I hope you are beating the heat! I am trying and am in NO way complaining about it; that's for sure. I am again thankful that we have air conditioning in all of our buildings. With summer recreation underway and Summer School about ready to launch, it is certainly nice to have.
I am writing just to give you a quick update on three things that will get buried if I wait two or three more weeks.
WorkCamp Update: The first is that we were very thankful to have the WorkCamp workers and in our community last week. I had a chance to spend time with the adult volunteers and student workers last Wednesday and it didn't take long to see why they are such a benefit to any community. They were upbeat, enjoyed the work they were doing for those in our community, and were very thankful for the support they have received from everyone. They shipped out of the high school on Saturday, and I certainly wish all of them well.
Will Supreme Court Ruling Impact Us? The second thing is that the Supreme Court ruled in a case called Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 31.The bottom line of the over 80-page decision is that employees will no longer be forced to pay a union as a condition of employment. We have excellent relationships with our unions, also called associations. For us, this decision doesn't have a positive or negative impact; it will be business as usual. The complete "Janus" decision can be found at
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-1466_2b3j.pdf.
Mental Wellness Education: The third thing is that the New York State Education Department approved regulations to mandate mental wellness education in schools for the next school year. In essence, schools MUST offer mental health education in physical education and health classes to include detection of mental illness warning signs, coping strategies, and how to get help.
This will be nothing new for us to add at West Genesee. Our mental health education is already delivered in health and physical education classes; and in every other class as well. We have counselors, psychologists, and social workers who help support the education that is given both in assemblies, regular classes, and in small class settings.
To me, it just does not matter what type of mental wellness education is offered, it is all about developing relationships with students. Every employee in the District MUST want to get to know the students they work with so they can best detect when something isn't quite right. Relationship building is also important when it comes to helping students to find coping strategies or to find ways to get further help. I think we do an outstanding job with that and it is one of the big reasons why we are considered one of the smallest large schools around. A podcast that we helped NPR with regarding this mandate can be found at
http://wrvo.org/post/first-nation-new-york-requires-mental-health-information-curriculum.
That gets you caught up as of now! I hope you are able to enjoy July 4th with family and friends. Thanks to all of our servicemen and women past and present for giving us a reason to celebrate our independence.
#Wildcatpride!
Chris
