Educator tries to meet needs of at-risk children
Principal Keenan McGaughey sees the red flags in his students easily enough, but learning exactly what's behind their behavior requires digging.
Once he and his staff finally earn their students' trust and they start talking, the stories are occasionally distressing.
“Some kids have told me, 'My mom chose drugs over me,'” McGaughey said. “'My mom dropped me off at my grandparents' house because she loved drugs more than she loved me.'”
McGaughey is the principal of Center Avenue Community School in Butler, which teaches students in kindergarten through sixth grade who have needs or behavioral issues that require being addressed outside of the Butler Area School District's other buildings.
Students growing up around addiction tend to have behavioral problems, McGaughey explained, so he tends to see a lot of them in his halls.
“I see the epidemic impacting more students in my building just because they're referred to me by virtue of the problems they're having,” McGaughey said. “They filter to us, and our goal is to be a safety net. We try to figure out what this child needs.”
Read the full story in Monday's Butler Eagle.
