You’re late again on the mortgage.
Too many bills. Not enough paycheck.
Extras? Forget extras. You’re just trying to get by.
What happens if you lose the house?
If the think the above litany of stresses is coming from say, an adult hunkered down at the kitchen table at the end of the month, think again.
Those are some of the stressors reported by Monongalia County elementary school students seated at their classroom desks this fall.
Michael Ryan, who directs diversity and inclusion services for the local public school district, did a bit of a sonar sweep of the above responses for Board of Education members on Tuesday night.
Call the above an emotional inventory, of sorts, from the annual fall Panorama survey, a national program used by Mon Schools which charts emotional health among students and teachers.
The most recent survey was administered Sept. 25-Oct. 11 to students in grades 3-12, Ryan said, along with their teachers.
What the surveys showed, the director said, was angst and resilience – at the same time.
For example, teachers of students in kindergarten through 5th grade reported that 73% of their charges are pretty good at maintaining their emotions in the face of setbacks, such as a poor grade on a test or a negative encounter with a classmate at recess.
High-schoolers, meanwhile, said they worried the most about keeping up with their grades as they looked ahead to college or going right into the workforce.
The survey gave Ryan pause, as it always does every year, he said.
Especially when the elementary students are shouldering more real-world concerns beyond their years.
“Think about a 3rd or 4th or 5th-grader worrying paying the bills,” he said.
Counseling helps, he said.
So does keeping the outside world, well, outside, Director of Exceptional Student Education Stacey Sylvester said.
The teachers and counselors in her department help tend to Mon’s 175 students diagnosed with being on the Autism spectrum.
And the 557 with specific learning disabilities and the 160 showing developmental delay in school.
Statewide, there are more than 1,500 certified educators who are teaching out of their content areas, according the state Department of Education.
While Mon’s district is luckier than most, there are shortages here, also.
That means many dealing with autistic students and others with medical and emotional considerations for which they aren’t trained to take on, BOE president Ron Lytle said.
“This is what’s burning our teachers out,” he said.
