Blog

By Caprice Young, Ed Source, July 13, 2020 Before you can reach a student’s head to learn, you have to reach their heart and earn their trust. Educators should strive to be that support, especially during this pandemic and amid the civil unrest we are experiencing. It’s likely that the trauma some students were experiencing before the pandemic struck may be escalating as a result of being forced to shelter at home. When school starts up again in the fall and on-site instruction resumes (even...

By John Bailey, Education Next, July 2020 A consensus is growing among health officials that American schools, virtually all of which closed their doors this March, will be able to reopen in the fall. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in early June that “the idea of keeping schools closed in the fall because of safety concerns for children might be ‘a bit of a reach.’” That’s good news: the sooner kids get back to school, the...

UPCOMING WEBINAR | Planning for the Next Normal at School: Key starter plays for prioritizing health when schools reopen To assist school and district leaders with specific, evidence-informed guidance and operating procedures for keeping school communities healthy during school reopenings, a number of nationally recognized and trusted school health organizations have come together to develop a playbook for school reopening — “Planning for the Next Normal at School: Keeping students, staff,...

Ambiguity. Nuance. Gray. We are living in this every day now. How do we support one another as we come back together in our schools and communities? Giving Grace in the Gray.

Please join us tomorrow, Thursday July 16th as Emily Read Daniels and myself facilitate a discussion around the return to school specifically the anxiety and stress we are feeling/hearing/seeing. Emily will share a bit about regulation, we want to hear what is going on with you, and we will do a breakout session to discuss in small groups. Weekly themes include: How do we create physical and psychological safety, especially in the face of so much uncertainty? What strategies can we use to...

Vic Goddard is one of many school leaders daunted by the burden of supporting pupils and staff through their grief. By Donna Ferguson, July 4, 2020 V ic Goddard is trying not to cry. The headteacher of Passmores academy in Harlow and star of the 2011 TV series Educating Essex is thinking about the 23 pupils and two staff at his school who have been bereaved during the coronavirus pandemic. His greatest fear, a fear that keeps him awake at night and is making his voice tremble, is what could...

I am teaching at three hour affordable Zoom course at Rutgers Graduate School of Social Work on how to create trauma response schools, organizations and businesses. It is July 31 and it is easy to enroll and you get a discount code for my new book (which ties in) titled: Trauma Doesn't Stop at the School Door (just released from Teachers College Press, June 2020). Here's a link to the course: https://ssw-web.rutgers.edu/ssw/ce/index.php?m=catalog&f=4 I cannot think of a time in which we...

By Alisa Chang and Jonaki Mehta, National Public Radio, July 7, 2020 In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that racial segregation in schools was unconstitutional. The decision is often framed as a landmark decision that transformed education for Black students, allowing them equal access to integrated classrooms. But more than six decades later, segregation in American schools is still very much a reality, says Rebecca Sibilia, founder of EdBuild , a nonprofit that...

As the summer ticks on, the confounding questions around meeting the needs of our workforce in these challenging times remain unresolved for many organizations. In conversations this week I heard the angst: “It’s time to get back to the office. We are following all the guidelines. We have worked to support staff and don’t know what else to do. How can we help staff come along?” As organizations adapt to their new normal, the challenge of choosing from a vast array of resources and...

Welcome Back! We hope everyone had a restful holiday. Please join us tomorrow, Thursday July 9th as we host special guest Pamela Black to discuss a back to school survey that aims to gather information from staff regarding what they need to feel safe in their return to school. Weekly themes include: How do we create physical and psychological safety, especially in the face of so much uncertainty? What strategies can we use to create a culture of collective care? How do we implement peer...

By Tony Weaver, Jr.     Jun 16, 2020 If there’s one thing Americans are doing right now, it’s talking. Talking even more than usual when schools are out and many are still working from home. Every day, new stories of discrimination and violence emerge that prompt new conversations. The moment our country faces weighs heavily on the mind of an adult. But one must wonder: What does it do to the mind of a child? Black students around the country are faced with a reality where they are isolated...

Regulation Before Education: The Roots and Fruits of a Trauma-Informed School July 29-31st | 12:00 - 3:00pm EDT These times are unsettling in many ways. But the disruptions have widened opportunities for different ways of being, thinking and doing in education. The trauma-informed schools movement has never been more relevant. Schools committed to cultivating trauma-informed change can successfully buffer the adverse effects of the pandemic, economic collapse, and persistent racial...