Students on the West Side are having a difficult time readjusting to in-person learning, how Communities In Schools of Chicago and CPS plan to respond
 |
By Valeria Garcia, Arts and Culture Editor, The Real Chi |
|---|---|
It has been a little over three months since children attending Chicago Public Schools (CPS) have returned to in-person learning. This once typical task has become a challenging adjustment for some students as they continue to struggle with COVID-19 pandemic related issues and challenges.
Communities in Schools (CIS) of Chicago is a leading non-profit organization that partners with 175 public schools in Chicago. In order to better connect with a student, CIS of Chicago provides assistance and guidance both mentally and academically. CIS of Chicago’s mission is to assist students with high school graduation completion by connecting students with needed programs and services such as one-on-one and/or group interventions with counseling and supportive guidance tailored to the student. Out of the 175 partnered public schools, CIS of Chicago provides an in-school staff member to 30 of these schools who are either professionals holding a master degrees in counseling or students support managers, to work closely with students who are struggling with attendance, behavior, or grades.
According to CIS of Chicago experts, since students returned to classrooms on August 30, CIS of Chicago staff noticed “school communities are still grappling with what it means to teach and learn in-person.” CIS of Chicago students support managers along with master level clinicians that provide different forms of counseling services, shared their firsthand observations of their experiences and what they’re noticing in students and school staff now that class has returned to in-person learning:
Trauma from family loss, isolation, increased violence, and racial injustice is still with them
Adjusting to in-person interactions
Teachers and staff readjustment challenges
CIS of Chicago senior director of intensive students supports Lo Patrick told The Real Chi, “It really depends on what the student is bringing to the clinician saying this is what's going on in my life. So the other thing that our clinicians really do is they do spend a lot of time allowing students to let them know what's going on in their lives so that they can provide interventions. And in a chance to just release some of the stress that's going on.”
CIS of Chicago provides services to schools through two of their main programs: partnership and intensive. Patrick’s intensive team consists of master level clinicians who are embedded in schools four days a week in order to provide support and services to students such as strengthening a student’s support system by involving their guardians and teachers. Another type of service CIS of Chicago intensive team offers is providing a grief group for students who have experienced loss in the last year.
Students need support mentally and emotionally
In the 18 months, for some K-12 students e-learning was the only form of communication they had with peers, school support systems, and teachers - a new normal. Some students have reported encountering trauma ranging from family loss, acts of racial injustice, and rising community violence. Now former CPS chief executive officer Dr. Janice Jackson addressed the issues students were facing in a report by the Chicago Tribune stating, “So much trauma related to the coronavirus pandemic and civil and political unrest over the past year.” This confirmed the necessary response to launch of CPS’ healing-centered project
According to a report by CIS of Chicago experts shared in a press release:
“This fall, many students returned to the classroom carrying trauma with them. Some are struggling with anxiety and panic attacks, some are processing grief and loss, and some are experiencing mental health issues.”
Trauma is something hard to carry, even for adults. According to Patrick, “When anyone witnesses trauma or experiences trauma, it does have an impact on their ability to take in information, or to be able to just function as healthfully as they could.”
Outside factors that are uncontrollable in a student’s life could not only be impactful to the student but also their school performance. In order to address this issue, CIS of Chicago is planning to build “caring, developmental relationships with students” in hopes of helping students develop positive coping strategies as a response to student needs post pandemic. In order to engage with students who have faced such trauma, Patrick mentioned CIS of Chicago will use developmental relationships framework to build a developmental relationship with students.
“We know it's important to express care, it's important to provide support, it's important to encourage growth, it's important to share power with students,” said Patrick.
Patrick also stressed the importance of listening to student, guardian, teacher needs as a basis of trust for a supportive relationship.
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has also taken the initiative in supporting not just students, but guardians, school staff, and teachers as well through their Healing-Centered Framework for Chicago Public Schools. This framework was first introduced in the fall of 2019 and highlights collective wellness for those involved with CPS. CPS had to readjust their framework in response to the pandemic. The challenges students have been facing over the past months have been reflected in the classroom as well. As a response, CPS took a $25 million initiative to expand on behavioral health teams. This three year commitment would train educators on mental health related topics, along with providing staff and parents the necessary resources for personal wellness. This framework focuses on teachers allowing students who have experienced trauma to take a necessary mental break either separately or as a class, in order to continue engagement in academics.
“It's really a way of supporting students as well as teachers and parents, so that the culture and climate of the school is trauma informed, but also is restorative for students,” said Patrick on CPS’ healing centered framework.
Students are adjusting back to in-person peer interactions
CIS of Chicago team members are reporting seeing an increase of aggression between students. In some instances there have been cases of cyberbullying stemming from reported behavioral issues.
CIS of Chicago reported in their press release, “61 percent of the students referred to CIS school-based staff for one-on-one support so far this year have been identified for behavior challenges.”
Patrick said this is a result from students, “needing to just have more practice and re-engage in the experience of how do I solve conflicts peacefully? How do I go through my day with so many other students around so that I can feel safe and comfortable and still be able to interact?”
To address this issue, CIS of Chicago intensive team is holding constructive conversations with students on how could they communicate their feelings peacefully in order to problem solve and build healthy relationships with one another. One of the ways CIS of Chicago is holding these conversations is examining what sort of engagement is lacking in a student’s community through leading small groups on topics such as girls empowerment.
Patrick also discusses how social media has become the new gateway to aggression among students, “Social media has just become such an integral part of their life, that when they're upset, sometimes they will use that as a way to sort of lash out.”
Therefore, there’s an importance of speaking and educating students ways for them to better express their emotions and also have a better understanding of these emotions that they’re feeling.
CIS of Chicago is currently looking into expanding their partnership program. Through their partnership program, CIS of Chicago collaborates with community based organization partners in order to provide schools the necessary resources needed. North Lawndale is one of their focus areas as they continue to try to recruit schools and a number of west side communities.
Chief Innovation and Communications Officer at Communities In Schools of Chicago , Bartholomew St. John said “We certainly recognize the need in North Lawndale. We are looking to expand given the need that's out there in the various communities, and especially on the west side and South Side.”
Specifically in West Side communities and schools, Patrick said CIS of Chicago recognizes the need to bring in community partner connections that could. “Talk to the students around healthy dating relationships, can provide additional grief counseling, can provide anti bullying programming, and financial literacy for students,.” she said.