Adult Wellness Support at a Systems Level
BY MELISSA POINTER/School Administrator, February 2022

Melissa Pointer, Highline Public Schools’ director of social-emotional learning, has been raising wellness support for district staff. PHOTO COURTESY OF MELISSA POINTER

Providing support for the adults in our school community means prioritizing adult well-being. All staff at all levels in our system are feeling high levels of stress and exhaustion as we push through the second year of the pandemic. Such feelings are reasonable during an extraordinarily demanding and challenging time for everyone working in schools.

Last fall, while fielding feedback from staff at all levels, we learned many of the sources of stress and frustration were rooted in structural and programmatic issues. Conditions causing extreme stress were systemic. Long hours, high workload, feelings of inefficacy and lack of resources contributed to educator burnout. When we considered the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on top of everything, we found ourselves in a place where many staff members were struggling to stay afloat.

Root Causes

As important as it is for the individual to engage in self-care, we knew district employees could not resolve burnout issues by themselves. Under the leadership of superintendent Susan Enfield, our district has begun to make systems-level changes to address as many of the root causes of burnout as feasible. Some of the changes include:

»We have extended deadlines for many of the typical fall requirements such as submitting school improvement plans and English language learner service plans;

»We have limited the required professional development and are providing flexibility for when and how staff engage with professional learning. This has meant providing training asynchronously, offering multiple opportunities for the synchronous sessions and providing choice among the sessions participants may attend;

»We have deployed certificated central-office staff to serve as substitute teachers daily to support buildings with a lack of adequate substitute coverage; and

»We have asked central-office administrators to provide monthly coverage for building principals to support COVID-related isolation rooms and other pandemic-related procedures.

Some changes are major, some are more limited, but we hope that all demonstrate that we are listening to our staff. We honor and value how hard everyone is working on behalf of students.

Recognizing Symptoms

In addition to system-level changes, we have emphasized professional development opportunities related to staff well-being. In collaboration with several community partners, we have offered sessions during the workday and outside of the workday on topics such as compassion fatigue, the neuroscience of stress and reciprocity of care.

We are helping our staff members to understand the typical phases of reactions and behavioral health symptoms that crop up in disasters and to recognize that the compassion fatigue and stress they are experiencing is not a result of their own shortcomings but a typical response for anyone going through something like a global pandemic. Building awareness on these issues helps staff recognize they are not alone in what they are experiencing and encourages them to consider strategies for building resilience. 

If as a school district we do not lean into supporting our staff around these personal challenges, we will see increases in emotional and physical exhaustion, resulting in a workforce with a diminished ability to empathize or feel compassion for others. Ultimately, this will negatively impact the students we serve.

These offerings are one part of an overall adult wellness plan being built with stakeholder input across the Highline schools. We are committed to adult wellness that encompasses various aspects of adult well-being in our community.

MELISSA POINTER is director of social-emotional learning in the Highline Public Schools in Burien, Wash.