In a letter to the editor, Jersey City Education Association President Ron Greco says his membership supports a new mental health services program at the board of education despite a claim to the contrary.
Dear Editor,
I am writing in response to a recent editorial written by Matthew Schneider on Saturday, September 21st. Let me start by saying Mr. Schneider emailed his letter to me at 10:52 p.m. on Saturday evening, just a few hours after it was published.
I feel that if Mr. Schneider was genuinely looking for a dialogue, he would have had the grace to allow for a reasonable amount of time for a response, but that obviously was not his intention.
As educators in a post-COVID world, we are acutely aware of the need for mental health services for our students.
The members of the Jersey City Education Association, as well as members of all of the unions affiliated with the Jersey City Public Schools have gone above and beyond to assist our students, as well as their families, with a myriad of mental health issues.
Our dedicated educators have answered the call time and again to be advocates for our students, despite many of us having no formal training in psychology, conflict resolution, de escalation tactics or crisis intervention.
Our educators have stepped up and stepped in an effort to help our students however we can.
In fact, the pressures of this added responsibility have taken a toll on the mental health of many of our staff members, as empathy is a personality trait possessed by most teachers.
As the president of the JCEA, I would be remiss in my position if I did not attempt to protect our members to the best of my ability.
While I have the utmost trust in Dr. Fernandez’s decisions and desire to offer our students the support they need, be it academic, emotional, physical or psychological support, I cannot, in good faith, direct our members to take on yet another task without doing my due diligence.
As you can read in the communication that was an internal memo, sent to members, I requested our educators hold off on committing to participating in a district initiative until we received further information to ensure the safety and well-being of our educators.
If Mr. Schneider shared the follow-up communication that was sent to the membership the very next day, you would see that we completely support Project Resilience and Bridges to Resilience and advised our members to wholeheartedly support the programs.
It is my understanding that Mr. Schneider is seeking a seat on the Jersey City Board of Education and may harbor resentment towards me personally as he did not receive the endorsement of the JCEA, however, it is irresponsible of him to vilify teachers and insinuate that we do not do everything in our power to support our students and their families
. I respectfully request Mr. Schneider do his due diligence next time he has a question instead of trying to score cheap political points.
Ronald Greco
JCEA President
