Oklahoma kids traumatized with fear of going home and having nobody there.
There is an abundance of research documenting the ways that chronic exposure to stress and trauma affect a child's ability to learn and function. Homelessness, neglect, abuse, food insecurity and generational poverty are just a few of the traumas that our children unfortunately face all too often in Oklahoma.
Many educators have been paying attention to trauma-informed teaching practices and putting them to use in our schools for several years. Funding for these important mental health services should only be continued and expanded. A prepared workforce is only possible if the mental and physical well-being of our students is addressed in a comprehensive and long-term way. This responsibility cannot be shouldered by schools alone. Community, social services, businesses and, yes, even the government all have a role to play.
The debate about immigration has brought student trauma to a critical level in recent weeks, with schools being removed as a protected place and the fear of widespread deportations running rampant through children's minds ― whether they are U.S. citizens or not. This fear is taking a toll on our student's ability to learn. Our low rankings in education are no secret and WalletHub's latest study just placed Oklahoma as the 5th least educated state in America. Anything that gets in the way of our students' ability to thrive in the classroom should concern us all.
More: Ryan Walters should support trauma-informed interventions for Oklahoma kids | Opinion
According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, chronic exposure to traumatic events can adversely affect attention, memory and cognition; reduce a child's ability to focus, organize and process information and interfere with effective problem solving and planning. The executive functions that trauma can compromise include inhibitory control, which is the capacity to inhibit or regulate strong emotional or impulsive behavioral responses voluntarily; cognitive flexibility, the ability to think about multiple concepts simultaneously or to switch quickly between concepts; and working memory, the ability to hold new information in the mind, process it, and store it as a learned memory.
Our children already face many challenges and school districts across the state are reeling from the barrage of politics at work. Are we as a community really comfortable with ICE (Immigratio and Customs Enforcement) raids at our schools? Are we really One OKC if we are allowing our children to live with the fear of going home and having nobody there? Or having that same fear for their friends? Are we really One OKC if we see the Hispanic community as separate from the broader OKC community?
Want to help? Send support to the agencies that are doing the work to help kids and families: LCDA, Catholic Charities, United Way of Central Oklahoma. Get involved in your local schools; there are many volunteer opportunities available through OKCPS Foundation. There is no better way to understand the amazing stories of our students and the dedication of our educators than by spending time in our schools.
People of all faiths have a general belief that humanity shares common values. We may be different but we are also very much the same. We love our families and we love our neighbors. Most importantly, if our children aren't okay, our community is not thriving.
Mary Melon-Tully is president of MT Willow Tree Consulting, LLC. She formerly was CEO of the Oklahoma City Public Schools Foundation.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Immigration politics add more trauma to OKC public school kids | Opinion
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