Candidate: Past experience to help LBUSD kids
Retired youth counselor says students struggling to focus post Covid.
By Brian Maquena
April 30, 2022
Upon initiating his 10-year sentence, Marques was assigned to Melissa Pittscutler, his new youth counselor at the Fred C. Nelles Youth Correctional Facility.
Pittscutler was neither on drugs, nor a gang member, making her an anomaly to the 14-year-old Marques.
“Growing up as a kid, I never really had my mom,” he said.
During their weekly caseload meetings, Pittscutler asked Marques why he was incarcerated and what sort of trauma led to him becoming a ward of the state
“I immediately began just to pick up on the cues and just really started to connect with the message and her vision,” Marques said. “I realized that the life I was leading wasn’t really for me.”
Three years later, Pittscutler had a message for him.
“She said, ‘You’re a transcender,’ ” said Marques. “I really took a deep dive and wrote a paper on it...and you start to kind of live out that value.”
Marques is now the senior nurse recruiter for a prominent health care agency. He’s also the 46-year-old godson of his former youth counselor, and an example of the type of change Pittscutler wants to make in the lives of troubled students at Long Beach Unified School District.
Pittscutler is running against incumbent board member Diana F. Craighead for Long Beach Unified’s district 5 seat. The district 5 board member represents large swaths of Lakewood and east Long Beach. The election is June 7.
POST-COVID: STRUGGLING STUDENTS
“The [LBUSD] kids are having a hard time,” said Pittscutler about students becoming re-acclimated to school after the long Covid layoff. “The academics are way below where they should be.”
Pittscutler works as a substitute teacher for Long Beach Unified. She and her fellow teachers have witnessed students struggling to focus in the post-Covid lockdown era.
One of the principals that Pittscutler works under agreed.
Sophia Griffieth, school principal at John Muir Academy, said the problems were due to students not being engaged during previous online learning. She also pointed to the social separation caused by the lockdowns, as well as parents’ financial struggles, as playing a role.
“This has been traumatic for many people, especially for children,” said Griffieth.
During the lockdowns, Pittscutler had one student taking classes in his dark closet because he couldn’t hear the lessons anywhere else in the home.
“That’s a lot to readjust to,” said Pittscutler, who noted that teachers have exhibited incredible patience and intuition in dealing with troublesome students.
Also concerning Pittscutler is the seeming exponential rise in students exhibiting autism-like behavior. She asked fellow teachers about this and was told that they, too, noticed more students with such behavior.
“I think that staff and educators need more training,” Pittscutler said.
Griffieth couldn’t say if there was an increase in the number of students with autism-like behavior, but said LBUSD personnel could always use more training.
Pittscutler vowed to advocate for Long Beach Unified to address issues that concern her.
HOT BUTTON ISSUES: PROGRAM CHANGES & COVID MANDATES
Changes to the district’s Center for International Curriculum program have also troubled Pittscutler. Her two daughters completed the program, going onto West Point and Washington State University.
“I’m ecstatic about the education they received,” said Pittscutler about her daughters’ involvement with the CIC program. “Over the last year, some changes have been made that seem to be taking away from the strength of the program.”
When asked about vaccine mandates, Pittscutler pointed to the low mortality rate for children infected with Covid-19, saying the decision should be left to the parents.
“I think it’s very fair,” she said, “to ask the [unvaccinated] students to test every week.”
Pittscutler said the decision of masking students should also be left up to the parents. She was against forcing unvaccinated-only students to wear a mask.
“I don’t think we should separate kids like that at all,” she said. “That’s terrible for peer interaction. ... That’s personal medical stuff and I don’t think it should be put out there on a billboard like that.”
CAN SHE REALLY MAKE A CHANGE?
Griffieth said Pittscutler has a courageous personality that would allow her to stand up when the need arises. The principal also likes how Pittscutler connects with students.
“She has a way of just connecting with students that are sometimes experiencing challenges,” Griffieth said. “They kind of gravitate towards her.”
Marques said that was Pittscutler’s forte.
“She can spot them from a distance when there’s something going on,” he said. “She deals with them in a way that makes them feel like they’re being heard.”
Pittscutler pointed to her past success in helping youth.
“I had amazing success stories of people that committed every kind of crime that you could think of,” said Pittscutler about her time as a parole agent and youth counselor. “I loved what I did.”
Click here for Melissa Pittsculter’s campaign website.
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PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The Lakewood Populist is in contact with incumbent Diana F. Craighead and hopes to do a story on her later in May. The Lakewood Populist is not endorsing any candidate in this race at this time.