An experience I recently had with a school district, quite honestly, has left me gob-smacked a bit. I am in awe of the teachers and administrators at school districts throughout the region and what they have to deal with.

Let me get back to the beginning, though.

Journalists often cover a wide variety of topics and are constantly looking for ideas for stories that will matter to readers. As such, when we hear of events of interest, we sometimes ask to attend so we can either cover it, or, as in this case, learn how to cover a topic better.

I’ve covered gang violence before and even touched on the presence of gangs in schools and how they can be damaging to the on-campus community. However, I’ve never been able to address that topic at the level I wanted to. So, when I heard that one of the districts we cover was having a discussion/training on the issue of gang prevention and how to address gangs in school, I asked to be a part of that event.

My goal wasn’t to cover the training directly, but rather to see how the district is dealing with such a tragically challenging issue.

I was not prepared for the level of nuance the discussion would require.

District staff, with help from someone with law enforcement experience, learned more about gangs and how they operate in the area. Then, they got down to work discussing how to manage situations on campuses.

What I heard was intense.

I heard a principal sharing a challenge with two middle-school-aged girls, one of whom is likely in a gang, navigating a conflict after a shooting took one of the girls’ father from her. I heard a discussion on how much red clothing or blue clothing was an indicator of ties to one of the two most prominent gangs in our area. I heard a discussion weighing how to ensure safety for everyone, access to education for all students and how to engage parents, some of whom may actually support their children’s gang affiliations. Some had raised their children with the gang being as much a part of the family as the mother and father were.

I saw concern about mislabeling a child as being in a gang when it was just as possible that the student is facing life challenges at home, with his or her peers and possibly even with a job.

It amazes me to think how easy it is to forget that these are the questions educators, whether administration or classroom teachers, must wrestle with each day.

When I was freshly out of the Army, I worked for a time with Child Protective Services. I saw instances wherein teachers had been required to report suspected abuse to CPS. I saw when those reports were in error. I saw when they were very well founded. I saw teachers who worried that they’d made a mistake and harmed a child more than they helped.

When we look at teachers, we need to see more than just the person who is going to teach little Timmy to read or teach Sally to play the violin. They’re also social workers in many respects, working to identify the challenges children face and connect them to desperately needed resources. They’re analogous in some ways to law enforcement officers: issuing detention, making sure people are safe, and forced to decide what the limits are for behavioral infractions. They’re coaches and mentors and so much more than what the term “educator” encompasses in most of our minds.

I encourage anyone looking at a teacher or administrator to put on a virtual filter like we often see on social media. See them in their roles outside of simple teachers, principals or superintendents, and see them as social worker/security officer/mentor/counselor/dozens of other things. Give them full credit where it’s due and give them all your support.

Yes, there’s an issue between the teachers and the administration in Moses Lake, and when contracts come due in other districts, there’ll likely be occasional issues there. But remember, when the needs of the students are set before them, they all sit down to problem solve and work it out. As parents and community members, it’s vital that we support them in their efforts to help us raise the next generation in a way that allows our young people to flourish.

A special thank-you to the district that allowed me to sit in on its discussion. It opened my eyes, and I think it will allow the Columbia Basin Herald to be part of the solution.

In admiration and respect,

R. Hans “Rob” Miller

Managing Editor