Thread by @FloodN2Paradise, Reasons teachers and school employees are not ok and how we could [...]

Reasons teachers and school employees are not ok and how we could support them (a thread):

This morning at 6:30am I went to see one of my outstanding student teachers for an observation in a small rural town. 1/

I arrived at 10 to 7 to sign in knowing there would be a lot of students arriving for the start of school. But surprisingly, there weren’t many and it was much easier than signing in at 8am like last time. 2/

The wonderful office admin assistants (let’s face it, they run the school) took some time to sign me in despite no one else being there. This is odd because I am one of 10 “outsiders” allowed in the whole district and have a registered ID and all. “Let me call the band room.”3/

5 mins pass. This is not normal Bc they recognized that I had been there. My stdt is texting me asking if she should come get me and the principal walks in, “I’ll bring her down.” He tells the staff.

this NEVER happens. 4/

He proceeds to answer the phone. The office staff are all on the phone, “yes school is in session, yes kids are here”. Weird. Another 5mins pass and he is now doing the announcements and thanking students for being cooperative. Something weird happened. I can feel it. 5/

He finishes, answers questions of staff, and then proceed to signal me to follow him. He elicits some small talk and my intern meets me halfway. As soon as we part ways, she is like “well I have to tell you something...” 6/

She continues, “yesterday a band kid talked about initiating a <insert violent act at school> (trying not to get kicked off twitter), Mr. X heard him say it and a whole lot of chaos ensued. So we are dealing with the aftermath of that today.” 7/

I walk in to a completely panicked clinical teacher and intern and only 8/50 students who braved returning to school today. They are completely Distraught, folks. They had no idea what to do w me there. 8/

Knowing how strong and mature my intern is, I asked her to proceed with a lesson—SOMETHING that will get the kids mind off of their friend and the events that took place the day before. Screw the plan, just make music and be kind. Only positive reinforcement. Distract them 9/

We met for ten mins and talked about how to adapt to “a day after” scenario. I promised to jump in and team teach if she needed it.

But she didn’t. Because she did amazing and the kids chose what they wanted to play and she fixed easy fundamentals and THEY MADE MUSIC. 10/

We debriefed with her CT after and had a great conversation about how we adapted and how the entire emotional state of every student changed because of it. I was so proud 11/

HOWEVER. Threats to schools are still happening. Students are not in a good place and teachers (who are also exhausted) also should not have the added stress of preventing horrible things happening in schools right now. But resources are limited. 12/

When bad things happen at schools, counselors, therapists, therapy dogs, etc are outsourced from other agencies. We don’t have access to much of that this year the way we have had in the past. It puts teachers in positions to wear even more hats many of which they are unqualified

If you know a teacher, please check in on them. Bake them cookies. Ding, dong, ditch a casserole. If possible take their kids to a park so they can get a couple hours of time alone to just breathe and practice self-care. They need your support, and not just a “r u ok?” 14/

Side note—the student is getting the help they need. The sheriff was present all morning and things were safe and sound. For non-music folks, know that it is very rare for a band member to speak about violence. That is what is most alarming about the situation. 15/

Please look out for our teachers and students. They are not ok and need your support as much as possible. If you do anything tonight, please check in on at least one of your teacher friends via text or email. /end

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