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Ebonie Lamb: Students uncared for, teachers burning out

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Ebonie Lamb: Students uncared for, teachers burning out

The difference in my student, whom I’ll refer to as Bobby, was like night and day. Bobby was an intelligent Black 8th grader who witnessed a violent domestic incident, which caused his father to be arrested, Bobby to be uprooted from his father’s house and have to travel back and forth between his mother’s and stepmother’s houses.

Suddenly, Bobby’s changed from being funny, outgoing, and eager to learn to visibly depressed: sluggish, constantly sleeping in class, and clearly self-medicating.

His behavior in the classroom and at school changed after the incident. It was painful and infuriating for me to watch his emotional reaction play out inside the classroom, while no one but me seemed to care what he was going through.

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When I voiced my concerns to the social worker, her callous response to me was, “He’s not going to be in our feeder pattern anymore, so he’s not going to be here much longer.” Hearing another adult disregard my concerns as a Black teacher about my Black student brought me to my breaking point.

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This incident is just one example of why it’s becoming more and more difficult for me to remain in the classroom as my students’ past and present trauma is explicitly ignored. There is no way I can successfully teach a child whose safety and physiological needs are not being met or acknowledged, and being asked to do so takes a toll on my mental health as a Black educator as well.

In October 2022, results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed dramatic declines in math and reading scores, and researchers declared that two decades of learning progress had been wiped out. Many educators and non-educators point to the pandemic as the cause of the dual academic and mental health crises facing our schools today.

However, while Covid has definitely exacerbated these issues, these problems existed before March of 2020. Black students’ reading and math scores began declining before the pandemic, and while my students have experienced additional trauma from the pandemic, their struggles with homelessness, physical and sexual abuse, gun violence, abandonment, depression, anxiety, bullying, death of a parent, and/or neglect did not start or end with Covid.

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Meanwhile, educators’ mental health is also at a crisis point: 90% of teachers say burnout is a serious problem, and Pennsylvania teacher attrition reached the highest rate on record last year, as workloads increase and student behavior becomes more volatile.

I have experienced teacher burnout firsthand, and seeing student and teacher mental health disregarded makes me consider other work opportunities. It often seems to me like teachers, staff, administration, and the general public have become desensitized to Black death and to Black children’s trauma.

After a student is killed, the district sends “additional counselors” to speak with students for one day and then it's back to business-as-usual, teaching the curriculum to increase test scores. Why aren’t these counselors at the school on a daily basis? Students’ grief does not stop one day after someone is killed, and children can’t learn if their and their families’ needs are swept under the rug.

Governor Shapiro’s state budget proposal includes $500 million over five years for schools and community-based organizations to support mental health investments for staffing, community partnerships, and innovative programs in our schools. This investment would be a start toward addressing the mental health needs of students and teachers. If Pennsylvania wants to keep teachers like me in the classroom, state and district leaders must also:

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Add mental health days for all staff without decreasing existing sick days or stipulating when they can be used. Rep. Napoleon Nelson has proposed a similar policy for student mental health days as well. Provide teacher in-service time for self-care professional development and activities.

Ensure schools are staffed with full-time mental health counselors and school psychologists in addition to school counselors and social workers. All mental health professionals and other school staff must be trained to be culturally responsive, to work effectively with students and families, and to implement restorative practices.

Fund and support partnerships with local community organizations to volunteer in schools and work alongside school support staff to support students and staff. Ensure teachers have quality, research-based social-emotional curricula and professional development to promote positive student mental health and social skills.

State and educational leaders need to recognize that teachers are not superheroes, robots or machines. Teachers are human beings, and we need to be treated as humans, as do our students. If we want to increase student academic success and prevent teacher burnout and turnover, we must prioritize student and teacher mental health.

Ebonie Lamb is a 2022-23 Teach Plus Pennsylvania Policy Fellow and a 7th and 8th grade special education math teacher at South Hills Middle School in Pittsburgh.

First Published: June 26, 2023, 9:30 a.m.

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