How K12 Is Outwitting Anxiety
April 9, 2018
By: Deborah Yaffe
Source: District Administration
Last fall, a national problem arrived in Superintendent Richard Scaletta’s corner of rural northwestern Pennsylvania. Principals in the General McLane School District began reporting unprecedented levels of misbehavior: students in frequent and severe distress, sometimes kicking, biting or throwing things.
By October, the district had referred 27 of its 2,100 pupils to intensive out-of-school therapy. And one morning in February, after months of information-gathering, Scaletta started school two hours late so district staff could undergo training on student mental health issues.
General McLane isn’t alone. Across the country, districts are grappling with rising levels of student anxiety attributed to everything from academic pressures to larger social forces.