PTA’s mission for 124 years has been to make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children. Here in Ohio we work in unison with the National organization to carry out this work as well. As all of our communities have experienced, the continued pandemic of Covid-19 has turned our children’s lives upside down.
Our communities have experienced significant loss in many ways, but our students continue to be a shining light in these challenging times. Our children have adapted, overcome, and have done their absolute best living through something very few people alive today ever have. The negative and harmful effects of this past year and the time to come is something we will still likely be studying a decade or more to come. However we as students, parents, educators, and community members continue to learn how to best move forward in these trying times.
While it has been known for a significant amount of time that adolescents are at a high risk for behavioral and mental health issues, Covid-19 is once again putting this important topic front and center. Anxiety, depression, and in very unfortunate circumstance, suicide, in our youth is a very real problem faced in our communities. Early detection is one of the best tools we have for helping our youth in addition to having services and early intervention methods in place within our communities. Our schools and education system can play a very large role on this topic just as they do in often screening for other health related conditions such as an often performed annual vision/hearing exam. It is not a question that behavioral health screenings and services are essential for children; it is our duty to remove as many barriers to gaining that access as possible.
Have you ever heard of wrap around services? Since our children spend a large portion of their developmental years in a school, the schools are in one of the better positions to look at how to help the whole child. A child is not going to perform well in school if they are hungry, tired, scared, in pain, or with undiagnosed conditions. Since it is the education systems mission to help the child perform well in school, it’s important that communities look at ways to support children being able to perform well in school. Many programs from nutrition, recreation, to health screenings, and other interventions are all things that schools rely on funding to provide and make up educational wrap around services. You have to work with and address the whole child, not just one component for success.
Join Ohio PTA and Children's Defense Fund of Ohio at our next Town Hall to further discuss student needs and the results of our recent parent survey on the topic.
Register today!
Ohio Parent Teacher Association Townhall:
What do Ohio students need to thrive?
In March 2021, the Ohio Parent Teacher Association & Children's Defense Fund-Ohio conducted an Ohio Parent Survey to gain insight into what their children need as they reemerge from the pandemic happy, healthy, and ready to learn.
The Ohio Parent Teacher Association welcomes you to join us on Tuesday, April 27th by registering for a virtual townhall discussion of these findings and an opportunity to learn together about how parents, school districts, and state leaders can act to address children's needs now post-pandemic and into the long term.
Date: Tuesday, April 27, 2021
Time: 7:00pm-8:00pm
Featuring a presentation on survey findings from
Children's Defense Fund-Ohio and a special school district spotlight
This forum will be streaming live via Zoom. REGISTER HERE
