2022_09_New_Jersey_Monthly
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education<br />
small colleges<br />
Continued from page 61<br />
school students over the years. According<br />
to Reina, the district was stunned by the<br />
suicide a few years ago of a senior two weeks<br />
before his graduation. He’d been in the top<br />
three of his class and seemed to have everything<br />
going for him. “He broke all the<br />
stereotypes of what that crisis looks like,”<br />
says Brenda Callaghan, the district supervisor<br />
of special projects.<br />
The tragedy strengthened the district’s<br />
“resolve to reach every kid,” says Reina.<br />
“Nothing is more important than the fact<br />
that every student has two or three adults<br />
they’re comfortable going to,” he says, adding<br />
that it could be about their own struggles or<br />
concerns they have about a fellow student. “If<br />
you do have a student thinking about doing<br />
harm to themselves or others, kids will say<br />
‘I have to go tell Mrs. Smith.’ They know our<br />
teachers are trained,” he says.<br />
Ninth-graders attend suicide-prevention<br />
seminars, and tenth-graders are trained to<br />
provide peer support. “They ask questions,<br />
they persuade their peer to seek help and<br />
also to tell that trusted adult,” Reina says.<br />
In an effort to destigmatize mental illness,<br />
Reina has spoken to students about his issues.<br />
“I’ve stood in front of people and talked about<br />
my struggle with anxiety over the years,” he<br />
says. “If we can get students, when they’re<br />
teenagers, to see the value of being open with<br />
mental health, just as we are with physical<br />
health, maybe it will happen globally.”<br />
Callaghan agrees being proactive is critical<br />
for mental health. She said the district has<br />
done that by making mental wellness part<br />
of the curriculum, incorporating social-emotional<br />
learning tools to help students communicate<br />
and make wise decisions. The district<br />
has broadened the use of therapy dogs in the<br />
schools, which were present sporadically<br />
but can now be brought in by any teacher. A<br />
librarian often brings in a therapy dog, and<br />
twice a week, a science-class teacher walks<br />
one through the building twice a day.<br />
But often, those programs are not enough,<br />
Callaghan admits, and mental health professionals<br />
must step in to provide the level of expertise<br />
only they possess in given situations.<br />
For instance, the district has long partnered<br />
with AtlantiCare Behavioral Health,<br />
which operates a teen center at Oakcrest<br />
High School and several other schools in<br />
South <strong>Jersey</strong>.<br />
“We have AtlantiCare in each of our<br />
buildings,” Callaghan says. “Intervention can<br />
keep something from turning [into a crisis].<br />
“One of the challenges is, often you have<br />
programs, you can embed them in the curriculum,<br />
but sometimes you need an extra layer.”<br />
The Paterson school district, serving one<br />
of the poorest populations in <strong>New</strong> <strong>Jersey</strong>, has<br />
received $9.5 million in federal relief funding<br />
to hire five additional behavioral analysts and<br />
two substance abuse coordinators tasked<br />
with identifying and helping at-risk students,<br />
according to an Associated Press report.<br />
The Maurice River Township School<br />
District is stepping up the mental health<br />
resources available to students. In the new<br />
school year, it is bringing in a full-time childstudy<br />
team, says Cohen. The team will include<br />
a school psychologist, a social worker, a<br />
registered behavior technician and a consultant<br />
for the learning disabled, among others.<br />
“We’re going to have our own people,<br />
in-house, five days a week, eight hours a<br />
day,” Cohen says. “We’re going to be able<br />
to really focus on the mental health needs<br />
of our students.”<br />
Many school districts have adapted their<br />
teaching models—often with government<br />
pandemic-relief funds—to address the disruptions<br />
in learning that occurred during<br />
lockdown.<br />
Bloomfield, for example, formed Backstop,<br />
a program that provides additional<br />
in-class instruction time during the school<br />
year and summer to K-6 students deemed<br />
to have fallen behind during remote learning.<br />
It is funded through 2024.<br />
“As good as our virtual learning was,”<br />
says Reina, “it can never replace classroom<br />
learning. We’re focusing mainly on the areas<br />
of math and language arts —unfortunately<br />
those two suffered during the pandemic.”<br />
Maurice River has expanded its Esports<br />
program, which redirected students who<br />
spent more time on their computers during<br />
lockdown into an activity that put everyone<br />
on a level playing field with athletic youths.<br />
“We took kids who weren’t really social<br />
or who struggled through the pandemic,<br />
and we formed Esports teams,” Cohen says.<br />
“They’re playing competitive games like<br />
soccer on the computer. It’s not just about<br />
playing games. This program was bringing<br />
kids who are severely autistic and can’t<br />
play sports with football stars, and now<br />
they’re playing together. These types of<br />
programs focus on the social-emotional<br />
learning needs of our students.”<br />
Elizabeth Lorente’s work has appeared in<br />
Forbes, the <strong>New</strong> York Times and AARP.<br />
Continued from page 69<br />
We’re constantly scanning the marketplace<br />
and seeing what employers want,” he says,<br />
noting new graduate programs in data science<br />
and analytics.<br />
COURTING ADULT LEARNERS<br />
In hopes of shoring up enrollments and<br />
meeting student demand, many of the private<br />
schools are adding career-oriented<br />
programs, especially graduate and certificate<br />
programs in business, technology, education<br />
and health care.<br />
The schools are branching into the unexpected.<br />
Centenary has added an online<br />
master’s degree in happiness studies (see<br />
story, page 62), which this fall is expected<br />
to enroll between 50 and 100 students—<br />
mostly adult learners from a range of fields.<br />
Caldwell University has introduced women’s<br />
acrobatics and tumbling as a varsity<br />
sport in the hopes of attracting students<br />
interested in the activity.<br />
With the number of traditional collegeage<br />
students in decline, the schools have<br />
courted adult learners and transfer students.<br />
Natalie Marks Saint-Preux, 31, of Hackensack,<br />
enrolled in Caldwell for a nursing<br />
degree. She chose Caldwell in part because<br />
it was generous with financial aid. She<br />
appreciated the vibe at Caldwell, with its<br />
suburban campus and small enrollment. “I<br />
had relationships with all of my professors,”<br />
said Marks Saint-Preux, who graduated in<br />
May. “They kind of get you and know what<br />
to expect from you.”<br />
Despite challenges, most of the schools<br />
are expected to survive, says Fitzgerald, of<br />
Moody’s. “Overall, these small colleges are<br />
very resilient. They’ve got a lot of stakeholders<br />
who are interested in their success,<br />
including some who may be in state government.<br />
In some cases, these are important<br />
economic drivers in their area.”<br />
Ladd, from the national governing<br />
boards association, agreed. “Experts like<br />
me predicted more closures than have<br />
happened, because these institutions are<br />
tough,” says Ladd, noting the tenacity of<br />
alumni networks. “They believe in their<br />
mission, have a long history, and will work<br />
hard to survive.”<br />
Patricia Alex and Kathleen Lynn are<br />
contributing writers for <strong>New</strong> <strong>Jersey</strong><br />
<strong>Monthly</strong>, and former reporters and editors<br />
at The Record of Bergen County.<br />
SEPTEMBER <strong>2022</strong> NEW JERSEY MONTHLY 83