Mar 10, 2018, Brookings (SD) Register: School board candidates quizzed https://brookingsregister.com/article/school-board-candidates-quizzed DeBates said there must be a focus on addressing mental health from an early age. This means working with counselors to help students with emotional and behavioral issues. She also suggested possibly forming partnerships with local entities, citing the example of the Rapid City School District, which has started working with a mental health system there. … The school board has made school safety such a focus, Grimsley said, that they’ve made it one of the superintendent’s explicitly listed duties. “The board has made it a measurable goal for the school superintendent, so he has to report back to us on safety. … Now it’s part of his job description as far as how we deem he’s doing his job,” Grimsley said. And he pointed to the Monday school board meeting, where the police chief and school resource officers will be presenting on the topic of school safety. It’s a start, he said, but more will be needed with a survey finding that as many as 22 percent of Brookings High School ninth-graders have contemplated suicide at one point.
Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.