A letter to our school systems…

Dear School Systems…

As you already have realized, the landscape of education has changed. I am sure that you have been working to put policies and procedures in place to support staff and students as you work to navigate this new terrain. The needs for students have drastically increased in our post covid era and this in turn has increased the needs for the staff as they work to support students with many more needs. I would like to give you some advice.

There is a real need for staff support. This is no secret however I think what is being missed is the ways that support needs to show up for staff members. Let’s talk about what support doesn’t look like. Support does not look like adding more tasks to a teacher’s workload, it does not include giving more responsibilities to staff members. It does not look like increasing the amount of testing that students need to undergo.

What it looks like is putting leaders in schools who truly care about staff; leaders who care about the well-being of their staff and putting measures in place to take items off of their plates. It looks like reducing staff workload and only requiring the tasks that are truly essential to moving students forward. It looks like asking the opinions of staff members before implementing new policies and procedures in order to understand the true impact of those procedures on staff members before they are implemented.

There is a real need for student support. Students are dealing with unprecedented emotional issues that are leading to a drastic increase in behavioral problems. To address this there is a need for increased social workers, school counselors, etc. This is also another place where teachers need support as they are the first individuals who usually deal with negative behaviors. They need a clear procedure to support students as well as deal with unwanted behaviors in the classroom. This will also require strong leadership in schools to implement the system of support.

There is also a need for increased parent and guardian support and accountability. This is especially important for parents and guardians who are struggling with the behaviors of their children in the school house. There must be required supports that parents and guardians are mandated to take advantage of to help them support their children in need. They must also have a clear understanding of the consequences that will be put in place if their children are not contributing to a safe and supportive school environment.

I understand that listing these items makes it seem simplistic and that all of these concerns are easily solved however I understand that these are complicated problems that will require layered solutions. However, the basic premise of all these concerns is increased communication and support.

I worry that if something is not done soon, the school system as we know it will render itself completely ineffective.