Latest / Inspiring Stories / What is Happening in our Schools with Dr Jerri Johnson
Transcript
- 0:04Thank you for listening to de Pictures Media Radio. You rat you readything to
- 0:31me? Oh well, jus well not a bad stop alone, I see
- 1:14so, supernass along is it as a mean sup our? Next guest.
- 1:38Doctor Jerry Johnson has served twenty plus years in the field of education. She
- 1:44has had the honor of serving this school district of district as English Language art
- 1:52Supervisor, principal, Assistant principal, instructional coach, reading specialists, and classroom
- 2:00teacher at various grade levels. She is a consultant author. Previously assumed the
- 2:07role of assistant professor for the Teacher's College at Columbia University and founding principal of
- 2:19a pre K to second grade school in Texas. Before this, she was
- 2:24the director of Education for the Community Impact Network, a place based on a
- 2:32nonprofit organization in Saint Louis, Missouri. In addition to that, doctor Johnson
- 2:38has taught at post secondary level as an adjunct professor at the University of Missouri.
- 2:50She has earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education at Harristowe State University,
- 3:00equentially earning advanced degrees at the University of Missouri, Master's education specialist degrees in
- 3:09education administration, then a Doctor of Philosophy in education with an emphasis on teaching
- 3:17and learning. Hey, Jerry is a member of the Association of Supervision and
- 3:25Curriculum Development, the International Literacy Association and A, and the National Council of
- 3:38Social Studies. Let's put it this way, in a nutshell, Jerry loves
- 3:43to teach and she loves watching people learn. And the reason why we're bringing
- 3:49her on also is to speak on some of the topics that are happening in
- 3:53our schools, such as bullying and not just people not treating people the way
- 4:03they should in a place of learning. So why don't we welcome her to
- 4:10the show and let's get let's get to know Jerry a little bit first,
- 4:14and then we'll find out how she's going to help our school systems. Should
- 4:48I call you Jerry or doctor Jerry? Welcome to the show, Doctor j
- 4:59dtor Ja. Other people call me Darry, some people call me to day.
- 5:02Just as long as you don't call me out of my name, we're
- 5:04good, right. Well, I know you you have you have a wonderful
- 5:12story about about school and some of the some of the work that you've actually
- 5:18done for schools and everything. When got you started? Did did it start
- 5:23when you were a kid or did it start asn't it? Uh? Where
- 5:29where did this love of school start? Mm hmm. That's a great question
- 5:33because it might have started when I was a kid, but it was kind
- 5:39of dropped in my lap in high school. I didn't have what people might
- 5:45say was a bad schooling experience. I must I have a twin sister.
- 5:49We enjoyed going into school even though we were you know, African American young
- 5:59ladies and predominantly black I'm sorry, predominantly white neighborhood at the time, growing
- 6:04up in the seventies, right the late seventies, so we were one of
- 6:12few, you know, people of color in our elementary school. But as
- 6:16we grew older and matriculated through the system in middle and high school, it
- 6:23flipped and it came predominantly a district of students of color, and so our
- 6:31school and experience we enjoyed. We had great teachers, we had a diverse
- 6:38we had diverse staff in our schools that we were in. For the most
- 6:42part, elementary was not as diverse as the middle and high school. But
- 6:50great schooling experience maybe have started it for me and then in high school.
- 6:56So funny story, my sister and I were in advanced place, spent classes
- 7:00AP classes all throughout middle and high school. Actually started in elementary, went
- 7:04through middle and high school, and so by the time senior year came,
- 7:10I had gotten all of my credits, like you know, for all of
- 7:14my for all of my core subjects. Right, But our counselor wouldn't let
- 7:21us graduate early, like just not have a full load of classes, so
- 7:30we had to take I had to take electives, and so I chose something
- 7:35that I thought was going to be really easy, which was working in the
- 7:39early childhood center that was attached to our high school. We actually had an
- 7:44early childhood center for staff in the district as well as girls who may have
- 7:51had a baby right in the high school, so they give them discount on
- 7:57childcare and so in like the this was in nineteen ninety three, nineteen ninety
- 8:03three, Saint Louis, Missouri, Yes, and so so it also served
- 8:11as like a training type for early childhood educators, you know in the area,
- 8:16which was very advanced for this time in this area of Saint Louis.
- 8:22But I thought it's gonna be easy just to do an elective course, you
- 8:26know, being a teacher assistant in the early childhood center with these little two,
- 8:31three, four year olds, five year olds. It was crazy,
- 8:39but it's far to my love of working with tiny humans. And I ended
- 8:48up that year my sister and I went on this radio show as some of
- 8:52the students from Normandy High School. You know, they asked us to come.
- 8:56I think it was homecoming or something, and we were talking and they
- 9:01asked us what we were going to college to be, and I said I
- 9:03wanted to be a PE teacher. And Everybody's like what. But I loved
- 9:11PE, Like health and fitness was my thing, and we were in all
- 9:18types of sports growing up. I just and I loved the kids. So
- 9:22I was like, I want to be a teacher. And I just dropped
- 9:24that on the spot. I hadn't thought about it nothing. And it came
- 9:28to fruition. Like I went to college, I switched up and I was
- 9:33going to go into physical therapy. I got into a physical therapy program at
- 9:37Saint Louis University and after the first year, I was like, this is
- 9:43not for me. I'm going to go down the street to the HBCU Pristo
- 9:48State college and be a teacher. So that's what I did. Wowow,
- 10:01No, granted I was in high school about ten years before you, and
- 10:05it was an all boys' school and the girls' school that was up the street.
- 10:11You were invited not to continue going to school if you if you fathered
- 10:20or mothered a child. That's why I asked you when it was because I'm
- 10:24like, wow, that's that's that. It was very, very very advanced.
- 10:33Yes, it was very progressive at the time. It was. It
- 10:37was an interesting site to see once I learned that. Because I didn't know,
- 10:41I didn't know all those things about the center, the history of it
- 10:46and all of that until I started working there. I just knew it existed
- 10:48on the other side of campus, away from everybody, right because you had
- 10:52to have the kids. There's certain regulations and all that type of stuff.
- 10:56You had they had the kids in a certain area. But yeah, when
- 11:01I learned about the history of it and what the purpose of it was,
- 11:05I was like, wow, this is this is pretty cool. So I
- 11:07was excited to go to my class three times a week, you know what
- 11:11I'm saying. It wasn't every day, but it was awesome. Yeah,
- 11:16Well, what other things excited you about just being able to go to school,
- 11:22because I mean that would that may have been revealed, but there was
- 11:26probably some other things. Teachers that we had were extremely supportive. Like I
- 11:31said, we had a diverse staff of teachers, and we had our ap
- 11:39teachers were very interesting. They all have very interesting personalities, which I think
- 11:46a lot of them will probably narrow diverse. And then I mean, now
- 11:50that I look at it, but then we were involved in so much stuff.
- 11:54My sister and I were involved in extracurricular activities cheerleading, no track.
- 12:01My sister was on student it was on the board, you know, like
- 12:05student council. So we were involved in so much stuff that and we cheerleaded
- 12:11for all three sports, so we had cheerleading all year round for three sports.
- 12:18And then we I mean, we had a host of friends that were
- 12:22involved in things. So it was just it was it went by like that,
- 12:28like our four years went by like that. My mom gave us the
- 12:33choice. My mom and dad gave us the choice to either go to private
- 12:35school for high school because we were being recruited to go to some private schools
- 12:41there for high school and we wanted to stay with our friends. So we
- 12:46went from middle school to high school with our friends, public high school with
- 12:50our friends, and it was great. It was a great choice for us.
- 12:56The private schools were not for us. We both decided neither one of
- 13:01us wanted to go to prigh school. Like that was that was what was
- 13:07the decide. Like usually you'll have one kid that wants to go on one
- 13:11kid that doesn't. But my sister and I both looked at each other and
- 13:15we were like, yeah, this thing for us, right, we want
- 13:18to be with our fresh well yeah, high school, Yeah, you're right
- 13:26about that, with the average family that we always have. Well, my
- 13:31sister went to public school and me and my brother, we both went to
- 13:37the private, uh, the private Catholic school. And the interesting part about
- 13:45that is I actually paid my own tuition. What I worked with part time
- 13:52job paid my own tuition. Plus i've I wound up. I took advanced
- 13:58advanced classes, UH, much to my advisors dislike. I took advanced place
- 14:07in classes and I ran track and UH and also was was in on a
- 14:16volunteer search and rescue team and I jumped off of clips for as a teenager.
- 14:24I was fully packed. But but the idea was was I didn't want
- 14:30to get into any kind of trouble. So if I had no moments where
- 14:35I could or or I filled up my my my life with with things that
- 14:41they kept me moving in a positive direction. Because like you said, when
- 14:46you wait, when we look at the statistics of of people of color,
- 14:52the average male of color has had been arrested by time, yeah, the
- 15:00first time, by the time he was fourteen or fifteen. So yeah,
- 15:05hey, keep keep myself full of positive stuff. I stay out of trouble.
- 15:09And and that's how also how I got got into it, got into
- 15:16uh, universities and stuff like that. I had my pick because yeah,
- 15:22you know I can see that, right. So so school was a very
- 15:26positive thing for me that way, right, And the fact that I actually
- 15:30had to work to be able to go to school also added to that positive
- 15:35that positivity. So it was pretty cool though. Yeah, that's pretty cool.
- 15:41So we all all have our reasons. And I and like you,
- 15:43I loved school. It's like you know, I love the idea of learning
- 15:48new learning stuff every day, right, And I there's a question for you
- 15:54that with that, for you, is it do you still continue that you
- 15:58you still look for something new to learn every day detriment because I don't have
- 16:07the time to do it all the time like I want to. But I
- 16:12am constantly learning about different things, whether it's finances, whether it's you know,
- 16:19stuff for my co parenting, you know course that I want to do,
- 16:26just different research things. For my job. I'm constantly learning things because
- 16:33I'm working with school districts across the country, so the contexts are different but
- 16:38same issues. And then just problem solving and thought partnership with them keeps my
- 16:45mind going and creative and innovative ways, because even though school districts across the
- 16:53country have pretty much the same problems, the context makes you think about or
- 17:00try to create something different to solve for what it is they mean. So
- 17:07it's if my job keeps me on that journey of learning as well, which
- 17:14is why I tell people I'm I'm living my dream job right now because I
- 17:19always feel like I'm growing in something, no matter if someone else is helping
- 17:26me with it or not. But I always need to be in a position.
- 17:30I've always needed to be in a position where I can grow. And
- 17:33if I felt like I was stagnant, it was time for me to go
- 17:38right, yeah, well that that makes sense too. So okay, fast
- 17:47forward you you you got your your your teaching credentials and you're walking into walking
- 17:55into the classroom for that for that first year. What was that like?
- 18:02It was? Okay. So my first year teaching was very unconventional because I
- 18:07moved to Indianapolis, Indiana after I graduated. So part of my first year,
- 18:15the first half of my first year, was actually permanent subbing in a
- 18:21middle school special education classroom. So I was working with students with behavioral disorders,
- 18:32emotional disorders, things like that, and I never thought I would work
- 18:37in middle school, but once again, it was a challenge, it was
- 18:42growth experience, and I was only there for half of the year, and
- 18:47then I ended up moving back to Saint Louis and starting as a kindergarten teacher
- 18:55in a brand new kindergarten center in the district that I graduated from. So
- 19:03I went back to teaching the district that I actually graduated from, in a
- 19:07new configuration of a building all kindergarten classrooms. We didn't have a principal,
- 19:14We just had two lead teachers, so it was the teachers basically leading the
- 19:18building. U and it was a it was a great experience. It was
- 19:22a really great experience, uh to see all five and six year olds in
- 19:26one building. And it also was a little bit chaotic because it was a
- 19:32new, you know, new building, no principal per se, but two
- 19:37lead teachers that were very seasoned teachers and knew how to you know, like
- 19:41run the building. So and it was all women. It was all women,
- 19:48and that brought another part of the context to it. And we were
- 19:53all young teachers, like we the half of the building was new teachers and
- 20:00the other half were seasoned teachers. So it kind of balanced out. But
- 20:06then also it created you know, some tips at some times. But my
- 20:11experience, my first year of teaching was very unconventional because I started out somewhere
- 20:17else in another state, and then I came back. Wow. So you
- 20:25you you have a lot of diversity in your life with that one. Very
- 20:32cool. So I have a lot of diversity in the field of education,
- 20:36period. So let's get down to the two because Okay, you've been you've
- 20:42been in school most of your life one way or another. Right, and
- 20:52I know for for those two of us who who eventually did did leave school,
- 20:56and everything right that's my my act, my last my last uh my
- 21:04last time in actually in a classroom. I was actually teaching math to five
- 21:11year olds. What yeah, no, this was right. I turned it
- 21:18into a game because the way I was taught math. I was taught math
- 21:23as a language, especially when I got to university level. It's a language,
- 21:27it's a way of describing things, right, And that's why I was
- 21:30teaching these five year olds and were amazed the the parents was. I actually
- 21:37taught them to subtract. I always I was heading them towards long division at
- 21:44five Oh wow. Because it was a description of of how of how these
- 21:51sets and numbers came together. And I used like toys, marbles, all
- 21:56sorts of stuff. Yea, as manipul they can touch it. I was
- 22:06because it because of the type school it was, I was completely isolated from
- 22:10like seeing some of what was going on in terms of bullying and stuff like
- 22:15that. Okay, now you've been in school most of your life. You've
- 22:21watched you've watched some of the issues that that that I may have seen in
- 22:29like my early days in school and everything. You know. Yeah, So
- 22:33I went to the to the Catholic private parochial school. But we had weapons
- 22:40violations and some kids did did manage to walk in the door with a revolver,
- 22:48and you know there was other things like blade stuff like that whatever,
- 22:52Right, but no one really ever got hurt or because there was a line.
- 23:00There was a line that wasn't wasn't to be crossed. But nowadays when
- 23:03we're looking when from the outside looking in at these schools, and we're seeing
- 23:08a lot more of violence, and that's something you actually helped the schools try
- 23:17to get rid of, right, Yeah, I mean especially the schools I
- 23:21was then. Yeah, I mean it's really evolved though, hasn't it.
- 23:29Yes, it has. I mean the technology itself has changed the game on
- 23:37bullying, you know, just having the platforms that we have with Facebook,
- 23:41Instagram, you know, TikTok, all these other ways to get at people
- 23:47and not necessarily physically, but mentally and emotionally. It's typically what the easier
- 23:53route for a lot of people to be behind the veil basically and bullied people.
- 24:00And it's harder to prove those things. You know that someone it's this
- 24:07person was actually bullying this person and that's why they hurt themselves or harm themselves
- 24:12or you know, committed suicide or what have you. So the ways that
- 24:19kids can actually bully people now is totally different. It used to be that
- 24:25you actually had to do it physically in their face or through someone and somebody
- 24:32tell on you or what have you, and you actually have witnesses. But
- 24:37nowadays they can easily do it, you know, behind a screen, which
- 24:41makes it very difficult also for schools to be able to stop it or deter
- 24:48it, because they're constantly on technology in schools, whether it's the school computer
- 24:56you know, or their home computer, or their cell phones. A lot
- 25:00of schools now, well some schools now have them put their phones in pouches
- 25:06and leave them, you know, somewhere for the day because they don't want
- 25:11kids distracted by phones. That brings in a whole other you know, process
- 25:17procedures, systems that schools have to put in place, consequences that they have
- 25:22to put in place for that. So it's like a lot of the responsibility
- 25:27is on the school in the school district to have policies in place for all
- 25:33these different types of bullying that go on. It's very difficult unless you are
- 25:41standing there and you see it, or you see it in the text or
- 25:47from that person or you know someone you have witnesses to it. It's very
- 25:52difficult to prove and it's very difficult to provide consequences for because especially parents will
- 26:02you know, they'll support their Well, how do you know it was my
- 26:07kid? That's the first thing, you know, how do you know it
- 26:08was my kid? And even if you provide proof that then no, you
- 26:15know, what did the kid do to my kid? You know? So
- 26:18then you got all these things that you're combating just to protect the students that
- 26:26are actually being bullied. The students that are being bullied as well need help.
- 26:33They need support because something is not right, something emotionally mentally is going
- 26:41on with them that they feel like it's okay to treat another person this way.
- 26:48So we need support for the bullies as well. But a lot of
- 26:52people don't think about that side. Yeah, most people don't don't want to
- 26:59think, they don't want to think about it, or they don't They most
- 27:02certainly don't want to hear that maybe the bully also needs needs some help,
- 27:07counseling and things like that. I mean, when you think about it,
- 27:11though, when we do root cause analysis on anything, you're trying to get
- 27:18to the root of the problem to solve the rest of it. Right,
- 27:23if the bully is the root something started in that bully to think that it's
- 27:30okay to treat another person this way. If you don't get to the root
- 27:33of the problem and take care of it in that person, all they're gonna
- 27:37do is go to another person and do it. Once they know that we
- 27:41know that you're messing with this person. Oh okay, I'll stop messing with
- 27:45that person. I'm just gonna move on to the next one. So that
- 27:49bully, it is, that bully needs help, right, I mean,
- 27:56you know, it's just like a serial killer life. I mean, I
- 28:03don't I don't want to go down there. I don't want to go down
- 28:06that that particular road. But thank you, but but you you you,
- 28:17let's cut it off here. It's like you might have a valid point.
- 28:19Let's talk about that point in another interview, because you might think, okay,
- 28:26let's leave that off here. But I'm sure people don't want to talk
- 28:34about that. So yeah, well, so what are the things? So
- 28:44what are some of the things? Do you try to find them? Like
- 28:47cognitive care some sort of I mean, how do you how do you try
- 28:51to help them and get to that route and them that's causing them to act
- 28:56the way they are. Well. Typically there should be some words provided what's
- 29:02called like multi tiered supports in a school. There's usually three tiers to that.
- 29:08The third one is usually your super like intensive supports for students. Most
- 29:15of the time MTSS or multit supports are geared towards academics, but you also
- 29:21need that SEO, that social emotional side, because if you can't get the
- 29:27behaviors, the emotions, the mental space cleared or at least stabilized, students
- 29:37are not gonna learn. So it's all brain development. Like if you can't
- 29:41get that the student that's being bullied, if you can't get them out of
- 29:45that safety part of their brain and their wiring, they don't feel safe,
- 29:53they're not going to be able to learn optimally. So there should be supports
- 30:00in place. You have a counselor some let's just say you're supposed to have
- 30:07a counselor in schools. Some schools don't because of funding your money or what
- 30:11however, they allocate their money to what they think is most important. But
- 30:17you should have a counselor. You should have outside social workers or school psychologists
- 30:25that come into your schools. Those three people should help you with creating groups
- 30:33for students you know, who are dealing with divorce, students who are the
- 30:37bullies, students who may be bullied, you know. So if you have
- 30:42groups for your counselor your school psychologists, for your social worker created that they
- 30:52can work with and that's their case loan, then those students are getting one,
- 30:56two or three touches a week at least from those staff members. And
- 31:03then in one of the schools that I led, we also had staff members
- 31:08teachers in the school that were assigned to some of our what we might call
- 31:14high flyers. You know, students who constantly get suspended, or students who
- 31:18have attendance issues and things like that. Most of the time, those are
- 31:22your bullies. You know, they have other things going on as well,
- 31:27other than just the behavior. So staff members teachers in the school every day
- 31:37had check in and check out with students. Checking in on them at the
- 31:41beginning of the day, see where they are they report back to the counsel
- 31:45or the social work or the school psychologists, and then checking out at the
- 31:49end of the day, you know, see where they are before they get
- 31:52on the bus or you know, where their mental state is before they go
- 31:56home, and all this type of stuff, and they check in with the
- 31:59council or the social order. So these are systems in schools that people can
- 32:05create to try to head off some of you know, the bullying that goes
- 32:10on. Once again, it's easier when it's just physical than there right in
- 32:17the person's face or what have you. But now we got these cell phones
- 32:22in these computers where you have to do investigations if somebody's seeing they're bullied.
- 32:28That takes time because then you've got to go through technology in district office and
- 32:34somebody in technology has to check IP addresses and check the email and you know,
- 32:38there's a whole process if the district has something in place if for that,
- 32:45and it takes time, once again, time in which the student could
- 32:52still be getting bullied in all of that. Now, what I found was
- 32:57most of what I found is what did it off, Like, what deterred
- 33:02them a little bit while investigation was going on, is if I, as
- 33:07the principal, addressed the so called bully and had a conversation with them about
- 33:15you know, I'm hearing this someone is telling me or staff is telling me
- 33:22that I don't want to name the student who you know might have come to
- 33:27me or what have you. But I'm just letting you know that this is
- 33:30on my radar and I'm going to have people watching you to see what's going
- 33:38on or if anything is going on. Not accusing you of anything, I'm
- 33:44just letting you know. You know, a word on the street, this
- 33:47is what's going on. So many times when an administrator gets involved, whether
- 33:53it's a principle of vice principal, assistant principal pbis a positive behavior support person
- 34:01or whoever, if it's a leader in the school that is addressing this student,
- 34:07they know we're watching for it like so that deters them a little bit
- 34:14on the behavior too, And a lot of times they might just start with
- 34:16another student, but at least they know that you're still watching them no matter
- 34:23what student it is, right, and then that helps the bullied person feel
- 34:30a little bit safer too, because you know, word gets to write on
- 34:34will the principal talk to so and so today? Did you know that stuff?
- 34:38So you know, it helps at least tell the bullied student we're supporting,
- 34:45we are aware, and we're doing something about it. Many times administrators
- 34:52don't do that. They don't talk to the bully person and say, you
- 34:58know, the conversation was had. I'm not telling you who I talk to,
- 35:04but a conversation was had. We are supporting you. If anything happens
- 35:07again, please let us know, you know, or we might need to
- 35:12call your parents or what have you. And the students think they're out there
- 35:15by themselves. That's when the other problems come in. Okay, I'm going
- 35:22to say this having been the parent in some of the schools, that you
- 35:30are not the norm. A lot of times, the the the the principal,
- 35:40yeah he's the administrator, but he's like, oh, that's out of
- 35:43my hands. I'm just the administrator. You have to you have to deal
- 35:46with the teacher on that, and they do, and they pushed it off
- 35:51back to the teacher. But yeah, I have seen this where the teacher
- 35:58was also being bullied by the bully. Absolutely. That's why it's on the
- 36:02administrators to do to do something because that is exactly what will happen, especially
- 36:10in high schools and middle schools. They will bully teachers just like parents will
- 36:17try to bully teachers. But that's another story. That's where the kids get
- 36:22it from most of the time. So they will bully teachers, and then
- 36:27teachers don't really say anything, or teachers might say something, but administrators don't
- 36:32take it serious. Don't get me wrong, because I understand in large high
- 36:38schools, you got thirteen hundreds. I've been in a KA school with thirteen
- 36:43hundred kids before. I understand the demand. I understand the need. I
- 36:52also understand that systems and processes that are put in place can also help with
- 37:04that demand and that need. Everybody in that school needs to understand that bullying
- 37:09is not tolerated. And a lot of us don't want to have that open
- 37:15conversation with the entire student body that it will not be tolerated. And if
- 37:23we hear about it, this is what's going to happen. You know,
- 37:29this is the process. Look in your student handbook. Those are your consequences.
- 37:35Most people don't even read the student handbooks. The parents don't read them.
- 37:38But if you are, if you are an administrator that goes with district
- 37:44policy and what's in that handbook, you are able to give consequences for these
- 37:50things when you can prove that it's done. And I'm telling you if you
- 37:54are consistent with that behavior of kind consequences for these types of infractions, Even
- 38:02if you want to call them small, even though they can lead to somebody
- 38:06killing themselves, they're not small. They may start what you think is small,
- 38:13but they blow up real quick. So even if you are consistent with
- 38:19your consequences for these types of behaviors, students will understand that and it will
- 38:27drop, like those behaviors will drop and decrease in your school. But it's
- 38:32about us as the adults, being consistent with our behavior and consequences that we
- 38:40provide, not being extreme with the consequences, but putting consequences and supports in
- 38:49for students. The offended as well as the offender. Both of them need
- 38:58some support. Even though you may not want healthy offend nerd. I get
- 39:02it because I've been in those situations where I was the principal. I who
- 39:06want to health this kid. You've just done this to my other students,
- 39:08you know. But if I don't take care of that that issue with him
- 39:14and his behavior, modify, modify it, at least help to modify it
- 39:20at least, I mean, then it's gonna continue with somebody else. Right
- 39:28That that that makes sense, So we we need to to work to get
- 39:36the right systems in place in the schools as because I was a very very
- 39:42involved parent, okay, and you'd like to involve parent to it in stead.
- 39:53Uh, As an involved parent parent, we're supposed to advocate, right,
- 40:00what should we be advocating for the I think the first thing that you
- 40:07that parents should be advocating for is a communication surrounding this particular topic. Because
- 40:21if you are a parent who's ever been involved with your child being bullied or
- 40:24what have you, that is something that can consistently be communicated in a school
- 40:31newsletter or something like that if they really are focused on deterring this type of
- 40:39behavior. So some type of communication on this topic should be something that parents
- 40:46are definitely asking for. Parents need to look at the school policy, school
- 40:53district policy on bullying, look at the consequences, and look at the scription
- 41:00for what bullying is and if that policy does not align with or it's not
- 41:08comprehensive of what parents think it should be. There's board meetings every month where
- 41:16you can speak up, so and people just walk up to the mic a
- 41:22lot of times, you know, in different board meetings or you need to
- 41:27tell them, called the district office and say you would like to speak at
- 41:30the board meeting. How do you do that? Because the school board makes
- 41:36the policy, but the school board is not enforcing anything. All they do
- 41:42is write it and they approve it, but they have no idea how it's
- 41:45working in the system in schools. They don't know how people are implementing it
- 41:52or anything. They don't even know if it's being done or if it's being
- 41:55done correctly. They don't know. Boards are oblivious to what's going on in
- 42:01schools. Most of the time. They just write the policy and they send
- 42:06it out. So if you are really an advocate about this bullying piece,
- 42:12you need to attend the board meetings and you need to talk about it consistently
- 42:15and as much as you can. That's the only way something's gonna get done
- 42:21about it is because the school board writes the policy, not the principles.
- 42:25So they need to hear what's going on. Yeah, they need to hear
- 42:30what's going on. Another thing, as far as bullying and advocating for your
- 42:35child is the first time your child said something about someone is bullying them,
- 42:43you need to contact the school administration. You need to document how many times
- 42:50you have to contact them and all of that, contact them by phone and
- 42:53by email. And you need to make them aware of this situation and that
- 43:00you will follow up on what's going on with it because you are very concerned
- 43:07about your child being bullied. And that's the first time. Don't wait until
- 43:12five or six times in when your child comes you with bruises or something on
- 43:16it. The first time you hear about it is when it's the first time
- 43:22they need to hear. So I think those are the top three things that
- 43:27parents need to do. You got to be informed about what the policy is
- 43:31on bullying and the consequences that go along with it. You got to be
- 43:36informed about what's going on in the school as far as this topic. That
- 43:42means they should be communicating something about it. And you need to make sure
- 43:45the first time you hear something about the safety of your child, you need
- 43:52to contact the school and do not be embarrassed about it. That's your child,
- 43:57right, You know what, We are starting to run out of time.
- 44:02It's like every time I talk to you, it's like it seems like
- 44:07time disappears. Right, let me ask you this and then we're gonna then
- 44:17then we'll get into how people can connect with you and work with you and
- 44:22help help their child or help their school. Right if somebody was to give
- 44:30you the funding to build your own school where it was it was it was
- 44:37doctor Jerry's Dreams School, what kind of systems would you have in place to
- 44:45help the kids just so much? Well you may not know this about me,
- 44:54but as you can see from my background, I'm kind of a hippie,
- 44:58so of love to have. One thing that I would love to have
- 45:07is definitely a mental health strand in the school. And when I say mental
- 45:13health, I mean meditation in the morning, you know, when the students
- 45:17come in. Not necessarily chanting or anything like that, because that may go
- 45:24against people's you know, religious beliefs, but meditation and calming the mind,
- 45:30there's nothing wrong with that, and that gets kids centered for their day.
- 45:35I had a couple of teachers in the early Childhood center that I led that
- 45:38did it with three and four year olds, so I know that elementary,
- 45:43middle and high schools can do it. So meditation a mental health strand definitely
- 45:50and supports within there with health and wellness type activities throughout the day for them,
- 45:58whether it's affirmation, whether it's you know, physical movement. Definitely,
- 46:05there's no taking out physical education in this school. They would have more than
- 46:10one recess today, probably two or three. And then also the second strand,
- 46:19of course, is the academic piece, where we would offer individualized plans
- 46:25of education for all students. I think that would be so cool because then
- 46:35it would go along with you know, their interests or if they have a
- 46:40diversity, you know, just different things that different things within that academic strand
- 46:45that they can actually access. So they would have a certain track that they
- 46:52would go on based on every year. It could change, you know,
- 46:57but we would individualize their education for academics, so we would have our mental
- 47:02health strand, our academics strand, and then we would have are what I
- 47:07call fitness health wellness strand, So definitely recess you know, two or three
- 47:14times a day. But then also there would be other things offered like jiu
- 47:19jitsu, like CrossFit, like you know, things like have a rock climbing
- 47:24wall, stuff like that, so different. I would partner with different organizations,
- 47:30you know, health and wellness organizations to bring those that type of stuff
- 47:34in for students to be able to do. So yeah, I think that
- 47:39would be. That would be my school. I also, oh, one
- 47:44more thing, Yes, I would love to have if we could do like
- 47:49a garden, like a school garden, you know, fruits and vegetables,
- 47:53all that type of stuff, where the cafeteria would cook dishes or food every
- 48:00day that would come from mainly from our garden. Yeah. So yeah,
- 48:07that would be my thing. Damn where I need to send my kids to
- 48:12your school? I mean no, it's it sounds wonderful and I hey,
- 48:22one hippie to another hippie. It's like, yes, the whole food thing
- 48:27that becomes important. Also, it's very and it's very well rounded what you're
- 48:30talking about. It isn't just pointed in one direction. It covers all of
- 48:37the points of the emotional, the mental, and the physical wellbeing of our
- 48:43children. Yep. So the best way is to get a hold of you
- 48:46as a consultant. Well, that's an interesting question because I'm still getting my
- 48:52stuff together. I the best way to get in touch with me typically is
- 48:57LinkedIn. I do have a website it's called from the Desk of the Doctor
- 49:02dot com, but LinkedIn is usually what I check the most. You can
- 49:07get in touch with me off of the website though, and schedule a discovery
- 49:13meeting, you know, a thirty minute discovery meeting with me. If you
- 49:16would like to talk to me, that's a good way too. But for
- 49:20the most part, LinkedIn is where I stay and I answer messages regularly on
- 49:28there, all right, So everybody, if you look in the show notes,
- 49:31you will see a link to doctor Jerry Johnson's LinkedIn profile. And I
- 49:39know for a fact that she does actually answering messages because we talk back and
- 49:44forth a lot. So and if you don't, I will also put a
- 49:51LinkedIn a link in there in the show notes for the website so that hey
- 50:00get a hold of her find out because it's important to know. This is
- 50:05our children we're talking about. It's like, okay, I'm gonna sound like
- 50:08Joe Biden for a second. This is our children. For Christ's sake,
- 50:12we gotta do something too. It's going to save our children and keep our
- 50:17children safe mm hm, because they need to learn right exactly exactly. So
- 50:27thank you everybody for listening today. Find it subscribe button and wherever it may
- 50:30be. And if you have a kid in school, connect with Jerry and
- 50:36and she's got some great advice for you. Thank you so much for having
- 50:39me. All right, I don't know so I waz s your phone action.
- 51:14So why say this, he says, I reason to shak Cho SHOs.
- 51:43We can't try s wait so past ye see. She goes to start
- 52:30stop stuff I know MS starts. The show has been produced by Depictions Media.
- 53:08Please contact us at depictions dot media for more information