Newsmakers: Dr. Stephanie Burrage Talks About Trauma of Pandemic, Daunte Wright Death on Students
Dr. Stephanie Burrage is the interim superintendent of Robbinsdale Area Schools and will be leaving in June to become Deputy Commissioner of Education for Minnesota.
What will she take with her from her experience at Robbinsdale schools? Her interaction with the students.
“I’m really big on student voice,” said Burrage. “Everything we do is about serving our students.”
Burrage says she recently got an email from a student regarding managing the stress of the recent shooting and the recent pandemic. Students and families are experiencing trauma, and Burrage feels that there will be layers of how we can assist students in the weeks and months ahead.
“It’s about how we are managing our every day and what’s happening right now,” said Burrage. “We have our crisis team and staff members in each building and support for students in distance learning.”
Burrage also spoke about an ongoing effort to add more teachers of color to the classrooms. Currently, 91.5 percent of teachers are white and 8 percent are teachers of color.
“You need to be able to see yourself. You need to be able to walk into a school and say ‘I see myself,” said Burrage.
The district has a program called Teach and Learn to train more Robbinsdale staff to become teachers.
You can learn more about the Robbinsdale school district by clicking here.
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