Mental Health Crises Are Bombarding Our Schools. Here’s What We Can Do

By Daniel Coles, Tala Manassah & Cassie Schwerner

Entering year three of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are seeing a cascade of crises in our schools. Students and educators are feeling overwhelmed, anxious, despondent—and, too often, isolated and unheard. The crisis is most acute in hard-hit communities of color.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has declared the state of children’s mental health to be a “national emergency.” In addition to social isolation, it notes that more than 140,000 children—1 in 500—have lost a caregiver, with youth of color disproportionately impacted. Suspected suicide attempts by adolescents have jumped 31 percent, the CDC reports.

Teachers tell us that their students are behaving in ways they’ve never seen before. Two out of 3 educators say students are “misbehaving” more than they did in 2019. After all the blows that families have sustained, this is a signal that children need help. We must act now and we must act boldly to mitigate the negative impact of the devastation or risk a spiraling crisis for years to come.

Teachers say they know why their students are acting out. Nothing in teacher education programs has prepared them for the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual demands they now face. An EdWeek survey found teachers were “sacrificing their lunch periods to cover unsupervised classrooms, monitor lunch lines, and get behind the wheel of school buses.” They often can’t do the work they went into the profession to do. A principal told us that his teachers would love to dive into rich explorations during Black History Month, but “there’s absolutely no bandwidth for that.”

Principals themselves are feeling besieged. A National Association of Secondary School Principals survey found that 42 percent of principals had accelerated their plans to leave the profession. With teachers, students, and families in crisis, some principals find their jobs have become unrecognizable. One assistant principal told us that all he did in December and January was COVID contact tracing.

Addressing these crises requires new priorities. We need to make school a place that prioritizes connection, community, and joy. It’s time to adopt what Shawn Ginwright calls a “healing-centered” approach. Rather than viewing trauma as an isolated experience, a healing-centered approach is holistic and collective: It calls on us to work together to address harms and make positive change. Moments of crisis can also be moments of opportunity when properly seized. The pandemic, while affecting us each differently, is a uniquely shared experience. This is a teachable moment: We can bow our heads and submit to the devastation or we can honor those who have been lost by using this as a moment to double down on teaching our children what our society is most in need of: generative connection, deep empathy, and skill building around collective action and mutual aid.

Prioritizing community and healing is a necessary prerequisite for academic learning. This crisis has demonstrated that the mental health—and academic progress—of young people depends on the caring relationships they build at school. We humans are evolved to be part of a community, to be interdependent and interconnected. Without community, we cannot thrive.

Building community begins with the clear intention and action of district and school leaders.

Here are eight strategies district and school leaders can use to build community and facilitate healing.

• Offer school staff structured opportunities at least once a week to connect with each other, share thoughts and feelings, collaboratively problem solve, practice strategies to bolster their mental health, and find joy. Just like students, teachers need to be seen, heard, and cared for.
• Support teachers in creating a caring classroom. Teachers need time to connect with students. Listening, being present, and naming and normalizing students’ feelings can help them process. A caring classroom also includes creating community agreements and values, making time for play, and using culturally sustaining practices so that every child belongs.
• Ensure that every student participates in a community-building circle once a week—at least. Here, students can listen to each other and reflect on what is happening for them. They can practice strategies that can sustain them over their lives, such as mindfulness and feelings identification.
• Let students lead the way. Encourage students to facilitate their own structured gatherings where they and their classmates can share, problem solve, affirm each others’ cultures and lived experiences, and practice skills they find helpful. In the process, students can gain a sense of agency within the school community.
• Bring healing and joy through art. Dancing, singing, drama, painting, woodworking … The evidence shows that engaging in the arts—simply for the experience and pleasure of it—is therapeutic. Yet many schools, especially in underresourced communities, have extinguished this opportunity. Make art a regular part of every child’s school experience.
• Train all school staff in social and emotional learning and restorative approaches. SEL skills like active listening, empathy, and conflict resolution are helpful in interactions among students, families, and colleagues as we collectively cope with loss and uncertainty.
• District and school leaders need support, too. Make it a priority to care for yourself. Gather regularly with a few colleagues with the explicit purpose of mutual support. This community can become a source of inspiration and rejuvenation for you.
• Look ahead. The hardship we are experiencing—and our disconnection from each other—obviously goes far beyond the school walls. Support staff, students, and fellow school leaders in looking at the big picture—and envisioning the life, the community, the world, that you would like to see. As Ginwright notes, the ability to dream and imagine are key in maintaining our hope and sense of well-being. Hope enables us to take urgently needed action. “In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late,” said the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.“This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.”

Source: Education Week

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Taliban Shuts Afghan Girls’ Schools Hours after Reopening

Agency Report

The Taliban ordered secondary girls’ schools in Afghanistan to shut down Wednesday just hours after they reopened, an official confirmed, sparking confusion over the policy reversal by the hardline Islamist group.

“Yes, it’s true,” Taliban spokesman Inamullah Samangani told AFP when asked to confirm reports that girls had been ordered home.

An AFP team was filming at Zarghona High School in the capital Kabul when a teacher entered and ordered everyone to go home.

Crestfallen students, back in class for the first time since the Taliban seized power in August last year, tearfully packed up their belongings and filed out.

The international community has made the right to education for all a sticking point in negotiations over aid and recognition of the new Taliban regime.

Source: AFP

Teachers Want Their Administrators to Teach. Here’s Why

By Hayley Hardison 

Education Week contributor Elizabeth Heubeck recently wrote about principals who also teach, capturing how the practice helps school leaders better understand the challenges teachers face in the classroom. That regular connection to the classroom, and to students, can make principals stronger, more empathetic leaders.

The story sparked a ton of conversation on social media, most of it from teachers who overwhelmingly endorsed the practice and wished that their own principals—and other administrators—would take time to teach. Some principals embraced the idea, too.

Here’s what we heard from some of the principals:

“I was [a] Principal [in] a small town school. I taught a grade, Spanish in Kindergarten, and Science in Grades 1-2. I really knew what it meant to be on the front lines.”

—Rosanna Schultz

“A positive twist on what many of us as principals are experiencing. Time spent in classrooms affects leadership decisions outside of it.”

—@Mr_dabreu

“It’s not just ‘more’ work, but it’s really important work and it fills [my] bucket. The time I spend teaching is my sacred time and time joyfully spent. I am a better principal because of it. I will always be a ‘teaching principal.’ ”

—@mellytheteach

“All principals need to be teachers!”

—@mwriser

A shift in perspective

Among the outpouring of responses, we noticed an intriguing number of current or retired teachers who believe that teaching should not be considered a “best practice” for principals. Instead, they argued that it should be mandatory for school leaders—or any administrator, for that matter—to teach in some capacity.

“For anyone in the back of the room, I firmly believe all admins should be responsible for teaching one class as part of their work (especially with our job shortage now).”

—@Migas4Edu

“I think every administrator in the district, including those who don’t work at school sites, should have to teach for one hour daily, with the regular teacher there to help.”

—Ralph Bedwell

“This post is spot on! They should also take turns in the special education setting. This helps them stay connected to all students and staff.”

—Brenda Mitchell

“It should be required for all administrators and school board members!”

—Laurie Harris Norman

This sentiment comes at a time when teachers report feeling more stressed than ever before. According to an EdWeek Research Center survey from May 2021, “[m]ore than a quarter of teachers said job-related stress leads them to think often about quitting, and 16 percent said they dread going to work every day.”

Administrators and teachers, however, value potential strategies to mitigate stress and burnout differently. According to the same survey, only 27 percent of school administrators said that reducing administrative burdens such as meetings, paperwork, or hall duty, could help retain teachers, while 43 percent of teachers said the administrative reduction could help.

Gaps between how principals and teachers view the challenges of teaching and managing a classroom aren’t emerging just because of the pandemic, though. In a 2019 EdWeek Research Center survey, principals and teachers placed different values on sources of friction such as school discipline, planning period timing and scheduling, duty assignments, and instructional approaches.

‘On the front lines’

Why are some teachers calling for mandated principal teaching, and how might this practice improve the principal-teacher dynamic? Here’s what our readers had to say:

“Should be mandatory. Unless you’re on the front lines – in the classroom – you really have no clue what it takes to navigate changing curriculums every year.”

—Idette Hecht Durbin

“With the way the education sector continually shifts, administrators need a viewpoint of the classroom that is relevant to today so that they don’t continually recommend unhelpful things and implement prescriptive strategies that just add to the job with no ROI to the students or teachers.”

—Richie Conway

“The administration of the school district I just retired from in Virginia dictates from on high. They are so far removed from the classroom, they have no idea the toll their ‘new initiatives’ are taking on teachers. And they simply don’t care.”

—Kevin Quesenberry

“The Principal should be the Principal Teacher in the building. If they can’t teach children, they shouldn’t be there. I worked for 17 of them throughout my career. One of my favorites would cover your classes for you if you had to leave early for a doctor or dentist appointment. Sadly, some of them just wanted to boss us around.”

—Joyce Walker

“I said this all along! What a great way to get to know the students, as well as getting to know your teaching staff and their planning, etc. This practice was NEVER done during my 35 years teaching full time, and I wish it had been!”

—Trent Agnew

“I worked at a pilot school and I taught a class w/ my principal. It was in their charter that the principal had to teach a class. It was a good experience and students seem to like it. Best staff I ever worked with.”

—Judi McMahon

“So many of them forget so fast. I totally agree with this. All administration should have to do this.”

—Abbie Jackson-Barrett

Source :Education Week

Students Train to Spot Peers With Mental Health Struggles and Guide Them to Help

By Catherine Gewertz

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the mental health struggles that were already proliferating among young people. Many schools are trying to expand their rosters of adult specialists who can provide support. But some are tapping an additional source, too: the students themselves.

School districts are training teenagers to spot early signs of mental health problems in their peers and connect them with adults who can help.

The practice isn’t new: It has its roots in longstanding work to prevent suicide and school shootings and foster emotional and physical safety at school. But training young people to help spot trouble, in close partnership with adults, is being embraced anew as the pandemic ladles unprecedented demands onto school psychologists, social workers, and counselors.

Sofia Mendoza is one of the students who’s trained to play this role for her classmates. She does her work as part of a “Hope Squad” run by her school, Hilliard Davidson High, outside Columbus, Ohio. Sofia said it’s rewarding to serve as such an important resource for her peers.

“Some students won’t get help because they’re just afraid to ask for it,” said Sofia, a senior at Davidson. “But if a peer knows, and if their struggle is seen and heard, then they’re able to say, OK, yes, I do need the help. And we can get them to go to an adult themselves.”

Students as eyes and ears on the ground

In the Hilliard City district, dozens of students are trained to serve on Hope Squads in each building that serves students in 6th through 12th grades. They watch for signs like social isolation or feelings of hopelessness, and persuade those students to get help from trusted adults in the school. They also learn to monitor their own emotions and take care of themselves, seeking support from adults when they need it. Each squad gets guidance from a team of trained adults, said Mike Abraham, the district’s director of student well-being.

The district began the Hope Squad work four years ago, along with an array of other social and emotional support programs, when its leaders saw a spike in suicides, depression, and anxiety, Abraham said. The squads have provided important support during the pandemic.null

Hilliard refers far more students to a nearby children’s hospital for psychiatric support than other nearby districts of its size, a statistic Abraham cites with pride. “It means they’re getting the help they need,” he said.

Nationally, one of the best-known programs that trains people to spot mental health struggles, Mental Health First Aid USA, has seen a spike in demand for its programs during the pandemic. Millions of adults—from firefighters and hospital staff to former first lady Michelle Obama—have taken its courses, which were designed 20 years ago by Australian researchers and adapted in the United States by the National Council on Mental Wellbeing.

I realized that they’re having these conversations with their peers on a daily basis. In the absence of formal training, they very much carry the weight on their shoulders that they have to fix their friends’ problems. 

Suzanna Davis, vice president of operations and programs at Grant Us Hope

More than 550,000 K-12 staff members have taken its 6- to 8-hour courses, which focus on noticing signs of mental illness or substance abuse in other adults or in young people, and more than 125,000 teenagers have taken the “teen” training, said Tramaine EL-Amin, who leads MHFA USA’s strategic initiatives.

Trainees learn to use what’s known as the “ALGEE” protocol—Assess for risk of suicide or harm, Listen nonjudgmentally, Give reassurance and information, Encourage professional help, and Encourage self-help and other support strategies.

Research on these early-spotter programs generally focuses on how the training affects those who take it. Studies find that the programs can improve trainees’ ability to recognize mental illness and build their confidence in helping those who need support. In a study set for publication this year, Johns Hopkins University researchers found that more than two-thirds of the students who take the MHFA teen training report that they use the skills to manage their own stress and to help peers who are in need, EL-Amin said.

Asking students to notice the signs: an undue burden?

Research is thinner on how much the trainees’ intervention helps those in distress. One 2018 analysis, conducted by researchers who collaborate with the Australian founders of Mental Health First Aid, found a “small improvement” in the amount of help provided to those with a mental health problem. A 2018 study on the Hope Squad program found that more than one-quarter of students who sought help from their counselors for suicidal feelings had been referred by Hope Squad members.

Some administrators express doubt about the wisdom of involving students in identifying young people with mental health struggles. The Paterson, N.J., schools have been stepping up their early-warning-signs training of adults in the last few years: More than 600 staff members have been trained, said Cheryl Coy, the district’s assistant superintendent for special education and services. But she wouldn’t extend the training to students just yet.

“I think it’s too much of an additional layer to add on,” she said. “Many students don’t realize the level of stress they’re under right now. It’s like a soda bottle: Shake it up, and when you take the cap off, it explodes.”

Suzanna Davis, the vice president of operations and programs at Grant Us Hope, which partners with Hope Squad to provide training to 175 schools in Ohio and Indiana, said she had the same hesitation when she was a high school principal and was considering adopting the program.

“I asked students, is this too much to take on?” she said. “But I realized that they’re having these conversations with their peers on a daily basis. In the absence of formal training, they very much carry the weight on their shoulders that they have to fix their friends’ problems. If we’re not engaging them and giving them the right tools and training to engage in those conversations, we’re missing the boat.”

Strong adult support: key to program success

Experts, and district leaders who have opted to train teenagers, caution that key conditions must be in place to ensure the programs provide appropriate support for everyone involved.

Schools must make sure there are enough trained adults to provide a skilled, supportive team for students to lean on. Schools that wish to use MHFA’s training for teenagers must commit to training 10 percent of their adult staff, EL-Amin said. To do Hope Squad training, schools must partner with a mental health provider in their community, Davis said.

Staffing shortages currently plaguing schools during the pandemic can complicate that picture. The ratios of mental-health specialists to students were already insufficient before the pandemic. On average, there is only one school psychologist for every 1,200 students, far from the 1-to-500 ratio recommended by the National Association of School Psychologists. There are currently 427 school counselors for every student, but the American School Counselor Association recommends one per every 250 children.Ratios like those, while many mental-health vacancies in schools are also going unfilled, don’t bode well. They suggest that schools risk relying on insufficiently trained adults to provide support for children in distress and to supervise teenage student mental-health trainees, said Kelly Vaillancourt, the NASP’s director of policy and advocacy.The community mental health groups that partner with districts are strained past capacity too, noted Kelly Davis, the associate vice president of peer and youth advocacy for Mental Health America. So while there’s been a big upsurge in the need for services, and in interest in youth-training programs, there is a danger that children who are struggling “could be referred to nothing,” she said. Policymakers must redouble efforts to staff schools and feed the pipeline of trainees for mental health professions, she said.

Abraham, from the Hilliard district, urged districts to pair teen training with the purchase of an after-hours notification system. At night or on weekends, if his teenage spotters need to report a friend in serious trouble, or frightening comments from a peer on social media, they know to call the Safe School Helpline, which connects them with appointed employees in their district who can take swift action.

In Collier County, Fla., the district operates a suite of interlocking programs designed to support students emotionally. Some are exclusively carried out by adults, who form communication webs about students’ attendance and well-being. In others, the students lead, with teams of adults backing them up.

One program trains elementary students to be “friendship ambassadors” who check specially painted “buddy benches” in their playgrounds for kids who seem to need a companion. Another taps middle school students to ensure that no one’s eating alone in the cafeteria. These students aren’t trained to spot early signs of mental illness, but their work aims to build connections that can help when a student is in distress.

“Sometimes we forget how our students can help” complete the picture of support at their own schools, said Kamela Patton, Collier County’s superintendent of schools.

Source: Education Week

‘Stop Bullying Kids’: Fla. Governor Faces Backlash After Berating Students for Wearing Masks

By The Associated Press 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gestures during a news conference after announcing a $20 million dollar program to create cybersecurity opportunities through the Florida Center for Cybersecurity at the University of South Florida Wednesday, March 2, 2022, in Tampa, Fla.Chris O’Meara/AP

Tampa , Fla. –

A visibly annoyed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis admonished a group of high school students for wearing face masks at an indoor news conference Wednesday, saying it was time to stop what he called “this COVID theater.”

The Republican governor approached the students and asked them to remove their masks as they waited for him at the press event at the University of South Florida in Tampa. The college is located in an area where the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends indoor masking due to high COVID-19 risk.

“You do not have to wear those masks. I mean, please take them off. Honestly, it’s not doing anything. We’ve got to stop with this COVID theater. So if you wanna wear it, fine, but this is ridiculous,” he said, letting out an audible sigh and shaking his head.

DeSantis, a fierce opponent of virus mask and vaccine mandates, is running for reelection and is considered to be a potential 2024 GOP presidential candidate. His opposition to coronavirus masking and vaccine mandates has drawn national attention, and his administration has banned mask mandates in schools, often with the governor and his Republican supporters saying parents should have control over the health care choices of their children.

One of the students, 14-year-old Kevin Brown Jr., a high school freshman, at told The Associated Press he was caught off-guard by DeSantis and felt pressured to removed his mask.

“I was a little bit surprised at his tone,” Brown said of the governor, adding that he chose to leave his mask on because there were many unmasked people around and he was wary of getting COVID-19.

Brown’s father, Kevin Brown Sr., told WFLA-TV that he would advise DeSantis to “stop bullying kids.”

“I tell him it’s his choice, so he made that choice and the governor has no right to tell no kid or no one who they can or can’t wear a mask. He doesn’t have that right,” Brown Sr. told the TV station.

In a statement, Hillsborough County Public Schools Superintendent Addison Davis said school officials were excited to have their students featured in the governor’s news conference, which was about the funding of a cybersecurity education initiative, and praised the students for how they acted.

“It is a student and parent’s choice to protect their health in a way they feel most appropriate. We are proud of the manner in which our students represented themselves and our school district,” Davis said.

DeSantis’ office did not immediately return an email seeking comment. His spokesperson, Christina Pushaw, has tweeted defenses of the governor’s comments, writing “I mean, someone had to say it, after 2 years of propaganda that terrified and manipulated young people. Breathe free, feel safe and be happy.”

Though the CDC late last month eased its masking guidelines, the agency is still recommending masks indoors in areas it considers high risk. Hillsborough County, where the college is located, is deemed high risk by the CDC.

The incident drew criticism of DeSantis on social media. U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, a Florida Democrat, tweeted, “Shame on you, Governor DeSantis, for berating students who choose to wear masks and for calling the ongoing #COVID pandemic ‘theater.’”

Source: Education week