- Tonight on "WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories".

It's almost time to send the kids back to school.

We'll show you how the Safe Schools Endeavor is taking action within schools to keep students safe.

And is there really a teacher shortage?

We talk with several school officials to learn the truth.

Plus Cooking Connections uses cooking workshops and conversation over a meal to teach wellness and recovery strategies, reduce social isolation, and address food insecurity all while building competence.

Your stories, your region, coming up right now on "WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories".

(bright music) - [Announcer] "WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories: is brought to you by.

(bright music) - [Announcer] When you're unable to see your primary care provider, the Carthage Walk-in Clinic is here for you.

Located off Route 26 across from Carthage Middle School.

Comfort and healing close to home when you need it most.

(bright music) - [Announcer] North Country Orthopaedic Group is there for your urgent ortho or sports-related injuries.

With our on-site surgical center and same or next-day appointments, we're ready to provide care for patients of all ages.

Your health matters to us.

North Country Orthopaedic Group, keeping healthcare local.

(gentle music) - [Announcer] We are the North Country.

We're protecting one another, like family, is who we are.

And where our tomorrow will always be worth defending.

Find out how we keep the North Country strong, at claxtonhepburn.org, today.

- [Announcer] Additional support is provided by the Estate of Evelyn Peckham.

- Good Tuesday evening, everyone, and welcome to this edition of "WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories".

I'm Michael Riecke.

Whether you're sending your child to school for the first time, or preparing them for another year of learning, a common concern in the back of many parents' minds is the safety and wellbeing of their kids.

This concern inspired the creation of the Safe Schools Endeavor, aimed at creating a safer educational environment for children across the North Country.

For more, we go to WPBS Producer Luke Smith.

(people clapping) - Yes, thank you.

And it's back to school season, which means everybody's going back to school and we wanted to talk with somebody about the Safe Schools Endeavor.

We're here with Erica Flint, the chair of the Safe Schools Endeavor.

Erica, welcome to the studio.

It's a pleasure to have you.

- Thank you so much.

- And getting the ball rolling right off the bat, what is the Safe Schools Endeavor?

- Sure.

So back in 2018, when the Parkland Florida School shooting happened, I think it caught this country's attention like once prior, but different to past ones, I was at a place in my life where I really wanted to do something, more than just send a donation somewhere or keep talking about it.

I wanted to see if we could make an impact right here in our community.

So I contacted the Northern New York Community Foundation, a phenomenal partner who has helped make this all possible.

And my husband and I started a fund there.

We were able to get some other committee members to come on board.

Parkland Florida shooting happened in February.

By March, we had a committee of 10 to 15 local people from Jefferson and Lewis Counties.

We also had the Community Foundation support to give us a $20,000 matching opportunity.

And we were able to raise funds so that our schools could do projects and programs to help make them the safest school possible.

- And it certainly is going a long way so far.

And I wanna know why is it you do what you do?

What's the why for you?

- Yeah, so kind of back to Parkland, if you take it even further back in 1999 when Columbine happened, I was a senior in high school.

It was an isolated, in my experience.

I thought it wouldn't ever, hadn't happened before, wouldn't happen again.

And so I sort of just let it go.

And then when Sandy Hook happened, I had young children of my own, and certainly again, was upset as a whole nation was.

Couldn't believe we were still talking about it, but like a lot of things, time passed, and it sort of moved to the back of my mind.

And then when Parkland happened again, I said, "Enough was enough."

And while I may not be able to do something on a national level, I could take responsibility right here.

And I think more than that, it wasn't just doing something, but it was sending a message to our schools that this is not their burden alone.

That we all as community members have a responsibility to be part of the solution.

And so that's really the why, and I think that if you talk to other committee members, you'll hear very similar reasoning as well.

- And now I'm curious, what are some of those solutions that you're implementing in the schools?

It mentioned that there are 13 projects going on in 12 different schools across the Jefferson-Lewis County area.

Talk to me about some of those projects.

- Yeah, so those projects were for the '23, '24 school year, but since 2018, we have sponsored over 50 projects.

We've awarded over $100,000 to our local schools.

These projects are really in a few different buckets.

Some are preventative.

So those are maybe anti-bullying programs, rooms within schools for both elementary or high school where students can talk to a counselor, sort of get away, take a timeout type space, deescalation.

And then we have different trainings.

So those trainings have been for teachers for trauma-informed teaching at Copenhagen.

Other schools have done things like Stop the Bleed training.

Several of our local schools have done those, where in the event if there was a true tragedy, they would be not only trained, but have some supplies if necessary.

And then there's been a lot of things, changes to the buildings, like security cameras.

We have a couple districts who put in, for their entryway, like glass, a resistance to any type of bullet penetration.

Door stops.

We've had a school that has done studies, or has read studies, that just having a door stop, a shooter will only try for so long and then they'll move on to the next classroom.

So these door stops literally save countless lives.

So those have ranged from preventive, to things that, heaven forbid, tragedy actually strikes, like Stop the Bleed, or having radios across the building that folks would have, you know, the tools they needed in the event of that.

I would highlight too, Indian River School this past year also added a therapy dog with funding that we have.

So again, a preventive thing.

Something that helps with the culture within the building and making sure students are supported and taken care of.

- And I think that's huge for this day and age when, like you mentioned, school shootings are so high on the rise.

Like growing up, I couldn't even think of something like that when I was going to elementary school.

I wanna know a little bit about, talk to me about some of the donors for these projects.

I think hearing about the community making such a huge impact, this making such a huge impact on the community, it's great to hear that the community is giving back and helping make a change.

- Absolutely.

So yeah, when I started in 2018, a small group of us, the first donors were really just banking on a vision.

We hadn't actually put out an RFP to schools.

We hadn't funded any projects.

And you know, we have those same donors, as well as more that have come on board, that have given annually.

So some of our largest donors, or some of our bigger banks like Watertown Savings Bank, Community Bank, Carthage Savings and Loan, Northern Federal has given.

We have other donors like Westelcom and Renzi's.

And I know it's always a little bit of a, when you start to name names, you don't wanna leave any off.

They're all shared on our Facebook page.

But we also have tons of just individuals, donations as small as $5, $25.

But what you'll see is the vast majority of 'em give every single year because every single year, we do a new RFP process for our schools and we fund more projects every single year.

And so many of them are repeat donors, once they've started to give it something that they work into their annual budget.

We also have many of our schools that will do casual for a cause, or a bake sale, just a way to give back because they themselves, know the impact that these projects can give and the difference they can make.

And what's great is these projects can be requested from superintendents or principals, but they can be from teachers or students, as long as the district is in support.

And so it allows for those different ideas and voices that maybe aren't always part of the traditional planning within a school.

- Well, there's one thing, where can people go to learn more about the Safe Schools Endeavor, and what they can do to get involved with this project?

- Yeah, certainly.

So we do have a Facebook page.

It's Simply Safe Schools Endeavor.

Within that, we share links regularly to how anyone can donate.

But you can go to the Northern New York Community Foundation and make a donation through there, designating it Safe Schools Endeavor, and they'll make sure it gets to the right fund.

But that's our main way.

We are grassroots.

We are 100% volunteer.

The money that we raise goes to the schools.

You know, I tell people, us as volunteers, we buy the stamps and the thank you cards.

We do the baking for the bake sales.

We are as grassroots as you get.

But that means that when you give us a dime, a dollar, $10, at 100% goes to the cause that you care about.

- And I think my last question that I want to go on to is, what's something that you could say to, I guess, make parents who are feeling nervous about sending their kid to school for the first time?

What's something you would say to make them feel more comforted?

- In Jefferson and Lewis County schools, I will tell you, your administration's care.

From the applications we see, from the conversations we have, from the work they do, many are parents and grandparents themselves.

They're as vested in your child's wellbeing as you yourself could be.

It is not a perfect world, and they are up against some challenging odds, but they're committed.

I think that we, our education system, and these couple counties are fantastic.

And I'm very happy that my boys are part of a system here.

- Well, Erica, we appreciate your time.

Thank you for coming to WPBS to talk about this.

Folks at home, you know where to go, you know what to do.

And we appreciate your time.

Thank you so much.

- Thanks for the opportunity.

- For more information on how to apply for a grant, visit nnycf.org.

Across the country, many school districts face a shortage of teachers, including some in New York State.

But what about the North Country?

Is there a shortage of teachers here?

And what are we doing to attract new educators?

WPBS producer, Samantha Keeney has the story.

(bright music) - Their activities, very good.

- [Samantha] As we begin to welcome students back for another school year, the teacher shortage continues to impact schools.

It's an issue the entire country has faced for over a decade.

But here in the North Country, we're starting to see relief.

- What we're calling the teacher shortage is something you have to go back about 10 years, maybe 12 years, to get a good picture of.

Because we've been seeing this since about, you know, 2012, somewhere in that ballpark, maybe even a little earlier than that.

The school districts were experiencing great financial pain because of reductions in state aid, the gap elimination adjustment, and other things, or causing districts to have to cut their staffs.

So if you're a rational, reasonable, smart young person in 2010, '11, '12, '13, '14 thinking, "Golly, I'm seeing lots of teachers laid off, do I go into that pipeline?"

Probably not.

Right?

So even though it's a great job, and even though it's a great place to work, and a great life, a rational person at that time probably wouldn't say, "Golly, sign me up for something where I'm gonna have a hard time finding a job."

- [Samantha] For BOCES programs, it's a little more difficult to find qualified teachers due to them needing their expertise in niche fields like welding, cosmetology, or veterinary services.

That's when they look to universities for support in supplying these passionate and qualified individuals in their schools.

- There's been a clear focus here in New York State on some of those shortage areas, in particular in science, technology, engineering, math, also related service providers like special educators, modern language educators have been very difficult for districts to hire in the last few years.

Here at Oswego, we're really excited about the growth in our education programs, both in the short-term since 2020.

And if we pull that lens further back, over the last decade.

We've seen enrollment increases of about 10 to 12% across our School of Education majors.

Some of the fastest growing areas are career and technical education, trade education, bringing welders into public schools to offer those curriculum, often through Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or our local BOCES.

Technology education is growing rapidly.

We're seeing increases in adolescence education, childhood education of course, and also, our Spanish education majors.

And so we're really optimistic that we can continue to build that interest in the field, not only to bring them to campus, but to give them a great experience so that they're classroom ready on day one when they're hired.

- [Samantha] It may not be a surprise that COVID severely affected employment in schools.

Not only was it getting more difficult to find qualified educators, but the pandemic was a catalyst for current employed teachers to leave the field.

And schools struggled to quickly fill those positions.

- We're seeing teachers, you know, maybe moving to other areas.

We're seeing teachers wanting to stay home with their children.

We're seeing teachers take different, totally different career paths because they find that maybe teaching is not for them, or the burnout rate for teaching really heightened during COVID 2020.

We found, I used to sit back 15 years ago and review applications as a high school principal.

And I would have 30-plus applications, let's say, for an elementary position or a social studies position in high school.

And we just don't see that anymore.

Maybe we get eight or nine for these positions that is starting to take a little bit of an uptake.

- [Samantha] In the North Country region, teacher recruitment is more important than ever.

We're seeing a gradual comeback of teachers in support for aspiring and current educators.

- It's very challenging today in this day and age to be a teacher.

However, it's also probably one of the most rewarding institutions there is out there.

And I would encourage people if they're interested, to get into a classroom, get into a school.

Talk to principals, talk to teachers.

And experience what it's like to when that spark occurs, when a child learns a new word or can solve a math equation.

It's amazing, it's magic.

- The greatest gift that we get as educators is to see that student, that learner have that spark.

And as a faculty member, it was one of the things that I knew I had the best day of the week, the month, the year when I could inspire that.

It is truly inspiring to the work that we do as educators.

- [Samantha] For WPBS weekly, I'm Samantha Keeney.

- The Cooking Connection's Overcoming Stigma program is an innovative initiative designed to combat social stigma and isolation through the communal act of cooking and sharing meals.

The program integrates psychoeducational elements with practical cooking sessions to foster understanding, connection, and resilience among participants.

Here's Producer Gail Paquette with more.

(bright music) - [Gail] In 2018, community organization, Loving Spoonful's Community Kitchen received an Ontario Trillium grant to run a program, Cooking Connections - Overcoming Stigma.

They partnered with Dr. Heather Stewart from Queens University, a renowned anti-stigma expert who had developed a psychoeducational program combining Loving Spoonful's focus on food through community kitchens with Dr. Stewart's expertise, the program has proven successful.

- In that first year, the thesis was that indeed, the food component of the program melded with the psychoeducational pieces of the program over an eight or nine-week period would really create deep community and a sense of safety for participants.

And as part of the research, the first step would be to analyze qualitatively whether or not this actually was, seemed truthful.

And indeed, it proved to be true.

So this led to Loving Spoonful applying to Ontario Trillium Foundation for a second part.

- [Gail] The sense of belonging and community nurtured through cooking and eating together can enhance emotional wellbeing, reduce feelings of isolation, and contribute to a more connected and resilient community.

- It's really so wonderful to see how people are maybe even fearful, not all participants, but it happens quite frequently where participants are hesitant to step out of their safe space and come to a new place with people they don't know.

And very quickly, through the act of cooking together and providing that safe space, people really begin to create wonderful connections.

I've seen people get part-time jobs.

I've seen people start volunteering.

And other people have said, "You know, the only people I knew before I started this program were my nurses and support workers who came to my home to help me with my treatments.

And now, I have 16 long-term friends."

Like, how unbelievable is that?

It's truly amazing, - [Gail] Supported by a mental health professional, the program addresses the different types of stigma people can encounter in their lives and introduces strategies to combat those stigmas and build capacity and confidence.

- It's a psychoeducational group, but it's not, I wouldn't call it a psychotherapeutic group.

We talk about people's experiences of stigma in all of the different settings, which is, you know, there's lots to talk about.

So what stigma have you experienced in your interactions with, say, the healthcare system or with family?

How do you talk about disclosure?

How do you deal with stigma at the workplace?

Because the topics that we discuss are sometimes can be sensitive, they're about people's experiences of stigma in particular, which can be really hard.

Even self-stigma, which is a big topic to wrestle with.

So if someone were to be maybe dysregulated or upset or triggered in any way, even though, we try to avoid those sort of pitfalls in the way that we talk about things, then I would be here to sort of like talk with someone.

- [Gail] The program is delivered by peer facilitators who have themselves gone through the program, allowing them to empathize and connect on a deeper level.

This shared experience fosters a sense of trust and credibility, making participants feel more understood and supported.

- I discovered a lot about myself.

I discovered how I internalized things by family members and by society.

It's really helped me to overcome that.

I would recommend the workshop to anyone dealing with some kind of mental health issues or substance use disorder.

Over time, you will get to know yourself better.

You will learn how to deal with certain stigma that are attacks to mental health issues all across the board.

And they'll just flourish in knowing that they're not alone.

Everybody brings their own experience to the table.

Everybody's beautiful, and especially when they have mental health issues and they learn how to overcome the stigma.

And they just, their confidence skyrockets.

- [Gail] Cooking Connections - Overcoming Stigma helps in creating a community where every individual feels valued, respected, and able to participate in all aspects of community life.

- Not only do we bring people together for eight weeks where they build confidence and community and connections, then we don't wanna just drop them off at the end and say, "Okay, you're done.

Here's your certificate, you're good to go.

See you later."

In the last two weeks of the program, each person gets a social inclusion plan.

And basically, it's for them to consider now that I'm out in the community, and I've spread my wings a little bit, and I've gained some sense of comfort doing so, what are some things that I've always wanted to do and have not done because I was living in isolation and afraid to step out?

- I think it's important to know that like these labels don't define us, you know?

And I feel like it's good to kind of strategize or really just find a way to see yourself as detached from those labels, you know?

And just kind of see yourself as more potential than those labels give us.

The mindset I've always kept is, it's only an obstacle if you make it one in life.

- [Gail] For "WPBS Weekly", I'm Gail Paquette.

- For more information on the Cooking Connections - Overcoming Stigma program, visit lovingspoonful.org.

Tonight, we bring you the talents of Laura Donnelly, an Oswego County-based writer and poet whose imagery and expression is beyond moving.

Here she is with her original poem, "Birding".

(bright music) - Hi, my name's Laura Donnelly.

I'm a poet, originally from Michigan.

I now live in Oswego, New York.

I'm gonna be reading my poem, "Birding" from my book "Midwest Gothic".

Often when writing poems, one experience will trigger or remind of another experience.

And a lot of poetry works through those connections.

This is the case in my poem, "Birding", which began as a poem about going birding with my mother, but quickly became about something else also.

"Birding".

"Today, we are out birding.

You in your red coat, the binoculars we borrowed, swinging from our necks.

Yellow warbler, catbird mewling.

Mostly, I'm learning to walk more slowly, ignore my phone's itch, not rush you.

Remembering how we sat in a hospital room playing cribbage while a line dripped into your arm.

The tangle of wires that meant I shuffled for you.

We agreed whoever was ahead when the doctor came in would win.

And I was relieved it was you.

You were not frightened of the knife, but the drug that would lay you out cold on the table.

To disappear like that for an hour, two, while they dug a tumor the size of a robin's egg from your right breast.

To not know where the mind will hide out, how they'll call it back down.

Down the hall, a woman had both breasts removed.

I watched her husband in the waiting room, his eyes small behind tiny glasses.

They gave me a buzzer with flying saucer lights that would flash when the surgery was over.

I carried it through labyrinth halls, searching coffee, some off hours cafe.

Wondered if buying a chocolate cookie was wrong under the circumstances.

It took twice as long as expected.

Twice, I came to the counter to ask if my buzzer was broken.

When they wheeled you back, swaddled in blankets, one covering your head like a woozy nun, it was my turn to fear.

Couldn't find you anywhere in there.

Darting eyes, hands like birds.

Your talk of tigers filling the room.

One just there, you pointed at your side.

All I could do was say, 'It had gone well.

You did great.'

Try not to look away."

- That does it for this Tuesday evening.

Join us next time for a fresh look, "Inside the Stories".

World renowned golf instructor and former PGA Pro Peter Beames joins Johnny Spezzano in the kitchen for another tasty segment of "Johnny on Fire".

Together, they create a delicious Irish breakfast skillet.

And we visit Kingston's Military Communications and Electronics Museum where they honor the troops, the times, and the technology that helped win wars.

Meantime, if you have a story idea you'd like us to explore, we'd love to learn more.

Drop us an email at WPBSweekly@wpbstv.org, and let's share it with the region.

That's it for tonight, everyone.

We'll see you real soon.

On behalf of everyone here at "WPBS Weekly", I'm Michael Riecke.

Have a great night.

(bright music) - [Announcer] "WPBS Weekly: "Inside the Stories" is brought to you by.

- [Announcer] When you're unable to see your primary care provider, the Carthage Walk-in Clinic is here for you.

Located off Route 26 across from Carthage Middle School.

Comfort and healing close to home when you need it most.

(bright music) - [Announcer] North Country Orthopaedic Group is there for your urgent ortho or sports-related injuries.

With our on-site surgical center and same or next-day appointments, we're ready to provide care for patients of all ages.

Your health matters to us.

North Country Orthopaedic Group, keeping healthcare local.

(gentle music) - [Announcer] We are the North Country.

We're protecting one another, like family, is who we are.

And where our tomorrow will always be worth defending.

Find out how we keep the North Country strong, at claxtonhepburn.org, today.

- [Announcer] Additional support is provided by the Estate of Evelyn Peckham.

- "The room, one just there you pointed at your side.

All I could do was say, 'It had gone well.

You did great.'

Try not to look away."

(bright music)