Return to School: Culturally Responsive Practices in Times of Adversity

Vanessa Coleman:

… everyone. I think we’ve got a critical mass now. Um, welcome to the Return to School: Cultural Responsive Practices in Times of Adversity session. Um, my name is Vanessa Coleman. And I’m with the American Insti- Institute for Research. And we are partnering with the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium to bring you the Center for Education Equity. I’m joined by colleagues who will be facilitating, helping to facilitate today’s session uh, Karmen Rouland from the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium, Kathleen Guarino from the American Institute for Research, and Alicia Espinoza from the American Institutes for Research, also known as AIR.

Vanessa Coleman:

We are also very lucky to have (laughs) um, a- a panel of leaders who are steeped in this work of designing and implementing culturally responsive practices, particularly during these challenging times. So um, let me introduce you to Dr. Stacey Cole, the superintendent at Storm Lake Community School District in Marshalltown, Iowa. Doug Fireside, principle at New Song Academy in Baltimore, Maryland. And Gwendolyn Unoko, the director of community programs at City Neighbors Foundation in Baltimore, Maryland. And I will turn it over to my colleague Karmen Rouland to tell you about the Center for Education Equity.

Karmen Rouland:

Hi everyone, good afternoon. My name is Karmen Rouland. I’m associate director of technical assistance in training for the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium, Center for Education Equity. Um, I’m just gonna give you some information about the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium, or MAEC. Uh, we are a nonprofit dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education to achieve social justice. We have a nearly 30-year history of working with educators and administrators to develop a culture of inclusion and fairness, collaborating with them and to address cultural biases and policies and in the classroom. Our goal is to help each student succeed regardless of their cultural, linguistic, or economic backgrounds by building stronger and more inclusive classrooms.

Karmen Rouland:

Next slide. Currently, along with our partners AIR and WestEd we operate the federally designated equity assistance center for region one, the Center for Education Equity. We’re gonna talk about what region one means in a minute. Um, we are, we’re one of four educational regional equity assistance centers uh, funded by the Department of Education under title four of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Karmen Rouland:

Next slide. So here’s uh, the region that we currently operate in. So all the way from Maine down to uh, Maryland over to Kentucky and West Virginia as well as the Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Karmen Rouland:

Next slide. The Center for Education Equity’s goals are to improve and sustain the systemic capacity of public education systems to address problems caused by segregation and inequities uh, and we’re also our goal is to increase equitable educational opportunities for all students regardless of race, gender, religion, and national origin. And we serve um, states, school districts, schools, and community based organizations within region one at the request of school boards and other responsible government agencies.

Vanessa Coleman:

Thank you Karmen.

Karmen Rouland:

You’re welcome.

Vanessa Coleman:

So we have um, many folks from many places joining us today. Some of you are already sharing your location in the chat I see. Um, thank you for getting the conversation started among you and um, breaking the ice. Um, thank you and because there’s so many of you um, we would like to ask a, ask that you um, keep your- your phone lines or your audio lines muted um, and your cameras off. Our facilitators will be on and off camera as they are speaking. Just so that you know. Also, um, we’d like to um, ask you, you’ll have questions throughout this session. We’ll be sharing some information and we’ll have an opportunity to ask questions of our panelists. Um, please submit your questions in the chat box at any time throughout the webinar and we’ll do our level best to get to them. Again, we have a number of participants on this webinar. Um, but for those that we do not get to, we are collecting them and we will follow up um, after this session.

Vanessa Coleman:

There are also handouts that are made available in the chat box um, uh and there will be additional handouts added throughout the session. Okay. So our goal for this session today is to strengthen the capacity of state education agencies, districts, leaders, principals, and teachers to use evidence based research to inform practices. Um, we- we hope to do that by helping you to understand the latest research on trauma and trauma informed practices for supporting student well being, learn from practitioners about common stressors and solutions for addressing students’ well being during times of adversity, making connections with cultural uh, with culturally responsive practices and how they can be leveraged to support students during their, these unprecedented times, and learn from practitioners about how they are supporting culturally, linguistically, and racially diverse students to feel connected and engaged. And identify actionable steps for fostering student well being and resilience.

Vanessa Coleman:

So um, given that we are um, uh, um, you know experiencing some unprecedented kind of circumstances um, that impact our already rewarding and difficult work um, and that we’re all so now probably well practiced at meeting uh, both joining or participating in meetings and facilitating meetings virtually, we’d like to take a minute um, to have everyone uh, create some space for everyone to uh, to transition from what you were last doing. Um, if you’re like me, it was a, it was another Zoom call. Um, and- and to- to move into this place um, and this space that we’re trying to create for us to talk about what this work requires. So um, we invite you to take some time to do that and maybe take some breaths. Maybe three breaths um, and then write in the chat box one word that describes how you’re feeling right now.

Vanessa Coleman:

Lots of feelings. Overwhelmed, sleepy, great, trapped, drained, anxious, supported. This is wonderful. Um, thank you all. Um, and we invite you to check in with yourself throughout the session, right? About how you’re feeling at any given moment um, so that you’re mindful of that and so that you can use that check in as an opportunity to kind of recenter yourself because if your life or your schedule is anything like mine lately, you’re probably thinking about the next thing you have to do or the next five things that ar going on. Um, so um, on that note, I will get us started and turn it over to Kath-, my colleague, Kathleen Guarino.

Kathleen Guarino:

Welcome everyone. I appreciate you being here today and we really wanted to start off um, by- by just grounding us in the context of- of where we are today. Um, and what- what the kids you’re working with are experiencing. Um, and so we really wanted to start with um, you know just recognizing the effects of stress and- and traumatic stress on-on- on the youth that you serve and- and what that might look like right now. Um, just as a way to ground us all and what we’ll talk about in terms of um, kind of the strategies and ways of thinking about this. Um, so you know, there are a lot of very common stressors for kids right now. Um, huge in the center of this is just uncertainty, right? About what to expect um, there- there have been a lot of losses and really a lot of grief. Um, even just around missing- missing friends, the change in routine um, you know the social isolation um, all of the experiences that have come with this um, that include sort of more significant experiences for kids.

Kathleen Guarino:

Um, so you know, we- we want to think just for a minute about the spectrum of those, right? Um, you know kids are facing a range of stressors and have been and they range from some that are more manageable to others that are more overwhelming um, and you know, I- I think it’s important to acknowledge obviously that for some, for some, for some of, for some of the youth that you serve, you know while this experience was disruptive it- it isn’t, hasn’t necessarily been or will be harmful in the longterm. While for others um, these experiences really may have lasting effects especially if they’re exacerbating other stressors, you know? Um, but we know that everybody’s experiencing that disruption in- in routines and predictability and relationships that are so important um, to managing stress and being successful and- and missing those important rituals. And the uncertainty about what will happen next, right? Um, as well as real challenges related to things like disproportionate access to virtual education um, legitimate worry and fear about safety you know for- for self and others. Um, we certainly have seen reports of increased challenges with mental health issues.

Kathleen Guarino:

Um, basic needs issues arising um, the loss of resources in families. Um, you know we see some trends in this experience like um, fewer reports of child abuse and neglect, but there’s a lot of concern about whether that’s actually accurate to what’s happening or just the fact that kids aren’t being seen by adults in ways that people would notice kind of those challenges. Um, this has also been a particularly challenging time for kids and families who are experiencing violence at home to- to not have any place to go um, only further exacerbates those things. And obviously there- there have also been more significant losses of family members, of community members, sometimes of teachers. So there’s- there really is a wide range and a wide range of- of how kids will deal with and navigate these experiences. We also know that there are kids who are gonna be more vulnerable to the effects of stress at this time and that includes kids are already maybe were struggling with mental health issues, kids who were already struggling with learning in some ways.

Kathleen Guarino:

You know students whose families have been more significantly um, affected by job loss um, by illness, by just having caregivers who have been more at risk or more vulnerable to COVID-19. Um, certainly students who have lost loved ones. Um, kids who’ve had limited access to learning for a lot of different reasons, technology, time, adult assistance, kids with special needs, students for whom English isn’t their first language, just, and as we just talked about kids who maybe are already potentially in volatile or- or unsafe situations at home.

Kathleen Guarino:

So this- this seems like a really appropriate time um, to talk about trauma. Um, and you know though not every child or youth will experience this time in the pandemic as traumatic, it is important to talk about trauma because a lot of what’s happening around COVID-19 really reflects some of the hallmarks of trauma which are things like feeling helpless, vulnerable, and out of control. So we, when we think about trauma, we can think about the three E’s um, of trauma. So it’s- it’s both an external thing that’s happening, right? It’s an event. Um, and those events can come in many forms. Um, right now we’re thinking first about COVID-19, but we’re gonna talk a little bit about other forms of potential trauma as well. Um, including poverty, racism, discrimination um, and other sort of broader communal and societal stressors. Um, but you know, whether that event is traumatic or not is really um, you know in the eye of the beholder in- in a lot of ways.

Kathleen Guarino:

Um, so it is very much our experience of the event um, that tells us sort of how traumatic it is. So um, not every event is traumatic for every person. Um, and we’ll talk a little bit more about sort of why that is and some of the factors that come into play there. Um, and you know, and trauma has effects, right? Um, so immediate reactions to trauma may include kind of fear, helplessness, loss of control um, and- and you may see short and longterm effects of trauma. So I wanted to talk just a little bit um, and ground us in our brain and bodies and this is for all of us, right? Um, so all of us have- have uh, brains and bodies.

Kathleen Guarino:

Um, and stress response systems and so when we think about um, the brain body response to stress, we can, we can think about this as we’re working with students, right? And possibly you know ideally even educating them about how the stress response works, especially at this time. So you know when we talk with kids about the stress response, we often kind of t-, we can think about these two- two main areas or parts of the brain, right? The s-, the survival part um, and that’s responsible for sort of monitoring threat and activating us when we feel like we’re in- in danger. Um, and the thinking brain or kind of the- the rational part of the brain um, that is- is really what- what we need for- for learning and planning and decision making. It’s what needs to be on to sort of take in and learn new information. Um, and- and really these two sort of parts of the brain and nervous system kind of go back and forth all the time, right?

Kathleen Guarino:

We- we’re back and forth between sort of the gas and the brake um, all the time as we’re- we’re managing stress in daily life. Um, but you know one of the things that we know for all of us including the kids we’re working with is when the thinking brain and that part of our nervous system is in charge um, kids are more likely to feel calm, to feel connected to other people, to be able to take in information and learn, right? Um, when we’re in that place, that’s what we, what we talk about as- as being in a kind of a regulated state in our, in our nervous system. Um, you know and- and kids have different levels of tolerance for stress, right? Um, so we all have this- this little window, picture of a window in the thinking brain there. We all have what’s- what’s called a window of tolerance um, and that’s sort of our optimal window within which we can kind of take in the ups and downs of life and still stay in that sort of regulated state. Um, and everybody’s window is a little bit different.

Kathleen Guarino:

Um, you know how wide a- a child’s window is um, varies by a lot of different factors, right? How- how much coping internal regulation skills they have um, external factors um, but oftentimes what happens is kids have to borrow from an adult’s regulated state um, in order to be regulated themselves. And that’s particularly challenging right now. Um, because as adults we are also struggling to stay in the calm part of our brain and nervous system. Um, so there isn’t a lot of room for borrowing from each other. Um, so just something to think about when we’re thinking about working- working with kids right now. Um, and one of the things we know for- for our students is that over time the thinking brain becomes more developed um, and the two- two parts of the brain become better connected and kids are better able to control their emotional responses, they’re- they’re really sort of able to have kind of a better braking system. Um, but you know, for all kids a lot of the stressors that we’re talking about right now are really um, you know types of experiences that can activate that survival brain and kind of take us into a survival mode in our bodies.

Kathleen Guarino:

Um, and some of those things we can think about as kids come back to school are not even, they’re- they’re subtle forms of threat, right? Like changes to routine, disconnection from adults and peers, not being sure what’s next, noticeable adult stress um, you know can all be sort of little signs that sort of can activate our- our systems in those ways. So we just want to be aware of that.

Kathleen Guarino:

So we would anticipate that kids will have some responses, right? And that these will show up, that stress will show up. Um, when we’re not in our window, right? When we’re not in our calm place, we are, can only be in one- one of two other states um, and that is either in sort of fight or flight mode um, or in shut down mode. Um, and- and so in either place there are kind of common responses that kids are likely to have to stress and some of those might be just difficulty managing emotions, more intense mood swings um, you- you might see that come out in fidgeting or nail biting or in younger kids more cheerfulness or clinginess. You might see overreactions to smaller issues and challenges um, more worries, more- more preoccupation about these experiences, trouble relaxing, changes in sleep or eating patterns. You know you also might seem more impulsive and risk taking behavior um, or things like an increase in um, in- in issues like substance use. Um, but you also, I think it’s important to pay attention to the kids that fly a little bit more under the radar.

Kathleen Guarino:

So they’re more disconnected. There may be lower energy level. Um, a loss of interest, trouble focusing that might be a little harder to see than the kids that are in kind of fight or flight mode. Um, you might see a lot of body complaints, headaches, stomach aches um, body pain issues, school avoidance, also sort of withdrawal from things that they used to enjoy or people they used to enjoy to the extent to which they can access those now. Difficulty with just taking care of themselves. So you know, it’s, you know all of these things will vary by age, right? They will vary by in intensity based on the kind of support the kids have. Um, and you know what I would say is all of these are also really common responses right now. Um, the issue for when we might be worried that kids need more help is when we, is really to think about the frequency of these thing, of these behaviors um, how intense they are. Uh, do they um, and their duration, right?

Kathleen Guarino:

Do they, do they last and kind of seem to not be going away? So those are just some- some things to think about. It’s also important to think about how stress is expressed varies. Um, by- by even sort of different cultural aspects, right? Like how kids talk about stress and trauma, how families do, how stress is um, expressed. You know? Um, what topics or feelings are or are not acceptable to discuss. So those are all sort of things to also think about when we’re thinking about the stress response and how it might not always manifest in the way that we think it might manifest. Um, the other thing I’ll just say about this is this- this becomes a time where it- it’s really important to- to really notice potential survival responses um, and to- to be take care with our language. Um, and to um, not assume that this is for example willful disobedience, right? Or laziness or lack of motivation. So really using care with our language.

Kathleen Guarino:

You know when we’re talking about kids being disengaged or uninterested or unmotivated or don’t care um, really sort of taking into consideration where they actually might be at a, at a nervous system level and how that might be- be manifesting. Um, you know the other thing that we just wanted to point out today is- is just to acknowledge that COVID-19 for many students is not the first form of adversity or trauma that they’ve experienced. We actually know that rates of childhood adversity and trauma of many types are unfortunately um, quite high in the general population which is why schools have been increasingly focused on addressing adversity and trauma because it’s not just, it’s really not just a small segment of the population. Um, it really is a- a large um, you know more extensive exposure that students have had.

Kathleen Guarino:

And I think we’ve also really expanded our understanding of what adversity and trauma can look like, right? Um, and so you know we’re learning more about the types and the effects of that on students. So we certainly know um, that- that things happen in families um, that- that affect kids and that that’s really important and- and your relationship to caregivers is really critical as you learn and grow, but we also know that- that experiences that happen in communities and society are also a source of trauma. You know and we certainly have seen that play out in parallel with COVID-19 in- in things like racial violence and trauma um, and- and sort of the ongoing nature of these experiences- experiences like poverty, dis- discrimination, inequities that themselves are traumatic and that place people at higher risk for other types of trauma. So really important to be thinking expansively um, about- about these experiences and what is traumatic for kids.

Kathleen Guarino:

And so I just wanted to pause for a minute here and actually just- just ask people to use the chat- chat box um, to- to answer sort of what are, what do you see? What types of adversity were you already aware that your students were experiencing before- before COVID-19? We would love to- to see that and hear a little bit of that from you all. All of the above I’m seeing. Yeah. Racism, economic distress, community violence, unstable family situations, students, all of the above. Racism, community violence, housing issues, right? Housing instability. Racism and discrimination. Okay. Biases in foster homes. Parent substance abuse. Yeah. And- and that’s to your point likely to be increasing under- under other stress. We all have ways of coping with those, with that disregulation and that’s certainly one of them. All right. Yeah, so high mobility, housing issues. Thank you. So you- you’re seeing all of this, right?

Kathleen Guarino:

Um, and- and we’re seeing the effects that these things have already had on kids um, in the way that um, the experiences of COVID-19 are only potentially adding both another complex layer and potentially um, you know exacerbating what kids are already experiencing. So the last point I- I just want to make here is- is that you know we’re talking about stress today and we’re talking about trauma, but not- not all stress is bad, right? Um, in fact we all need a certain level of stress to be successful, to learn new things, to um, move in our lives in good ways and kids need that as well. We also know that kids can experience significant things, right? Significant forms of adversity and with the- the right support, particularly um, buffered by supportive relationships with adults, that level of stress can remain tolerable in the body, right? So that gas and braking system may be a little out of wack for a while um, but with the right support um, kids can re-regulate uh, without experiencing more significant issues.

Kathleen Guarino:

Um, the majority of kids who- who experience trauma do not go on to develop more significant mental health issues. However um, you know given- given the trajectories that we just talked about and some of the kids that might be more vulnerable, it is important to note that um, you know that what we don’t want is to see trauma and adversity that starts young and that continues over time without adult support. Uh, because then what we see is this sort of ongoing activation of that stress response system in ways that actually become toxic to the brain and the body and toxic to development. Um, so you know, we just want to be aware of the increased risk for toxic stress. Um, particularly among students who might be more vulnerable and to think about what can we do to support regulation, right? What can we do to support um, that kind of sense of safety that helps kids be able to keep that learning brain on for everyone? And what else might also be needed for kids who need more? And so with that Alicia, I’m going to turn it over to you.

Alicia Espinoza:

Great. Thank you so much Kathleen. What I’d like to do is transition us into hearing a little bit from our panelists. Um, I’d like to invite uh, Dr. Stacy Cole um, to share a little bit about uh, you, your role uh, your district, the student population you serve, and if you can please share with us um, the survival responses that you’re noticing in your students and how are you able to connect um, and your teachers able to connect with your most vulnerable student population.

Stacy Cole:

Okay. Hi, I am Dr. Stacy Cole. I am the superintendent of schools in Storm Lake, Iowa. So from the national standpoint, I’m this teeny, teeny, little place and from an Iowa standpoint, I’m about a mid sized district. We have about uh, 3000 kids uh, in our district. Uh, the majority of population in my district is uh, students who identify as Latinx students. Um, next we have a large population of students from Micronesia. We have a large population of students who are refugees from um, Africa and uh, our next population would be white and then uh, Asian and so we are quite a diverse little place. Uh, we’re a small community that has an urban feel and we just love it. Um, so some of the things that we have seen actually when the slide was going on, I was like checking the boxes. I’m sure like all of you were, right? Like yes, you know my students are having trouble regulating emotions.

Stacy Cole:

Yes, my kids um, are easily agitated, all of those things, right? And so um, as I thought about the things that we try to do as we navigated this COVID experience um, I thought about the sudden disruption and them missing out of important rituals. And so we tried really hard here to create new experiences for kids that may not have been the same as what they were expecting before and in some cases, they’re still longing for the rituals that used to be there and in some cases, we actually think we created better experiences. So uh, for instance our graduation traditionally has been in our gym packed with probably more people than the fire marshal would like to know. Um, so this year you know we moved it outside and we did some social distancing, we drew numbers for where people could sit. So it wasn’t ideal, probably not what our kids would say, but they still got to graduate. They still got to talk across the stage and so many families got to see um, their first time graduator um, happen for them.

Stacy Cole:

Um, another thing was prom, right? Like our older kids, that was one of the main things. We had a lot of girls spend a lot of money on prom dresses that um, likely was a lot, a lot, a lot of money for their families. So we created an event that we called prom not prom and what we did was we created experiences around the entire community. We got the entire community involved and we said um, think about like a big celebration that’s important in your country or in your culture and can you recreate a photo booth that looks like that? And we had the kids sort of go on a scavenger hunt across town and have these really fun photo booths where they just went on social media and we got to celebrate the kids um, all night long. Um, another even was our senior night. We were going to miss out on our senior night and so we flipped senior night and this is probably one that we’ll keep forever.

Stacy Cole:

We flipped it on its head and we took our senior night on the road and so we gathered up every adult in our school community that was willing to go do home visits and celebrate kids at their home and we literally showed up almost unannounced. I have a senior daughter or I had a senior daughter last year who said, “Do not show up at girls’ homes without telling them that you’re gonna knock on their door.” So we did tell them that we were coming and that people, like adults they knew would see them so that they’d be dressed and maybe with makeup on. Um, but we, you know we got to their door, we knocked on the door, they you know come out and kind of see like all these people from school there. We hooted and hollered and played music and had blow horns and just really celebrated them and then did their own little presentation about the senior awards that they would have been given up on stage.

Stacy Cole:

And we had instances where the entire neighborhood came out to see you know, who are these people hooting and hollering in their neighborhood and my favorite story was one family was a next door neighbor and as we all went to leave, we were getting back in our cars and I saw the mom hug the little probably third grader and she looked at that girl and she said, “Lepida’s gonna be a doctor and so can you. That can happen for you one day.” And we just had the most amazing experience. So you know, I really thought about what we did. I mean we did lots of things, delivering food and that kind of thing, but I think for us creating those ritual events that they felt a loss from was probably the most significant thing that had the biggest impact.

Alicia Espinoza:

Thank you so much Dr. Cole. I’d like to invite Doug Fireside. Um, Doug can you share your experience um, and how you’ve been able to um, uh address even your most vulnerable populations?

Doug Fireside:

So I’m Doug Fireside. Uh, I started as a principal in Baltimore city almost exactly a year ago about three days before the start of last school year. I had been a teacher here for 20 years including six years at New Song Academy which is in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood. Uh, which if you know Baltimore at all uh, or if you’ve heard of Sandtown-Winchester uh, you most likely have heard that this is the place where Freddie Gray was arrested and murdered five years ago. The population that I’m lucky enough to serve uh, is 100% African American. We’re a small school. We have 183 students in grades pre-K through eight. We are uh, we have been a community based school for the last 28 years and just in July of this year became a public charter school here in Baltimore. Um, I think uh, when I think about uh, the-the- the question of survival responses, I’m reminded of uh, two things.

Doug Fireside:

Uh, one is a conversation I had with my sister who is a lawyer in Texas um, working for the city of Austin and I was telling her early on in the pandemic after the closure that you know uh, my high school students were at home or uh, were doing school from home and my wife was working from home. I came into work every day because my high school students were at home. Um, and uh, she- she stopped me and said, “Actually what you’re describing is backwards. What you’re describing is that we are doing all of these things and then dealing with the pandemic, when in fact what all of our families, our teachers, our staff, our students, their families are dealing with is the pandemic and then they’re trying to get other things done.”

Doug Fireside:

And it was a really important and powerful moment that has stayed with me for the last six or seven months because I think when we think about the idea of trauma, we tend to think about it in these small individualized vignettes when in fact what’s happening uh, in this community, in this city, around the country is this pandemic has invaded and upended every single aspect of life. Um, so in terms of survival responses for students, I think the largest issue that we have faced is the lack of in person consistent uh, staff and teacher connection. Um, coupled with the kind of insecurity that even in a neighborhood like Sandtown which has so many strengths, but also has a lot of challenges just has never seen before. So in terms of connecting with our most vulnerable students uh, I’m reminded of a second story and that is early on in the pandemic a parent of one of our students came in to pick up a work packet. I was here.

Doug Fireside:

Uh, I invited her back to my office where we both wore masks and I was asking her how things were going and she said to me, “You know I’ve done everything that society has asked. I graduated high school. I got a job. I worked at the same job for 14 and a half years and just last week I was let go.” And she looked at me and said, “I don’t know how to access the kind of resources that I think I’m going to need.” And again, it was a very powerful moment because the kind of trauma that stable families and are experiencing is something wholly new to them. And the trauma that we then need to share is also new to us while we are also dealing with pandemics. So we have tried very hard to connect students through devices, through Class Dojo, through texting, through phone calls.

Doug Fireside:

Uh, we very quickly got up and running a contact tracker that all of our school staff could view so that we could quickly track when the last contact was made with students and families. But there, I- I think we- we are still trying to figure out what the trauma is and we are still trying to re-navigate and re-map what is defined as our most vulnerable students because students who before were in relatively stable situations are now facing that kind of trauma.

Alicia Espinoza:

Thank you so much Doug. Um, and I invite the audience uh, if- if anyone would like to share some of the ways that they have um, attended to students and their needs, feel free to enter that in the chat. What I’d like to do is now transition into a conversation about specific strategies for fostering student well being. These are some research based factors related to resilience for children and youth. Today uh, we’d like to focus on what you can control in your role as an educator. Consider which of these factors um, that support resilience to strongly be infl- influenced in a child’s school experience. Especially now it’s more important than ever to help students build resilience. To develop the skills that are not only going to help them survive these adverse times, but potentially thrive within and despite these adverse times. Especially now more than ever um, we want to leverage all the strategies um, everything we’ve heard.

Alicia Espinoza:

I know many of you have attended webinar after webinar around strategies for um, helping students and we’re hoping that in this webinar we can help to make some connections with some um, high impact strategies specifically those um, that are relevant to culturally responsive practices. Okay. All right. So what I’d like to do um, is begin with um, one of the uh, tenants um, around um, sort of the research based uh, components around how to address resilience with students is to develop and maintain adaptable carrying and supportive relationships. That was the first resilience factor. Um, the next is uh, safe and supportive learning environment. These two key factors connect closely with tenants of culturally responsive practices. Um, including a commitment to building classroom community. Uh, research indicates that students often make decisions of what to do in class based on their perception of whether or not a teacher cares for them.

Alicia Espinoza:

And students are more likely to succeed if they feel connected to school and their teacher. Therefore creating a stable learning environment um, is- is super important. An environment that’s respectful and meaningful for learning. This includes establishing norms for interaction that support both the epidemic and social goals for your students. Consider inviting students um, to uh, develop those uh, norms alongside you. Um, also establish positive inter-relationships among students, family, community, and school. We know that you do this. Are there any opportunities now that um, so many parents, community organizations are- are in virtual settings? Um, are there opportunities to be able to re-engage with them differently and unique and innovative ways? Um, show interest in um, in individual students. Um, ask about you know um, I think sorry my, I think my slide went- went back one. Um, got to go back. Okay.

Alicia Espinoza:

Um, definitely show interest in individual students. Whenever you have the opportunity whether it’s in virtual settings or for those of you who have transitioned into socially distant settings um, be sure to um, be sure to um, ask students about what’s important to them. Um, the uh, any key moments and celebration that are inside or outside of the classroom. Um, also consider how your environment or routines um, communicate a respect for adversity and from connected uh, connect in that. Um, so for example um, uh you know with the, with the virtual Zoom- Zoom meetings um, can students set backgrounds around elements that are important to them? Whether it be a pet or whether it be uh, anything that really brings them positive feelings um, and really you know, introduces other students to the things that are important to them.

Alicia Espinoza:

The other thing is knowledge of students’ cultural backgrounds. Um, we really um, hope that you and your colleagues especially right now um, particularly because we know that another factor um, important for um, maintaining and sustaining uh, resilience is affirming cultural traditions. Um, I know that Dr. Cole uh, earlier talked about those traditions, sort of school traditions. In looking at students’ individual cultures and identity um, it really ask yourself how do material- materials currently reflect students’ culture and identity? How can uh, you and your colleagues uh, collaborate for a project based activity that involves students exploring elements of their own identity or cultural background? Um, how can community members or community organizations um, help you in- in building a knowledge about students and their communities? How can you engage them? Again, even inviting them virtually um, to come into the classroom and to share some of those- those key pieces.

Alicia Espinoza:

Um, how can you engage students in uh, sharing some of their uh, current or past experience um, to help establish context and things that they’re learning about? Um, there is so much occurring in real life around students every day. How can you leverage those experience, make learning relevant and applicable to their da- daily lives? Again, consider your environment. Um, what books are you displaying? What décor are you, are you using in your learning spaces? Um, are those um, images reflect- reflecting diversity, tolerance, and community? Um, also take a look at your curriculum and learning materials um, for bias. Whose perspective um, are they um, are these materials um, reflecting? Um, so we want to really take a look at whether they are displaying or disguising perspectives for example.

Alicia Espinoza:

Lastly um, consider personal um, implicit biases that may in fact um, affect students’ ability um, and willingness to learn. Having said that um, I’d like to invite a p- panelist uh, Gwendolyn uh, Unoko if you can join us. Um, and Gwendolyn again, please share a little bit about your role um, and the students that you serve and if you can please share the strategies that you have found effective for building knowledge uh, about students’ cultural backgrounds and incorporating that um, uh understanding. Yeah.

Gwendolyn Unoko:

Wonderful. Um, good afternoon. My name is Gwendolyn Unoko. I’m the director of community programs at City Neighbors Foundation and I also have the privilege of um, leading our internship program at one of our schools. We actually have uh, three public charter schools in Baltimore City. Um, they, it serves about 900 plus students. Um, we have uh, two uh, K through eighth grade schools and we have a high school. Um, the demographics um, is 85% um, African American and it’s an amazing place. I’m biased. Um, I would like to answer the question that you pose um, about um, building knowledge about your students’ cultural backgrounds and incorporating this into the understanding of the learning experiences. One thing that well, let me start here. The secret sauce to being to engagement and being successful with students we believe is relationships. Relationships are essential. Um, and our school culture, I don’t want to say that it’s a thing, but it’s to be known to be loved and to be inspired and this is our 16th year um, our oldest school is 16 years old and one school is 11 years old and one is 10 years old.

Gwendolyn Unoko:

And because these relationships have been built over time, it’s easier to engage and it’s easier to connect even in a pandemic. Even though we still have our own struggles that we’re working with in this virtual time as well. One of the things that we have at our high school, they’re called pods. Uh, every freshman is assigned to a pod. They’re a six, they’re about 100 freshmen and then there are at least six pods. So there are around 16 to 18 students in each pod and that pod you build a community and that community remains intact and that pod stays the same unless someone withdraws from the school or a new student is added and they matriculate together over four years. And they have the same pod advisor over all four years.

Gwendolyn Unoko:

So there becomes this deeper relationship because you are going through this journey together and if a student for example is uh, absent, I might instead of the teacher calling or um, just the district doing their standard call, I might call the student myself um, that student might call another student themselves and say, “Hey man, what’s up? Why haven’t you come to school today?” Because they are taking ownership for their education and they are accountable to each other. Um, a couple other things that we’ve done and we’ve integrated into the school as well to get to know each other and to there’s for example, there are mindful Mondays, their wellness Wednesdays and on Fridays it might be friendly Friday where you can get to know someone who you haven’t necessarily spent time with or you didn’t know before. And so I think be going on and on um, is there anything else you would like to know about that and I can give some other examples if they are needed? Or if you would like some more examples.

Alicia Espinoza:

Great. No um, thank you Gwendolyn and if anybody has any questions um, feel free to um, enter them into the chat box as well. Um, so the other um, the other key component um, uh another resilience factor is the sense of mastery over life circumstances and earlier I mentioned to consider um, how this relates to a school um, and really helping students get a sense of agency. Um, maybe not over life, but you know overall, but over their school experiences and their own learning and the importance of that for students. Um, ask yourself um, are we incorporating student voice? Um, make space for conversational learning. Students are coming in with a lot and how can you help to encourage dialogue amongst students? Structured dialogue around content that you need to teach them, but also um, in a way that’s structured so that students can bring in some of their own personal experience to make connections to the learning. Support a constructivist view of knowledge building on personal and cultural strengths in students.

Alicia Espinoza:

Uh, convey to students this unequivocal belief that they can learn uh, particularly those have been, that have been historically uh, marginalized and for those students um, that have been historically um, under performing. Uh, many of those students feel like they’re falling deeper, deeper into sort of a uh, a place of no return academically. Uh, so we want to make sure that we are um, continuing to instill more than ever the possibility of learning and that every new day is a, is a possibility for learning. Also make space for feeling and thinking about issues affecting their community. Um, issues around race, ethnicity, gender, class, power. Creating that safe space for students again to in a structured and healthy way to share how they’re feeling or thinking. Many of them and in certain communities are- are hearing um, directly from family members that have been affected with uh, issues of injustice or- or racial discrimination.

Alicia Espinoza:

And oftentimes, they don’t have, they’re not invited to contribute to those conversations because of their age or simply because parents and families want to protect their children. But how can you create a safe space for students to articulate any emotions that they may be feeling around these complex issues? Um, again incorporate opportunities for students to problem solve, to think about issues that we’re facing um, and really uh, find opp- opportunities to think about solutions from their perspective and a way to again, create these young leaders and minds that- that they can feel so much [inaudible 00:51:54] engaged even if just within their classroom. Also be cognizant of how body language or verbal cues can convey um, that student questions or opinions are valid and appreciated.

Alicia Espinoza:

In an earlier slide, I talked about norms and oftentimes even in virtual students with students we don’t, we don’t realize how our gestures or- or facial expressions can um, uh show again either uh, you know affirm something that is said or- or make someone feel like their contribution is not valid. So be mindful of that and be mindful of creating those norms with your students. Um, also um, make an extra effort to reward effort privately and publicly so that students know that effort is just as important to you as completing the task or assignment um, that you’ve given them. Having said that um, I’d like to at this point um, invite um, Doug if you can share some strategies that you’ve implemented to increase uh, student agency at your school.

Doug Fireside:

Sure. So um, I think the first step is really getting teachers to identify where their uh, belief system is around student agency.

Speaker 8:

Um, give me a minute. I’m just finishing a Zoom meeting. They’re almost off.

Speaker 9:

Okay, awesome. We need passwords for-

Doug Fireside:

And sorry uh, and um, you know the idea of agency is really one about power and control and getting teachers to uh, identify where they are in terms of relinquishing the power and control within their own classrooms, within the way that they select resources is really the first step. Um, and uh, I- I often talk with teachers about teaching my kids to drive which is a harrowing experience I don’t recommend. But uh, what I remind them of is that nobody learns to drive by watching someone else drive. We only learn to drive by actually doing it. And the other strategy that I think uh, that- that I’ve used besides having teachers do some self reflection is in being very open to the ways in which students want to uh, push their own agency. Earlier this year back in the fall of last year, we had a student protest here in the building. Uh, there had been a staffing decision made by uh, the- the leadership and students were very upset about it and our eighth grade students organized a school wide sit in and protest.

Doug Fireside:

And one of the most interesting moments was when uh, I got a call from people in our central office worried that I was unsafe and I said to them, “This is actually the best day I’ve ever had in 30 years of being an educator.” Um, watching students uh, imperfectly plan and execute a sit in, write their demands uh, lead protests, lead chance um, and be confrontational with uh, with those in power was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. And I think what I tried to do was to model for my staff that- that we need to be accepting of both the voice that students have, but also the imperfect ways in which they will exercise their own agency. So I’d say those are a couple of ways that we’ve tried to implement some real thinking about student agency.

Doug Fireside:

The other thing I just wanted to quickly mention because we were reminded of the power of relationships. I think the pandemic has really revealed both the strength of relationships that I know we have at our school uh, and also some of the ways in which we were substituting frequency and proximity for actually relationships. So we had a-a- a core group of uh, families. Four of whom the relationships were very strong. It was very easy to reach out, but then we had a smaller percentage of families who we saw the kids and the parents every day at- at drop off and dismissal. We were with the kids every day, but when the pandemic hit, we realized very quickly we didn’t have the kind of deep meaningful relationships that we might have wanted to have or thought we had. So I’m just putting that out there that uh, it- it has taken some very deep self reflection for our staff and for myself to think about how do we tend to the relationships, especially given the challenges that we have?

Alicia Espinoza:

Thank you Doug. The last piece I’d like to l- leave you with as far as um, really leveraging culturally responsive practices is that as many of you know, students have been locked out of extracurriculars like sports, speech, robotics, cheer, fine arts. Um, a lot of which um, help students uh, feel a sense of achievement and success outside of the classroom. It’s important to keep in mind that their learning environment at this point in time may be one of the few places that students can still feel a sense of accomplishment as they persist through difficult tasks. So it’s critical now more than ever that um, you maintain and communicate high expectations for students equitably and compassionately.

Alicia Espinoza:

Um, so um, really consider um, consider um, how your um, uh, how your uh, assumptions and biases um, uh related to race, culture, language may play a role in your expectations of students. Um, ask, continue to ask high order thinking questions equitably. Be sure to give specific feedback to students both orally and written to stimulate improved performance. Um, provide students criteria for success whether it be a rubric, student friendly objectives um, anything that will help students understand um, what success looks like and what they need to do to get there. Um, engage students to be evaluating their pr-, their own progress and again, this helps to- to also establish that sense of agency. Um, ask your students for feedback about how instruction is going whether it be virtually or in the new socially distant uh, learning environment.

Alicia Espinoza:

Uh, provide students multiple opportunities to show mastery of the standard which means like multi-faceted assessments. Make sure that you are still checking for understanding. Uh, in virtual settings that could look like in Google Chats for instance students can show um, can click on an emoji to show whether they understand or not. Thumbs up or thumbs down. Different strategies to make sure that- that students are- are with you, that they’re understanding the learning um, and keep that going throughout. Um, still encourage collaborative learning. Um, I know that some students have technology issues, but if you can still connect them with a partner and they can still engage in whatever method they can via text, via Factime, telephone um, whatever that is suitable and doable for children where they can still interact with- with each other uh, to learn collaboratively and be responsible for one another’s learning. Continue to cultivate this growth mindset so students are always prime for new learning. Again, every- every session, every- every um, every opportunity they have to learn new things that they don’t feel like they’re so far behind that they can’t benefit from the new learning.

Alicia Espinoza:

Uh, continue to use scaffolds um, building bridges to learning. And um, this is really a big one that I, in working with many- many schools and administrators and teachers is I know it’s hard to let go of zero tolerance uh, and rigid expectations. Um, but it’s really important now more than ever that there is some flexibility around some of the strict rules that you might have had in- in, during unprecedented times. Um, such as tardiness or late and incomplete work. You’re not necessarily reducing expectations, but you’re- you’re looking to find the support they need to actually meet those expectations. So try to respond to the need or the issue behind the behavior, not necessarily the behavior itself. So if a student is not showing up for class or they’re not engaging um, how can you ask the student you know, do you have what you need? Is everything okay?How can I help you so that you can make it in?

Alicia Espinoza:

So the student knows that you’re not really looking for punishment, but you’re really looking to help, to try to help them understand or for you to understand how you can support them so that they’re present during the learning because it’s important to you that they are it’s- it’s important for them. So with that said um, I’d like to um, close us off with a panelist contribution. Um, I’d like to invite um, Dr. Cole back if you’re still on. I know you had something at the top of the hour. Um, if you could just quickly share how you’ve been able to effectively maintain high expectations for students in a compassionate and equitable way.

Stacy Cole:

Yeah. So I’m gonna go right to the bottom point that you made in that last slide because I think it’s one of the most difficult things that I have found as an educator to really um, think about from a systems wide rep-, um area and that is letting go of zero tolerance and rigid expectations. So we’ve really been trying to hit this from um, multiple uh, vantage points and so I’m just gonna talk about a couple of them today. So the first piece that I’d like to talk about is um, if anyone has been trained in the youth mental health first aid training, one of the things when you become a first aider is that they talk about learning to sharpen your noticing skills. And that’s been a key phrase that I kinda hold with me and when I think about sharpening my noticing skills with high expectations uh, we’ve really been having conversations in the district and encouraging people to have what we’re calling equity coaching conversations and sharpening our noticing skills when bias seeps into conversations uh, not so much you know large scale.

Stacy Cole:

But when I’m having that conversation with my neighbor, third grade teacher, have I notice when bias starts to creep in and am I willing to address that as a colleague and not wait for like the equity coordinator to come in? We’re also trying to sharpen our noticing skills in our own reactions. I loved what Doug said about the protest. Um, I have some folks that have reacted to protests in our community um, following lots of events with civil unrest this um, summer and we’ve really addressed that with some restorative circles among staff and really trying to come at staff about how we react to things based on our own biases. Um, something else that we’ve been thinking about with that is we take a- an entire community approach to holding high expectations because I really believe that this is not something that I alone can do as a school administrator.

Stacy Cole:

So we’re engaged in lots of different groups throughout our community that deal with things such as food insecurity and those types of like um, big ideals within the community, but then we pull on people from those groups to help us really take a community approach to um, really raising expectations for all kids and giving all kids role models so that they see themselves in leaders across our community. So in addition to that, I’m um, kind of oh I don’t know if this is lucky or unlucky um, but I happen to be married to the chief of police in our community and so if you can imagine the stress of a pandemic right now at our house. However um, because he loves me, he’s willing to have different conversations about bias and policing than he might have been willing to have with other people and we’re really taking to heart this whole idea of letting go of zero tolerance from a community lens and not just a school lens.

Stacy Cole:

So you know, well before this summer when the popular thing to do was to rid your school of an SRO, we had begun that journey because I, we had lots of conversations about you don’t see young black girls being dragged from desks in classrooms because a police officer walked by a building and thought, I bet there’s a kid to drag out of a classroom in that school, right? No, it starts with us as educators. It starts with us making that first phone call. So we have to stop making the phone calls and then they have to stop reacting to those phone calls in the ways that they’ve been doing. And so um, this is my soap box so I’ll stop right there Alicia and I’m sorry to go on and on.

Alicia Espinoza:

(laughs)

Stacy Cole:

Um, but like I do think that the letting go of that zero tolerance piece is bigger than us and it’s a conversation that as school personnel, we have to be willing to take the first step on.

Alicia Espinoza:

Great. Thank you so much Dr. Cole. At this point, I’d like to hand it back off to um, Kathleen who will close um, the content portion out. Um, uh so Kathleen?

Kathleen Guarino:

Great. Thank you. All right. So one of the things that I wanted to share as- as part of this conversation actually and um, the idea of um, you know being able to uh, think in new ways. One of the thing’s that’s been useful I think as a framing uh, for- for student well being at this time and for addressing trauma is to kind of shift how we operate and the order in which we tend to operate. Um, and you know, in- in a lot of ways where we tend to start with kids is-is- is at the reason level at that um, we-we- we’re often talking to that um, thinking part of the brain um, and one of the things that we have- have very much learned and seen is that um, if- if kids aren’t, if kids are really disregulated, if they’re feeling disconnected um, you know then- then they won’t really be able to access that- that part of the brain that- that’s needed for- for learning. And for actually good relationship and empathy and connection and all of those pieces as well.

Kathleen Guarino:

So really kind of the idea of flipping the script um, and starting uh, instead of sort of top down uh, going kind of bottom up. So step one is- is to get kids regulated um, to start by sort of you know, we’re really starting at kind of the base um, and getting kids regulated um, helping kids be- be as people were talking about um, you know known loved valued scene in that sort of relationship way in order to be able to get um, to the, to the reasoning. Um, and I think this is sort of an interesting shift to even think about when you’re thinking about okay, if we use a regulate, then relate you know, regulate, relate, then reason approach, what are the implications of that you know for our work with kids in the classroom? What are our, are the implications of that for our systems and structures?

Kathleen Guarino:

What are the implications of that for how we, how we navigate um, difficult behavior in the moment? Um, so really kind of thinking- thinking about that- that mindset shift um, because it- it really is one in a lot of ways um, that we’ve been talking about today. And- and so you know that idea of kind of mindset and the implications of that for the work I think are just helpful foundational things to think about um, as we, as we um, as we talk about this today because um, you know no matter what the strategy if there kind of isn’t a belief behind it and- and why it’s happening or what the intention is behind it happening, it is- is less likely to be effective. Um, and so some examples of that kind of shifted mindset or belief system that we think about when we think about a trauma sensitive approach are- are some of the things that are pulled from um, a variety of-of- of ways of thinking.

Kathleen Guarino:

Um, so one and this- this really has come up um, in talking about sort of a- a model of collaborative problem solving, particularly for addressing challenging behaviors is this idea of- of students do well if they can versus if they want to. Um, and so really thinking about that- that mindset and what that, what that um, whether you buy that, right? Um, and whether that has implications then for how you engage with kids. I would argue adults also do well if they can versus if they want to a lot of the time um, so- so Alicia, your point before really thinking about things like the- the root causes of behaviors or- or what’s going on for-for- for kids that leads to those behaviors and really thinking about what is the need that needs to be filled. What is the skill that might- might need to be developed? Um, making that sort of a more fruitful collaborative process. You know the belief that relationships are central to students’ success. It is a belief. It is a mindset.

Kathleen Guarino:

Um, the idea of behavior as communication, right? So um, the behavior there’s, you’re seeing reflecting again sort of in some of the collaborative problem solving language, unsolved problems, unmet needs, or potentially lagging skills. Uh, and- and some of those could also, are- are disregulation, right? Um, lagging skills around being able to regulate. Um, even just the idea that we cannot reward or punish students into being regulated. Um, that we really need to think about our systems of incentive, right? And our, and our systems of- of consequences and- and regardless regulation has to come first. Um, in that process. Um, the idea of shifting from punishment done to students when we’re thinking about behavior to consequences or solutions that are, that are focused on skill building. These are challenging shifts that I think go along with those challenges of the zero tolerance and the expectations pieces.

Kathleen Guarino:

Um, you know shifting maybe even from talking about behaviors as good or bad in some ways to regulated or disregulated when we’re thinking in those ways and- and what that shift in language might shift in terms of our- our focus. Um, and you know being able to-to- to really sort of believe and have the mindset that attending to students’ social and emotional wellbeing is critical to academic success and determining ways that you can do that that still feel comfortable in your educator role, right? And that still sort of respect that we’re not asking people to all become mini counselors um, but that we are asking people in their role to um, to play a role, right? In- in how we address student well being and- and resilience. So those are just some examples of- of that kind of mindset shift that I think underlies and reflects a lot of what we’ve been talking about today.

Kathleen Guarino:

Um, and then before- before we wrap up this piece, I wanted to just point to a couple of resources that we’re making available to you that have- have um, kind of a couple of assessment tools. Um, the first is- is an educator self assessment and planning tool around supporting student resilience and well being um, using kind of a trauma informed lens and- and again, it just offers kind of breaks down into four different dimensions. The trauma informed mindset and instruction piece. Um, the safety regulation and relationships. Um, and- and offers you some- some more concrete strategies in each of those areas for what some of that um, can look like. And then there’s also um, a leader version of this that sort of mirrors those different buckets um, but that also um, is- is a little bit bigger picture um, and includes sort of some- some strategies around how to also really weave in um, sort of trauma informed uh, social and emotional and- and equity uh, lenses. Um, and to really think about what it looks like. What- what kind of support for staff do you need to integrate?

Kathleen Guarino:

What kind of um, kind of parallel process of supporting social and emotional learning might be needed for the adults in the building in order to support kids in the building, just- just as an example. Um, and then- then finally just wanted to mention um, the- the, a resource that we offer um, that is actually an assessment tool around self care for educators um, and it- it kind of breaks- breaks out a little tool of different strategies in it across um, six different domains. So mind, body, emotion, spirit, work, and relationships. Um, and that’s just sort of all by way of saying that as we’re trying to do this- this work with students and as all of you have suggested in your words that there’s- there’s a lot of, a lot of our own um, our own nervous system challenges, right? And- and our own kind of understandable worries and anxieties and sort of disregulation around this that- that more than ever and I think this has always been true, but more than ever before it is true that a disregulated adults cannot um, help regulate kids.

Kathleen Guarino:

Um, so it’s- it’s just, it’s all the more important for-for- for the adults to be caring for themselves and to be really noticing and sharpening those noticing skills in that way as well, right? When am I losing it? Um, when am I um, disregulated myself? When is my response gonna be more trauma inducing than reducing? Um, you know what that- that’s gonna mean. So that’s just, that’s the- the third in this series of um, of tools that you can feel free to take a look at and it might be something even that you could use in planning. So for example the educator student related assessment could be something that you kind of go through those different domains and then maybe talk as a team about, “Hey, we would like to pick one to two strategies that we want to try together and see how they work um, and support each other in doing them.” Um, so that you can start to think even more consistently across a school building. Right?

Kathleen Guarino:

So we- we maybe all do things in a little bit of a different way, but we’re all gonna start with a regulation um, activity, right? Um, and then people can use their own comfort zone around what kind of regulation activity with students that is, but you’re all doing it. Um, so there, that there’s sort of a collective sense of um, of- of doing something together to create a system of more consistency in how you’re operating. So that’s just one example and the leader tool um, because it sort of mirrors those concepts, I think it allows leadership to think at a more system way um, around what are the systems and structures that we need to put in place to help um, educators be able to continue to use these day to day strategies. So it’s, it is also a parallel process there. It’s not just on the classroom moment. It’s about the systems and structures that also support and foster that. Um, so those- those are just some examples there. Um, and- and Vanessa I’ll turn, I’ll turn it back over to you.

Vanessa Coleman:

Thank you Kathleen. And um, thank you to our panelists who um, gave us some time. I know that a few of you are actually in your buildings right now. Um, and hosting kids. (laughs) So thank you very much. We appreciate it. Okay.

Kathleen Guarino:

Bye everyone.

Karmen Rouland:

Okay. (laughs) So um, this is uh, we, first of all thank you so much on behalf of Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium um, and the Center for Education Equity. We appreciate our panelists um, their time today. This was such great information um, that I know uh, is everyone will find really useful. Um, and also thank you to our participants for staying with us throughout the day. Um, we wish everyone well um, as they start school or continue the start of school and reopenings. Before you all leave today, please, pretty please take our survey. This helps us with um, planning for future webinars and also making sure that we meet your needs um, as we think about other programming. Uh, there’s a QR code here and the way that you do that I believe you can just hold your phone up to the screen and um, open up your camera app and it should, the link to surveymonkey should open up. If that doesn’t work uh, you can use the ink that Nekivia just posted in the chat box and um, again we thank you so much for your time today.