Opinion
School & District Management Opinion

COVID-19 Ripped Through Our Emotional Safety Net. Here’s How My District Responded

Pandemic precautions need to account for student mental health
By Jonathan Cooper — July 22, 2021 2 min read
A young man stands under a street light on a lonely road.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Before COVID-19 ripped through the sense of physical and emotional safety of our community, we thought we were ready to meet mental-health challenges. Three years before the pandemic hit, a group of high school students had invited me and a few other local district leaders into a critical conversation to discuss the growing mental-health crisis in our district. Over several years, an unhealthy culture of competition had contributed to tragic student suicides.

I will never forget that meeting. It was a reality check for our whole community. And the school district responded. We decided that we could not let our students struggle alone and in silence. We not only heard their cry for help, we began to address each and every issue associated with the culture of competition. We examined everything—including what we celebrated, how we graded, when school started—as we launched systematic peer-to-peer suicide-prevention programming for grades 7-12.

Like our colleagues around the country, my staff members and I spent an enormous amount of time, energy, and resources addressing COVID-19 prevention this past year. We spent the entire summer in 2020 preparing the necessary accommodations for students to return to our schools safely. It seemed like every conversation and effort was 100 percent focused on COVID-19.

About This Series

Over the coming weeks, we will be rolling out 17 lessons from experienced district leaders who spent the last year leading from home. Learn more and see the full collection of lessons.

Then, the mental-health effects of the pandemic hit us. Despite our three-year effort to support children’s mental health, we found an alarming increase in suicidal ideation among our students this past year. Even though a majority of the young people in our district were able to return to in-person learning, the heavy weight of the pandemic, combined with the social isolation and uncertainty about the future, created an urgent crisis of student safety.

During fall 2020, we faced a frightening reality. In a three-week period, more than a dozen students were hospitalized for serious mental-health crises, marking a threefold increase in the rate of students experiencing suicidal thoughts.

Thanks to the students who rang the alarm three years ago, we already had a comprehensive support system in place to address mental health across our entire district. Yet even with all our experts, programs, relationships, and community partnerships, we found ourselves with an entirely new level of challenges around the well-being of our school community.

It wasn’t just the students suffering. I heard from a growing number of staff members who reached out asking for assistance around their own mental-health struggles. The pandemic essentially flipped the iceberg on its head, showing us the depth of our community’s silent struggles.

We will continue to fight the good fight. A key takeaway for me is that this is not simply a school issue. If we truly want to help our students and create a healthier future for our world, we will need to come together as a community to champion mental wellness. And we can’t let our students, teachers, and staff suffer without support, alone, and in silence.

Complete Collection

Superintendents discuss ideas at a roundtable.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week and Getty Images

Related Tags:

Coverage of leadership, summer learning, social and emotional learning, arts learning, and afterschool is supported in part by a grant from The Wallace Foundation, at www.wallacefoundation.org. Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage.

Events

School & District Management Webinar EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?
What issues are keeping K-12 leaders up at night? Join us for EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
Teaching Students to Use Artificial Intelligence Ethically
Ready to embrace AI in your classroom? Join our master class to learn how to use AI as a tool for learning, not a replacement.
Content provided by Solution Tree
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Teaching Webinar
Empowering Students Using Computational Thinking Skills
Empower your students with computational thinking. Learn how to integrate these skills into your teaching and boost student engagement.
Content provided by Project Lead The Way

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management Opinion 5 Education Leadership Lessons From Chef Ina Garten
"Less is more," "quality is everything," and more tips inspired by the art of cooking to build trust, connection in your school community.
4 min read
Screen Shot 2024 11 29 at 1.11.40 PM
Canva
School & District Management A Principal Was Put on Leave for Her Election Message. What Leaders Need to Know
Principals have to tread a fine line to avoid getting too political in their role as public school leaders.
7 min read
Illustration of two people confined within red and blue circles.
iStock
School & District Management Schools Want Results When They Spend Big Money. Here's How They're Getting Them
Tying spending to outcomes is a goal many district leaders have. A new model for purchase contracts could make it easier.
7 min read
Illustration of scales balancing books on one end and coins on another.
iStock/Getty
School & District Management Reports Strategic Resourcing for K-12 Education: A Work in Progress
This report highlights key findings from surveys of K-12 administrators and product/service providers to shed light on the alignment of purchasing with instructional goals.