Guest Posts

Secure Our Schools (SOS) 101

Presenter linkDan FlynnPresenter linkLeigh Colburn
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Categories: Authors, Guest Posts

Authors’ note: As a police chief and a high school principal, we worked together with the support of Dr. Emily Lembeck, a visionary superintendent, for nine years to ensure our school’s safety in an urban-suburban Georgia town. In the wake of the most recent school shootings, we feel compelled to share some essential best practices for immediate consideration as schools move forward into the 2022–2023 school year.

Over the last two years in America, we have experienced the COVID pandemic, extensive and divisive political turmoil, and widespread violence. In totality, these events have caused various degrees of apathy and distraction in communities and schools. As we were preoccupied with the overarching issues dominating the headlines, the unthinkable massacre in Uvalde, Texas, shook us from our malaise and created calls for action. We must now accept that responsible school and police leaders need to regroup, set aside any lingering ideological or political differences, and acknowledge that securing our schools is not only crucial but also transcends political discourse. School and police leaders must, in good spirit, collaborate to create and nurture an ecosystem capable of saving our schools from future atrocities. In this blog post, we will start with the essentials that you can act upon immediately. Read more

Addressing Trauma and Building Resilience with the School Wellness Wheel

Presenter linkMike Ruyle
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Categories: Guest Posts, Pandemic Response and Educational Practices, Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)

The impact of trauma and toxic stress on the current generation of teachers and students cannot be overemphasized. Recent political events, racial justice issues, COVID surges, economic instability, and school violence have led to increasing levels of anxiety and dysfunction across a generation of learners. Contemporary medical and psychological research has cemented the fact that childhood stress and trauma can have a tremendous impact on mental and physical health outcomes throughout life. This is an issue for society in general, including schools, which are only now beginning to appreciate what trauma and toxic stress really mean and comprehend how detrimental they are to brain development. Former California surgeon general Dr. Nadine Burke Harris has asserted that childhood trauma is “a public health crisis” (Burke Harris, 2014).

On the bright side, updated research also strongly indicates that we humans have a profound ability to heal ourselves and each other. This phenomenon is often referred to as post-traumatic growth and can be demonstrated in survivors of violence, war, disasters, bereavement, economic devastation, and serious illnesses or injuries. 

Schools can and must play a critical role in facilitating this psychological growth by helping imbue learners with resilience. Read more

What Next? COVID-19 and the Uncertainty of the Future

Presenter linkAnthony Muhammad
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Categories: Authors, Guest Posts, Pandemic Response and Educational Practices, PLC, PLC at Work

The month of March in the year 2020 will always have a prominent place in my personal history. I recall listening to the prognosticators on cable news in January of 2020 as they predicted an imminent global cataclysmic event. The news reported that this new virus that had shut down daily life in Wuhan, China, was heading to a country, town, and neighborhood near you! I was personally skeptical, because I had heard this type of prediction before. We were warned in the past about the apocalyptic danger of swine flu, SARS, and ebola, which turned out to be no more than contained regional phenomena.

But my experience on March 13, 2020, made it clear that COVID-19 was real and different. I was in Los Angeles preparing to fly back home to Detroit, and everyone at the restaurant where I ate looked petrified. People watched as the news reported cities declaring shelter-in-place orders, and the Los Angeles International Airport was nearly empty. Upon arriving home, I learned that my own state had ordered us to shelter in place, schools closed, businesses closed, and, like many others, I found myself confined to my home with my family for months. Life had changed forever, and I was not prepared.

Pandemics are very interesting phenomena, and they are not new to humanity. The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic was even deadlier than COVID-19, and the disruptions to daily life were equally or more significant. As we prepare for this new, post-COVID reality, wouldn’t it be wise to learn from the past so that we can plan for a brighter future? Read more