In suburban schools across Monroe County, veteran educators are increasingly sounding the same refrain:
It didn't used to be this way.
Children, they say, weren't coming to school with such overpowering anxiety about their math test, their Instagram account or their after-school activities. They weren't as likely to be hungry or homeless or struggling with addiction in their family. They weren't traumatized — not like this.
"Kids coming to us today look a little different from five or 10 years ago," said Deborah Miles, Fairport's director of student services.
As a result, schools are beginning to look a little different, too.
Suburban Monroe County school districts have greatly expanded their mental health offerings over the last several years, part of a growing recognition that students cannot learn when their minds are occupied with more pressing matters.
In part, the increased services correlate with increasing levels of poverty in most suburban districts. Poor students are more likely to suffer emotional trauma and to be classified with a disability for a variety of reasons.
[For more of this story, written by Justin Murphy, go to http://www.democratandchronicl...tal-health/91264308/]
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