School Shop L.A.

America’s children seem to be struggling. But the broad national conversation around children’s mental health seems to ignore the environment where children spend most of their waking hours: school, writes Jia Lynn Yang. https://nyti.ms/3M7KZgh

With over 30 years of experience supporting families and young children, and more than 20 years guiding families through the private school admissions process, I have dedicated my career to helping children and young adults thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. My work centers on understanding the rapidly changing landscape of education and the evolving needs of today’s families.

As many young adults enter college without essential life skills or meaningful rites of passage, I have expanded my practice to introduce high-quality gap-year programs that foster independence, resilience, and personal growth. I also collaborate with two developmentally grounded programs in Los Angeles that equip young adults with foundational skills—such as meal preparation, household management, self-care, and navigating modern relationships.

My mission is to provide families with thoughtful guidance, support, and resources so their children can move confidently into the next stage of life.

⸻

LinkedIn-Appropriate Hashtags





















Schoolshopla.com

Amid shutdown, Trump administration guts department overseeing special education Multiple sources tell NPR that as part of the Trump administration's latest reduction-in-force, the U.S. Department of Education has gutted the office that handles special education.

Gillian is a seven-year-old girl who cannot sit in school. She continually gets up, gets distracted, flies with thoughts, and doesn't follow lessons. Her teachers worry about her, punish her, scold her, reward the few times that she is attentive, but nothing. Gillian does not know how to sit and cannot be attentive. When she comes home, her mother punishes her too. So not only does she Gillian have bad grades and punishment at school, but she also suffers from them at home. One day, Gillian's mother is called to school. The lady, sad as someone waiting for bad news, takes her hand and goes to the interview room. The teachers speak of illness, of an obvious disorder. Maybe it's hyperactivity or maybe she needs a medication. During the interview an old teacher arrives who knows the little girl. He asks all the adults, mother and colleagues, to follow him into an adjoining room from where she can still be seen. As he leaves, he tells Gillian that they will be back soon and turns on an old radio with music. As the girl is alone in the room, she immediately gets up and begins to move up and down chasing the music in the air with her feet and her heart. The teacher smiles as the colleagues and the mother look at him between confusion and compassion, as is often done with the old. So he says: "See? Gillian is not sick, Gillian is a dancer!" He recommends that her mother take her to a dance class and that her colleagues make her dance from time to time. She attends her first lesson and when she gets home she tells her mother: "Everyone is like me, no one can sit there!" In 1981, after a career as a dancer, opening her own dance academy and receiving international recognition for her art, Gillian Lynne became the choreographer of the musical "Cats." Hopefully all “different” children find adults capable of welcoming them for who they are and not for what they lack. Long live the differences, the little black sheep and the misunderstood. They are the ones who create beauty in this world.#except nuro diversity #educational reform ❤️

Fred Rogers, host of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, emphasized, "There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to"