DALLAS — Change is not easy, and the pandemic made that clear.
Meca Anderson is Lancaster ISD’s social emotional counselor. She said behavior and discipline remain a challenge in the classroom.
“They struggled with just getting up and doing impulsive behavior, just walking out. Walking out of classrooms and not able to manage their emotions,” said Anderson. “When our kids were able to return back in person, everything that took place at home came to the school. Each day, we were seeing anywhere from 10 to 15 students a day.”
To help answer the call, Anderson recruited the smallest, yet mightiest, Bayou Kelly Lancaster. She is the district’s social emotional dog.
“When I tell you Bayou has changed everybody’s world,” said Anderson. “She brightens up the room, just her entering the room.”
Bayou is one of three social emotional dogs rotating throughout the district.
“We have watched our students communicate with the service animal as if it’s another person,” said Anderson. Bayou has been helping students manage conflict and open up about personal issues driving behavior.
Concerns for classroom behavior are felt across the country. On December 15, about 30 teachers and staff at DeSoto’s McCowan Middle School called out sick to protest what they call a lack of support in student discipline. As a result, DeSoto ISD called in 55 substitutes to step in and help. They said 220 students went home early that day.
“The reality is these social emotional concerns are impacting classrooms,” said Tiffanie Blackmon-Jones, DeSoto ISD Chief Communications Officer. She said they have been using focus groups, peer parent training, and professional development to improve classrooms.
“Making sure that we’re hearing from staff on what they need and support. Listening to students and their experiences. We’re also engaging parents to understand what do you need,” said Blackmon-Jones.
Following the sickout protest, DeSoto ISD sent the following statement:
The DeSoto ISD has been working intently and collaboratively within its school community to unpack and develop proactive and relevant responses to the issues that contributed to the matter that transpired on December 15 at a district campus along with student and staff well-being collectively.
On December 15 district officials collaborated to engage administrative level and central office staff to support substitute teachers and instruction on that day to ensure a continuation of learning for scholars while also assigning appropriate adult supervision including the assignment of increased security staff to support a safe and orderly environment on the day in question.
Overall, DeSoto ISD is committed to providing a healthy learning climate and culture for staff and students as reflected in our district constraints. The district monitors culture and climate and the information is reported to the board as an update regarding the constraint. In working to achieve the target for the constraint progress measure, the district engaged in focus groups. As a result of the feedback from the focus groups the district is now engaging various stakeholder groups to improve systems and practices in the following areas:
- parent involvement and engagement
- operational processes and experiences for staff such as offboarding and onboarding
- training, professional development and resources for staff
- staff and student culture inclusive of well-being, discipline and restorative practices
Like many school systems, DeSoto ISD is continuing to address and revise organizational practices to provide holistic and high-quality educational experiences in a post-pandemic educational environment centered on technology-based learning, social-emotional wellness and stakeholder engagement and support.
The district was awarded a Stronger Connections grant and is looking to enhance student support services through the use of grant funds. We are also working to implement calming corners and other tools to support the implementation of restorative practices within the district.
Rena Honea is the President of Alliance AFT, the teachers’ union. She said teachers have also expressed concerns.
“They’re expected to do a lot more to get kids caught up. They don’t complain about that, but what the worries are is that they’re trying to make up for a lot of loss in a short amount of time to get kids back on track,” said Honea.
She said educating students is a collaborative effort that doesn’t just fall on teachers, staff and students but parents as well. “They also experienced many of the things that the children did,” said Honea.
While the adjustment to change is still ongoing, so are the efforts and innovative ways to address such as bringing in puppy, Bayou.