6 minute read
Supports needed for COVID trauma
from March 2021
by ASBA
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.”
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
‘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.”
Teachers can spot troubled kids
School counselors can’t be everywhere, but a math teacher will see 150 students a day and can be provided the skills to spot problems, Sorey said. Then those students can be linked with appropriate services. Districts should promote Mental Health First Aid training for educators and other school personnel in order to build capacity. Free training is available for all staff members at every education cooperative through the year 2023. Schools can identify virtual students who need services by looking at their academic data – for example, attendance. If a student isn’t logging in or their academics are faltering, that’s a warning sign and schools need to reach out, Sorey said.
School districts should seek near- and long-term solutions by being proactive and building capacity, Sorey said. She encouraged school districts to start working with providers on a plan for expansion if student referrals increase by 50%. School board members should prioritize mental health needs and recognize that students don’t learn when they have significant issues.
“We all feel like the train has left the station, and we’re chasing the train, but what we can do is we can anticipate,” she said. “We do know that in six months, in 12 months, we are going to have increased need in our student body, in our employees, of mental health services. I mean, that’s a given. And so what we can do is we can anticipate those needs.”
Likewise, educators are facing challenges. Dr. Betsy Kindall, Arkansas AWARE State Coordinator for the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, said burnout was common before the pandemic and now has increased. She talks to an educator considering leaving the profession almost daily.
Sorey is seeing increased anxiety and depression stemming from a variety of concerns, including physical, financial, and staff members’ wondering if they are doing all they can to keep students safe. Janitors, bus drivers, and child nutrition staff members are affected and can be overwhelmed.
Sorey said she’s also seeing a lot of resilience. School employees are working hard and should be recognized for their efforts. She said her superintendent, Jerrod Williams, was giving employees random prizes donated by local businesses.
Arkansas AWARE is offering professional development for educators to learn to take care of themselves and be healthy. Employees should be told how to access mental health services, which school insurance covers, Kindall said.
Kindall said the state faces a clinician shortage and that there are cultural barriers to seeking mental health services. Some families are not comfortable doing it, and there is still a stigma that Arkansas Aware is trying to overcome.
Continued on next page
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