The School Counselor’s Guide to Reopening School

My friend Holly tells a story about swimming in the ocean and getting caught in a wave. She lost her footing and believed with everything in her that she was drowning. The waves kept hitting her and pulling her under the water. She could barely catch her breath before another wave would hit and pull her back under. If you’re nodding your head as you read this, you’ve either experienced this same horror story OR you are an educator who has adapted to school closures, survived the grief of not getting to say goodbye to your students, figured out how to move your curriculum online practically overnight, and now you’re prepared to spend your summer devoted to determining the best option for reopening school.

These changes have come so quickly. Many times the waves have knocked us over just like my friend Holly. The best part about her struggle in the ocean that day is that while she was flailing and yelling for help, her brother walked out to where she was, looked down at her, and in that disgusted brotherly tone I’m sure you can imagine, he said, “Holly… Stand up.” As it turns out, she was only in about a foot of water, but it felt overwhelming! We believe that with a change in perspective, we’ll see that we have the resources we need for reopening school. We’ve talked to some of the Nation’s leaders in the areas of trauma, mental health, and technology. Consider this your guide as we make plans together.

First Things First: Self Care Before Reopening School

You’re going to want to skip this and go to the next section. But trust us on this, take care of yourself first. We say it often, when the instructions are given at the beginning of a flight, we are instructed to put our oxygen mask on first in the event of an emergency. THEN we are told to take care of others around us. So what are you doing TODAY to take care of yourself? We’ve talked about this in two different podcast episodes: one before the Covid-19 pandemic and one after the Covid-19 pandemic hit. We also wrote a blog post on it, just in case you’d rather read about it!

Staff Care in Reopening School

In this podcast episode with Dr. Bryan Pearlman, he emphasizes taking care of the staff at our schools. He asks the question, “What are we doing to welcome our staff back?” The isolation and/or the struggle to balance life and work simultaneously has been enough trauma for a lot of us! And let’s remember we have all felt intense grief about the way the school year ended. Not only that, but some of our fellow staff members have contracted Covid or have had to say goodbye to a friend or family member during this time. What resources are available to help our work family recover from what they’ve experienced? We are hopeful that our guide will help you have a conversation with your administrator, and together you all can ease the minds of the faculty and staff at your school.

The Role of Trauma in Reopening School

Take a look at the students in the picture above. Which would you guess has experienced trauma? When we look at reopening school we can’t judge which students have experienced trauma based on their outward expressions. As Dr. Bryan Pearlman stated in our podcast interview with him, we have to prepare as if every student has experienced trauma. Whether it’s through the isolation and separation from friends and family or the stress they have experienced due to parent job loss and sadly, in some cases, abuse. *This blog post was written before the recent events in our Nation. We can now add in the trauma our students are experiencing from racism, violence, protests, and riots.

Dr. Lena Pearlman reminds us in our podcast episode with her that grief is not linear. We know that we go through a grieving process, but that doesn’t mean once we reach the last phase we’re done. Sadness, anger, anxiety, and other emotions can reach up from out of nowhere and grab us. So what will that look like? Since we can’t rely on outward signs or physical marks to show us who has experienced trauma, grief, and/or abuse, your school staff needs to expect the unexpected. Consider a trauma training for your staff. If you don’t have a trauma recognition system in place, now is a great time to implement one! Use our guide to have a conversation with your administration about how to start one. Remember that part of trauma education involves helping your staff to realize that trauma isn’t relegated to just one season.

Practical Ways to Support Students in Trauma

Dr. Lena Pearlman also recommends putting a resource guide together. In our Guide to Reopening School we help you list some resources to help you meet the various needs of your students and families. From this resource guide you might be able to put a list together to distribute to parents.

One way to support students is to start a student-led B.I.O.N.I.C. club, which stands for “Believe It Or Not I Care.” During a recent podcast, Sandy Austin, who helped counsel students after the Columbine tragedy, explained how she began the B.I.O.N.I.C. program at her school after the students experienced multiple traumatic events. Participants in the club brainstorm ways to support students who are going through tough times. These students make personal visits to students in the hospital, design cards for their hurting peers, deliver food to those in need, etc. The club is student-led, and Sandy explained that other students shared how it was so much more special when they received cards and food items from their peers.

Equity

The pandemic has awakened us to equity issues while simultaneously creating equity issues! When online learning began we became aware of students with limited technology and/or internet capabilities. At the same time many students’ parents experienced job loss. In our podcast with Dr. Ruby Payne, she shared hope with us that since the economic issues have been so widespread, maybe families will accept food assistance and other types of help more readily than in isolated job loss or sickness related events.

“School counselors are advocates, leaders, collaborators and consultants who create systemic change by providing equitable educational access …School counselors demonstrate their belief that all students have the ability to learn by advocating for an education system that provides optimal learning environments for all students…School counselors as social-justice advocates support students from all backgrounds and circumstances.”
This paragraph from the ASCA Ethical standards means that leveling the playing field and providing equity isn’t optional. This paragraph has never been as important as it is now as various people groups need advocates who will fight for systemic change. So what will we do with this increased awareness?

Technology We’ve Learned

If you haven’t gotten the book, 50+ Tech Tools for School Counselors by Angela Cleveland and Steve Sharp, GO GET IT!!! This book will be our handbook in the event we have any other online learning experiences. Steve Sharp talked with us on one of our recent podcasts and shared his favorite tech tools. Teyanna Walker also opened our eyes to the possibilities within Google Classroom and Google products. Some of our favorite tools that we’ve discovered have been Screencast O Matic, Nearpod, and Flipgrid. Matt Berry, chairperson of the board of directors for the Missouri School Counselor Association, shared an incredible technology resource with us during our podcast interview with him.

Next Time… We’ll Be Ready

In Home Alone Kevin McAllister was caught off-guard when the Wet Bandits came to his house. This transition to online learning might have surprised us and left us scrambling at first, but if it happens again, as Kevin McAllister said, “we’ll be ready!” Remember my friend Holly? It took someone else to remind her that all she had to do was stand up. That’s what we’re doing for you. You have the tools and now you have the guide to help you re-open school.