Several politicians gave opening remarks at the Monday, June 29 conference in Wilmington, including New Hanover County Commission Chair Bill Rivenbark, House Representative Charlie Miller, and NHC school board member Stephanie Kraybill.
Rivenbark told the crowded room of school officials, “We try to find every kid that's got a mental health problem, and it’s hard to find them all, but you gotta try, and we've got to look to be vigilant every single day.”
Kraybill added that some student behavior has drastically changed and escalated to a point where educators can’t relate. Former state Representative Jamie Boles said that he remembers when 16-year-olds used to drive buses, boys used to have shotguns in their trucks, and there was a smoking section outside of the high school.
“Unfortunately, now, we're dealing with drug overdoses, suicide, and still auto accidents. Who would have ever thought we would be talking about Narcan?” he said.
Sherry Hunter is deputy secretary for the North Carolina Department of Public Safety. She told attendees that “access to quality education is fundamental in breaking cycles of poverty and crime and in empowering our youth to reach their full potential. It is through public education that we can unlock doors of opportunity for every young person in our state.”
[Note: Media was allowed for the opening day presentations but not for the individual training sessions throughout the week.]
Bullying is a top concern for CSS
Karen Fairley is the Executive Director of the North Carolina Center for Safer Schools. One of her top priorities is tackling bullying and cyberbullying.
“We definitely want to address that. It's a hard challenge, so we are doing what we can to help children make better online choices,” she said.
She added that children in public schools come from a variety of homes — and “we want all of our children to feel loved and respected, and we don't want children to go to school and they hate it because they're being bullied.”
Fairley said that if students learn maladaptive behaviors, they don’t come from the teachers and staff but from their peers or the community.
“What goes on in the community comes into the school, and what goes on in school goes back out into the community. So our job is to make sure that we help bridge that gap and identify some areas that schools can do to support their students and what parents and students can do to support the schools,” she said.
She said her office is finding ways to encourage parental involvement in supporting their school’s teacher and administrator(s).
“We need them checking their book bags, responding to schools, checking the internet,” Fairley said.
Sandy Hook Promise – Say Something Reporting System
Presenters of the national non-profit organization Sandy Hook Promise gave statistics they track in North Carolina schools. This group is responsible for running the SaySomething reporting system, which allows students, parents, and the community to submit anonymous tips about concerning behavior or incidents.
Last school year in North Carolina, the organization received close to 40,000 tips — the top reason was bullying, followed by drug use, cutting, suicide, and then harassment.
The organization also highlighted that there is an uptick in loneliness and social isolation in NC youth. According to the most recent CDC data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 14% of students in the state said they were bullied on school property, 43% said they felt sad or hopeless, and 22% seriously considered attempting suicide.
Jessica Neely is the National Crisis Center Director for Sandy Hook Promise. She said that once they follow through with processing the tips from the SaySomething reporting system (they come through an App, phone line, and website), if applicable, they can dispatch local law enforcement to do a wellness check on the student and notify school administrators about the issue.
Neely said she was concerned about 50 students in North Carolina schools being sent to the hospital for suicide attempts. She said she and her team helped support the school administration after these incidents occurred.
That also goes for students who engage in disturbing or violent behaviors, like after a gun is brought to school.
“Once that gun is recovered from your school, once that student is apprehended, then what? Then, what do y'all do? How do you then integrate that student back, whether they go to an alternative learning facility or may return next year? They are still a person. How are you supporting your students who were maybe in that classroom?” she said.
Because Sandy Hook Promise is also a prevention initiative, it implements positive support programs in schools.
They are unveiling their ‘Start with Hello’ program for students, which includes resources and lessons to promote kindness and inclusivity within schools. The goal is to combat this rise in social isolation and loneliness.
New safety bills
Fairley gave an update on recent bills aimed at helping bolster school safety measures: HB605 and HB142.
HB605 deals with threat assessments that will help identify students with unique challenges and create a team to address them.
“By doing that, I think that we will reduce the issues of teachers or school administrators not feeling safe. It is not punitive in any way. It is just getting that child the help they need so that we don't have to turn to juvenile justice eventually,” she said. “So that is the whole goal, so whatever the need is, it doesn't necessarily have to be a disciplinary need. It may be a community or even a household need, but that threat assessment is there to support that child as they try to obtain the education they deserve,” Fairley said.
House Bill 142 also mandates, starting this school year, that students from the 6th through the 12th grade be shown videos showing how grooming occurs so that they know the warning signs when the adult-student relationship turns inappropriate.
There are separate videos for middle school and high school students. The short films teach students to watch for these signs, such as adults who show excessive attention, push boundaries, keep secrets, make students uncomfortable, and socially isolate them.
Boys in school
Fairley invited Kevin Brown, a professor at Oakton Community College, to deliver a speech about how to reach males in school.
He cited research from Richard Reeves, Warren Farrell, and Louann Brizendine about how to help support males in an educational setting. Some statistics show that males are not keeping pace with females in educational attainment and success. He also said that boys are in the majority when it comes to discipline referrals, ADHD diagnoses, committing mass shootings, and the prison population.
“Boys who hurt, hurt us; boys who hurt, hurt us,” he said.
He advocated for educators to be more patient when disciplining males in school, arguing that their brains are less likely to exhibit impulse control when they are younger.
“[In terms of social development], boys lag behind girls, but when he catches up, he has been dinged so many times, suspended, and [put in] special education when, in reality, it was the adult who didn’t know. [He’s] more likely to drop out, less likely to go to college. See, he didn't get there by himself. That’s the point I’m making,” Brown said.
Fairley said that the State Board of Education looks to the Center for Safer Schools to find ways to reach males in schools and decrease suspensions and referrals to law enforcement.
“What I did tell them is that we'll work towards something. Will it be the solving of the issue? No, we know that, but if we can get a reduction and figure out some of the things, we'll do our best,” she said.
Resources
- North Carolina’s Center for Student Safety
- Say Something Anonymous Reporting System – Submit a Tip
- Sandy Hook Promise Hotline (24/7 crisis hotline 1-844-5-SayNow)
