The OAISD (Ottawa County Intermediate School District) recently was awarded a Michigan Department of Health and Human Services $2.4 million grant to put a doctor’s office into one school. The Child & Adolescent Health Centers Grant (CAHC Grant) is for primary care, nursing, and behavioral health services for students. Students seeking these services will have access to clinical services, referrals, health education, and immunization as well as access to confidential mental health counseling.
Schools across the country have been moving away from traditional academics as they incorporate more health and wellness programs into the educational environment. The change is ironic, because in many ways the schools themselves and government response to Covid-19 led to an increase in anxiety and depression. Now the education system claims to have a solution for these problems. While we all know that children must have their mental and physical needs addressed before effective learning can take place, these responsibilities have traditionally been reserved for parents.
Incorporating mental health and medical care into the education system is likely to have devastating effects over the long term. As state-sponsored educational institutions attempt to take on more and more aspects of student’s lives, the roles of parents and families are diminished. When parents are busy at work, they trust others to care for their children. School nurses who used to perform eye exams and administer first aid can now give vaccinations, and perform body mass index (BMI) evaluations. While schools used to have counselors, they now also employ social workers and psychologists.
In Michigan, once a child reaches the age of 11, parents need their child’s permission before viewing their full medical file. Grants like CAHC will only increase the number of health professionals working in schools and thereby intruding further into parental rights.
Let’s take a look at some of the strategies for dealing with behavior and addressing mental health currently used in Ottawa County schools. Today, in the post Covid-19 era, schools are implementing Social Emotional Learning (SEL), trauma training programs, and providing children with counseling. Social Emotional Learning is currently a hot trend in public education. In some SEL programs, children are given lessons based on Marxian conflict theory in which they learn about injustices suffered by identity groups around the globe, and then are encouraged to become activists to reduce future injustices.
One example is a lesson on hunger for kindergarteners prepared by the National Education Association in conjunction with the World Economic Forum and the United Nations.
To learn about what it feels like to be hungry, 5-year-olds are asked to draw pictures of their favorite foods, read stories about children who are hungry, and imagine what it’s like to suffer hunger. One activity suggests children cut out food pictures and glue them to a paper plate. Then, while sitting in a circle proudly displaying their new creations, the teacher takes away the plate of one of every five children as a demonstration of hunger statistics.
Trauma Informed Care suggests children are products of their environment with little-to-no control over their actions. This philosophy suggests children who have experienced trauma should always keep the trauma fresh in their minds because this is essential for them to learn. It suggests logic, punishment, and consequences are not great strategies for schools to incorporate when dealing with behavior. Rather than holding children responsible for their actions, trauma informed training absolves them of responsibility. Here is a short video clip featuring Developmental Enhancement Behavioral Health, that has provided Trauma Training to schools in Ottawa County. (Offices in Holland and Grandville.)
The LGBTQ Student Project from the Michigan Department of Education has been training teachers in schools all across Michigan on how to deal with LGBTQ students. In addition, they have worked with the Ottawa County Health Department and the Suicide Prevention Coalition to address the elevated suicide rates in LGBTQ teens. Some of their recommendations include asking students for their pronouns, hiding pronoun information from parents, and creating Gay Straight Alliance Clubs that have non-descript names so parents will not know what their children are involved with. The following six short videos are highlights of these trainings.
Student Led GSA’s (Gay Straight Alliance)
Many of the programs implemented in Ottawa County and across the country to address the mental health needs of students are not improving the mental health of students. No statistical data shows any of these programs work. Now the state is moving further in the direction of incorporating mental health services into the educational system. They have already shown us how they address these issues.
As a citizen are you willing to pay for more? It is time we stand together and have a conversation about the real purpose of education. Together we will make a difference.
Please stay tuned. The next article will more specifically address the Child & Adolescent Health Centers Grant (CAHC Grant).