CHARLESTON, W.Va. — More than 600 educators from across West Virginia are gathering for a two-day conference in Charleston focused on improving student mental health.
The West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) Student Support Conference is being held at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
WVDE Student Support & Well-being Director David Lee told MetroNews mental health, particularly among elementary school students, has been declining in the last few years due to a variety of reasons including the ongoing drug crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re seeing a spike in homeless with some of the issues we’re facing with the epidemic of drugs. We read about it and we hear about it every day, but it can’t become a norm,” Lee said.
One of the biggest obstacles for teachers, especially those just entering the profession, has to do with student discipline. Lee said teachers have to manage bad behavior more often. For some students, that means learning what’s right and what’s wrong for the first time because they’re not getting that reinforcement at home.
“They haven’t been taught behavior,” Lee said. “We’ve got to get to the point where we’re not only teaching behaviors, but we’re helping parents and grandparents with behaviors because you can’t expect a school in 7.5 hours to solve the problem.”
Lee said the well-being of students has always been a concern to teachers, but now, new teachers are entering the field carrying the weight of the pandemic and other problems at home.
“You come in with maybe a great deal of content knowledge, but what about the emotional state of a child that walks in your classroom that all of a sudden they came to school this morning and one of their parents got arrested? What if they don’t have parents? How do you deal with that?” he said.
State lawmakers, including state Senate Education Committee Chair Amy Nichole Grady (R-Mason), said on last week’s MetroNews “Talkline” she wants the issue of classroom behavior to be a priority during the 2024 Regular Legislative Session. She said she believes behavior problems have driven more teachers away from the profession.
More than 28,000 West Virginia students were suspended in 2022, according to data released earlier this year by WVDE.
Lee said one way to tackle the problem is to make school a fun place to learn while being able to recognize when additional help from a school counselor is needed.
“We need to make school exciting. We need to make it so the kids really enjoy it, so you have to be creative in the classroom, but you also have to be aware of some of the issues that you’re facing with kids that are having some trauma problems and social, emotional issues coming from bad situations from home,” he said. “You can’t let the problem keep festering because then it’ll get worse.”
Teachers, school counselors, social workers, homelessness support liaisons, school psychologists and community partners are taking part in breakout sessions Wednesday and Thursday.
Keynote speakers include Micki Arvin, an advocate living in recovery, nationally recognized authors of Disrupting Poverty William Parrot and Kathleen Budge, and a panel of school mental health providers from Fayette County.