Earlier this summer, the Post asked our readers what issues you wanted to hear candidates running for Shawnee Mission Board of Education to address leading up to the Nov. 7 election.
Based on that feedback, we developed a five-item questionnaire centering the issues most important to Shawnee Mission district patrons.
Each day this week, we’ll publish the candidates’ responses to one question.
Today, we’re publishing candidates’ responses to the final question:
The mental health of students remains a priority for local schools three years after the COVID-19 pandemic upended traditional modes of education and forced students to learn from home on computers for long stretches of time. Some educators continue to report lasting impacts of that experience, including ongoing behavioral issues and increased rates of stress among students. How effectively is Shawnee Mission dealing with this issue? What more, if anything, can the school board do to help?
Below are the answers the Post received from candidates on this issue:
SM North Area
Mario Garcia III
We can all agree that we are in a mental health crisis and that addressing these issues will take not only our school systems but also our school communities, neighborhoods and family systems. It’s imperative that SMSD’s future strategic plans reinforce the efforts to address these needs and prioritizes resources for students, parents, teachers and staff.
The work being done by social workers in each of our elementary school buildings is amazing, and they’ll need more support as time goes on. We should be proactive and encouraging when reminding students that being at school is important. Creating a space for students to be themselves in the classroom is critical to their well being and mental health.
Ron Occhiogrosso
I must begin by saying that I am so tired of hearing the word COVID in questions like these and in other similar surveys. To be sure, COVID-19 was a serious matter, but it is over! I do hear that word also mentioned in the candid, revealing conversations I have had when I knock the many, many doors explaining my platform and why “your vote for me is a vote to help return public school education back to what it once was, and not plagued by all the DEIB/CRT initiatives that are ruining and indoctrinating some of our students.” But I can count on one hand the number of persons on the other side of the door who have mentioned the word COVID in my many discussions.
Our young children and young adult students, who are the TEACHERS’ DEPENDENTS (IN LOCO PARENTIS) are indeed feeling stressed. Why? It is my firm belief that too much screen time and too much iPad use is not working for most of the students. Burying their faces in an iPad stops the healthy interactions necessary for their mental well being. I pray that many will begin to see the light of the meaning of my last sentence. Think about it.
As a school board member, I will do all that I can to help foster in an immediate decrease in screen time. More personal interactions, more student-to-student discussions will definitely help to improve the mental well-being of at least some — probably many — of the students. It will not be an easy transition, but change is not usually easy. And any money needed to help create these changes can come (rather easily) from money re-directed away from a small portion of technology expenses.
These are my firm beliefs. If you like them, VOTE FOR ME.
God Bless you all and God Bless these Great United States of America. And all those many millions who have helped to Keep it Free!
SM South Area
Jessica Hembree (incumbent)
In my first term, we achieved a major milestone by providing a dedicated social worker in every building. But student mental health needs remain heightened after the pandemic’s disruptions. Ongoing staff training in trauma-informed practices, suicide prevention, de-escalation and other areas is essential to supporting students’ well-being. For struggling students, we must expand access to counselors, mentoring and outside services. Prioritizing educator self-care and wellness also significantly improves the classroom climate. A comprehensive, proactive and adequately resourced approach to nurturing students’ and staff members’ mental health must remain a top priority.
As a board member and parent, I am committed to collaborating with families and community partners to foster districts centered on care and connection. Proven practices like restorative justice, strong relationships and mental health screenings should be the norm. With trauma-informed policies, robust social-emotional learning curricula and skilled professionals available to all students, our schools can help youth build resilience, process emotions and develop healthy coping strategies that last a lifetime.
Every child should feel safe, seen and valued in our schools, allowing them to fully engage in academics and activities – the building blocks for lifelong success and well-being. By investing in our students’ social-emotional health, we ensure schools empower them to thrive now and in the future.
Mark Tallent
Did not provide the Post with a response.
SM Northwest Area
Jamie Borgman (incumbent)
This is an issue that keeps me awake at night. I am very proud that SMSD has recently allocated money so every school has a social worker. However, this is just one of many steps. This requires a collaborative effort from every single person in our community. Not only do students need to learn effective coping skills, students have to learn and understand the impact of their words, actions and behaviors. Hurt people hurt people. Who is hurting the student who is taking it out on a fellow classmate on social media or via text? Is it a parent or family member, an adult at work, a neighbor?
Healthy kids generally don’t go around bullying others which is why we all play a role in this area. I’ve seen first-hand the impact that effective social workers can have on a school. They’re able to teach kids strategies to deal with disruptive students as well as equip kids who struggle in this area develop healthier ways to release frustration and anger.
Lynn McLarty
Let me begin by rejecting the premise that “the mental health of students remains a priority for local schools”. Schools should not be in the practice of mass testing, diagnosing and treating mental illness, which is de facto what is occurring in today’s school environment via social emotional learning and multi-tiered system of supports, or MTSS, protocols.
I do NOT, therefore believe that Shawnee Mission is currently dealing with student mental health in a manner that is beneficial to students. The district is a strong advocate of Social Emotional Learning, and it has become deeply woven into the district’s philosophy of providing for students at every level. The goal is to psychologically manipulate students to accept the progressive ideology that supports gender fluidity, sexual preference exploration and systemic oppression.
SEL and MTSS are sold as ways for Shawnee Mission to help students to be the best version of themselves, mentally, physically and emotionally. It fails at this, and it is not even the role and responsibility of schools. Schools are way out of their lane in mental health testing, diagnosing and treatment. This is all designed to be a precursor to the Community School and Whole Child Education model, which intend to bring full medical care into schools. The district and all of its schools must focus on academics and move away from the social engineering and health care of our children.
Who could not resist believing these programs are exactly what is needed based on how they are promoted? But underneath each has been wrought with deceit and deception. The district has lost sight of their mission to educate and prepare our students by successfully teaching core academic proficiencies. These programs are not the solution to success. They have failed in their charge to educate and they have especially failed minorities and low-income students.
At-Large Area
David Westbrook
Our young people are encountering significantly stressful times. Students who face challenges in their mental health will find it far more difficult to be successful in academic work and will have trouble adjusting in social and community life. We must form closer partnerships with families in order to make sure all of us are identifying the earliest opportunities to intervene when a child’s mental health is at risk. Family participation in those interventions should always come first.
Teachers need to know, too, that there will be at least one qualified social worker or counselor in each and every school to which that teacher can turn to with family members when interventions are necessary. These professionals can bring a measure of expertise that can keep a setback from becoming a tragedy. The rate of depression and teenage suicide throughout the United States has increased at an alarming pace. The school setting is one important place where children have an opportunity to be supervised by well-trained professionals who can detect symptoms of mental illness and can assist the family with interventions in a timely and effective manner. Through a family partnership with the school, the rate of mental illness can be arrested and we should do all we can to make sure we are devoting adequate resources to this vital area of our work.
Logan Austin
Did not provide the Post with a response.