Category: For School Social Workers

Introduction

As a school social worker, I am anticipating that students and families will need lots of support as they re-adjust to the expectations of a regular school day. During COVID-19, many students learned from home or did not have access to being able to do their studies from home. Therefore, students and parents need support to help children/adolescents to become acquainted to the expected school norms before the first day of school.

Provide Psychoeducation to ParentsParents need to be provided with resources on how they can assist their children/adolescents to return to school. School administrators and school personnel can put together a presentation for parents in person or online. The presentation can include the following:

• Normalizing common fears regarding returning to school
• Sharing the school’s guideline and protocol regarding COVID-19
• Providing psychoeducation on what is mental health and how their children can receive support at school
• Sharing with parents the plan on how the school will support students emotionally at the tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3 levels of MTSS
• Sharing techniques/strategies on how parents can ease problems of anxiety to promote school readiness

School personnel should define to parents the following:

• Expectations of when it is start and dismissal time
• Expected behaviors within the school building during structured and unstructured times
• Identifying the difference between school refusal and truancy
• Defining the positive impact of school attendance on academic success

Early Meet & Greet

Teachers and school personnel can create a meet and greet day that can be done in person or online. The technology coach at my school district introduced staff to flip grid where teachers and school personnel created short videos introducing themselves. This allows students to know what their teachers look like and how they sound. By having staff doing this before the school year starts, then it decreases feelings of anxiety from parents and students. The human brain thrives on predictability.

Practicing Going Through Their Schedule

School administrators and school personnel should provide hours for when students can sign up to come visit the school prior to the start date. Parents and students can practice going to the class(es). This will minimize feelings of anxiety because they will get familiar with their surroundings.

Developing Bed Routines

School personnel should remind parents to teach their children/adolescents about the importance of developing routines before going to bed. As a school social worker, I have learned that sometimes students engage in school refusal due to lack of practice in having structured routines.

For example, the phone needs to be turned off by 9:00 p.m. and must brush teeth before 9:30 p.m. The lights in the bedroom need to be turned off by 10:00 p.m. and wake up by 6:30 a.m.

Practicing these routine 2-3 weeks prior to starting school will assist with having less problems in the morning. A Netflix series that is really helpful in teaching students and families on how to structure sleep time is Headspace Guide to Sleep.

Create a Parent GroupThis past school year, I did presentations for parents and when there were opportunities for open discussion parents had great ideas to exchange with each other. There are different ways to create parent groups. For example:

1. A Google Classroom can be created for parents to exchange ideas on how to help their children to go back to school
2. On social media a hashtag could be created to allow parents to connect and ask questions (e.g., #D809ParentQuestions) to each other
3. Conduct a Zoom meeting that focuses on exchanging ideas on how to help children to go back to school. The role of a school personnel is the be the facilitator in these parent groups.
4. Create a Padlet board where parents can propose questions and receive answers with effective feedback may be a good visual for parents too. This can initiate a good conversation and parents to get to know each other digitally.

When parents feel connected, then their children feel more connected too. The district/school should provide a detailed plan with ample time on how the school will function post- COVID-19 era. This will alleviate parent anxiety and this will indirectly impact how students feel about going back to school. Once school starts in the fall, it is crucial to minimize school refusal problems and optimize school attendance.

My name is Marjorie Colindres and I am currently a school social worker at Mannheim Middle School. This academic school year, my district is starting by doing remote learning. The day that I received the news from my school district, I tried to figure out ways to connect with students. In my search, I came across a post by Bridget Hills-Yoder. She shared in a Facebook Page by the Illinois Association of School Social Workers how to create your own digital office. After I read this post, I began to work on my own digital office and I received lots of positive feedback from colleagues. Therefore, I asked Bridget if she could kindly share further details. The interview is below: