Meet Principal Darrin Paschke, you can tell by this photo that he has something pressing on his mind. His facial expression and body language drew me into this article: Paschke calls out district on behalf of students.
Kudos to Fredonia High School Principal Darrin Paschke for delivering a fiery speech at the local Fredonia, New York, Board of Education (BOE) meeting. His focus was student safety concerns due to the lack of essential health services, including school nurses and school social workers. He was “incensed” at the lack of urgency to properly staff these important positions and did not hold back from letting the BOE know his frustration.
Principal Paschke was born, raised, and educated in the district and now leads the high school. His dedication to the district runs deep and it must be infuriating to feel unsupported by disconnected decision-makers who are not in the trenches. Set your spreadsheets aside, schools need hands-on staff who are “student-facing” to be at the table when the health and welfare of students and staff are on the chopping block.
Enough already! We need action to protect student safety, well-being, and provide the services that meet the ever-growing needs of school communities. School district leaders can no longer look away or minimize what is happening on their watch. There is an alarming pattern of increasing violence, mental-health emergencies, chronic absenteeism, bullying, harrassment and school shootings.
Here is a snippet of Principal Paschke’s message to his BOE. Imagine the collective efforts if other school leaders advocated with such vigor and candor:
I’m just incensed at the situation we’re in. I think we need to do a better job. … There is a solution out there and we can’t keep waiting.
I know that we’re trying, but we need to come up with a solution. It’s something that needs to happen. Our kids are not safe.
I’ve had sick kids in my office in the morning with no place to go. We’ve had kids that need to get their meds in the afternoon and don’t get them.
We need people to help our kids and I want the Board to take it seriously.
Who is taking action? Who is paying attention? We should not be living in a chronic state of emergency when it comes to the health, safety, and well-being or our students.
