By Isabel Lewis, contributor
Harrisonburg school leaders praised students at Harrisonburg High, Rocktown High and Thomas Harrison Middle for their participation in a walkout to protest I.C.E.’s presence and tactics. Superintendent Michael Richards described the protest as “civil disobedience at its finest.”
“[They] chose to organize themselves and make a bold statement about what’s going on in our society,” Richards said. “I was very proud of them.”
The students notified the school district’s administration before the walkout, which Richards said was appreciated and seen as a sign of “trust.”
Students remained safe throughout the demonstration, staying on-campus as directed, Richards said. Staff and Harrisonburg Police stayed on the sidelines to ensure safety.
“They’re passionate about what’s going on in the world, and they want to talk about it, ” Richards said of the students. “They want to demonstrate, and that’s their right to do so.”
He also said students who have different viewpoints have the right to stay in the classroom and get an uninterrupted education, and thanked teachers who stayed inside and continued with their lessons despite wishing to demonstrate alongside students.
How does HCPS support students in need?
Harrisonburg City Public Schools is trying to expand its efforts to meet the needs of families, Chloe Jerlinski, director of student services, told the school board Tuesday.
After students’ registration at the school district’s Welcome Center, families are connected with potential resources they may need through community partnerships.
Recently, the Family Resource Center, which is located at 640 S. Main Street, has been working with Village to Village, a Christian non-profit organization that helps community members receive items they may need, such as clothing and furniture. In special cases, the organization has fully furnished families’ homes.
The partnership between the district and Village to Village discreetly provides students with clothes by using a form with the students sizing information and sending them home with a bag of clothes they need that can be tucked into their backpack.
A new space for Village to Village is being created in the Family Resource Center. This space is meant to help families connect further with the resources the district offers. The non-profit accepts donations through a box placed in front of the resource center, and the organization is requesting the following items, among other household items:
- New, packaged underwear and socks
- Tampons and pads
- Hygiene products
- Elastic waistband pants
This new space comes as a response to public calls for the school board to provide additional resources to help students have access to food, clothing and shelter. Board members on Tuesday acknowledged that a student’s basic needs have to be met before their educational needs can be fulfilled.
“When we know about the needs, we’re filling those needs,” Jerlinski said.
Additionally, school board members said they wanted to make plans to highlight community members and their concerns. A large issue at hand, according to the school board, is the inability of families and students to receive information about educational opportunities and resources. There is a new action within the board to decrease the gap when it comes to families knowing about resources available to them and their child, potentially through online listings of opportunities, social media posts or newsletters.
The school board touched on the potential difficulty to meet all families’ needs, regarding growing issues of poverty as a global issue, not just a Harrisonburg issue.
“I don’t know that we’ll ever meet the basic needs of every person in Harrisonburg City Schools, but … as we know about them, are able to problem solve,” Jerlinski said.
The school board mentioned that the school’s mental health teams are uniquely equipped with social workers as well as family liaisons who are ‘really in touch with family needs’.
Some lesser-known resources available to families are English language courses and fresh groceries. The Adult English language course is taught by Welcome Center supervisor Maria Bautista at Thomas Harrison Middle twice a week.
Groceries, such as fresh produce, are available to students every Friday, rotating between Rocktown High and Harrisonburg High. This is offered through the Good Food School Market program at Blue Ridge Area Foodbank.
As the board is trying to reassess the needs of the community, they are also trying to reach out for more help to relieve school staff from after-school programming. The school board asked for more evenly distributed volunteers from JMU and other local universities.
The schools nearest to JMU receive adequate volunteers, but district staff are concerned that schools further away from JMU might not attract as many volunteers.
Update on new career training partnerships
In the next year, the district is launching a partnership with Blue Ridge Community College to create five-year-long pathways to the college as well as career exploration semesters for high school students. The initiative would target students in their junior and senior years who want to explore potential careers and gain experience.
The BRCC program hopes to expand to as many as 13 programs and can replace opportunities offered through Massanutten Technical Centers as the district pulls away from its partnership with the Rockingham County district to operate the career and technical school.
Two nursing-related opportunities are available to students, including through Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community and an emerging program with Bridgewater Retirement Community. In both of these communities, students will be able to complete hours acting as a nurse aide.
The program at VMRC was limited to 10 students per cohort, reaching a cap at 30. The new partnership with Bridgewater Retirement Community offers more spaces to students looking to get hands-on experience.
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