OneRouge Community Check-In - Week 117

Week #117

This talk is a continuation of our ‘Education For All’ series with a focus on Back-To-School in EBR with updates from primary to post-secondary leaders including:

• Dawn Chanet Collins (School Board Member, EBRPSS)

• Dr. Brandy M. Tyson (Dean of Technical & Adult Education, BRCC)

As you all know, schools, families, and communities have been disrupted since March 2020. Families, especially children, rely upon schools not just as a place of learning, but also fellowship and community connection. We will discuss the impact of these past two years and share resources to continue to help our city’s bright minds shine even brighter.

Quick Links: Notes, Community Announcements

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Speaker Notes

Dr. Brandy M. Tyson (Dean of Technical & Adult Education, BRCC)

We want to assist the whole individual. Whatever barriers they come with we seek to assist them in overcoming them. We currently offer online, hybrid and in person classes. All of our in person classes are picking up steam. For online we offer synchronous and asynchronous. We have a lot of great technology across our campus. There’s been a lot of funding attached. We have a college to church initiative. We are partnering with Shilo baptist church. The adult education program allows them to come in and test and see where they are to get them for the HISET. We’re going to have that at the church. You can get shorter embedded credentials. Think of the individual who wants to get reskilled and do it quickly. Two things that are happening is a food pantry at the main campus. We know that insecurity exists, so there has been a food pantry established. There are canned goods and hygiene products. There will also hopefully be packaged entrees as well. We, as the deans, have started trainings with the faculty and staff to develop missions, assignments, choose textbooks, anything related to instructions. We are registering now. We have money out there for training. If you think you can’t afford it, reach out to us.

Adonica Pelichet Duggan

As we start to think about Back To School, it’s important to think about wrap around supports. What are all the different supports around the feeding program. There are tons of supply giveaways everywhere. Make sure we stay connected throughout the year. We’re excited to wrap up the Baton Rouge Youth Voice initiative. We have the report coming out in the next couple weeks. Through that youth voice, school safety is a top concern. There are also a lot of new program offerings throughout the district and a lot of traditional schools are offering a lot new programs. The release of the state test scores earlier this week show that we have a lot of work to do to get back to where we were pre-pandemic. We are still struggling with literacy. Our Changemakers application closes on Monday. We have a lot of great applications already. We spend a day a month talking with community leaders about education in Baton Rouge.

Liz Smith

We’re still in COVID one way or another. They feel like the adults around them have moved on but they have not. They want to talk about the COVID impact on their mental health. This has been a big shock for them. As we head back into school those feelings are going to resurface.

Dawn Chanet Collins (School Board Member, EBRPSS)

It’s election season and everything is about the children, but we can’t pretend election season isn’t going to have an impact. People have qualified on the 2014 map, which is severely malapportioned. There are two lawsuits in play regarding redistricting. One issue is that the redistricting plan that the board voted on 5-4 is called Plan 22 - You cannot split precincts. That’s a state law and it originated in district court and it’s in appeals. The other is in appeals and it’s malapportiate. What that means moving forward is that things are up in the air. Expect a lot of change politically across the board. We have gotten some amount of transparency surrounding COVID dollars to give our teachers a stipend, which has happened around the country. Hopefully we will be able to retain more teachers. There is a labor crisis around the country. It appears to be a little bit exacerbated right now. Hopefully this will help our staff feel more excited about coming to work and to feel appreciated.

QUESTIONS

What is the "culturally responsive plan"? and do we have a similar plan for k-12?

Dr. Brandy M. Tyson - It’s been a very interesting training. Is that reaching all of our students? Can our Black students relate to that? We don’t want to remove history, we just want to make sure it is reflected accurately. Do we have any beliefs and value systems in us that allow us to not handle each other or our students with respect and if so, how do we address that? The instructors are actually making plans. Something as simple as how would you change your powerpoint slide. The trainer started his research in K-12. A student, faculty member and staff, they bring everything with them. If they see something they can relate to, it may give them more courage to learn more or seek more.

Adonica Pelichet Duggan - Those decisions are made at the school level. Annually we host our education as a civil right conference.

State Test results are down, and you mentioned school safety and mental health - what sort of programs are available to support students no matter what age they are.

Traci Vincent - I worked with Big Buddy this summer and I got to take a look at the students in these programs. I can understand how the young person would think that the adults have moved on because they’ve gotten vaccinated. For them, it was just too much to wrap their minds around. I had students who were completely checked out. Behaviorally, I can see how that shows up as anxiety. When it rained they would get really upset when it rained, and that’s of course because of the flooding.

Where we are for the afterschool side.

Jan Ross - BRAYN (Baton Rouge Area Youth Network) - providers serving our students after school. It is really to lift up that sector. To provide professional development trainings, to engage families, to lift up the providers. It has been around for about 24 months. We have seen over 40 organizations come together and break down those hard siloed walls.

https://www.ourbrayn.org/

Is there a difference between what youth in the rural part of the state need vs. the urban parts?

Dr. Patrick Tuck - What we’ve noticed in 4-H and statewide is that the students weren’t used to being with each other. There was a steep resocialization curve. Summer camp, everybody was going into it as a first timer. The opportunity for the junior leaders to be a mentor was not there and harder to implement than it’s been. That’s our programs and competitions that happen at the local, regional and state level. We were bringing 1500 kids to campus, none of whom who had multiple years of experience. In everything that we do, character development is a central piece, so there was an increased need this year. As far as urban vs. rural - with two or three agents in a rural setting you can serve an entire population. So if you look at Acadia and Vermillion, the ratio for mentorship is very strong. In urban settings, three agents can’t do that. If we really want to do it the way we’re designed to do it, we should be in 6-7 schools and have more agents. There are a million kids in Louisiana and even in our best years we’re reaching about 200,000, which leaves 80% of people left out of the program. Something that should be on our radar is the board of elementary and secondary education they are having serious conversations about SEL (social and emotional learning) in classrooms.

Is there a line item for mental health?

Dawn Collins - We brought in CASTLE, It’s a national organization that has worked with different large districts across the nation to help create an infrastructure for SEL initiatives. So yes, we have started putting a huge focus on mental health.

Brandy Tyson - We need to focus on the relationship with employers and establish some funding streams as we partner with them. Just to make sure that they are invested in that.

I’m mostly K-12. WE have a whole team of people who are focused on the next level. We provide information for the kids. We just did a week-long program where they participated in everyday activities to get them interested in healthcare careers. We do have partnerships and programs with higher education folks to get students to that next level. There are lots of options from certifications and 2 year degrees.

Rev. Anderson - As somebody who created an apprenticeship, they are often born through the employment sector and not the education sector. As Louisiana starts trying to transition to future industries and to living wage economies, and a new workforce, we have to recognize that we have a huge formerly incarcerated population that the traditional lines do not work for them. Oftentimes if someone has gone through the carceral system they are locked out.

Adonica Pelichet Duggan - These elections are important. We have a half a billion dollar a year organization that is in charge of our youth. It’s important that we’re informed about this election cycle. It’s really important that we make sure our children have the leaders that they deserve.

Dawn Chanet Collins - Most meetings are streamed these days. Watch the meetings. Investigate it. Email the incumbent. Do you agree or disagree. It’s hard to make an informed decision if you don’t know what’s happening.

Why are the school board meetings so long?

Dawn Chanet Collins - We start at 5 and we just passed a policy to ensure that we stop at 9 p.m. Sometimes there are some important things that cause us to go to midnight. And just like all politics some people overstack the agenda.

Community Announcements

Louisiana Center for Children's Rights is hiring a social worker for a supervisory position in their BR office. For more information see: https://lakidsrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Social-Work-Supervisor-Job-Posting-1.pdf or email me at kmosby@vera.org

Baton Roots is hosting Sow Good Saturday tomorrow at the farm! https://healthybr.givepulse.com/event/287784-Sow-Good-Saturday-Baton-Roots

Chef traci is cooking grilled lemon garlic chicken and okra! Antonia Harris is hosting a free yoga class!

Wilson Foundation has its fall grant cycle with grant applications due Aug 25. https://www.hawilsonfoundation.org/grant-application/ Please contact me if you have any questions. janross@hwilson.org

Rev Anderson - There are a multitude of back to school events this weekend. Wed. 10th, there’s a metro council meeting with a budget on the agenda. We need to be in the room and we need to ask what these budgets mean to us.

State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds from ARPA You can find the official allocations for other cities in Louisiana on the Treasury’s website or using this pdf: https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/fiscalrecoveryfunds-metrocitiesfunding1-508A.pdf

Flitcher Bell - Next Thursday at 12 p.m. we’re continuing our webinar series wrapping up the legislative session. Also, on the 19th, there’s going to be another expungement event on Blunt Road.

• August 11, 2022-12:00 – 1:30 p.m. -- Part III:Economic Development/Stability, Quality Affordable Ethical Healthcare, Housing Stability & The Continuing Impact of COVID

Rep. Randal Gaines, Esq., District 57; Rep. Mandie Landry, District 91; Darryl Gissel, Office of Mayor Sharon Weston Broome (INVITED); Laura Tuggle, Esq., Exec. Director, Southeast Louisiana Legal Services; Alma Stewart, President, Louisiana Center for Health Equity

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__3A6sVOsT229nyR4YgJBTQ

• August 25, 2022- 12:00 – 2:00– Part IV:Where Do We Go From Here- Post Pandemic Health Emergency (Infrastructure, Voting Rights, Education, Healthcare, Housing Insecurity)

Rep. Edmond Jordan, Esq., District 29 (INVITED); Senator Regina Ashford Barrow, District 15 (INVITED); Dr. Melissa Flournoy, Board Chair, Louisiana Progress; Tara LeBlanc, Medicaid Director, LDH; Danny Mintz, Ph.D., Dir. Of Safety Net Policy, The Budget Project (INVITED)

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UnjrfnCkT4y07uoD4b-5BQS

The Registration Link is as follows:

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nfN4GiwEQhGMBaR8RAfPlQ