ASBA Annual Conference He noted that students have only six post-secondary pathways after public school: They can continue their education, enter military service, get a job, or be unemployed, incarcerated or dead. If they don’t have a high school diploma, the first two aren’t options, and the last three are bad. The goal is to ensure all students are successful. Because they don’t start out in the same place, they shouldn’t be treated equally. “Fair and equal hate each other,” he said. “They’ve never gotten along. Fair and equal are enemies. My goal is equity. … Equity says, let me give you what you need to be successful.” Equity, not equality “Understanding and Ensuring Educational Equity” was the title of one breakout session. Dr. Jeremy Owoh, deputy superintendent for academics and school leadership at the Little Rock School District, said equity does not mean creating equal situations for all students. Instead,
it’s about targeting resources based on students’ needs. He said certain policies affect educational equity, including those that result in effective Owoh teachers and leaders; high-level curriculum; funding; and disciplinary policies. Teachers and leaders should operate with a sense of urgency. “If we truly mean, ‘All means all,’ then we need to make sure our policies, our systems, our procedures create the opportunity for every student, for all students to have the greatest opportunity to learn,” he said. Owoh said educators must know students personally so they don’t see them as labels and ID numbers. Educational leaders must identify their own biases and ensure they don’t affect decisions. In another breakout session, Chandra Boone with the Arkansas Academy for Educational Equity said the achievement
gap was first documented in 1966 by James Coleman, a Johns Hopkins sociologist, as a result of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He found that African-American children were several grades behind white students. Boone said African-American students face the most disciplinary actions, which can be reduced by having African-American teachers in the classroom. “There are many things that AfricanAmerican students do that AfricanAmerican teachers tend to understand,” she said. Dr. Toriano Green, assistant superintendent of the Osceola School District, a participant in the event, told Boone that he struggled in school because he didn’t see himself in books. February is Black History Month, but the lessons weren’t embedded in the entire class and were always about the same people. Boone agreed, saying, “It was disheartening to see that the only … contributions black people made were enslavement and civil rights.”
Supports needed for COVID trauma Not just students but also educators have faced challenges that will require school attention after pandemic’s end By Steve Brawner Editor
The COVID-19 pandemic is a collective traumatic experience affecting students and educators now and in the future, and school-based mental health services will be needed in response, said mental health professionals during a general session at the Annual Conference. Emotional and behavioral health issues were already a growing concern that the pandemic has exacerbated, said Dr. Jill Fussell, a developmental and behavioral pediatrician at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Clinically significant, diagnosable health problems needing treatment were increasing, she said. Meanwhile, younger students were more clingy to caregivers, and some children were experiencing physiological changes in eating, sleeping and toileting, and perhaps some regression in reaching developmental milestones. She said she was seeing increased intensity and frequency of behavioral outbursts, as well as the development of anxiety and mood disorder symptoms. Students with learning and developmental diagnoses and pre-existing mental health issues have been most at risk. Fussell said adults must acknowledge young peoples’ struggles. They haven’t been able to celebrate milestones. They’ve 10 March 2021 Report Card
‘EVERY STUDENT HAS EXPERIENCED A TRAUMA.’ Ryane Sorey, Sheridan School District mental health coordinator, said all students have been affected by the pandemic, so all are eligible for school-based mental health services in Sheridan.
lost classroom interactions and socialization. They have faced an ever-present threat of sudden family sickness or death. Ryane Sorey, Sheridan School District mental health coordinator, said the pandemic has been traumatic for all students. They were in school one day in March 2020 and then left the classroom for the next six months. “I’m not asking, you know, hey, have their grades dropped?” she said. “Or what sort of impacts do you see in the classroom? Because every single student has experienced a trauma, and so every single student is eligible for school-based mental health services through our district.”
