“When discipline problems arise, we know a suspension doesn’t work,” says Brownsville Area School District Superintendent Keith Hartbauer. “We need to really ask: What’s the root of the problem? Why is this kid doing this?” As the pandemic subsided, district leaders realized returning to a structure of full weeks in school wasn’t easy as students’ mental health issues surfaced. Kids needed to learn how to manage their emotions after feeling disconnected for so long, but they felt unsupported: In a district survey, 85 percent of K-12 students said their teachers didn’t really know who they were. “Our kids felt they weren’t really known by their teachers, even though our teachers…