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52 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 11.17 invisible present and drops her mouth open with glee. "Surprise! Happy!" her classmates shout. Sometimes Mattingly and other CSP teachers field-trip out of their rooms and over to the gym for variations of tag and chase. Naturally, the game escalates to wild shrieks and sloppy sprints. Teachers then shout for stillness so kids can feel their heart racing, acknowledging adrenaline's presence. Take a breath, find your anchors. Do you think you can make good choices when you're feeling so full of adrenaline? "You can't be calm and threatened at the same time," a CSP researcher will explain to me after I watch the class. When kids feel angry or fearful, stress hormones ravage the body. e brain ignites — fight or flight? Breathing slowly and intentionally distracts you, shifting your attention from fear. e nervous system messages the body: It's OK. e most photogenic portion of these CSP class- es, the part that's appeared in Time Magazine and on local news is "mindful movement" — yoga that's not called yoga (too many religious connotations). In 2013, a district in the Canton, Ohio, area shuttered its mindfulness initiative after public outcry that the program was too close to Buddhist practices. I'm told that, other than a handful of devoutly religious families in Louisville expressing concern with CSP, Louisville has embraced it. Each class ends with a few minutes of rest. Children plop on their mats as sooth- ing music sets the mood. Arms form pil- lows behind heads and eyelids sink heavy and low. Kids love it. And how could they not? It's probably the only time in their en- tire day when an adult is telling them to lie down, relax, do nothing. Just: Breathe. With how fervently Mayor Greg Fischer touts Louisville as a com- passionate city, perhaps it's no wonder the University of Virginia partnered with JCPS (under then-superintendent Donna Hargens) for the Compassionate Schools Project. But it's a little more involved than just a joint passion for compassion. Several years ago the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education set out to complete a comprehensive study of mindfulness in schools. ere had been a few small-scale studies, like one in Wis- consin that showed four- to six-year-olds performed better in school after participat- ing in a program similar to CSP. According to Time, another study in North Carolina showed just two weeks of mindfulness training with preschoolers resulted in happier, more self-aware kids. Other studies have shown similar promise, even linking the ability to regulate emotions and behaviors during early childhood to better health, educational attainment and financial stability later in life. But UVA's Patrick To- lan, the principal investi- gator for CSP, says there's never been a large-scale randomized study. at random part is key because if only schools eager to adopt mindfulness hopped onboard and showed positive results, a big question would remain: Did the curriculum work? Or was it more a building full of motivated leaders? Tolan and I meet one morning for breakfast during one of his many treks from Char- lottesville to Louisville. Tolan, a tall, polite, straightforward man of science, says UVA wanted to implement its compassionate curriculum in a big, diverse school system. "We wanted to do it in a school system that the rest of America could say was like us," he says. "If we did it in San Francisco or New York, people would say, 'Oh, that's not us.'" ey not only needed a district inter- ested in adopting the curriculum, but one that would agree to basically become a county-sized laboratory. Researchers would need comparison schools for true scientific analysis. So even if schools wanted the program, they'd have to accept leaving it up to a lottery and, if not chosen, there was another caveat: ey could keep what- ever anti-bullying or social and emotional programs they currently had in place, but nothing like CSP could be introduced, at least not until 2021 when data collection and assessment would be complete. at's because after the two-year active implementation of the curriculum, researchers will assess a random sampling of about 5,400 students for another two years. For some kids, that means follow- ing them past elementary school and into middle school. Students will complete tests that feel like video games to see if they're able to complete a task without distraction. ere will be physical tests to gauge balance (body control) and written surveys and, of course, heaps of behavioral and academic data. "A lot of times with social and emotional learning, some of the impacts emerge over time," explains Alexis Harris, CSP's project director based in Louisville. "ey may grow over time or they may fade over time. We need to follow students beyond just the end of the program to see what happens." (Tolan's guess is that the more exposure students have to the curriculum, the more impact- ful CSP will be.) All things considered, this Compas- sionate Schools Project was a big ask for a district. But when Owsley Brown III asks, folks in Louisville listen. Brown, an active philanthropist and the son of Chris- ty Brown and the late Brown-Forman chairman and CEO Owsley Brown II, is a UVA alum. At a young age, he says, he was profoundly moved by the contemplative practice of Trappist monk omas Mer- ton. "I have found that it grounds me and helps orient me toward what's most im- portant in life — compassion, love, health and joy!" he shared in an email. So when he discovered the Compassionate Schools Project at his alma mater and learned of its desire for an urban testing ground, Owsley Brown III advised Mayor Greg Fischer and then-superintendent Donna Hargens that JCPS might be just the right fit. (Brown is in charge of fundraising for the project.) If all goes well and CSP proves benefi- cial, Tolan hopes districts across the coun- try will adopt the curriculum, potentially helping a whole generation of students. And, possibly, teachers. Stress from chal- "Find your anchors," teacher Meaghann Clem Mattingly instructs in a patient, low voice, placing one hand on her heart and the other on her stomach. Her students do the same. "We're going to notice if our mind wanders away from what we're doing, then gently bring it back," she says.