Ella Baker PTA Meeting Notes - 2019
Thursday, Jan 10
Guest Presenter: Kira, School Counselor
Kira started with younger kids and what is age appropriate behavior for them. They are ego-centric and may have a difficult time sharing their teacher's attention with other classmates. Not all kids tell their teacher what happens during the day.
It's important for parents to check in daily with their kids and try to find out how their day is, what's going on, etc. If younger kids don't want to talk, you can use play, or stories, books about feelings & working out conflicts, drawing to get them to share. It's easier for them if it's another character going through something if they don't want to talk about it themselves.
If you hear a reoccurring issue of something happening in the classroom, the classroom teacher is the first person to reach out to. The teacher may not be aware of what's going on. Mary asked later that if you don't feel you're getting a satisfying response from the teacher, Kira said to go to someone else - another teacher, Betsy, Kira, Josh.
Parents can help by giving kids strategies on how to work things out for themselves. How can we empower them? How can we talk about/teach our family values with them? How can they respond if someone is bothering them at school?
After bringing up with school, please know that change takes time. The school works on trying to empower students and helping them change their behavior. It doesn't happen overnight. You can find out if the teacher and parents are on the same page. Are they using the same language or giving the same message? For instance, "Don't hit" and "Be kind to one another" are 2 different messages.
Be proactive rather than reactive. (Connecting with your child. Find out how they are doing, try to empower them to handle different situations, etc.)
Regarding consequences, EBS takes into consideration student age, age appropriate behavior, individual considerations...
The school will not talk about the consequences of the other child who may be instigating. They suggest do not approach the other family of the child who is instigating (unless you know them and have a relationship with them already).
Tattling versus Telling.
Tattling - smaller issue to get someone in trouble.
Telling - getting someone out of trouble.
Are we tattling or telling?
Older kids are involved with peer mediation. (Starts 6th grade through 8th to those kids who show interest, they go through interview process...)
It's voluntary for 3/4, 5/6 to participate in weekly peer mediation meetings. Older kids have restorative circle too. (Cooper's class does it daily.)
Praising and reinforcing positive behavior is more effective than focusing on negative behavior.
EB School team is PPT - pupil personnel team: made up of school psychologist, social worker, Kira, teachers