They’re putting their best foot forward for the kids. And, you know, teachers, they do what they do because they love kids. But I know there’s some internal struggles for a lot of them. They’re wearing their masks like they’re supposed to. “The kids, when I see them walk in the halls, they seem happy to be back at school. “I was just at a couple of schools and, yeah, teachers are just tired. “I think what’s most important about the survey is this is an opportunity for our students to have a voice,” Ellen Essick, DPI’s section chief for NC Healthy Schools and Specialized Instructional Support, told the State Board of Education in August. The state conducts the survey every odd-numbered year, with the 2021 collection having begun this month with hopes of finishing by December. In North Carolina, the most recent survey data show that high school students are at increasing risk of self-harm, suicidal ideation, depression, and bullying.These findings are from the latest Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), taken in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. Nationally, researchfrom the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that hospitals across the country saw a 24 percent increase in mental health emergency visits by children ages 5-11, and a 31 percent increase for students 12-17 in the first months of the pandemic.The surge compounded an already pressing mental health crisis, with youth suicide rates increasing more than 50 percent between 20, also according to the CDC. And while the county’s response is indicative of the resilience of people, it also reflects some of the challenges facing the whole state. But the response was swift, too, and the district already had programs and practices to use.īut Transylvania isn’t the only place where kids - and adults - are struggling with mental health issues as the pandemic months creep onward. In Transylvania County, the blow came suddenly, in the opening weeks of this school year, and successively, in a way that knocks the wind out of you when you were already breathless. … And so you just are holding your breath and praying that you don’t ever see this again in your lifetime.” “And then it turns into a fear of, is this going to be a trend? These two so close together that were not connected at all. “It was just complete devastation,” Ellenberger said. “How did we not see this coming?” she remembers thinking.Ī few achingly short days later, more bad news came - this time from Ellenberger’s husband, a detective with the Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office. That time wouldn’t come until the evening, and then it would come fast and hard. “I went straight to the school, got with the counselors, and it was like, ‘We’ve got to get together, and we’ve got to get to work right now.’ So I didn’t really have time to process the feelings at all.” “And it was just shock in that moment,” Ellenberger recalled. A high school student, one Norris had in elementary school, died by suicide.
Norris’s voice was heavy as she greeted Ellenberger, who is the student services director for the district. And in such a small place, she had formed deep relationships with much of the community.
Many years before, Norris was a principal and assistant principal in the district - the type of leader who got to know her students and their families. Carrie Norris, curriculum director for Transylvania County Schools, was calling. Missy Ellenberger heard her phone ringing and looked at the screen. It was 6:30 a.m., with the August sun barely breaking the horizon and much of Transylvania County still in darkness.