24 | AUGUST 20 • 2020
W
ith much uncertainty about how
schools will look this fall, Kim
Love, Hillel Day School’
s director
of student services, is focusing her attention
on the social and emotional needs of all her
students, especially those with
disabilities.
Love has been engaged with
two groups and their outreach
surrounding education, especial-
ly related to the COVID-19 pan-
demic and its effect on students’
mental health.
Before assuming her role as the director of
student services last year, Love served as one
of Hillel’
s full-time social workers for three
years. In her new position, Love oversees all
of Hillel’
s support services, including learn-
ing specialists and social workers. She said
she makes sure “all students’
learning needs,
as well as social, emotional and behavioral
needs, are met within the school.
”
Due to the pandemic, Love had to modify
and expand how Hillel’
s students received
learning support this spring.
“
All of our students who needed help got
the help they needed remotely,
” Love said.
“We continued servicing the students who
were receiving services prior to COVID, but
we also did crisis intervention and offered
services to students that required extra sup-
port during quarantine that may not have
been receiving support when we were in
school.
”
Love has been selected as a 2020-
2021 Member at Large for the Michigan
Special Education Advisory Committee
(SEAC), which advises both the Michigan
Department of Education (MDE) Office of
Special Education and the State Board of
Education (SBE) on how to provide positive
outcomes for all Michigan students with
disabilities. Her three-year term will begin in
September.
The state committee is composed of
delegates from across Michigan who rep-
resent different educational organizations.
According to Love, 51% of the committee is
also made up of either parents of students
with disabilities or people with disabilities
themselves. There are 33 representatives and
Love is the only member from the Jewish
community.
“
As members, we meet monthly and
our activities or conversations during that
meeting depend on what the needs are at
any given time in the year,
” Love said. “For
example, we sometimes work on proposed
policies and leave our suggestions before they
appear in the state legislation. We also iden-
tify unmet needs in the state and help advise
the MDE and the SBE on best practices of
how to go about making sure these things
are put in place so the students of our state
are getting what they need to be successful in
school and beyond.
”
Previously, Love served on the commit-
tee as a delegate representing the Michigan
Association of Public School Academies,
which is the organization for all charter
schools throughout Michigan. That term was
from 2013-2016.
“I think what is really unique about being
a member at large is that I am a voice for
independent schools because I do work at a
Jewish day school, but also because I think
Jewish people are underrepresented in our
state agencies,
” Love said. “I get to bring that
diversity to the panel but also advocate for
the needs of our specific community and
students with disabilities within our specific
community. That was something that was
not there the few years ago when I previously
served.
”
Although Love hasn’
t had the opportunity
to attend a SEAC meeting yet — they’
re on
summer hiatus and will resume in September
— she believes that with remote learning
bringing new challenges for students with
disabilities, there will be a strong focus in the
first part of the year to address and develop
policies on how to deliver special educational
programs and services for students with dis-
abilities throughout the state.
In addition to SEAC, Love has also been
attending meetings for the Oakland Schools’
“Unpacking the Governor’
s Back to School
Plan Mental and Social-Emotional Health
Sections,
” where she virtually meets with
Oakland County leaders and other school
administrators to focus on how mental
health will play a large role in the upcoming
school year.
“
Aside from being a fierce advocate for stu-
dents with disabilities, and especially Jewish
students with disabilities, mental health is
another huge passion of mine,
” Love said.
“One of my other social work colleagues,
Barb Kenny, was joining this and we decided
to do it together so we can really help our
students at Hillel.
”
She has currently attended two sessions
and there is one more planned. Love is con-
fident, however, that since they “are only
scratching the surface,
” Oakland County will
extend the meetings throughout August.
“The roadmap is broad. They recommend
we destigmatize COVID and that we screen
our students for mental health needs, but
it doesn’
t say how we should do that,
” Love
said. “That is what is so wonderful about
partaking in these meetings because we are
sharing with other educators ‘
the how’
so we
can make the best plan possible for Hillel to
address the social, emotional needs of our
students when we return to school.
”
Meeting Students’ Needs
Hillel Day School director of student services
emphasizes mental health.
Kim Love
Kim Love with Hillel
Day School students
CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER
COURTESY OF HILLEL DAY SCHOOL
Jews in the D
back to school