Higley USD is making progress on a strategic goal to support the social-emotional growth of its students, officials said, but one governing board member challenged the district to do even better on suicide prevention.
Board Member Michelle Anderson said at the April 5 board meeting the topic is real in her household and that suicide rates are higher with students who have learning or physical disabilities. She wants to see better training for staff on working with those students.
“I ask that we, the school district, be mindful of our job to educate every student, no matter their abilities,” Anderson said. “When we talk about future plans and awareness, there’s the warning signs, but the warning signs are there because of the root of the problem. I would love for us to be better at it and really change these lives.”
Anderson’s comments came after James Walker, the district’s student services director and Title IX coordinator, presented to the board an update on the Healthy Higley wellness initiative and the district’s suicide prevention efforts.
Those are among the components of the district’s efforts to meet “strategic indicator 1.2,” which comes under the broad strategic anchor of teaching and learning/student success. Indicator 1.2 calls for the district to provide resources to support the social-emotional growth of each student and the development of positive student behavior.
Walker said as part of the wellness initiative, the district has partnered with four local agencies to put on parent information sessions on topics from the synthetic opioid drug fentanyl to the dangers of Snapchat, a popular social media platform.
The district would like to partner with more agencies and present more forums in the future, Walker said.
He also showed to the board the district’s tiered approach for training on suicide awareness. All district employees receive a live training that exceeds the minimum training state law requires, he said. Additionally, administrators get a more thorough training called “Safe Talk” and then a crisis response team for the district gets comprehensive training protocol.
Walker said the district will continue working on the theme of resiliency in its wellness program. He said officials also hope to offer student presentations in the future, based on feedback received from parents who attended the community forums.
Anderson said one of the professional development sessions she ever had was on how to read and better utilitze a student’s Individualized Education Plan, or IEP, which is developed to ensure that a child who has a disability identified under the law and is attending an elementary or secondary school receives specialized instruction and related services.
“It changed everything,” she said of the session. “I had been doing it minimally this whole time, and to know this group is the group with the highest risk, we should be educating our staff. We’re a school district, and these are the children who are suffering.”
Board Member Anna Van Hoek related that in her experience with a daughter who had behavioral issues growing up, it was hard to get needed resources to help the parents and she stressed the importance of notifying and involving parents.
“That is the expectation, that parents are made aware and that they're the first person to get a phone call, and then there is a soft handoff between the school and the parent,” Walker said. “That is the No. 1 priority to get the student to the parents, and the parents can help them get further resources that supersedes what a school can offer.”
The concept of social-emotional learning did come under some fire at the meeting. One speaker during the public comment period condemned it and Van Hoek reiterated her concerns about it that she had previously stated when the district gave an update on its implementation of its “Portrait of a Higley Graduate.”
Board Member Kristina Reese noted that suicide prevention is a large component of social-emotional learning and noted that when an incident happens, it is a disruption to the learning environment.
“If we ignore it, if they continue to struggle, if they can’t process, that delay in the return to that learning environment will happen,” she said.
Van Hoek agreed that when incidents happen, it is important to get students support, but she called for that support to be more one-on-one for students who need it rather than for it to be presented in a lesson. She said not every student needs it.
But Board Member Amanda Wade said all persons benefit from being able to identify the emotions they are feeling and being able to express those emotions. She said it helps decrease drug use and suicides.
“It literally helps academic achievement because if you are capable of processing because if you are emotionally overwhelmed, you aren’t learning anything,” she said. “It doesn’t matter how hard you try.”
In response, Van Hoek said, “When we are inserting SEL into every curriculum, when do we find time for actual academics? We need to be able to concentrate at some point on the academics, on the core subjects these kids are supposed to be learning. I don’t like the idea of turning our schools into mental health facilities.”
Wade countered that there is a misunderstanding of the length of time it takes to have these conversations.
“Grown adults don’t have an attention span beyond 20 minutes,” she said. “Instituting these breaks not only allows them to center, it helps us improve because we now can come back. You’ve given them a break, and they’re ready to learn the next topic.
“The length of time you think is happening isn’t. It is not an overall disruption to have little bits of things you are providing as a break or an opportunity for these kids.”
Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on Twitter. We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
Tom Blodgett Senior News Editor | Gilbert @sp_blodgett
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
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