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Editorial: TPS focuses on students' mental health needs

The Blade - 1/5/2022

Jan. 5—Leaders of Toledo Public Schools chose wisely to stop talking and start moving on behavioral and discipline problems in schools.

Toledo hardly stands alone in bouts with fights, destruction of property, threats, and the dangerous issue of kids bringing weapons into schools.

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In fact, studies and reports throughout the United States and Canada indicate that the pandemic exacerbated bad behavior, violence, and aggressiveness among many students.

From a difficult first half of the year with a large number of incidents, TPS officials hope to have a better second half.

Making that happen involves intense efforts to both stop the problems before they start and address the underlying causes of the problems, some of which reach far beyond the school system itself.

It's smart to devote some time and effort when bringing a student back into the classroom after he or she has been suspended. Students who have been suspended may be returning with a chip on their shoulder, and knocking that chip off helps both the students and their classmates. That's the goal of one TPS initiative.

In some cases, counseling will be part of the return process, and the process will be more guided in general.

Both the Toledo Police Department and the city's violence interrupters will play roles in trying to keep weapons off school grounds. That includes the use of additional K-9 patrols.

Perhaps most importantly, the plan emphasizes helping students get mental health resources and recreational opportunities.

There were troubles before the pandemic, the time away from the classroom and the on-again, off-again return to schools brought problematic responses from many students. In October, health organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children's Hospital Association said the pandemic — related decline on the mental health of students was a national emergency.

A Canadian study published by JAMA Network Open found that increased time on screens — computers, phones, and the television — added to mental health and behavioral issues for children.

That is a finding worth thinking about far beyond the realm of the schoolyard.

While the sources of the problems indeed are complex, the TPS plan is practical and should provide some measure of confidence to administrators, parents, teachers, and students that a strong effort to maintain school safety is in place.

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