Roundtable: Keeping Students Safe and Healthy
Executive director, Florida Association of School Administrators
Executive director, Texas Association of Secondary School Principals
Assistant to the executive director, North Dakota Council of Educational Leaders
A part of helping students reach their full academic potential is ensuring they stay safe and healthy. For a big-picture view of how school leaders are supporting students’ mental health and well-being, Principal Leadership contacted leaders of three state associations: Kevin Hoherz, assistant to the executive director of the North Dakota Council of Educational Leaders; Archie McAfee, executive director of the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals; and Michele White, CAE, executive director of the Florida Association of School Administrators.
Principal Leadership: What are you hearing from members about student mental health and wellness?
White: In most of our schools right now, we’re hearing that student mental health and well-being is better now than what it has been over the last three to five years. One reason is because of a state policy in place that restricts student use of cell phones and personal devices on campus. Many districts have really implemented strong policies of their own to accompany that. At one middle school for instance, from 9:30 a.m. when the bill rings until 4:30 p.m. at the last bell, students are not allowed to have their phones out and on. With that restriction, educators are seeing students really engage in their learning and they’re not worried about other things like what’s posted on social media that could be distracting. The other critical piece is that schools have really focused on having the right adults on campus to support students, from counselors to resiliency coaches to peer mentors, who are engaging with students in a different way.
Hoherz: We have a few schools that are saying they are seeing an improvement in mental health concerns. But most of the schools are saying those concerns are on the rise. That increase is leading to lower grades and more absenteeism. Schools are seeing more students who are medicated. Our members are providing students with telehealth services in school. The big thing that our members are asking for is greater parental responsibility. School leaders want resources to educate parents more about mental health, parenting skills, and school expectations.
McAfee: We’re not hearing as much on this topic as we did right after the pandemic. But what we’re hearing is of course concern about teen suicide, vaping, and bullying, The big thing seems to be the use of cell phones and the distractions that’s creating. And now artificial intelligence has reared its ugly head. Kids have figured out a way to make videos to make it look like somebody is doing something, and it’s not them. We received a call the other day from a principal who was livid because one of his students had made a video and put it online. It looked like this principal was doing something inappropriate and it was not him at all. Of course, he was seeking legal advice.
Principal Leadership: Have your members talked to you about how they’re educating students around substance abuse prevention in terms of alcohol, vaping, and other substances?
White: They’re certainly trying to educate them and discourage their use. Vaping is like no other challenge right now—even in middle school. School leaders are having to post staff members at bathrooms during class changes to make sure students are not going into bathrooms to vape. Local stores are selling vapes to kids, and no one is checking IDs so 12- and 14-year-olds are buying them. Students are also heating wax pellets filled with THC and smoking them. The concerns are not about alcohol and cigarettes like we remember. Instead, it’s vaping, THC, and gummies and how easily students can take advantage of those things on campus.
Vaping is like no other challenge right now—even in middle school. —Michele White
Hoherz: I retired from the principalship two years ago and I was seeing the THC wax. They would put them in their vape pens and you couldn’t tell. I know it’s a problem. Our members are asking local police, county sheriffs and deputies, and school resource officers to visit classes to educate students about the dangers of vaping and using THC. They’re also asking county health nurses to make similar age-appropriate presentations. One school reached out and said they’re using parentguidance.org to direct parents to resources on substance abuse. Another school is inviting parents to break out sessions to discuss vaping and other types of substance abuse during registration and parent teacher conferences.
McAfee: In one district in the southern part of our state, schools have made mental health and wellness a top priority. To do this they’ve integrated a social and emotional learning curriculum into the daily school schedule allowing teachers to incorporate these lessons into regular classroom activities and expectations. Each high school is equipped with a licensed chemical dependency counselor and a licensed professional counselor to provide support for students. These counselors create education programs, student support groups, and provide individual counseling to ensure that students receive the care they need. They also give presentations on signs of suicide and outreach in all classrooms, educating students on how to recognize the signs of suicide. As an association, we seek input from our members in a variety of ways. For example, at the end of the summer we ask our board members to help us plan next year’s professional development activities and what topics we should cover. It’s a very hands-on activity that helps us as an association know what our members need in terms of resources.
Principal Leadership: How are your members educating students to stay safe online?
White: We have certain requirements now in state standards for teaching kids about internet safety and cyberbullying. Our school leaders are also having student meetings where they’re either pulling them in a single grade level or putting them in a couple of age-appropriate grade levels together and having regular meetings to talk about online safety and engage in an overall training of how not to share personal information while gaming. They’re also leveraging the expertise of guidance counselors and others on campus that are in those roles to give them information about how to be responsible online and how to be safe. These grade-level meetings with students can be beyond what is required of our state standards to ensure students are safe.
We received a call the other day from a principal who was livid because one of his students had made a video and put it online. It looked like this principal was doing something inappropriate and it was not him at all. —Archie McAfee
Hoherz: Our last legislative session passed a cybersecurity bill that mandates cybersecurity be taught in schools. It’s designed in buckets to cover the standards. You have your K−5 group, the 6−8 group, and the 9−12 group. By 2026, all graduating students are going to have one credit of a cybersecurity/computer science course by graduation. The school can opt for an integration plan in place. Since we’re a small state, it may be hard for some schools to hire a computer science teacher. So, they might have someone come in and integrate cybersecurity and computer science into an existing course and cover the standards that way.
White: Florida also passed a bill last year on social media use as far as what age levels are allowed access. Right now, you must be 16 years old to use social media in our state. Most social media sites allow users who are at least 13 years of age. In Florida, 14- and 15-year-olds are allowed to be on social media with parental consent. Again, the biggest thing that has made a difference in terms of student mental health is giving districts the authority to create these strict policies about not having your cell phone out during class time on campus.
McAfee: One of our association officers shared with me that they’ve made a real push in their school to address cell phone use. They’re calling the effort “Reducing Smartphone Use for a Better Learning Environment.” They’re not allowing cell phones on campus at all. They have received support from the parents because the school’s staff did a book study with them. The book they read was The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt. The book explains that students are distracted when they have their cell phones out, and they can’t focus on their schoolwork. The school has buy-in from the parents, so it’ll be an interesting year to see what happens with that.
Principal Leadership: Are there other specific areas—for example, gun violence prevention—that your members are talking about a lot?
White: Gun violence is top of mind in Florida. We have an app that all students and teachers must have access to called FortifyFL. It’s a reporting app so if you see something, you can say something, and you can do it anonymously.
Our school leaders and educators are having those conversations a lot with students during grade-level meetings and really talking about how important safety is. Another program that schools are taking advantage of is Handle with Care. It’s a statewide trauma-informed response program. If a student has any interaction with law enforcement prior to the next school day, school administration will be notified so that the student’s teachers and guidance counselors can be there to support them. There are many instances that occur outside of school that may require law enforcement that can lead to students experiencing trauma, and the effects can be seen at school.
Our association hosted a school safety summit at the end of September. We invited national school safety leaders to share knowledge and best practices and give our principals more things to look for because they’re educators and they’re not law enforcement. But a lot of times right now it seems like we’re asking our principals to almost be law enforcement on campus. Florida has concealed carry, and we have our guardian program where we’ve got educators who are carrying guns to protect our campuses when we can’t staff schools with school resource officers.
McAfee: I have not heard that gun violence prevention is a concern. All the schools seem to go through these mock shooter drills. I guess the districts must decide what they want to do and what they don’t want to do in terms of gun violence prevention. In Texas, we have a carry law. On most every campus, at least two people carry a gun, and these are mostly in the rural school districts. For instance, in West Texas if they needed an officer, it might take that officer 45 minutes to get to the campus because they’re so remote.
The big thing that our members are asking for is greater parental responsibility. School leaders want resources to educate parents more about mental health, parenting skills,
and school expectations. —Kevin Hoherz
Hoherz: In the last couple of sessions, the state legislature has been trying to push through concealed carry in our schools. It’s been defeated but I’m sure we’ll see it again this year. One thing that the legislature passed recently was that each school needs to have a behavioral health coordinator who coordinates resources and is the contact person for student behavioral health. For the past two years, our association has organized a mental health summit where we bring in people from different mental health organizations along with teachers, principals, superintendents, counselors, and social workers, school board members, legislators, and whoever wants to come and work on this. We discussed common challenges, and just as important, we started a folder with System Supports Deliverables, where all these organizations can add their resources for anybody to use. Let’s say, I’m an educator with a student experiencing a particular problem. Who do I contact? Where do I go? This site can help. The main goal is to get everybody on the same page and break down those silos and share resources, so everybody has access to behavioral and mental health resources.