As a retired Elementary and Special Ed. teacher who was working at a school close to where the Thurston, Or. school shooting tragedy happened in 1998, I have some strong feelings about the need for counseling support for students in our schools. In the aftermath of the Thurston shootings we were assured by administration at the time that "we would do our best for all of our students." However, in response to the shootings, there were no additional counselors or support services provided to the schools. This has continued to be the case during the 17 years since the Thurston shootings despite the greater number of children dealing with family situations including violence, drug abuse, homelessness and poverty.
Now we have another Oregon shooting tragedy which continues a string of recent school shootings. Our teachers are being required to attend trainings on how to actively respond to potential incidents of a shooter in the school building. Perhaps the real question should be: How can we help children whom we identify in preschool or Elementary school as children who need support with social skills such as anger management, problem-solving, making and keeping friends?
During my years as a classroom teacher I typically had 5-10 students each year who could have benefitted from counseling and social skills support. It is very frustrating to watch year after year as these students move through our classrooms of 25-30 kids and we do our best to support these children and their families without school counseling services.
Will anything change in in our schools because of the Roseburg shootings? I doubt it. Can teachers and educational assisstants identify students who could benefit from counseling and social skills support? Absolutely! Let's hope that there is going to be a true commitment in the future to provide these supports to our needy students.
Now we have another Oregon shooting tragedy which continues a string of recent school shootings. Our teachers are being required to attend trainings on how to actively respond to potential incidents of a shooter in the school building. Perhaps the real question should be: How can we help children whom we identify in preschool or Elementary school as children who need support with social skills such as anger management, problem-solving, making and keeping friends?
During my years as a classroom teacher I typically had 5-10 students each year who could have benefitted from counseling and social skills support. It is very frustrating to watch year after year as these students move through our classrooms of 25-30 kids and we do our best to support these children and their families without school counseling services.
Will anything change in in our schools because of the Roseburg shootings? I doubt it. Can teachers and educational assisstants identify students who could benefit from counseling and social skills support? Absolutely! Let's hope that there is going to be a true commitment in the future to provide these supports to our needy students.
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