I believe this is a reminder for ourselves and our clients, patients, consumers, children, participants..
Remind them

“success is a series of small wins”

There are some who measure progress and success with the BIG BANG BAM..a knockout.

what happened before the knockout?

The small, tiny, little things matter. Those investments of time and energy matter.

Success happens gradually with a consistent, committed determination for a specific outcome

..OUTCOME..

may be unexpected but hard work pays off

Count the small wins cause they add up to a big one. 1+1=2 and anything is more than zero.

While you are focused on the outcome be mindful of the process.

I am thankful for the opportunity to share my thoughts about remote teaching and students learning. As we can see from the article, it’s happening all over the country. It makes me wonder how will all of this pan out. The world, social life, community, home life, and any other way of life as we know it has been totally DISRUPTED. This global pandemic has everyone in such a reactive mode. How do we prepare for what’s next without knowing what’s really next? Well, I can say we must learn to be more proactive and educate our community for future events.

Healthcare as we know it must be radically changed to a public health approach for it to be sustainable. Overall, health and wellness has big words behind it but has been ignored as it relates to those practices. There is such stigma with mental health that there are insufficient resources to adequately address the mental needs of all to ensure our well-being. We make an individual responsibility but it is a COLLECTIVE one. I believe the reason for nth wave of this “rona” is the inadequacies of the health care system and other systems that are to respond to such matters. When will “rona” go away and all of this will end? When we change our behaviors and prepare for what’s next.

I am a social worker by profession and training. Yes, I can teach my son but I lack the pedagogical training, knowledge, skill, and experience. I know I’m not the only one who has this struggle with ensuring my son is academically prepared for his next educational endeavor, high school. The community must collaborate to address the needs of the children, our future. It is literally a matter of life and death. The elected officials, school leadership, and teachers, must listen to the parents instead of disregarding their role. Parents must be part of the decision making process. Resources are necessary to teach children and these resources are vital to an enriching educational experience. Adequate, sufficient, and equitable resources must be appropriately allocated. Yes, APPROPRIATELY ALLOCATED!!!

I must say in my son’s school district resources were misallocated and all are suffering as a result, students, faculty, staff, and families. We will see the compounded impacts of this at a later time and it may be too late to say “we should have done…” However, “rona” is giving us a life experience we will forever remember. Yes, we will all be in the history books and discussed for years to come. Just as all of us are being resilient during this traumatic event, let’s acknowledge how our children are holding on because they want to be better than their best.

So who’s the real teacher, I mean really?!?

In the meantime, she’s concerned about how her son, who struggled academically when schools previously went remote for extended periods, will fare this month.

White has been working from home during the pandemic but said that it is difficult to manage her responsibilities as a social worker with her son’s needs when he takes part in remote instruction.

“He sees me at home, so he thinks that I can tend to him, but I can’t really because I have to do work,” she said. “I have two competing priorities, and both are just as important. So, what do you do?”

For the complete article https://19thnews.org/2022/01/moms-omicron-covid-school-closings/

#students #teaching #schools #education #opportunity #workingfromhome #learning #covid #school #socialworker

NBOE Board Meeting 12/21/21

Peace and blessings. Have a safe, blessed, and prosperous New Year.   

Yes, for 2022 there are required changes necessary so NBOE students, families, faculty, and staff can progress and prosper. 

1. The Board is no longer an Advisory Board where the DOE appoints the Superintendent. You all need to govern appropriately or you’re all guilty of Newark losing Governance under QSAC.  You all are responsible for the NBOE and the allocation of its resources.  Appropriate support and resources are necessary for success. The amount of funding received for mental health services was squandered on services that do not address mental health.  The consequences of that squander will be felt in the lives of students, families, faculty, and staff for years to come, SOCIAL and EMOTIONAL LEARNING is a tool and does not replace a mental health professional who can provide appropriate supports to the students, families, staff, and faculty.  Some of those supports are treatment, education, referrals, and consultation.  SEL DOES NOT DO THAT.  It is a disservice someone would think that was appropriate to allocate the amount of funding to that area instead of mental health services which is a sustainable solution.  SEL is not an actual solution to the problem.  Again, which one of your friends or someone in your network received that contract?  Inquiring minds want to know. I am disgusted this happened and it perpetuates the negligence of your fiduciary responsibility as a Board and mental health stigma.  Also, it creates an impediment to learning and academic success.  The community fought hard to acquire full local control and FULL LOCAL CONTROL is necessary to maintain and sustain. Whatever training you need, seek it out. Your responsibility and accountability impact people’s lives. It is a matter of life and death. Hopefully, you all know the consequence of losing Governance and will make the necessary changes for governing NBOE.  
2. Josephine Garcia still needs to resign from the Board and be held accountable for her disrespectful remarks towards the community as she is elected to serve. 

Now, I would like to discuss my main point about community schools. This is a model that encompasses the school as the hub of the community.  If the community had input about the allocation of those funds received for mental health services, the propaganda would not have won for SEL services and actual mental health services would have been contracted with behavioral health treatment providers here in Newark.  Again, I’m disgusted with whoever squandered that money.  There needs to be a Social Worker with a social work degree supervising School Social Workers.  That needs to change immediately because this will make a huge difference.  NBOE disregards the voice of the community because the school is no longer the hub especially under the neoliberalism auspices of “choice”   My son is in the 8th grade and there is silence from the central office about graduation preparation.  This is horrible.  The current One Newark Enrollment plan needs to be immediately dismantled.  Families being required to choose 8 schools is not a “real choice”.  As a community, we must reject the neoliberalism notion of choice because it is destabilizing our communities. 

The Board needs to have more transparency and include the community in making decisions that impact the lives of NBOE students, families, staff, and faculty. These same efforts were done under state control and are continuing under local control. Collaborate with parents and invested community members for the success and safety of NBOE schools.  It is a matter of life and death.

Practice social distancing, wear a mask, wash your hands for 20 seconds, get vaccinated, get boosted.

The remaining board meetings for 2022 need to be virtual as a matter of safety.  Peace and blessings.

Conversations are dependent upon one’s frame of reference, personal history, and contextual factors.

With whom you SIT, how you SIT, when you SIT, and where you SIT makes a big difference. But you must sit and be still.

it’s about PERSPECTIVE

Sitting with warriors and healed women is about connections with those who have been through a process. A process that has trained them to reflect, provide insight, and make assessments for future endeavors.

the PROCESS is GROWTH

The conversation is different because the thinking is different.

a warrior and healed woman speak through their spirit

Their process of growth radiates with their walk, persona, and non-verbal interaction with others. So, the conversation may be more about what’s observed in their actions. Their actions are their words.

Sit with the right people for you. These are the ones who will help you to be on the right path in the right way at the right time.

As we prepare for a new year to start new things, here is a reference list.

The 10 things are references to maintain, to have a sense of peace, and avoid confusion.

Do your best to be your best.

Self care is also: addressing your own problematic thoughts & behaviors; removing toxic (not just challenging) people/situations from your life; holding yourself accountable for what you do & say (and apologizing authentically) ; doing your own self-work to be emotionally literate.

A top priority for my next chapter

Happy New Year #newyear #2022 🎉🎉🎉
#socialwork #wellbeing #mentalhealth #positivevibes #wellness #selfcare

It is necessary to transform your environment to focus on what’s important, #peace.

In the busyness of life, take the time at any time and any where to create an environment that is peaceful.

It seems contrary to normalize not taking a vacation to be at peace. However, it is an acquired habit to make adjustments for the sake of peace. It is something that can happen on a daily basis, with available moments in the car, home, doctor’s office, elevator, at a restaurant, or in the supermarket line.

Transform your environment to transition your mind. It will make a difference.

IGNORE the naysayers

DEFY the limitations of those who want to make you to fit into their predefined box

KEEP PUSHING to be better than your best