Kids aren't the only ones who need to be healthy

 Kids aren’t the only ones who need to be healthy.

 

Humans aren’t the only ones who need to work to stay healthy.   Schools need to be healthy as well and I am not talking about taking temperatures, fogging classrooms or using hand sanitizer.   Being willing to try to learn is a risk taking behavior and kids will only take that risk if they feel safe in the school environment.

Schools can be healthy or sick just like people.

One of the things we have learned from all this distance instruction is that relationships are at the heart of any school experience.  Every time there is a school shooting it becomes clear that the shooter did not feel known or recognized by anyone in his school.   Students need to feel that their teachers are their coaches and want them to succeed.  It is not a “gotcha” experience.  Kids need to feel safe and accepted.   Teachers need to know whose parents are thinking of splitting up, which kid’s dog is very sick, whose family is moving again and what child has never been good at math.   Staff need to know kids as individual people not as “the fourth grade homeroom”.  They need to be able to take the time (that’s YOU pacing guide) to talk with children about their lives not just their school work.

All kids can learn, just not in the same way or on the same day.   Schools need to have high expectations for every kid not just the white ones from upper middle class families. Different kids are going to need different supports to reach those goals.   A football coach doesn’t expect to have a star quarterback on day one.  There will be lots of practices and support.  So it is with students.   Perhaps that upper middle class kid doesn’t want to go to college.  Perhaps she wants to be a chef.   Teachers can help her run interference with her family to get there.  Or maybe that lower socio-economic kid really does have the potential to be a veterinarian.  He is going to need lots of supports in a family where he may be the first person to go to college.  Healthy schools have systems in place to help all kids learn to their highest ability in whatever way works best for them.

Freedom from fear is a critical component for a healthy school.  That means behavior expectations are clear and enforced for both kids and staff.   Kids are innately fair.   They will usually accept consequences they see as deserved.  Other students will feel safe to learn when they see behavioral expectations enforced in an equitable manner and that includes staff.  So if kids can’t bully other kids- and they should not- neither should teachers be allowed to bully kids and/or other staff.   Behavioral expectations should not discriminate by age. 

“If it ain’t broke don’t fix” it is the mantra of a do-nothing school.   First of all, leadership doesn’t know if something is broke if no one is ever asked.   Data need to track discipline, is one demographic more likely to receive consequences than another.   Are there some teachers who seem to “rule the roost”.   Do people have something to say but are afraid to say it for fear of being a snitch or a malcontent?   Do kids and staff have opportunities for open discussion and disagreement without fear of retribution?   Is it ok for some people to love chocolate and other not to like chocolate at all?  

Healthy schools make for healthy learners, and that includes students and staff.  Vaccines aren’t just needed for viruses.