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Tech
Center dental assisting classes gain first-hand experience Kahan’s students honed their newly acquired skills as chairside assistants while dentists worked on patients, providing preventative and restorative care as well as performing extractions. All told, four dentists – Dr. David Crouse, Dr. Leslie Richmond, Dr. Roxanne Amos, and Dr. Tracy Oliver – as well as Kahan and her Dental Assisting I and II students worked for several days to triage 29 patients, performing comprehensive exams, full mouth X-rays, teeth cleaning, fluoride treatments, deep scaling with anesthesia, bleaching, and temporary crowns. Had the patients been charged for the work, it would have amounted to almost $9,500.
According to Kahan, this project is a win-win for all concerned. Patients receive dental care they desperately need, and students receive real-life experience working with dentists and patients. Kahan’s students subsequently took a variety of tests for certification and did extremely well. In fact, all of her Dental Assisting II students passed the Virginia Radiology Health and Safety Certification test. QPR
Can Save Lives According to Sokolsky, QPR can be compared to CPR in the sense that it is a form of psychological first aid. The first step in what essentially is a suicide prevention plan involves questioning. If a person is in crisis and begins thinking of suicide as an alternative to having to make the difficult decision, QPR can provide strategies for helping the person cope. For example, there are specific clues to watch for in a person who may be contemplating suicide. Some of these clues include prolonged depression or giving away personal items. Sokolsky points out that we need to help people learn not to turn away from the idea of suicide or deny out of hand it could be a possibility. We need to be comfortable enough to ask a person if he or she has had thoughts of suicide, or is currently considering it. Asking someone if he has had thoughts about suicide is not putting ideas into his head. Rather, asking the “Question” gives him license or permission to talk about it. “Persuade” is the second step and in this case, persuasion takes the form of convincing someone who needs it to get professional help. The third step is “Refer” and involves knowing where to send someone for help. Sokolsky goes on to say that it is a common misconception to believe that one event may lead someone to suicide. Typically, the truth is that suicide is very complicated and no single occurrence causes such a tragedy. Another myth is that when someone talks about committing suicide, he or she won’t go through with the act. Unfortunately, the reality is that most people contemplating suicide drop hints of what they intend to do. Sometimes they try these hints out on those they feel may be least able to stop them. The important point to understand is that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. The purpose of QPR is to help a suicidal person understand that there are answers to problems other than suicide. An amazing statistic is that one American dies from suicide every 18 minutes. “Just like CPR,” says Sokolsky, “understanding QPR can save a life." Securing QPR certification requires taking a 12-hour self-study course, followed by a rigorous exam which includes an essay section. The course is offered through the QPR Institute at a cost of $500. Sokolsky was fortunate in being able to obtain a safe schools grant from Public Health to fund her certification process. Sokolsky began her career with Virginia Beach Schools as a substitute school nurse. In 1989, she took the position of school nurse when Salem High School opened and has served there since. She earned her RN credentials in 1974 at Conemaugh Valley Memorial Hospital in Johnstown, Pa. In 1984 she graduated from Old Dominion with a bachelor’s degree in nursing. Sokolsky earned her national certification in school nursing in 1995. School
Bus Road-e-o
One of the reasons for this excellent record is the extensive training that bus drivers undergo. For example, prior to being permitted to transport students, school bus driver candidates are required to complete a rigorous classroom and on-road training program. During classroom training, novice drivers receive information about:
On-road training is extremely important as well and typically is conducted by certified school bus drivers. The focus of the training is on teaching novice drivers how to promote student safety in the bus and on the road. On-road training stresses:
A newly qualified school bus driver successfully completes in excess of 50 hours of training before assuming unsupervised transportation of students.
In tandem with the training is an annual activity that not only tests bus driver expertise, but also is a lot of fun for participants, the school bus road-e-o. The road-e-o consists of two written tests covering the driver’s general knowledge as well as competency with pre-trip inspections. In addition, candidates show their driving skills by maneuvering a school bus around obstacles in nine different situations, among them backing up, driving in a straight line, stopping at a line, parallel parking, dealing with an offset alley, diminishing clearance, driving a serpentine, handling a pupil stop, and stopping at a simulated railroad crossing. Points are deducted for each cone that is touched, getting too close to the cones, and for failing to properly heed any state or local procedures. Congratulations
to the VBCPS Road-e-o winners
A regional road-e-o was also held at Birdneck Elementary School on May 16. VBCPS’s local winners took part and competed with bus drivers from neighboring school divisions. Among them were Norfolk, Portsmouth, Newport News, Hampton, York, Poquoson, Williamsburg/James City County, and a private bus carrier, TransQuest, which was also permitted to participate. Congratulations to our Regional Road-e-o winners: Kelly Westerman placed first in conventional bus category (buses have a “front end”; Tyler Reynolds placed first in the transit category (buses have a flat front); and Cheryl Ruffin placed third in conventional. Virginia Beach drivers have placed first in conventional and transit regional competition for the past three years. With her first-place finish, Westerman qualified for the State competition slated for June 23 in Roanoke. She will compete in the “conventional” model school bus. There is no state competition for the “transit” model. The
house that students built
DonorsChoose
Congratulations also to Hermitage Elementary first-grade teacher Melonie Katz on having her project aimed at military families funded by DonorsChoose. Katz's students will be provided with a video camera for her project, "Reading Around the World." Short videos of students reading will be sent to their deployed parents so that they may see their children developing their reading skills. Katz remarks, "First grade is such an instrumental year for reading skills to develop, and I thought it would be great for some of our deployed parents to see some of these milestones." Well done! DonorsChoose.org
has recently been promoted on Steven Colbert's TV program Colbert
Nation as a way to fund projects of teachers who work with military-connected
students. An article on DonorsChoose was originally published |
The Technical
and Career Education Center’s dental assisting classes,
in conjunction with the Oral Health Improvement Coalition of South Hampton
Roads (OHICSHR), recently sponsored a Dental Access Day (DAD). This
is the second consecutive year that Tech Center dental assisting students
in Antoinette Kahan’s classes worked with several
Virginia Beach dentists to provide free dental services to those who
would otherwise be unable to afford them. Services were provided this
year to families at the Judeo-Christian Outreach Center (JCOC) and children
at Seton House. 
On
the official Dental Access Day patients had already received preliminary
work they needed, so the dentists were able to proceed immediately to
the restorative work necessary. For example, one patient needed two
temporary crowns as well as deep scaling performed under anesthesia.
Students assisted with charting existing restorations as well as the
dental work that needed to be completed. They also polished teeth and
applied fluoride and gave oral hygiene instructions to patients after
they had their teeth scaled. Thanks to donations from Doctors Michael
Kahan, Tracy Oliver, and Leslie Richmond, patients received toothbrushes,
toothpaste, floss, and written instructions on the proper procedures
for brushing and flossing. All told, approximately $17,000 worth of
dental procedures were performed that day.
Charlotte
Sokolsky, school nurse at Salem High, recently
received a QPR (Question, Persuade, and Refer) certification which now
qualifies her to conduct classes in suicide prevention.
Congratulations
to the 144 Technical and Career Education Center (TCE) students who
recently celebrated the completion of the house they built – from
the ground up – with an official dedication. The house, located
at the Beach on 13th Street, is actually the seventh house built by
TCE students. As such it is part of a long-standing initiative –
the house building project – which is sponsored by the Virginia
Beach Education Foundation. This creative initiative offers Tech Center
juniors and seniors the opportunity to take technical classes in areas
such as plumbing, masonry, electrical, finish carpentry, HVAC, landscape/turf
management, and CISCO Networking, and then apply what they have learned
in the real-world scenario of building an actual house that will be
sold on the open market. This house took students approximately two
years to construct. They worked alongside their instructors as well
as local builders and craftsmen to gain real-world experience. 
The
1,500 sq. foot home features three bedrooms and two and a half baths
and will be listed for sale this summer. All profits from the sale will
be used by the Education Foundation to fund teacher and school grants
as well as seven $1,000 scholarships for TCE seniors. The previous house
built by students recently sold for $327,500. All told, more than a
half million dollars in profits have been realized from the sale of
these homes. Currently, Education Foundation Board members are planning
the construction of an eighth house that students will build! 