Rural schools in Lane Co. get a $1.2 million grant
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EUGENE, Ore. – Help is coming for six rural elementary schools around Lane County. Each is about to get the largest boost to counseling funding that the school has ever seen.
Schools hope this will lead to fewer in-classroom problems and better grades for kids.
Elementary schools in Creswell, Pleasant Hill, Oakridge, Marcola, Lowell and McKenzie have all been without counselors for a long time, some for more than a decade.
However, that's about to change.
Grants coordinator Jeff Geiger at Lane Education Service District told KVAL News that long-standing problems often connected with city schools are showing up more often in rural elementary campuses.
"What the schools noticed and what we heard loud and clear from the families was that there was an increasing culture of disrespect, insubordination among the students." Geiger said.
Lane ESD hopes to change that with a new 3 year Federal grant to hire new counselors at elementary schools.
Pleasant Hill elementary will get one of the counselors. Principal Devery Stoneberg said that the road to better grades will include better social skills for the kids, something that the new counselor will have to undertake.
"We know that if we can cut down behavior incidents then students will be more focused on their academics," said Stoneberg.
The new counselors will also tackle issues for students of color and those who are homeless. The project will set up school-based counseling advisory teams as a forum for teachers, parents and community members.
The grant will use local agencies such as Looking Glass to improve school-based mental health services. The end goal is making sure more kids are happy to go to school and can achieve.
Jeff Geiger pointed out, "If we can do those 2 things then a lot of those top tier problems you have, those violent behaviors, aggressive behaviors, those disappear."
Lane Education Service District was the only district in the northwest to land the $1.2-million Federal grant.
I agree counseling does have it's place. The problem is that most of this counseling in on how to best use the system to get what you want from the Government. It is a system of making people more dependant on the Government. What we need is just the opposite form of counseling that dwells on independence and accountability. Honor and Truth. Just look at our politicians. When was the last time a politician stood up, said he or she was wrong, and that they would do whatever was needed to fix their wrong doing. This 1.2 million dollar grant is going to end up costing tax payers untold millions more. Come on people common sense needs to rule the day.
Counseling has itâs place, but that isnât the problem with our kids today: respect and responsibility for our actions is.
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Unfortunately, kids arenât taught respect for others: respect for other people no matter their race, color, religion, etc, respect for hard work, respect for othersâ possessions, are a few things that need to be actually taught in the schools. Also, taking responsibility for every action that we do needs to be firmly pounded into their little skulls (I mean that figuratively, NOT literally!)
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Today, kids AND adults seem to think that blaming others for what they do is O.K., and it isnât! Every action has a result, and when you do something, and the result is negative or bad, YOU need to TAKE THE BLAME FOR IT, NOT SOMEONE ELSE! Own up to  what YOU have done, donât blame someone else.
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Until all adults as parents and teachers begin by example as well as by what they teach share these two lessons with their own children and their students, and the kids actually see it in ACTIONÂ by the adults themselves, NOTHING will change. You can council all you want, but it will only go so far. REAL change will come when they see a difference, when they see the action, in US.