Erin N.’s Post

🚨With K-12 state funding flat and mental health/safety dollars being cut by 90% this year, how is your Michigan school district responding? 👍To me, it's just as much a priority issue as it is a funding issue, but our school leaders will need to have the support of their community. ❤️Here in Traverse City, we're forming a Children's Cabinet to: 1️⃣ increase the efficiency/effectiveness of local government efforts to improve child/youth outcomes 2️⃣ leverage evidence-based programs like the National Partnership for Student Success 3️⃣ ensure school efforts to improve student health, wellbeing, and connection are sustainable 4️⃣ coordinate with other local youth-focused systems to improve impact

When we invest in solution focused strategies and acknowledge why children and young people struggle to attend school, we will see an increase not only in attendance but learning, engagement and positive outcomes in all aspects. This is not a new problem! Having worked with so many young people, parents/caregivers and schools to support mental health, the problem is not a lack of desire to learn or engage, but the archaic school system and a curriculum that is not forward thinking. There needs to be a shift towards solution-focused approaches in education to address challenges in attendance, learning, and engagement among children and young people, which recognises the systemic issues within the school system and curriculum. By focusing on solutions and adapting to meet the needs of all students, we can create a more supportive and effective learning environments. #schoolleadership #learninginnovation

One of the most commonly overlooked parts of communities is public spaces. Public spaces cultivate a sense of community, an integral part of an area’s overall feel. Neighborhood schools are a prime example of public spaces that foster this sense of community by bridging people together, promoting innovation, educating the local workforce, and providing safe, enjoyable places for gatherings. Earlier this week, on May 14th I was fortunate to attend a community conversation at Marion Franklin High School, a City of Columbus Public School, discussing the school’s future. The potential closure and re-conversion of the space were two heavily discussed topics, along with how these changes could affect the City of Columbus Schools system and the community at large. More than 30 people attended the meeting, including alumni, current and former teachers, coaches, mental health counselors, and other professionals. Most of them disagreed with the current plans for the school’s future. Forums like this are essential because they ensure that boards hear community voices from those who live in the area, coming from different walks of life before making decisions that could alter generations to come, such as closing a neighborhood high school. If you want your voice heard in community decisions, be sure to attend community conversations. The link below highlights the key talking points and takeaways from the meeting: https://lnkd.in/gKcv6NFc Source: https://lnkd.in/gVkxK4DW #PublicSpace #CommunityConversation #Columbus

In this current environment, one might think the chances for generating any kind of shared agenda for educational equity would be minimal to non-existent. But against the odds, three communities did create such an agenda. Not only that, their agendas were strikingly similar, alerting us to what matters to people when it comes to education in America today. Here's the common agenda items we found from our work in Reading, PA; Lexington, KY; and Clarksville, TN: 1. Mental health and mentoring 2. After- and out-of-school activities 3. Pathways for success 4. Pre-K and early childhood education 5. Teachers who look like the community 6. Equitable allocation of resources 7. Community and student voice The reality of today's ugly politics of education is that it is more about fanatical adults tearing others down than about building up young people. The community-driven agendas created by these three communities serve to bring people together, not divide or destroy them. https://bit.ly/3ROmJ3g

It's been such a privilege being in community with Texas charter leaders through our monthly Texas Public Charter Schools Association-sponsored community of practice. Having a safe space to discuss literacy implementation challenges through the lens of research is critical for sustaining this important work while preventing burnout. Do you have a community to support your implementation journey? #education #structuredliteracy #scienceofreading

We're used to physical education or P.E., but isn't #MentalHealth education just as important? REQUEST NOW ➡️https://lnkd.in/gTeyv5wF Our Penny Pledge Program is trauma-informed and focuses on providing youth with the tools, skills, and language needed to #ShatterTheStigma and help save lives. #ShatterTheStigma #PennyPledge

🌟 Exciting New Resource for K-12 Education Leaders! 🌟 We need data to know how to improve services. This new use case from Data Quality Campaign shows how state data systems are uniquely positioned to support K–12 decision making and connect students and families to the supports they need. It build a case for why Congress should support funding for SLDS systems and states must modernize their SLDSs to use information from across agencies and sectors. Read more ⤵

This post resonated with me on two levels: both as an ex-teacher and as a parent of a child who sometimes struggles to get to school. As a teacher, pastoral care was one of my favourite parts of the job and I loved working with the children and their parents to help them get to and stay in school. Did I always get it right? Probably not. Being a teacher there are so many demands on your time and it’s understandable that you get might lost in your own saboteur thoughts and lose patience and empathy. As a parent, it can also be exhausting supporting a child with emotionally based school avoidance and again there are ample opportunities for saboteurs to show up. I have definitely lost my patience at times which leaves me feeling guilty and my child feeling worse. But there’s no shame in that - we’re all imperfect humans. It can feel very lonely and isolating to be in this position and it’s easy to feel stuck BUT there are things we can do to help ourselves and in turn help our children. For me the most helpful thing has been taking part in Positive Intelligence training which helped me to: 🔵Notice my unhelpful saboteur thoughts 🔵Take control of my thoughts 🔵Shift to a calmer response The more we practise this really simple technique, the quicker we can get unstuck. I now love being able to offer this training to other parents and teachers to support them in their role as care givers AND to massively impact their lives as a whole. If any of this resonates, keep your eyes peeled for an offer coming your way.

NEWS | Children's Commissioner for England recently released a briefing discussing the present decline in student's attendance across England and the reasoning behind it. One of the reasons focuses on #MentalHealth and the lack of support that is available. In the Children's Commissioner's attendance audit, "many children detailed their wait for specialist support such as mental health support or an Education, Health, and Care Plan" as being one of the driving forces that affects their attendance. At #ProgressSchools, we strongly advocate the need for greater investment in #MentalHealthSupport within schools to better aid our students needs. By doing so, our young people will be better supported and attendance rates will increase. We call on the UK Parliament to join us in supporting this solution for the betterment of our schools and, more importantly, our students. #SupportOurStudents #StudentsMentalHealth #AlternativeProvision Jayne Worthington | Charlotte Barton | Justin Lewis | Sean O'dell | Nancy https://bit.ly/3S6QaMR

I have a little activity for you to try today. If you have a child in mainstream education, work in education or have connections with schools in some way I invite you to imagine their journey from waking up through to walking into school. Here are some prompts: 1. How many transitions from one task to the next might a child need to make before leaving the house? (Wake up, get out of bed, temperature change, teeth brushed, uniform on etc..). 2. From the house to school what might they encounter? (Car journey, walk, a bus, public transport, bullies.) 3. From the school drop-off point what types of things do they come across? (Other young people, teachers, traffic noises and smells etc) 4. From the school entrance what kinds of things do they come across? (Change of temperature in the building, smells, sounds, people etc..) 5. What is the inside of school like generally?  (Dirty, clean, disinfectant smell etc) I am often asked what are the barriers to school attendance are and how can we support. Understanding the effort a child has to make to get themselves through the door is a really helpful first step. Add in being a young carer, care experience, trauma, poverty or being neurodivergent and this becomes even harder. I will be delivering a training and support session with Creative Education Trust tomorrow to start to unpack this and offer ways that we can begin to help, wherever that child is on their education journey.