Parent Advisory Committee Meeting: April 4th

Here are the topics we will discuss next week during our PAC meeting on April 4th at 7:00pm in the RHS Board Room.

Future of Education

The world is changing rapidly and school systems need to adapt or they will become obsolete. We are nearing the end of our current strategic plan. We will begin an intensive strategic planning process next fall and we will be reviewing our entire system. This process will include a new mission, vision and a set of new school goals. We hope to address our relevancy in the changing world through this process. What does the future of education look like? What will stakeholders support? What should we be aware of?

School Security

School security has been a hot topic across the country and unfortunately, some policy makers are making knee jerk reactions. We will share our school district's vision for addressing school security concerns.

Climate and Culture

We have been continuing a conversation on climate and culture within our school district this year. The climate and culture that exists between the adults in the building trickles down to our students and can be positive or negative. We will share some information about our future 2018-2019 Climate and Culture plan.

I hope to see you there! This is a great way to hear about our schools and an excellent opportunity for you to provide feedback.

Thanks!

Childhood trauma has a lasting impact

According to recent studies on childhood trauma, there is a link between childhood trauma and an increased risk of premature death. Children that are exposed to abuse, neglect, suicide, drug or alcohol addicted family member, domestic violence, loss of a parent, divorce, or incarceration of a family member are more likely to develop diseases that impact their life expectancy. According this research, life expectancy decreases based on the amount of “doses” of abuse and neglect a child experiences. One might think that this is due to the likelihood of adopting risky behaviors to cope with the experiences of being abused and neglected. The study however found that those that had been exposed to childhood trauma and lived a relatively healthy life had a greater chance of developing a life-threatening disease.   In other words, people exposed to multiple childhood traumatic stressors are at an increased risk of premature death compared to people that did not experience a traumatic childhood. This means that even if you live a relatively healthy life and do not engage in risky behaviors you are at a greater risk of a premature death due to the exposure to childhood trauma.

Sustained childhood trauma physiologically changes the brain. We once thought that if a child was too young to remember the abuse, they would be okay. That is not true. In fact, the younger the child is at the time of the abuse/neglect, the more damaging this can be to the brain. The complex and chronic stress at a young age can be debilitating and may make it difficult for some children to overcome their environment. What can we do about it? Why do some children make it against all odds and others don’t? According to the research, it is all about developing resilience and having access to an effective caregiver. We can teach resilience and develop quality relationships with our children. Students who have an effective caregiver can overcome their environment and become productive citizens. An effective caregiver can come in all shapes and sizes; they do not have to be biological parents. They can be grandparents, uncles, aunts, teachers, neighbors, foster parents, clergy members, school support staff, etc. Recent brain research has indicated that the brain is malleable and is able to heal itself. It is important that we find ways for all children to have a positive adult role model to confide in. The Rugby Public School District is taking strides to create a more trauma informed school system. We recognize that we may need to be the effective caregiver and provide custodial support for children. We are becoming more systemic in how we support our children. Student achievement is our number one priority, but we realize that for students to achieve at a high level they need to be socially and emotionally stable.

Link to research: https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/index.html

We have mental health problems in our society and kids come to school.

I ran across the following tweet a few weeks ago and I couldn't agree with it more.

If I hear one more person say we have a mental health problem in our schools I’m gonna scream. We have mental health problems in our society and kids come to school.

— Josh Starr (@JoshuaPStarr) February 16, 2018

Like many other educators and school leaders, I have been thinking about the tragedy in Florida since it occurred last month. The details of the school shooting continue to come out and continue to shock us. Unfortunately, every school in America may have a student or students that fit a similar profile as the school shooter in Parkland, FL. This is a scary reality and how do we fix this? I don't think the solution is to arm teachers. I believe it starts with providing resources that go beyond academic supports. Schools lack the resources to effectively deal with behavioral health. We need to address the whole child. Our students need wraparound services that span the Continuum of Care: Promotion, Prevention, Treatment and Recovery.

Due to our state's budget issues over the past few years there has been considerable discussion about efficiency across the state. Basically, how can we "do more with less?" I know we can always find more efficient ways of doing things to save money - this is my job as a school superintendent. These efficiency discussions concern me, because I think it is a nice way of saying "spend less." Communities across North Dakota from rural to urban lack resources and specialized staffing to address mental health. The system itself is difficult to navigate, even for the most connected and educated people. Schools, social services, and health care work in silos, which further compounds this issue.

Effective behavioral health services cost money. Currently, we do not receive funding in this area. Schools have been seeking outside help with these costs. For example, we are collaborating with our county correctional facility and social services to pool funding. This funding will be used to help address our school and community's behavioral health needs. Next school year we will be able to hire a clinical counselor to provide therapy for both students and families. This is a start for our school district, but a clinical counselor is pretty far along the Continuum of Care. We need to start earlier with Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), students can learn social skills and ways to cope with their emotions. We are having conversations with daycare centers to begin teaching SEL. We will be developing a plan to teach/address SEL throughout grades K-12. We must elevate SEL to the level of academics. Social and emotional curriculum and instruction occurs in the Promotion and Prevention area of the Continuum of Care. The earlier we address SEL the higher the likelihood we can address the deficit.

We should think about social and emotional learning the same way we think about academic achievement. Educate students on SEL and target interventions when needed.

— Mike McNeff (@mdmcneff) February 1, 2018

I fear that this will spark a brief debate about behavioral health in society and then the media will move on after a period of time. We will forget, hide, or mask this problem and then another tragedy will happen. Our kids need help and schools are not equipped currently to provide the level of wrap around services needed. So rather than using resources to arm teachers, let's focus our resources to address the whole child.

How are you educating the whole child?

A previous blog on this subject: Less Talk More Action