Students are much more likely to learn, feel safe, and rebound from tough situations when they feel connected to their teachers and their peers. This year, all schools will focus on strengthening connections and community. Building off what we all accomplished last year, the DOE will continue to ensure that all students, their families, and staff feel welcomed and supported.
Supporting students socially and emotionally improves not only their academic progress but prepares them to succeed in life. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many of our students faced stressful situations and some of them experienced trauma as well. For example, circumstances like poverty, homelessness, or fear of deportation can be traumatic if students do not have adequate resources and supports. Yet schools are and can continue to do so much to help students learn how to manage their stress and find refuge from their pain and anxiety.
This year, we are expanding our social emotional learning (SEL) practices citywide. We’ve hired over 500 social workers and 36 borough office-based social workers so that every student has access to more targeted supports when they need it, like group and individual counseling. As a result of these investments, every school will have a trained mental health care specialist. This person could be a school social worker, guidance counselor, or a school-based mental health specialist.
We have also updated our Bridge to School plan. Designed to be implemented during the first few weeks of this school year, the plan provides all schools with social-emotional learning lessons and activities that will help students build coping skills, process grief, and reorient themselves to daily instruction. The Bridge to School plan complements established initiatives that will be continuing this school year that are aimed at building students’ self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.
At Stuyvesant -
We are moving forward with both organizations. We are partnering with Counseling in Schools (CIS) to have an additional clinician who will be available in the school 5 days a week. Moreover, we will have the support of a CIS Program Manager who will help us plan for longer term changes to support student experience. We are excited about this partnership and the additional resources we will have to support a focus on student mental health and well-being. In respects to Authentic Connections , we are moving forward with them to administer the high achieving schools survey in late September/early October.
Robin – we’re working with another organization that we worked with during Summer Rising. They offered a light touch using both technology and coaches to support community building. We’re going to focus on 9th grade with this group to see how
Camp Stuy – we’re extending Camp Stuy for incoming 9th graders and rising 10th graders next week. The goal is to offer 9th and 10th graders an initial opportunity to see the building and meet some peers in preparation for the first day of school.
