people who care for them is huge. Another part is working through behaviors with them. When they see that no matter how much they scream or insult you and it doesn’t drive us away, it shows them that we care and goes a long way to building rapport with the student.

Which one of our BetterTogether values resonates with you most personally and why? (Integrity, Accountable, Collaborative, Inclusive, Supportive)

I would choose supportive because this is an extremely demanding job, and the support from staff to staff is crucial to our ability to function and deal with some of the things we deal with. Knowing that when you have a situation you can’t handle alone, there will be people running as soon as you call is important to our success and the students' success. The students also need a lot of support from us, and some will have more to give than others any given day, so that is why the supportive value resonates with me the most.  

What does a “day in the life” look like for you?

I start work at 8:00 a.m. by preparing the data sheets for each student in the classroom and making sure we are ready for their arrival. From 8:20 until around 9:00, we start unloading students as they come in on the bus or with parents. The students in my classroom fall roughly in 9th-10th grade, and we focus on building life skills they can use to be as independent as possible. We then start our academic day with a morning meeting. Other aspects of our schedule are specials, recess, math, English language arts, life skills, fine motor tasks, and lunch. We do a mix of group work and independent work with staff assistance. The staff in our room are assigned a student or group of students that we are responsible for, and we will rotate those assignments every two hours. Most of our students require help with both group and independent work, and that's where our academic support role is highlighted. We also deal with their behaviors as they come, being responsible for our assigned students and helping the other staff in our room as we need to. At 2:20 p.m., we begin dismissal and when all the students are gone, I file the completed data sheets we fill out throughout the day, and complete various other tasks I am assigned as a Lead Academic and Behavior support staff.

Can you talk a little bit about your career trajectory and what led you to where you are now?

I am currently enrolled in an online Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) graduate program through Arizona State University with the intention of completing the Board Certified Behavior Analyst exam and becoming a behavior analyst. 

What has been your proudest moment or accomplishment in your role?

Seeing some of the tougher students I have worked with have a lot of success has made me really proud. Specifically, one student has reached a natural level, meaning he is trusted to do small tasks like walk to the water fountain or the bathroom without any supervision, when last year and the start of this year he was an extremely aggressive student who had intense behaviors almost every day. Another student I worked with three years ago, who had significant aggression, poor impulse control, and difficulty functioning in the classroom, is now preparing to transition back to his home district next year.

What is something about you that not many people know?

I was born in Mississippi while my parents were working at a summer camp.

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