(The following comments are my own and are not intended to represent the Pequannock Township Board of Education.)
In the 2021-2022 school year, the district is piloting a grant-funded social-emotional learning curriculum called "Caring School Community." This curriculum was selected among several by a committee of teachers, school nurses, counselors, paraprofessionals, administrators and parents. The curriculum provides teachers with research-based lessons that can be integrated into academic subject areas to foster relationships and build community.
This week, a report was released by the NJ School Boards Association detailing the results of research conducted by a committee on Post-Pandemic Gaps in Academic and Social-Emotional Learning. They found that students have undergone so much stress and trauma during the pandemic that addressing academic gaps cannot be successful unless social-emotional needs are met. The needs cannot just be met at home, but also must be met in the school environment because in order to learn academically, students are going to need to feel safe, feel valued, have a sense of belonging, and feel that their anxieties, concerns and experiences are heard. These are all components of SEL that will be interwoven into the academic curricula. The summer SEL presentations offered by our administrators provided examples of how the curriculum integrates with academic subject areas.
Social-emotional learning strengthens students’ social skills, which is especially important after the periods of quarantine and isolation we have all recently experienced. SEL focuses on the well-being of students and staff, because we can’t forget that our staff have undergone the same fears and trauma. Recognizing and addressing these challenges throughout the curriculum by fostering strong relationships among peers and between students and staff will facilitate our children's academic achievement. It always has! SEL is not new. It’s been a part of what our teachers do for years. What we’re offering now is a solid, research-based, cohesive curriculum that enhances what our teachers already been doing and more clearly connects it to the content learning standards they are already teaching.
The committee selected a program that continues through the middle school years, which is, arguably, the most important time to keep students thinking about and discussing integrity, citizenship, inclusion, self-respect, coping with stress, dealing with bullies. This is something our teachers have been asking for and are eager to implement. I fully support the program that the committee of teachers, staff, and community members selected for our district. I respect their expertise in this area and I think they made the right recommendation for our students. I look forward to hearing feedback from our teachers throughout the year and, if it is successful, in rolling the program out to all of our elementary schools.