Mental health tops educators’ worries

Two crucial facts as a new school year arrives: There is a growing urgency for dealing with the social and emotional needs of kids and there is growing attention being given to those needs among educators.

I called Jim Lynch, executive director of the Association of Wisconsin School Administrators, looking for suggestions for people to talk to about this. He gave names, but his main answer was really: Anybody in any school.

Lynch said that if I asked educators what the trend had been in students’ non-academic needs, their reactions would tell me the answer.

He suggested many would start by saying: You don’t have enough time for me to tell you what we’re experiencing.

Let’s be clear that a large number of students in schools of all kinds are doing well. But there is this rising concern about many who are struggling.

“I’ve never seen kids more capable — or more challenged,” said Pat Greco, who stepped down recently as superintendent of Menomonee Falls schools.

There isn’t much firm data on these trends. This isn’t like scores on reading tests. But the issue is real. Consider this:

The National Association of Elementary School Principals does a study every 10 years of members’ views. A new study was released several weeks ago. Here are the top 10 answers principals nationwide gave when asked the biggest concerns they have about their students:

1. Students’ mental health issues

2. Student poverty

3. Management of student behavior

4. Lack of effective adult supervision at home

5. Safety and security of students

6. Bullying through social media

7. Student homelessness

8. Emotional bullying

9. Child abuse

10. Student stress over self-identity For the first three issues, the percentage listing their concern as “extreme” or “high” was over 50%. Almost a third expressed “extreme” concern about student mental health.

The list was strikingly different in 2008. Generally, none of the current top 10 concerns were near the top then. Then, the emphasis was on academic matters (student assessment and instructional practice, for two examples).

This is showing up all around Wisconsin. A few examples:

State Attorney General Brad Schimel was authorized by the Legislature to make $100 million in grants to schools across the state for improving security. Rather than all the money going to steps such as more secure entrances, about half the money is now going to help schools respond to mental needs of students.

If you consider that from the Republican side, you can consider this from the Democratic side: Tony Evers, the state superintendent of public education and Democratic nominee for governor, says he will propose a $60 million increase in state spending on mental health of students in the budget to be enacted in 2019 (whether he is governor or still schools superintendent).

Schools, in general, are pushing to increase the number of social workers, school psychologists and counselors, along with training all staff in how to help students with personal issues. Some schools are having challenges filling positions.

South Milwaukee will have a school referendum vote in November to deal with financial needs for the district. An eye-catching aspect: Included on the list is more money for social and emotional needs of students.

Dale Allender of California State University-Sacramento, the keynote speaker at the Milwaukee Public Schools institute for school leaders Aug. 3, focused his remarks almost entirely on meeting social, emotional and cultural needs of students, saying progress in doing that would mean progress in academic success.

And the Milwaukee School Board approved plans aimed at helping students in the high-poverty 53206 ZIP code that include increased efforts to help students meet challenges due to trauma.

I asked Scott Walter, the principal of Riverside Elementary in Menomonee Falls, who is currently the state elementary principal of the year, if he had seen increased student needs.

“There’s definitely been a change,” he said. And the school has changed the way it responds to students, with the emphasis on helping more than on discipline.

Kids can’t do well in math and reading if they’re not “emotionally safe,” Walter said. “It’s our obligation to make sure we’re meeting kids where they’re at and making sure they’re emotionally safe.”

Marci Thiry, director of special services for public schools in Menasha, agreed there has been change in what schools are experiencing with students.

“We’ve been trying to put in more supports for students,” she said, describing broad programs for all students, more targeted programs for a smaller number who have trouble with behavior or related issues, and, for a small group with more serious issues, increased efforts to involve professionals from outside the school.

As in a lot of schools, Menasha is giving all staff members, including food workers and custodians, training in how to respond to children with personal needs.

“The biggest support we can put in place for kids is a caring adult,” Thiry said. That applies both at home and in school.

Why is this all happening? That’s a complex question and chances are that almost every answer is right in some ways.

But there is no doubt that it is happening.

Education Week, a widely read publication among educators, ran an essay several days ago by Gabrielle Weber, a high school senior in the Madison suburb of Middleton.

She described her own mental health challenges and called on schools to do more to help students such as her.

“Without our health, whether that be emotional, mental, or physical, students will not be able to learn,” she wrote.

“Schools must prioritize well-being as the fundamental foundation of learning. It should never be a question for kids whether they’ll have someone to turn to when they need it.”

Alan J. Borsuk is senior fellow in law and public policy at Marquette Law School. Reach him at alan.borsuk@marquette.edu.