“It’s amazing to see what’s happened at PS 369,” Principal Jaleelah Cooke told state and local legislators gathered to learn more about the Positive Learning Collaborative at UFT headquarters on Dec. 10. She described her Mott Haven school, marked for closing, as “so chaotic you could hardly have a conversation with anyone,” when she took over in 2013 and reached out to the Collaborative for help. Since then, incidents of school violence are down 64 percent, she said. The Positive Learning Collaborative is a joint UFT-Department of Education program to create safe and supportive learning environments by providing educators with strategies to respond to and head off challenging student behavior. “Children living in poverty bring myriad problems with them to school and we have to help them cope,” said Dana Ashley, the program’s director. “Children who can talk about their feelings are less likely to act them out.” The Positive Learning Collaborative provides four days of Therapeutic Crisis Intervention training to all members of the school staff when it initiates the program in a new school. It is now active in 14 schools with hopes to expand to 30 over the next three years. “Everyone benefits from having experienced this program,” Deputy Chancellor for Special Education Corrine Rello-Anselmi told the lawmakers.