May is Children’s Mental Health Month

May is Children’s Mental Health Month

By Kaylor Miles, Special to the Outlook

Frederick Douglass said, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”

As a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Certified School Counselor, children’s mental health is of particular importance to me. I have observed throughout my career many children suffering with mental health disorders that are often not recognized, or diagnosed. Some children simply lack basic social skills. Schools have a unique opportunity to provide mental health services and social and emotional learning (SEL) using the school as a place to obtain these lifelong skills.

According to The American School Counselor Association (ASCA), School Counselors are to help students focus on academic, career, social and emotional development, so they achieve success in school and are prepared to lead fulfilling lives as responsible members of society. Unfortunately, as a former School Counselor, duties may not include working with students in small groups, or providing individual counseling sessions. I served in the following capacities:

  1. Testing Coordinator
  2. English Speaking Other Language (ESOL) Coordinator
  3. Response to Intervention (RTI) Coordinator
  4. Scheduling
  5. Academic Advisor
  6. Coordinating Parent and Teacher Conferences and
  7. Hall Duty

These duties and responsibilities don’t allow for opportunities to work with students who may be struggling with mental health or social and emotional issues. According to the American School Counseling Association (ASCA), during the 2014-2015 school year, the national average for student to School Counselor ratio was 482 to 1. In Florida, the ratio was 485 to 1. The (ASCA) recommends a 250 to 1 ratio. As an Elementary and Middle School Counselor, I was the only counselor assigned to that grade level with a student population of over 500 students. As a result, many students may never see their School Counselor.

Data suggests children who receive SEL perform better academically and demonstrate improved pro-social behaviors. This is not “rocket science.” I presented a proposal several years ago to then Leon County School Superintendent Bill Montford. During our meeting, I told him we expect children to pass a standardized test, but the night before they may have witnessed their mother being beaten or had to get their younger siblings fed and ready for school. You can’t expect them to pass that test. However, if you meet their emotional needs they will perform academically. He agreed, and allowed me the privilege to work with Title I schools as a mental health counselor. The work was challenging at times, but more than rewarding. I worked with students, who were referred by school administrators, teachers and parents, who had behavioral and academic issues. This was a tremendous opportunity for me because I reminded students I wasn’t going to teach them math or reading, but would teach them skills to help them navigate life, in addition to discussing their concerns for seeing me. Some of our group topics included: importance of making good choices, bully and self-esteem and why it was important to treat people the way you wanted to be treated. In one middle school case, a teacher reported, a student was being bullied for repeating outfits. I met with the student and she confided in me that both of her parents had recently lost their jobs and the family was struggling financially. I told her I would, with her permission, speak to the other students in her class about bullying her. I always give students the option of attending these meetings. She stated she wanted to meet with her classmates. During the meeting, she told her classmates about her parents losing their job and explained to them this was the reason she was repeating outfits. I asked the students, what would happen if their parents lost their jobs? One student said “I don’t live with my parents I live with my grandmother.” Another student said “I live with my aunt.” Then another student said “we wouldn’t be able to have the things we have if our parents didn’t work.”

Finally, one student said, “I’m sorry for making fun of your clothes.” Eventually, all of the girls apologized. I reminded students there are always three parties as it relates to bullying, the victim, the bully and the bystanders. I ask them who has the most power some said the bully, some said the victim. I told them the bystander has the most power simply because of their numbers. If you see someone being bullied, stand up and say that’s not right. Several weeks later, the teacher who initially alerted me to the bully issue reported a new male student had arrived and started to bully a student. She reported that the five girls who were initially bullying in class told the young man we don’t bully here and the bullying stopped. I was so proud of those students for using their empathy and the power of numbers as bystanders to stop bullying in their classroom.

This is only one of many examples where I was able to focus on the issue and address the problem using psycho-education. Not only did we end two bullying situations, which could have escalated, but students were taught a life skill, showing empathy for others and making good choices. I always reminded my students we are all leaders and you can lead people the right way or you can choose to lead the wrong way. Again, having mental health professionals in the schools to address mental health disorders, provide consultation to school administrators, teachers and staff and consultation for parents can only help our students. We still need to use School Counselors, however, for their intended purpose of developing their social and emotional skills. Schools provide access and, in many cases, a safe place for students to thrive and grow.

For many students this is an environment that may be more conducive to therapeutic interventions and psycho-education. Moreover, some children may never see a counselor unless it’s in school, due to the cost or transportation associated with seeing a therapist in private practice.

Let’s capitalize on this opportunity by using School Counselors to develop social and emotional skills and bringing in Mental Health Professionals to address disorders.

Kaylor Miles is the Executive Director of the Bethel Family Counseling Center and a Ph.D. Candidate in Educational Leadership at Florida A&M University.

Eutaw Primary designated as an Alabama  Bicentennial School

Eutaw Primary designated as an Alabama Bicentennial School

Eutaw Primary was selected from a pool of 400 schools to serve as an Alabama Bicentennial School. The very competitive process included schools throughout Alabama submitting applications and proposed projects. Alabama Bicentennial projects must foster community and civic engagement. Eutaw Primary will receive $2,000 in the fall to assist with implementation of the project. A press conference will be held in early August to recognize the Alabama Bicentennial School designees throughout the state. Congratulations Eutaw Primary School!

Great Educators Never Stop Learning

Great Educators Never Stop Learning

When Matthew Powell of Kentucky began his profession as instructional assistant and custodian, he was handed a big wad of keys and told to go upstairs. With no further direction, Powell figured out his professional path—for the most part—on his own.

Looking back now, “I wish I had a mentor,” he reflects, “someone to go along with me and explain the value of my role in that school and the different opportunities where I could be an educator for students.” Today, Powell is a custodial supervisor and bus driver for Graves County Schools in the Bluegrass State. He’s also night a night watchman and campus resident, meaning he lives on school grounds.

“Public education is my passion and my desire to live at school to look after students who are staying at school events or coming back from sporting events late at night is an example of my dedication to our children and their safety,” he says.

NEA members, like Powell, have always been passionate about their profession, appreciating the profound influence they have (in their many and varied roles as educators) on the health, safety, well-being, learning opportunities, and development of their students. So it’s fitting that NEA would become the vehicle for members to take the lead of their profession, express their voice, and make a difference for kids, schools, and the communities they serve.

Powell was one of several educators who were recently in Washington, D.C. to rollout two NEA developed reports, Great Teaching and Learning and the ESP Professional Growth Continuum. These reports offer teachers and education support professionals (ESP) recommendations to create a system of continual professional learning with an intense focus on student needs, and they were created with input from two expert panels and task forces focused on how educators, including ESP, can work even more effectively to help students, their families, and communities.

“Every student deserves to have a team of educators that cares for, engages and empowers learners, provides challenging instruction, and enlists the entire school community to ensure student success,” says NEA President Lily Eskelsen García. “The reports call for a new vision—a system of shared, mutual responsibility—that is founded on the premise that educators are ultimately responsible to students, to their colleagues, and to their professions.”

 

NEA began to chart a course to greater student learning through strong professional practice with its 2011 report, Transforming Teaching: Connecting Professional Responsibility with Student Learning, and its 2015 Accountability Task Force Report, which outlined a vision for shared responsibility and student success…

Read the full article here:

 

Different City, Same Results: Students in DC who use vouchers to go to private schools do WORSE than their peers who don’t 

Different City, Same Results: Students in DC who use vouchers to go to private schools do WORSE than their peers who don’t 

Washington Post — Students in the nation’s only federally funded school voucher initiative performed worse on standardized tests within a year after entering D.C. private schools than peers who did not participate, according to a new federal analysis that comes as President Trump is seeking to pour billions of dollars into expanding the private school scholarships nationwide.


“D.C. students who used vouchers had significantly lower math scores a year after joining the program, on average, than students who applied for a voucher through a citywide lottery but did not receive one. For voucher students in kindergarten through fifth grade, reading scores were also significantly lower. For older voucher students, there was no significant difference in reading scores.

“For voucher recipients coming from a low-performing public school — the population that the voucher program primarily aims to reach — attending a private school had no effect on achievement. But for voucher recipients coming from higher-performing public schools, the negative effect was particularly large.”

Download (PDF, 2.23MB)

VIRGINIA: The Promise of ESSA in Reducing Test Stress

VIRGINIA: The Promise of ESSA in Reducing Test Stress

NEA President Lily Eskelsen García discussing the Every Student Succeeds Act at a townhall in Manassas, Virginia.

Morgan Dennis, a high school student at Forest Park High School in Prince William County, Virginia, said she gets migraines from the enormous amount of test stress she’s under at school. Classmate Caili Downs agreed.

“It’s actually affecting my eyesight, all the testing,” Downs said. “It takes the fun out of school. The work and testing level in AP classes is just way too high.”

The students were seated around a cafeteria table at Stonewall Jackson High School in Manassas, Virginia, with educators, parents and community leaders at a townhall meeting hosted by the Prince William County Education Association (PWEA). The goal of the meeting was to get input from everyone in the school community about how the new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) could reduce testing and improve public education overall.

Community members now have the chance to weigh in on both the Virginia state plan, which will be rolled out in September, as well their district plans. The National Education Association (NEA), Virginia Education Association (VEA) and affiliates like PWEA are now asking that fill out an “opportunity checklist” for schools that will improve learning conditions. Reducing testing, increasing enrichment programs, improving school climate, updating technology – anything and everything that makes a school great should be on the list.

NEA President Lily Eskelsen García calls for an “opportunity dashboard” composed of key indicators of school quality that is largely data already captured by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. They include access to advanced coursework (AP/IB, dual enrollment, college gateway math and science) fully-qualified teachers, specialized instructional support personnel (school counselors, nurses and psychologists), high-quality early education, arts and athletic programs, and community health care and wellness programs.

We want to find what the best schools with the most successful students are providing and give that to all of our schools. Did you know that 80 percent of the richest families send their kids to their neighborhood public schools? Why? Because they are fabulous schools” – NEA President Lily Eskelsen García.

At the PWEA townhall, more than 150 people crowded around tables throughout the cafeteria to share what they thought schools needed to improve and how ESSA might help. The one issue that kept popping up at every table – testing and test stress.

One educator said she tries to find ways to give students brain breaks and creative outlets to break up the grueling testing sessions. A central office staff member said schools should offer instructional support with more mental health specialists like counselors, social workers and nurses to help boost positive school climate and reduce test stress. A parent said her daughter must take AP tests even if she doesn’t want to and that parents should be informed about how to opt their kids out.

“A townhall like this is so critical because we have an opportunity for change and improvement and we need to listen to all voices,” says Prince William County School Board vice chair Lillie Jessie. “We’re hearing a lot about testing, and though we need ongoing assessments, there is a lot of standardized testing that doesn’t guide instruction. Any test that doesn’t guide instruction is the wrong kind of test. Right now, ESSA offers an opportunity to improve assessments, and as we continue with implementation we’ll continue to get input from the community.”

When Jim Livingston, a middle school math teacher and VEA president, addressed the townhall he said that “nobody in this room has ever learned a thing by filling in a bubble on a standardized test. With ESSA we are talking now about how to improve performance assessments and reduce testing. For teachers, that’s exciting because that’s where the joy gets back into learning. It’s coming!”

He said that the heart and soul of ESSA is about continuous improvement. “As union leaders, educators, parents, community members and students we should always be asking how could I have done that better?” he said. “And what ESSA recognizes and the No Child Left Behind Law failed to see is that improvement doesn’t come from the top down but from the bottom up. ESSA requires policy makers to listen to us and that’s the piece that’s been left out for far too long.”

ESSA allows for educator and community voices to be heard and Livingston encouraged everyone gathered to make their voices heard. “It’s an opportunity we haven’t had in two decades.”

Northern Virginia high school students at the ESSA townhall on April 20.

NEA President Lily Eskelsen García, the keynote speaker at the townhall, said her proudest moment was sitting in the White House with President Obama when he signed ESSA into law and signed out of existence No Child Left Behind, or what she called “No Child Left Untested.”

But she said that ESSA isn’t only about getting rid of the era of toxic testing, it’s about finding ways to improve all aspects of education and doing so with the expertise of those who know it best – our educators.

“On every state and school level they are asking us to provide a dashboard of indicators of what makes a school successful, things that measure student success beyond standardized tests like access to classes offer college credit in high school, access to rigorous classes, or gifted and talented programs in elementary schools,” she said. “And a librarian! That’s like a unicorn in some places, having a librarian in some areas is like a fable, but we know a staff librarian is a measure of school success.”

For years, Eskelsen García said, the government tried to find the school failures by looking at test scores, and when they were low, they blamed the teachers and administrators. They fired people and shut schools down.

“We want to do the opposite. We want to find what the best schools with the most successful students are providing and give that to all of our schools,” she said. “Did you know that 80 percent of the richest families send their kids to their neighborhood public schools? Why? Because they are fabulous schools.”

She encouraged everyone to visit the best schools they can find and take inventory. Do they have an orchestra? A school nurse, librarian and counselors? How about updated technology? Are there AP classes, baccalaureates, after school programs, enrichment classes, and nutrition programs? She said that educators should make a list of all the things that make a school great and demand that they be offered at their own schools. ESSA offers that opportunity.

The focus on charters and vouchers are a deflection that evade the real questions, she said, like why some schools are allowed to have roofs that are leaking or why some schools have no counselors to reach out to kids at risk of dropping out.

“Every public school should look like our best public schools,” she said.
While policymakers focus on the letter of the law, educators, parents and community members can focus on the spirit of the law, Eskelsen García said.

“It’s all about voice, your voice,” she said. “Talk to each other. Partner with each other. Together we can design the schools of our dreams. What would the school or your dreams look like? Kids would smile. Parents would show up. Well, who wants to work on why the parents aren’t coming and how we can change that? Why aren’t kids smiling and what can we do to change that? Once you’re working on your dreams, you won’t let anyone stop you.”

Learn more about how to get involved at getessaright.org.

Source:

OP-ED: Did DCPS Parents ask for More Testing? I doubt it!!

OP-ED: Did DCPS Parents ask for More Testing? I doubt it!!

Jablow Testimony
3/15/2017

SBOE
OSSE’s ESSA Draft Proposal
102 5th St. NE, WDC 20002

Dear members of DC’s state board of education,

I am Valerie Jablow, a DCPS parent. I am sending you all this via email because it is the only way I can get timely feedback to you on OSSE’s response to your recommendations on ESSA. I urge you to vote NO on OSSE’s ESSA proposal.

Yesterday afternoon, I found out about OSSE’s response to public comment on its ESSA draft proposal.

I didn’t get to read that response until this morning, while eating breakfast and trying to get my kids out the door.

Then I read that OSSE would promulgate a new draft plan by the end of today, which I have not yet seen.

How do you keep up?

Perhaps more importantly, how does any parent, teacher, or administrator keep up?

Back in November, I and other parents of public school students in DC testified before you about the horrible effect of a test-heavy emphasis in accountability on students and schools in DC.

In February, when the superintendent of OSSE and her chief of staff held a public meeting in Ward 6 on ESSA, they touted the feedback they had already received in 50 meetings with 100 different groups. And they repeatedly said that teachers, principals, and parents wanted the heavy-test emphasis of its draft proposal.

Jaws dropped in the room that night. Who were those people who wanted testing to dominate accountability? Certainly not anyone we knew in our schools!

Thus, several weeks ago I made a FOIA request of OSSE, for a list of meetings, participants, and feedback received in all its meetings on ESSA from such groups and individuals from January 1, 2016 through the end of February 2017.

Right now, the best evidence we have for such feedback is OSSE’s response document from yesterday—in which “many” and “some” commenters are said to have said something, all of which is not necessarily reflected in what OSSE is now proposing to do with ESSA!

Thus, I hope that my FOIA request will allow me and others to find out what the Chesapeake Bay Foundation had to say about ESSA in DC public schools—as well as the other organizations whose staff met with OSSE on ESSA implementation for more than a YEAR, while all of us DC citizens (who, unlike the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, actually have children and/or taxes in this game) had only 33 days to comment on the proposal. (Which is three days more than the federal minimum of 30 days for public comment–and a few days more than the DCPS chancellor got.)

Perhaps the most radical thing in OSSE’s draft calls for schools being taken over by other operators when their test scores do not go up after 4 years (p. 59).

As you know, even with the changes it is proposing, OSSE is still placing a heavy emphasis on test scores and attendance. At the same time, there is nothing in OSSE’s accountability framework that penalizes schools whatsoever for high suspension and expulsion rates.

So what is to stop a school from suspending and expelling its way into higher attendance rates or higher test scores?

Nothing.

And where will those students go when they are expelled or encouraged to leave?

To their by right schools!

So what does OSSE’s proposal do to take this differential into account and its effect on the scores of receiving schools?

Nothing.

This is what you are voting for with OSSE’s policy here.

As you know, our city creates new charter schools whenever and wherever, without any regard for the effect on existing schools, neighborhoods, or unfilled seats.

As a result, DCPS is losing about 1% per year of “marketshare,” because growth in DC public school seats does not match growth of overall enrollments or of our student population. Just next week, for instance, the charter board will hear comments on proposals by two charter operators—KIPP DC and DC Prep—to create five new schools and 4000 new seats. The board will vote on those proposals in April. The board has also received applications for eight new charter schools beyond that, which it will vote on in May.

At the same time that the charter board is considering 13 (!) new schools, DC has more than 10,000 unfilled seats at existing public schools. (Data from 21st Century School Fund, using current audited enrollment numbers and MFP.)

So what will happen ten years from now, when these ESSA rules are up for re-assessment?

Absent any change from city leaders in our public school governance, DCPS will certainly be the smallest school system. This means more DCPS closures.

And absent any change in this OSSE policy, it means that some schools in DCPS will just become a place for kids off’ed from other schools, as those other schools chase better attendance and higher test scores—and thus create an even faster metric by which receiving DCPS schools will be taken over or closed altogether, because there is no accounting for this dynamic whatsoever in this policy or any city governance of our public schools.

This is what you are voting for with OSSE’s policy here.

One of the aims of OSSE’s ESSA policy is to provide a way to compare schools fairly and to have a common system of accountability between them. But this betrays a facile notion of how our schools actually work.

As you know, one school system in our city is bound to uphold a RIGHT to education. That is DCPS. The other system, charter schools, is not bound to uphold that RIGHT. That immediately differentiates the two sectors in a way that cannot be compared. It doesn’t mean one is better than the other—it simply means that they are different by design. Why wouldn’t you have a system of accountability that takes that difference into account instead of actively denying it even exists?

Moreover, there is nothing common between those two sectors in expulsion rules; suspension rules; facilities requirements; curricula; teacher training; and teacher retention rates—all of which are important not only to student achievement, but also in accountability to the public. OSSE’s proposal doesn’t acknowledge any of this.

In fact, OSSE has made some rather huge assumptions in its draft proposal, which distort true accountability.

To wit:

  • That student satisfaction = school success = higher attendance rates. (See p. 5 of the response document.) What evidence is given to show attendance is 100% (or some other percentage) in the control of each school? What evidence is given to show that student satisfaction means the school is “successful” and that students will attend at higher rates? Indeed, what is “success” in this scheme if not mainly high test scores?
  • That one of the purposes of the new rating system is to facilitate school choice by parents. This is perhaps the most grotesque distortion of ESSA possible. The point of school accountability is not to facilitate school choice, but to help students and to help schools help them. What assurance is here that parents and teachers will be able to use these test results and other criteria measured to help students learn better, except only in a punitive way, to avoid censure or takeover? Facilitating school choice should be the LAST thing that anyone is concerned about when it comes to helping our kids learn!

These assumptions and distortions are what you are voting for with OSSE’s policy here.

Finally, a note about compromise.

OSSE characterized its response yesterday to you and the public as a compromise.

But you, collectively, put together ten recommendations on OSSE’s draft proposal as a compromise before that—most of which have not even made it into OSSE’s response document.

So how much of a compromise was OSSE’s response yesterday—and for whom is it a compromise?

Here is a more concrete example:

OSSE’s rationale for not measuring high school growth is that different groups of high school students take different PARCC math tests and that it distorts scoring when those scores are combined.

OK. But right now, OSSE groups together middle school accelerated math test scores with regular math test scores and blithely spits out a number for both achievement and growth. That practice does indeed distort test scores—but OSSE has determined that’s OK with middle schools.

What sort of compromise is this?

I can attest that OSSE’s practice with those middle school scores has actively hurt my DCPS middle school, because a relatively large portion of its student body takes those accelerated math tests—whereas most other middle schools avoid those tests or have only a small fraction of their students take them.

So, instead of giving up on measuring high school growth or accurate middle school reporting, how about reporting data more responsibly (i.e., separate out results for accelerated tests)–or just using a different measure of math achievement than PARCC?

For all these reasons, I ask you to please not accept what OSSE is offering now. It is only a compromise of our ability to have rich, nuanced, and accurate assessments, which we desperately need and are not getting.

Your voting NO to OSSE’s proposal will give all of us time to make a policy of accountability that will reflect well on each school and every child. Thank you.

Source: Grafenburg’s Blog

NEA Foundation Gala Host Victoria Rowell is a Voice for Children

NEA Foundation Gala Host Victoria Rowell is a Voice for Children

victoria rowell

Photo (left to right): Host Victoria Rowell; Special Guest Maya Faison; Sharon Gallagher-Fishbaugh, Chair of the NEA Foundation Board of Directors; Evie Hantzopoulos, Executive Director of Global Kids; Jerry O’Flanagan, Executive Vice President, Consumer Banking, First National Bank of Omaha

The NEA Foundation’s Salute to Excellence in Education Gala, which honors the men and women who work in America’s public schools, was hosted Friday, February 10, by Victoria Lynn Rowell, an actress, writer, producer and dancer, and long-term advocate for foster children. She founded the Rowell Foster Children Positive Plan that supported services for foster children in fine arts, higher education, healthcare, financial literacy, and reunification programs. Today she is actively involved in the oldest home for U.S. foster children in the nation, The Carrie Steele Pitts Home in Atlanta, Georgia, which closely collaborates with the Atlanta Public School system.

In her memoir, The Women Who Raised Me, which is dedicated to the many women who served as role models in her life, she chronicles her rise out of the foster care system to attain success in the American ballet, theater and television. She writes of the series of women – from Agatha Armstead, a black Bostonian who was Victoria’s longest-term foster mother and first noticed her spark of creativity and talent, to Esther Brooks, a Paris-trained prima ballerina who would become her first mentor at the Cambridge School of Ballet — who lifted, motivated, and inspired her along the way.

Rowell has received 12 NAACP Image Awards and been honored with the United Nations Association Award for her commitment to education, human rights, world peace, and her support of foster children.

NEA Today talked to Rowell about her life and what she hopes for children today.

What was one of the most important messages you hoped to convey to the educators gathered at the NEA Foundation Gala?

That we need to celebrate the excellence of our public school educators who bring education to life for our nation’s children. My teachers taught me to burn brightly no matter what hardship I was facing. I wouldn’t be here without my teachers and mentors. The best educators have a lasting impact on a student, and the best way for students to honor their teachers is to make their own impact on the community and the world. Pass that inheritance of knowledge forward and make positive change.

Who were some of the most influential educators in your life?

In grew up in the state of Maine in the small farming community of West Lebanon and I remember my first and third grade teachers very vividly. I think in part because I stood out in my classroom so obviously. Maine does not have a big black population, certainly in the 1960s when I was going to school in rural Maine. But those two teachers were so inclusionary, so kind, and loving and sensitive. As I got older I was fortunate to have many excellent educators, like my ballet teachers in Boston and women from the community who served as my educators and mentors.

How did being a foster child shape you as a person?

l was born in Portland, Maine, and when I was 16 days old, I was surrendered to child services by my biological mother who suffered from mental illness. The experience I had in the foster care system opened my eyes as I was witness to the sacrifice of people who were foster parents and extended family members of my foster family helping care for me and others. I saw the sacrifice involved and raising an orphan of the living – other people’s children. And they did this for many children besides me. I had teachers showing up at my elderly foster mother’s house with a Thanksgiving food basket. In Boston, our home was attached to burnout boarded up building, and the staff of the Boston Globe came to our house at Christmastime with new or gently used toys. They still do this for foster families. When I went to New York City to study ballet, a Ukranian ballet teacher gave out of her own pocket to make sure I had what I needed. The sacrifice of others spared me from living an impoverished life. It made me a fighter who stands up and speaks out. My experience as a foster youth has been a brilliant inheritance – intellectually, spiritually, socially. My experience through the women who primarily educated me taught me about social equality and effecting change.

When did you decide to become an advocate for other foster children?

Today there are approximately 500,000 foster brothers and sisters in America. I advocate for them because not everyone can withstand the heartbreak. Not everyone can survive the shame. Not everyone can withstand the extraordinary loss. People don’t think about the amount of loss foster kids endure. Some relationships are bad for the children, but that is still a loss. But some relationships are beautiful and they are still removed for a variety of reasons, and that is a tremendous loss. Not everyone can endure that. We have incidents of suicide and addiction and homelessness and prostitution, among the boys and the girls. This is the underbelly if the system that I’ve witnessed and endured and I can’t imagine ever extracting myself from this reality. For me, not being an active part of my legacy, of my lot in life, would leave me rendered half a person. I wouldn’t be living authentically. Historically children have been abused in slavery, in sex slavery, for millennium. Children will always be in need. Right now the lead story is the children caught up in the immigration debate. They’re not going away. Their numbers are going to continue to increase as people seek refuge. And our classrooms are going to get bigger. The child welfare system will expand because it has to. People are looking to save their lives and looking for a better one. We have a lot of work ahead of us.

Why are mentors so critical to a child’s success, particularly to at-risk children?

Mentoring is tantamount to the success of any child, let alone foster child. The mentor offers continuity, a one-on-one experience with a child who might not have that anchor. Whether or not a mentor wants or expects that responsibility, sometimes the mentor is the only person that the child may grow a trusting relationship with. The mentor maybe be the only one that a child feels safe disclosing how they’re really feeling. It’s a very, very important relationship with a lasting trajectory that casts the net really wide for a child. It offers opportunities for excursions and experiential learning that might not otherwise be introduced. A good mentor relationship can be for life in some cases. A mentor gives the child something to aim for. A mentor inspires.

What messages can we convey to kids about race and tolerance?

We need to teach acceptance. To be tolerant, is to me, not sufficient. We have to accept people for who they are. We have to accept a child in transition, who is transgendered and in the LGBTQ community. We have to accept that children are people and don’t have a voting voice, but they do have a voice and they have opinions and feelings and they need to be loved and cared for. I think they are powerful change agents. When I was in Maine as a child I really felt accepted by the children I was in the classroom with. Maybe it was the tone the teachers set, I don’t know. But when I got to Boston, it was a different story. It was during busing. The school I was to attend and was about to have black students like me bused to it was burned down in Cambridge — right outside Harvard Square. We ended up in a church basement for our classes. Now that church basement houses homeless people and I go back often to walk around and to remember how beautiful people can be and how cruel. We have a responsibility to accept and include all children, all people. We must not cast aspersions because someone looks different and sounds different. You may not be able to see your face in their face, but they count as much as you do. There is no good end to what I see happening now to banning people who risk their lives to cross an ocean or a border. We can do better.

Where can children find strong role models?

In each other. On the cover of Time magazine was a girl who was born a boy. What a powerful role model. Malala Yousafzai, an 11-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who stood up for girls’ education, is an incredible role model. We have young role models on rafts and boats and sitting in detention camps. We have children coming unaccompanied into unknown and unfamiliar countries here and around the world bravely looking for a better life. Some of these kids are orphaned due to war. Those children and their courage and resilience are role models for all of us.