In an editorial, Jersey City Board of Education candidate Matthew Schneider gives his point of view on why he supports mental health services in the public schools and essential, as well as how he sees the Jersey City Education Association (JCEA) is getting in the way.
As a parent of two children in Jersey City’s public schools, I am alarmed that our Teacher’s Union has advised all teachers not to participate in Project Resilience and Bridges to Resilience, mental health service partnerships intended to increase mental health services for our students and schools.
In a letter sent to the teachers yesterday (a copy is linked here), the Teachers’ Union (Jersey City Education Association, JCEA), advised teachers to avoid participating in these programs until the union was more fully consulted.
I am running for the Jersey City school board (elections November 5th) and support a strong working relationship between our teachers’ union and school district. But do they really want to fight that battle by delaying mental health services for at-risk children?
I am the co-owner of a mental health counseling practice in our city that serves kids and teens. (We are not contracted partners of the Bridges programs, nor are we benefiting in any way from the partnership).
Our 60+ therapists are on the frontline of supporting safety and resilience for youth with every mental health concern imaginable, and the needs are immense.
I doubt many need to hear these statistics with the growing awareness around risk and emotional wellness, but the American Academy of Pediatrics declared a national emergency in children and adolescent mental health in 2021.
Recent studies done in New Jersey confirm a rising rate of suicides among our youth and a spike in thoughts of suicide.
My wife (Melissa Schneider, LCSW) and I were encouraged when the school district finally introduced Project Resilience and Bridges to Resilience.
Still, our optimism quickly turned to frustration when we saw the JCEA’s letter.
Discouraging or slowing our students’ access to mental health services is tragic in our current environment.
We had an informal meeting with our school nearly two years ago to find out how the schools planned to address mental health needs and learned of their plans to form the partnership they have now announced with Jersey City Medical Center and Rutgers.
We cannot afford to let bureaucratic roadblocks stand in the way of getting our students the help they need—especially when lives are literally on the line.
The teacher’s union (JCEA)’s opposition stems from their claim that the union was not properly consulted before the program was launched.
In a statement, the JCEA said, “We have just been made aware of this ‘new initiative’… As of late, we have not been included in any discussion regarding decisions that would have a possible impact and/or involvement with our members.”
Based on this concern, the union is advising teachers to avoid the program until they are consulted. Yet the discussion about the need for mental health has been happening for much of the last two years!
I get it—collaboration is important, and teachers do A LOT today for our students. But let’s not lose sight of the bigger picture here.
Every day we delay these programs is another day a child might go unscreened or unconnected to the mental health support they desperately need.
Mental health initiatives cannot be treated as bargaining chips in a broader political game. Our students’ well-being is far too important for that.
It’s hard to overstate the urgency of these issues. We commend the district for implementing these programs, but frankly, they are already 1-2 years overdue.
The COVID-19 pandemic may have exposed gaps in our educational and mental health systems, but these gaps existed long before the world shut down.
Emotional struggles among students are not new, and they are not going away. The fact that we are only now seeing initiatives like Project Resilience is a step in the right direction, but further delays are not just inconvenient—they are tragic.
This November, I will be on the ballot as an independent candidate for your Jersey City School Board. Today, all nine school board members were elected on the Education Matters slate, a group consistently funded and backed by the teacher’s union.
It is highly unusual for an independent candidate to raise the campaign funds needed to beat the union. But how can our board hold our union accountable in instances like this?
We need independent candidates on the board so our board members can ask hard questions and provide accountability.
If our teacher’s union’s stance on an issue might harm the students we are supposed to serve, the board needs to be able to raise the alarm.
As a parent, I want my own children—and all children in Jersey City—to feel supported not just academically but emotionally.
I want to know that if our kids are struggling, they will have trauma-informed teachers and easy access to counselors and programs that can help them.
Mental health should never be a side issue; it must be central to our educational mission.
I urge the teacher’s union to reconsider its stance. Instead of asking teachers to avoid these programs, they should work with the district to ensure that they are implemented effectively and in a way that best supports students and staff.
I care about our students and our teachers and our schools. I believe with greater transparency and better accountability, we can achieve smarter spending, balance our budget, and ensure that resources reach the classroom where they are most needed.
Mental health programs like Project Resilience are a perfect example of how we can make meaningful investments in our students’ futures. But those investments are worthless if they are constantly delayed or obstructed.
Matt Schneider, Phd, MBA is a 2024 Candidate for the Jersey City Board of Education. He is running on the slate “For Stronger Schools” along with Tia Rezabala, another concerned parent in the district.
Follow their campaign at forstrongerschools.com OR on Instagram: forstrongerschoolsJC and Facebook: For Stronger Schools Jersey City Jersey City Board of Education candidate.
