Superintendent’s Message

                   Who Needs Stress?

 For years, we have heard that some stress in our lives can be our adrenaline to function in society. Yet, too much stress can have some serious physical side effects. Our students are not exempt from the effects of stress either.  Recently, I was handed an article about stress negatively affecting students. We are realizing that more and more of our students are simply overwhelmed with stress. That stress may come from unplanned life changes, dealing with social media, or even just not knowing how to manage their lifestyle. Regardless, students dealing with stress may suffer just as much as adults.

 The National Sleep Foundation shares that teenagers demand eight hours of sleep to be able to perform appropriately in school; however, only about 15% get those eight hours. Poor sleep patterns can affect a student’s behavior, their learning and listening skills, and their ability to concentrate.

 The Mayo Clinic provided a report showing that stress correlates with feelings of anger. This anger can be directed at other students, teachers or even themselves. Students dealing with anger caused from stress will most likely suffer in their work performance.

 Finally, stress has often been associated with the lowering of students grades all the way to the extreme of dropping out of school. Obviously, our students who deal with an overabundance of stress are already behind the curve in attempting to perform well in school.

So, how can our schools help deflate the impact stress has on students? First and foremost, our staff spends time building relationships with our students. Having an adult work closely with a student can eliminate some of the negative consequences, and this could include our school and mental health counselors.

 Schools also assist students by providing resources. These resources can be tangible ones that help meet basic needs such as the backpack/snackpack program, donated clothes from our schools’ clothes closets, and free school supplies. Or, resources may take the form of informational sessions like filling out an application for financial aid, literacy development resources or parenting classes.

 Finally, our schools realize many of our students deal with stress over how they will transition upon graduation from school to school, or school to work. By providing tours of schools and businesses, our students become more comfortable with options they had no previous exposure to. Through programs such as Comprehensive Health and Red Ribbon Week we hope our students will be able to make good decisions that will positively affect their livelihood.

 Stress does not always play nice with us in our adult lives. Hopefully, we can help prevent stress from controlling our students’ lives as we prepare them for their adult years.

 Dr. Richard Rosenberger

Mission & Vision