Children who come to school worried about problems at home don’t learn.

That’s a fact administrators at Ferriday Upper Elementary School have known for awhile. But now they have money to begin fixing the problem.

The school is one of 11 in Louisiana chosen to pilot a coordinated school health and wellness program. The state is providing more than $80,000 in startup funds this year.

The first step for FUES is hiring an on-site licensed social worker to talk through life problems with students.

“I found myself spending a lot of time talking to kids one on one,” Principal Cindy Smith said. “That really pushed me to find something to help us get some kind of counseling service on site.”

Smith found ProjectSERV and the federal grant money that comes with it.

Smith is currently looking to hire that social worker, and may hire more than one in the future. The counselor will work with students and their families and even make home visits, Smith said.

“The social worker is a mediator between home and school,” she said.

The startup money must be spent by September of this year, but the philosophy behind the program trains school leaders to find alternative grants and sources of money that continue to build, paying for the program in years to come.

In later phases, Smith wants to incorporate a school nurse, an exercise program and health and wellness education.

The school has organized a school site committee composed of community and business leaders, parents and teachers. The group will be largely in charge of the direction of the FUES coordinated school health program.

The program is modeled after one started in McComb, but each school is given freedom to direct the program to best fit their needs, Smith said.

The Louisiana pilot program is also designed to start at one district school, but eventually grow to other schools in the district.

All four Ferriday schools meet the requirements based on free or reduced lunch and family income, Superintendent Kerry Laster said. Smith’s interest in the program made FUES the perfect place to start, Laster said.

“We met all the requirements,” she said. “We definitely had the characteristics at several of our schools.”