Amanda Beers for Board of Education

Thank you to everyone who voted for me! I have learned so much doing this election, and I am already thinking forward to next year’s election. I’m going to keep this page up so I can add to it and grow it throughout the year. Love you all!

Don’t forget to vote tomorrow, if you haven’t already! Besides the Board candidates, there are two issues that affect the schools, and another issue about taxing ma*****na. Vote!!

Hey! Come out and meet me and the other candidates!

Hey! I don’t have yard signs, but I do have flyers! If you’re going to be somewhere where you can take some, put them out or hand them out, let me know and I’ll get you some!

Last night’s forum!

Mar 22, 2023 - Liberty Missouri School Board Candidate Forum All candidates have been invited; some may decline to attend.Brian Ahart, Jenn Bauer, Amanda Beers, AJ ByrdKarl Cox, Luba Koval, ...

Watch my one-minute video posted on the Courier Tribune site!

Amanda Beers explains why she is best candidate for Liberty School Board Amanda Beers explains why she is the best candidate for Liberty School Board.

If school is cancelled tomorrow, I’ll be at jazzercise Friday at 10:30!

Today at 4:30 I’ll be at Jazzercise liberty! Free class! Come exercise and hang out with me!

I was recently told by a student that there was a su***de attempt at one of our high schools. I don’t have many details. What I DO have is a chill running down my spine as I consider how casually this student relayed the incident, as though this wasn’t a shocking outlier, but rather a common occurrence. It’s even more chilling when I consider my own experience with this. In October of 2020, my oldest, who was a sophomore at the time, attempted su***de (and yes, I have their permission to publicly talk about this). I was in contact with a counselor at the school, since my child had to miss about a week of school.

During that time, I received an automated email from a teacher informing me that my child was missing work and would fail the class if it wasn’t turned in. I understand it was automated. I get that. But when my child is in the hospital and my family is going through the worst time it’s ever been through, an email like that felt insensitive and inappropriate and I was furious. All I did was send an email letting the teacher know what was going on, she apologized, it was fine. But when my child returned to school, do you know what happened? Nothing. I asked if anyone talked to them, and they said they don’t remember anyone doing so (I thought there had been a meeting, but it may have been me hoping there would be one). Nobody acknowledged it. Nobody helped them through.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, su***de rates in children between 10 and 14 have tripled between 2007 and 2017, and for every one of these deaths, it is estimated that anywhere between 100-200 adolescents make the attempt. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recently stated that 44% of high schoolers reported “persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness” during the pandemic. This means that our kids are experiencing a mental health crisis, and it’s not at all clear that our schools have the resources to cope.

In terms of behavior, I’ve noticed severe deterioration in students especially among middle schoolers in 7th and 8th grade. This behavioral deterioration trickles up and down into the 9th and 6th grades, and it falls squarely among age group of upper level elementary school students who would have been preparing for secondary school during the pandemic, but were instead at home being denied interpersonal interaction other than that which could be provided by either parent, sibling, or a screen or device. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (the statistical office of the US Department of Educations Institute of Education Sciences,) “87% of public schools reported that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted student socio-emotional development during the 2021-22 school year,” and that “classroom disruptions from student misconduct” has increased by 56%, “rowdiness outside of the classroom” increased by 49%, and “acts of disrespect towards teachers and staff” increased 48%.

It’s common to see people dismiss calls to address mental health as either an excuse for propaganda, protecting kids from unpleasant ideas, or overdramatizing the situation. Mental health has practically become a buzzword for suicidal ideation. But mental health, like physical health, exists on a spectrum, and just like there’s a vast chasmic distance between a skinned knee and terminal cancer, a similar distance exists between, say, mild offense taken at unkind words and su***de. We don’t wait until terminal cancer to start practicing good habits that keep our bodies strong and healthy, and we shouldn’t be waiting for our kids to start contemplating self-harm before we start taking mental health seriously either. Minor injuries can lead to major injuries, body blows in a boxing match can lead to broken ribs and punctured lungs. In the same way, minor stressors, poor experiences, unkind words, and other things we might imagine to be insignificant in the short term, can add up and lead to long term and serious mental harm if we don’t learn how to cope with them. It is not a sign of weakness or poor health for a professional athlete to take measures to improve his diet, so why should it be a sign of weakness or over-sensitivity to learn how to take care of ourselves mentally? We’re not talking about putting our kids in intellectual bubbles, anymore than someone who takes his physical health seriously could be automatically considered a germaphobe. We’re talking about teaching our kids to cope, and giving them space to rest. Think of it as cooldown stretches for your brain.

Recently statutes were passed in Missouri requiring schools to provide more information on su***de prevention and depression resources. Currently, the IDs issued to our high school students have an advertisement and coupon for a local health shake business. I’m sure the business provides the funds for the IDs, possibly even the lanyards. That’s all well and good, but if we can put smoothie advertisements on these IDs, why can’t we also put numbers to contact for help, websites to access, maybe even substance abuse help - resources that the students can use to reach out when they need it, and permission to use them. Why can’t we have a process by which a student returning from a su***de attempt is received with sensitivity and care, with respect to their privacy?

Nobody has the answers to all this. Parents and administrators and teachers are all doing the best we can with a situation we’ve never seen before. How do we help the students? All the students? It’s a huge task without an easy answer, but that doesn’t excuse us from taking measures to address the problem. On the school board, this would be one of my most important goals, to help our children. Not just high schoolers, but all of them. Even little kids need help with their big feelings.

Let’s have a meet up! Jazzercise in Liberty is having free classes all next week. Come join me on Monday at the 4:30 class, or Thursday at the 9:30 class! Both those classes include childcare. Let’s workout together, we can talk, have some fun!

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