Q&A – Eileen Jay for School Committee

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS CANDIDATE QUESTION

The disruptions in school attendance and teaching methods arising from the COVID pandemic have placed additional stresses on the mental health of students and families. What actions on the part of the LPS would you promote to provide mental health support where it is needed?

We know that there have been mental health concerns that have arisen from the COVID pandemic disruptions in schooling. In the 2020-21 school year with hybrid and remote learning, many stressors and mental health issues arose for students and families. What we are seeing this school year with the full return to in-person learning are manifestations of pandemic-related disruptions in a variety of ways. For a number of students, it has been stressful to adjust to full-time classroom learning with its more structured environment, return to more typical academic expectations, and new social setting. In addition, students are dealing with the mental health effects of living through the pandemic itself that, for some, evoke feelings of fear, uncertainty and anxiety. As a result, in schools, we are noticing increases in stress, depression, feelings of isolation, acting out, and behavioral issues compared to non-pandemic times. This is occurring across the country, not just in Lexington.

Certainly, there is a lot of variation in mental health effects on individual students, with some able to adjust well and others who need more support. One thing that I think we need to do as a school system is to find ways to identify students who need help. We have counselors and social workers who can notice when individual students need help and provide support for them. It might also be helpful to have training for classroom teachers and staff to learn how to pick up on signals of anxiety, stress, academic issues, and social difficulties so that students can be directed to the support they need.

The pandemic is a new and unusual circumstance and may require some expertise in understanding the particular ways it has affected mental health and how that is manifested in children and young adults. If possible, it would be wonderful to bring in some experts to do professional learning for our educators and staff. It would also be helpful to have expert panels and forums for parents and families to learn about the mental health effects on their children and what they can do. Perhaps there can be opportunities to work with outside resources or organizations that can offer expertise or access to programming.

It is true all the time, but especially during crisis times, that students need a trusted adult in their lives both inside and outside of school. In school, forming a relationship with a trusted adult who cares and shows kindness can go a long way in making individual students feel connected. Especially in larger settings, like the high school, finding ways to form those connections would be helpful. Some formal structures, like advisories, can help but fostering informal organic relationships are often the best for students.

I believe that it would help all students if we can bring some more normalcy to schools and to social interactions with peers. As the pandemic evolves, hopefully, there will be more opportunity to renew some typical routines and increase occasions for social contact and interaction. Young children are missing more chances for playing and socializing with their friends. As safety permits, we want to be able to lift restrictions on recess and lunch as much as possible to facilitate socializing. For older students, there has been too much reliance on technology for social contact and not enough in-person interaction. At the high school level, people are working on bringing back in-person social events, like prom and All-Night Graduation, that students look forward to. Perhaps we can continue to look for more opportunities for bringing students together as well.

We know that the mental health impacts of the pandemic may take time to play out. We must recognize this and use whatever resources we have to help our students. Their long-term well-being is of the utmost importance. Hopefully, we can also continue to provide opportunities to bring more normalcy back into school and, especially, more chances for students to socialize with each other and find happiness both inside and outside of school.

LEXINGTON PERSPECTIVES – LHS STUDENT-RUN PUBLICATION

If you could summarize your campaign in one word, what would it be and why?

Compassion. I’ve always been motivated by a desire to do what’s best for students. As an educator, of course, I want to create the best learning experience for students. However, I’m especially compelled by my caring for students’ mental health and well-being. When my children were at LHS, I realized how much unhealthy stress and pressure students experienced. It wasn’t just about doing well in their coursework, but there was an unrelenting culture of pressure to excel in academics and extracurriculars to enhance their resumes and get into good colleges.

As far back as 2008, I began working with others to raise awareness about student stress by organizing community events, teen/parent dialogues, book and film talks, and special events for particular groups like our Asian American students. In 2014, I was the lead author of a report to make recommendations to Lexington Public Schools about reducing student stress. All of this work is part of what led me to run for the School Committee in 2016. For many years, I have been part of the School Health Advisory Council (SHAC) to continue to work on health and wellness issues in the schools, and now serve as a member of the LGBTQ Subcommittee. In seeking re-election for the School Committee, I intend to continue my work on these issues for the sake of our students’ social, emotional, and mental health.

Why are you running for the Lexington School Committee? What unique experiences/skills would you bring as a committee member?

I am running for the Lexington School Committee because I am passionate about providing an exciting and stimulating education for our students and I really care about students’ mental health and well-being. These are the reasons I ran six years ago in 2016, and now I am running for re-election to a third term because I want to continue working to help students—both academically and emotionally.

The unique skills, experiences, and perspectives that I bring are as a current School Committee member, a professional educator, and as a parent and long-term resident.

With six years of experience on the School Committee, including two years as Chair and two as Vice-Chair, I bring the experienced leadership, stability and proven capability needed to help guide our schools as we face the challenges ahead. I already have extensive knowledge of our school system, its operations, and the important school issues, which will make me the most effective candidate for doing the work. I know the practice details of finance, operations, budgeting, and facilities planning which positions me best to face both our immediate needs, like prioritizing in-person learning while maintaining safety as the pandemic evolves, and upcoming needs, like planning for a new or renovated high school.

Professionally, I’m an educator with a Doctorate in Education from Harvard, who has worked as an educational researcher and co-authored books and articles on education. I am passionate about education and bring my vision and expertise to my role on the School Committee. Some of the educational changes I’d like to implement include allowing more flexibility of course choices at LHS to encourage students to study what they are passionate about, looking at graduation requirements that will permit more flexibility, redefining measures of success, making learning more connected to real world problems, and allow for more student agency in their learning.

As a parent of two children who attended LPS from K-12, I’ve been actively involved with and know our entire school system at all grade levels very well. I have known and talked with many students and have gained a perspective of what has worked well and what hasn’t for my own children and for their peers.

What do you believe is the biggest issue that Lexington faces? How would you approach and solve the issue?

I actually think that the two biggest issues that Lexington faces are diversity, equity, and inclusion, and helping with student mental health related to the pandemic and in general. I will address these two issues in subsequent questions in response to the optional questions below.

Here I will discuss the issue of building a new high school which will be a challenging issue for the Town. We definitely need a new or renovated high school. The current buildings are old, will need updated infrastructure like HVAC systems, and don’t meet current standards for security or for 21st Century learning.

The first thing we must do is to come up with an educational plan that meets the high school’s needs. This is an opportunity to ask questions like: Do we want to keep the spaces separated by departments or do we want a more interdisciplinary structure? What do we want to have in terms of technology or maker spaces? How can we make our spaces more flexible for multiple uses or to reconfigure as needs change?

The School Committee will play a big role in the educational planning, design and construction process, and financing of a new or renovated high school. I have been on the School Committee through the financing and construction process for two new schools—Hastings Elementary and Lexington Children’s Place preschool. This experience will be an asset as we enter into the construction of a new high school.

The biggest challenge will be the financing of such a large project. We are fortunate in that LPS is likely to receive substantial state funding for this project, but the tax burden on Lexington residents will still be great. We will need people on the School Committee who can work with the community in explaining the need for a new high school. I have the knowledge and experience to help with that aspect of communication.

We must do financial planning to relieve some of the burden on taxpayers. The Town is doing its part for prudent financial planning. I am on the Finance Guidelines Working Group, along with representatives from the Select Board, Town Manager, and the two finance committees, that is working on finding ways to set aside money in funds that will help mitigate some of the tax burden. Ultimately, the voters of Lexington will decide whether to fund the high school through tax levy.

The School Committee is responsible for finding and appointing a superintendent. What qualities, skills, and experiences would you look for in Dr. Hackett’s future successor?

I was on the School Committee at the time we hired Dr. Hackett, and I was Co-Chair of the Superintendent Search Committee that was tasked with finding and screening superintendent candidates. We were very fortunate to be able to hire Dr. Hackett who possesses all of the qualities, skills, and characteristics of an excellent superintendent.

In searching for our next superintendent, I would look for excellent communications skills, an ability to relate well with people, and the capacity to collaborate productively with a wide variety of stakeholders. It’s important to be able to listen to all perspectives, but then be willing to make informed decisions and take responsibility for the ultimate decisions made. Being a superintendent requires leadership skills, including supervising personnel and doing day-to-day management of school operations, budgeting, and oversight. I personally like to see that a superintendent has a vision for education who can set the school district on an effective course and who can be an educational leader to his or her staff. Ideally, we would have a leader who is willing to innovate and work on continuous improvement of our school system.

With Black History Month finally here, what do you propose to make the LPS curriculum include diversity, promote equity, and be more inclusive?

I’m very excited to report that LPS is currently working on developing a K-12 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion curriculum across all grades and disciplines. The curriculum will incorporate the histories and stories of all groups and create a culture of belonging.

Students will learn about the histories, stories, and contributions of ethnic groups including Asian Americans, African Americans, Native Americans, Latinos, as well as other groups representing religious, gender, disabilities, and neurodiverse identities. The curriculum will help provide the windows for people to understand other cultures and identities, and the mirrors for students to see themselves reflected. It’s important for these histories to be integrated as part of the regular curriculum for all students. Social studies classes will include discussion of important events and contributions, English classes will include readings from diverse perspectives, music, art and science classes will include the contributions of important people from different backgrounds. In addition, LHS is offering social studies electives on African American studies and Asian American studies.

Another part of the DEI curriculum will center around talking with students about understanding their own identities and cultures. Young students will start by learning about their own families and their own identities. They’ll learn about other people’s identities and how to understand differences and similarities among people. At later grades, they’ll talk about accepting all people and recognizing inequalities and injustices and how to stand up for one another. This DEI curriculum will empower students to understand the issues and will create a true culture of belonging.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated issues of mental health and many students are feeling burnt out — which is only made worse by LHS’s highly competitive environment. What specific strategies would you implement to tackle this issue?

We know that there have been mental health concerns that have arisen from the COVID-19 pandemic disruptions in schooling. It seems that in many ways that the full-time return to school this year has been at least as difficult, if not more so, than the 2020-21 pandemic year. The mental health effects of the pandemic are happening to students everywhere, not just in Lexington.

It is true all the time, but especially during crisis times, that students need a trusted adult in their lives both inside and outside of school. In school, forming a relationship with a trusted adult who cares and shows kindness can go a long way in making individual students feel connected. Especially in larger settings, like the high school, finding ways to form those connections would be helpful. Formal structures like the LHS advisories are an attempt at this but don’t always create the connections between students and faculty. It’s often best to foster informal organic relationships between students and adults just so that students know that there is someone who cares.

I know that when they are there, the therapy dogs are a hit. It’s clear that there’s a need to have some relief from the stress and anxiety and find comfort in being around animals and where students can find joy and relaxation.

I believe that it would help all students if we can bring some more normalcy to schools and to social interactions with peers. As the pandemic evolves, hopefully, there will be more opportunities to renew some typical routines and increase occasions for social contact and interaction. For many students, there has been too much reliance on technology for social contact and not enough in-person interaction. At the high school level, people are working on bringing back in-person social events, like prom and All-Night Graduation, that students can look forward to. Perhaps we can continue to look for more opportunities for bringing students together as well.