We wondered if there was any way to prevent our children from ever reaching the point of feeling so isolated, so angry or powerless, that they end up making desctructive decisions.
No matter how enthusiastic, no matter how hard our Social Workers work (and they work very hard) to make connections with our children and bring vital programs to life in our buildings, we parents feel that 4 Social Workers divided between 7 buildings simply isn't enough.
And so our parent driven letter was born.
WE know these are very difficult ecomonic times, but we respectfully ask that you read our letter and please consider clicking on the link at the end and signing your name to our petition.
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Lynbrook School District
Social Workers are like superheroes. They
handle all manner of crises with kindness and patience, and do their best to
reach all of the students who need them.
One thing stands in their way, and that is: Time.
Our Social Workers are
shared between buildings. Their
assignments are as follows:
•
Carol Woehr - Kindergarten, Waverly Park & Marion Street
•
Sandra Gettenberg - West End & North Middle
•
Karen Aquino - High School
•
Roseanne Bogard - South Middle & High School
In the past, the District
hired Social Workers through an agency.
Recognizing the importance of Social Workers invested in our children
exclusively, Lynbrook School District wisely decided to move away from
contracting through an agency and instead employed Social Workers
directly. This was a critical decision
by the Administration and the Board of Education and has been much appreciated
by parents and staff. Now there are
permanent Social Workers on staff, who are invested in our children, working
with them from an early age, influencing not only those students assigned to
them, but the entire population of students in our District. The District went further by hiring
additional Social Workers (1 part-time).
We parents applaud the District's forward thinking and ask that they
continue to address our children's social-emotional needs by considering hiring
a full time Social Worker for each building and 2 in the High School (as it has
a larger population, and greater issues).
Therefore, ideally we feel our children would benefit the most from having 8 full time Social Workers. We feel they should have 1 Social Worker in
every school, with 2 in the High School every day, full time and this is
why: The social and emotional education
of our children is just as important as their academic education.
If there is a full-time
Social Worker in each building, he/she would have the time needed to reach so
many more of the students. We would
worry less about a student slipping through the cracks and becoming another
teen suicide or responsible for a catastrophic act of violence. Lynbrook has had 3 student suicides in
approximately 8 years. Although this is
a sobering and devastating statistic, our Social Workers have saved a lot more
lives!
Our Social Workers have
wonderful programs that they could implement, if they had TIME! Our Social
Workers want to advocate for families and children, to do so they need to be a
more constant presence. Students build
relationships with the Social Workers and rely on their presence to get them
through some tough times. A student’s inability to access help when in the midst of a crisis can be so
detrimental and even devastating.
Imagine having to say to a child who is in the middle of a crisis
"hold onto those feelings of desperation until the Social Worker is
back," or having to pull a Social
Worker from another school who is not familiar with the child!
If
we had a full-time Social Worker in each school, they could schedule time to do
more outreach programs, to engage and instruct students and parents. They could
push into classrooms, offering consistency and support, and form
relationships with the students.
Students are more successful if they are connected to more adults. They
could be visible and available during the lunch periods; currently they need to
squeeze in their assigned students visits and groups during these times. They could give classroom lessons and run
more student groups based on specific needs, such as bereavement. They could schedule parent meetings or parent/family
coffee hours to keep parents informed and educated. They could offer teacher training and
sensitivity training to staff. They
could start in the Kindergarten Center with family workshops to ensure that
mental health becomes part of the fabric of each student’s
life. We are aware of and appreciative
of the current programs already in place in all the buildings. However, the Social Workers have even more
wonderful programs they could implement if they had the additional
staffing. The High School has the SADD
(Students Against Destructive Decisions) club.
This could be pushed down into Lynbrook Middle Schools to help students
avoid making poor decisions during these critical years.
Our
Social Workers want to form relationships with each child in our district, so
that no child’s
social/emotional issues are neglected.
They understand that sometimes the students feel there is a certain
stigma involved with speaking about their feelings. Reaching not just the “at
risk” students but ALL
students would help to “normalize”
the idea that feelings can be discussed and, through that discussion, problems
resolved. Our students need to be
properly equipped to cope with the stresses life will throw at them. Their mental health should be a
priority. To serve the special needs
population, one of the Social Workers additionally could be utilized as a
Transition Coordinator and could meet with classified students beginning during
the middle school years. This would provide special education students with learning
activities and experiences designed to help them fulfill their potential for
intellectual, emotional, physical, and social growth. The Transition Coordinator could work with
the classified students, their teachers and parents to systematically create
individualized transition goals.
We
often hear parents speak at Board of Education meetings asking what is the
District doing about drug or alcohol use? What is the District doing about
safety? What is the District is doing
about bullying? If Lynbrook had more
full time Social Workers, at each school, they could devote more time educating
our children and their parents about these issues and teach them about good
citizenship and healthy choices.
Full time Social Workers
in each school will teach our kids the appropriate social skills to succeed.
They not only help kids individually, but help them get along with each
other. This will lay the foundation for
success in their future personal and business relationships.
As parents in the
Lynbrook School District, we are requesting the Administration and Board of
Education consider hiring 4 additional
full-time Social Workers. Together,
we recognize the intrinsic value for our students’ and community’s social health, emotional wellness, and overall safety.
Yours respectfully,
A group of concerned
Lynbrook Parents
Julie
Bergin, Lori Borges, Denise Deputy, Karen Edelstein, Jennifer Hinderstein,
Esther Marks, Randi
Polansky, Nancy Wolfsohn
Please click here to open our petition and sign your name.
