How DPS professionals are meeting student needs during the shutdown

With all the talk since schools closed of teachers switching to online instruction and ESPs rallying to serve lunches to students in need, it would be easy to overlook another category of educators: those who represent the Department of Pupil Services.

How have the closures affected school counselors, social workers, psychologists, and nurses, all of whom are accustomed to close, personal contact with those they serve to carry out their duties? To find out, we asked a representative of each of the four categories from across the state to share their thoughts and tell us how they’re handling life in the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are their responses:

School Social Worker

Kathy Leh – Northeastern School District

As with many other educational professionals, individuals who fall under the umbrella of Pupil Services are caught in the middle between feelings of concern for what the future holds and hope caused by all the acts of human kindness they are witnessing. First and foremost, we all miss our students, and perhaps this national crisis will provide a new appreciation for the amazing system that is Pennsylvania public education.

It seems that we are all moving in the direction of online education.

Here is what I am witnessing firsthand from the colleagues I work with:

• School Social Workers: When the news of school shutting was first publicized, school social workers immediately became concerned about basic human necessities: food, clothing, and housing. Many school social workers have been involved with the efforts to address food scarcity that our children and families may face. As experts in mental health, school social workers are also resources for students, parents, and staff members who may be struggling with emotional struggles
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• Nurses: Our valuable school nurses have been involved in the collaboration efforts to make sure that medications needed by students who are housed at school were returned to families. As the medical experts on staff in schools, these individuals will be vital moving forward.
  
  
• School Counselors: School counselors are working on creating virtual classroom lessons for students. The school counselors in my district use the evidence-based social skills program Positive Action, and they are dedicated to providing support to students virtually as we move forward.
  
  School counselors are preparing 504 plans through guidance from the Special Education Department. We are also remaining available to connect with students and families.
  
  K-12 school counselors are required to continue to work with students to meet all career standards required by Chapter 339. We are achieving this through online lessons and written assignments.
  
  

• School Psychologists: Many of my school psychologist colleagues are busy writing reports from home. While face-to-face assessment cannot occur, these dedicated professionals are also working to be certain to provide any emotional support to families, students, and staff during this challenging time.

School Nurse

Wendy Robison – Western Beaver County School District

Personally, I am attending all morning online meetings – my district was very prepared as we already had approval and plans for flexible instruction days (snow days, etc.), so we built on that.

The teachers, staff, and administration have been AMAZING!!! We were the first to continue seamless education in Beaver County (along with Blackhawk – we share a superintendent).

The teachers are sooo creative!

As far as nursing, I, in collaboration with my wonderful superintendent, have reached out to all other districts and essentially raided the supplies of masks, gowns, goggles, and gloves from science rooms, maintenance, and nursing offices. These were delivered to our local hospital. This was so well received the hospital did an article.

The Beaver County School Nurses Association immediately created an infographic stating that school nurses may not be on campus, but we are available to assist. We encouraged families to email us with any questions or concerns. This was also placed in the local paper, Facebook, and district webpages.

I have been in contact with parents, staff, and administration daily. We have some students and staff with possible COVID-19.

I have encouraged nurses to reach out to their parents, work on electronic health records, catch up on needed data recording, create needed forms, update forms, prepare for reentry by creating screening surveys, etc.

We are also participating in classrooms by making some lessons or videos. I will be the surprise guest reader for kindergarten next week.

I also encouraged the nurses to prepare to assist by registering for webinars related to proper procedures related to PPE personal protective equipment donning and doffing.

The guidance department has been very busy with the teachers and administration regarding testing, IEPs, scholarships, college plans, etc.

They are also reaching out with supportive messages and coping strategies.

I cannot tell you how proud I am of the PA public school system, including all staff. From cafeteria staff delivering meals to maintenance, technology, administration, teachers, paras, students, and parents.

This demonstrates the willingness of all to make sure that “every child succeeds”!

School Psychologist

David Lillenstein – Derry Township School District

These sure are some interesting times!

Since the COVID-19 closure and working from home, I am finding myself working at first to bring much of my required work into compliance. This includes wrapping up any special education eligibility evaluation reports and emailing them home, connecting with parents to review evaluation results via video conferencing, and scheduling initial IEP meetings to be held through video conferencing.

But, in addition to this, I am connecting with each of the students and parents I had been meeting with on a regular basis. Some have psychological counseling on the IEPs, and some are students with whom I have connected through Student Assistance or a self-referral. Some of my clients are parents with whom I have offered parent training to assist them in working with their children in the same manner as the school.

Instead of meeting in person, I am now connecting with students and parents through phone, text, email, or video conferencing. I am also checking in with parents and offering my support and assistance with their adjustment as well as offering them support to help their children at home.

This is a time when students and families who are historically vulnerable and disconnected are feeling even more so. This is a great opportunity for school psychologists to provide assistance and support, and I have always lived with the belief that a crisis can bring us opportunities that we might otherwise not have.

I am finding that the students and families are very appreciative when I reach out to them. They were important to me before the school closure, and they should remain that way. The only difference between a few weeks ago and now is that now I may not see students and parents in person. But, technology is a wonderful thing!

School Counselor

Rosary Pennington – Clarion Area School District

I had a timeline of items that needed to be done by the end of the year, and the shutdown has obviously changed that. Plus, the uncertainty of how much time we will be returning to wrap up the year is a little unnerving.

However, now without testing bogging us down, it will open up more time. I am still able to prep materials at home and have gone into work limitedly to help with some administrative issues. I am also still able to respond to emails and accomplish a little with those requests and filter out as much information as I can to get to my admin to disseminate to parents and students. The elementary counselor and I put together a resource packet with career, academic, and mental health resources in it to post to our district website.

I have also been serving as a bit of a liaison in this time between colleges and our district about college in the high school courses, dual enrollment, and also with college board communications regarding SAT testing updates and Advanced Placement programming. I review the information and get it to my admin to communicate largely with teachers, students, and parents.

I have also been updating my counseling office page of the high school website with links and information. I am able to send out messages through the Remind system as I have a CAHS school counselor account that many of my students are linked to. I can also send out emails through groups to students for general updates.

Students and parents have been in contact with me via email and I have been checking it multiple times a day. I can answer many questions and communicate some of the things that need to be done, like official transcripts made to the secretaries that are in at the school.

I am also now participating in IEP meetings by phone as these timelines for special education still need to be met.