Mental Health Awareness spelled out in Scrabble tiles

A Disastrous Way to Start Mental Health Awareness Month

It is May 1st, the first day of Mental Health Awareness Month and what headline did I wake up to? This: Trump admin stops grant funding for school mental health : NPR. The grants came from the Safer Communities Act which was a bipartisan law passed in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting. Republicans…

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A stack of books

The Eighth First Day of School

I know I’m a few days late with this post, but life has been crazy lately. Every year, I write a little post about my kid’s first day of school and what’s going through my mind. (Past entries can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.) For the second year in a…

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The Mental Health Crisis: Can School Help Prevent Mental Illness?

Louie Lang wrote an article in Phlexible Philosophy entitled “An Education Based on Happiness” (Full disclosure, I also write for Phlexible Philosophy.). The premise is that we need a shift of emphasis in education away from career-oriented education and towards a happiness education. That will go a long way towards stopping the mental health crisis….

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Anxiety Screenings in Children Eight and Up

The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force is recommending anxiety screenings for kids as talked about here: Why a US task force is recommending anxiety screening in kids 8 and older (theconversation.com). I think this is a wonderful idea. I have one hesitation which I’ll get to, but this is mostly a huge step towards acknowledging…

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That’s Physical Education to You

Gym Teac Sorry, physical education professionals are not given the respect they deserve. There’s the old joke, “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach. Those who can’t teach, teach gym.” Nothing could be further from reality, though. Despite the spoofs and stereotypes, they quietly do about the most difficult job in education. Let’s start…

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A New Chapter

It’s been a big September for me. My tutoring job is back on campus for the first time since March of 2020. I got a new job as a permanent building substitute teacher in a middle school. And I started taking classes to get my teaching certification. It’s going to be a busy nine months….

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The Sixth First Day of School

Each year, I mark my daughter’s first day of school with a blog post. (You can see past ones here, here, here, here, and here). She started fifth grade today. Her last year of elementary school. That’s crazy. But, much like last year, school and grades and things like that aren’t uppermost in my mind…

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What’s the Hurry?

I got an email from the superintendent of the West Hartford Public Schools informing me that the school system will be fully reopening on March 17th. Saint Patrick’s Day. Next week. I’m utterly baffled. What’s changed? None of the kids are vaccinated yet. Most of their parents aren’t vaccinated yet. People are still dying of…

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Snow Days

I’m angry. That’s not something you’ll hear me say very often. I don’t do anger well at all. I put myself through some pretty crazy contortions to avoid being angry. If you were to walk up to me, slap me across the face with your gloves, and say, “You, Gene Glotzer, are a horrible excuse…

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We’re Still In a Pandemic, Aren’t We?

This was an interesting week. But I guess to tell it right, I have to start with last week. We had a COVID-scare. My brother was showing symptoms and went to get tested. He had been in contact with my parents. Socially distant contact, but still contact. My parents were supposed to be my childcare…

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