Governor joins Lake Shore school’s roundtable discussion

ST. CLAIR SHORES — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer came to Rodgers Elementary in the Lake Shore Public Schools district for a roundtable discussion with students, teachers and parents on March 21.

She was greeted by students and teachers from all around the district including the marching band and cheerleading team as well as a few students dressed as the district and school mascots.

Superintendent Joseph DiPonio led the discussion about social emotional learning, the impact COVID-19 had on students and helping students get back to a new normal.

Participants included parent Melissa Florek, student Lauren Maciejewski, teacher Debbie Peacock, teacher Kim Rueger-West, social worker Rebecca Asni, interventionist Billie Wilson, alternative education administrator Jeff Lip and teacher Dave Warehall.

DiPonio started off by commending Whitmer for her budget and what it did to help the students in the district.

“It has made a world of difference for our kids. We’ve been able to do things that we just have never been able to do,” DiPonio said.

Whitmer said the point of the roundtable discussions is to have an open conversation about what’s going on in the school districts. She said that, even though there are cameras and a lot of people watching, she wanted to have an honest conversation “about what’s happening, what they’re seeing, what you think I need to be thinking about.”

The participants shared what changes they’ve seen in the students due to the COVID-19 pandemic including an addiction to technology, how some students are withdrawing from classes and the general effect of the pandemic.

Wilson commended the superintendent for the implementation of social emotional learning.

“I really like what we’ve started here… the last few years, the social emotional learning, because it makes things a lot better,” Wilson said.

He went on to say it helps the students to be aware of themselves and the people around them. He said because of the pandemic, kids missed that interaction between their peers and some of the younger kids missed the introduction to conflict resolution.

Other teachers agreed that social emotional learning has helped the students tremendously with communication and how to express themselves.

Peacock said that they’ve started to check in with the students every day about how they’re feeling and allow them to share maybe why they’re feeling that way. She said it’s been wonderful for them.

“Giving that opportunity to students to acknowledge that and feel OK to express themselves and know that they have a community in their classroom that can (find) support, where maybe some of these children don’t have that element at home or the opportunity to express themselves,” Peacock said.

Asni said the student stress comes out in various forms including more aggressive behaviors, very low tolerance for frustrations and being emotionally detached. It varies from student to student.

“The needs are just, are so high at all grade levels,” Asni said.

DiPonio transitioned the conversation to one-on-one tutoring and asked the roundtable participants what effect it has had on the students.

“It has a really big impact on students because you get the step by step, you have your instructions that you need, you have that safety net of support,” Maciejewski said.

She also said that safety net can grow to help you get back in the game and the teachers are there to help you get back up if you fall.

“It’s great to have these teachers able to do one on one,” Maciejewski said.

Rueger-West is an elementary school music teacher and she said there was a lot of anxiety when it came to performing on stage.

“They wanted to do well but there was this barrier of, ‘I don’t know what to do with all these feelings and emotions, and I’m scared and had to really work hard to talk me through so much,’” Rueger-West said.  “And they did, they did it. They did great but it’s different.”

Her fifth graders had a concert in December and it was the first time they’ve been on stage since first grade. She said they’ve missed so much experience.

Lip said he sees the anxiety and depression in his students due to the pandemic.

“One of the worst things that has happened with this whole experience was whether or not you’ve experienced anxiety or depression, you’ve probably experienced it (during the pandemic),” Lip said.

He said the one on one is critical because it helps build relationships between the students and the teachers.

DiPonio said there are job openings within the school, but they aren’t drawing as many as they did before.

He said they want to do their best for the students and that when they have trust between the home and the school that everything is possible.

“I think we’re great people that want to do the very best. Just like we had teachers that did (that) for us, we want to do the same thing,” DiPonio said. “But it is important that we have good trust with our families, that they believe we have the best intentions.”