Social worker works as liaison at Burton
de Souza Silva takes over position in district
The challenges for students today could have already been challenging and that was before the COVID-19 crisis.
So as the Burton School District Social Worker, it’s Rayane de Souza Silva’s task to build a bridge for families of students, school staff and the community to make sure all the challenges students are facing in today’s “new normal” are met as much as possible.
Silva took over as Burton’s Social Worker at the beginning of the school year this month. She oversees the nine school sites in the district.
She said it’s a team effort as social workers are also provided by the Tulare County Office of Education, including one that’s now at Burton Middle School. Each school in the district also has a psychologist.
The social workers, psychologists and academic counselors work together to provide the best resources for students, Silva said.
It’s more challenging now because students have been forced into distance learning and still aren’t allowed to interact with other students on campus. “That social interaction is critical for them,” she said.
As far as virtual learning she said “it weighs on our mental health,” referring to adults as well as students. She added as much as today’s situation is affecting adults, one can imagine the impact it has on children.
Silva has an extensive background in community and social work and working in rural communities. She served at a mental health clinic working with children and went on to work as a social worker intern at Sunnyside Elementary School.
That position prepared her for her job at Burton as she essentially had the same duties at Sunnyside as she does now.
She deals with all students, including special education students. She deals with behavioral health challenges, individual counseling with students, group counseling with students and crisis intervention. Among the issues she’s now prepared to deal with when it comes to virtual learning is virtual bullying.
Silva said she works as a liaison between students families, the schools and the community. She added she’s a “mediator and advocate for parents.”
She said it’s not her job to make a choice on what to do for families but to point them in the right direction.
Another part of her job is to help families “navigate the system” as far as what resources are available.
The most difficult part of the job is sometimes resources aren’t available. “The situations you can’t control,” said Silva about what the most difficult part of her job is. In those situations Silva said “you just provide the best resources you can.”
Silva said the goal is to provide “the best resources for students and staff as well.”
She added she has to deal with students who are from broken homes making virtual learning for then m that much difficult and students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Silva grew up in Brazil and moved to this country when she was 15. “I kind of faced a lot of challenges,” she said.
She said when she came to this country from her background “that’s wen I got my passion for working with families and working with kids.”
Silva earned a bachelor’s in psychology, her master’s in social work and a credential to work in grades K-12 from Fresno State.