Delaware
Milford School Counselor Delaware 2024 Behavioral Health Professional of the Year – State of Delaware News
Shannon Gronau, a school counselor from the Milford School District, is the state’s 2024 Delaware Behavioral Health Professional of the Year.
Secretary of Education Mark Holodick and House Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst made the announcement at a statewide banquet honoring the district and charter network behavioral health professionals of the year.
The Mispillion Elementary School counselor said by building strong relationships with students, she’s able to understand how to best support them.
Gronau told the story of a student who “hated school.
“This feeling manifested in many negative ways like attendance issues and aggression. Their parent considered pulling them from school,” she said. “To help I had to understand the student’s needs by building a strong, positive relationship.”
Through check-ins and weekly counseling, she helped the child build coping and anger management skills. She realized the student didn’t feel connected at school and didn’t have healthy morning and night routines at home. She also learned the student’s mother had died, and her family was grieving. Gronau helped connect the student to therapy, worked with the child’s teacher on classroom behavioral techniques and met with the child’s parent to help develop good morning/nighttime routines. She also worked with the school’s family interventionist to connect the family with needed community resources.
As their work together progressed, she offered the student the opportunity to help her run a small group to help other girls in the school also feeling a lack of connection. Today the student is flourishing at school and home.
“From this experience, I saw true growth because the student believed in their ability to do well and had someone that believed in them,” Gronau said.
Teaching leadership development is one of Gronau’s passions. She created a peer leadership group project that trains fourth and fifth grade students to mentor first graders who need a positive connection at school.
“Students thrive when they believe in their unique abilities and are given the opportunity to be a role model for younger students,” she said.
Her assistant principal, Ashley Ganley, said Gronau is beloved by her students.
“Walking the halls, you can see the hugs and waves she receives. The students trust her and confide in her,” Ganley said. “During her workday, Shannon can be found providing individual and group counseling. Her students learn valuable self-regulation skills in small groups or whole classes, which is so needed in today’s classroom and society.”
The Delaware State Behavioral Health Professional of the Year (BHPY) program is administered by the Delaware Department of Education (DDOE). The program recognizes outstanding service by school employees who are health care practitioners or human service providers who offer services for the purpose of improving an individual’s mental health. The Delaware Charter School Network also is invited to participate. Employees considered for the award include:
- School counselors
- School social workers
- Licensed clinical social workers
- School psychologists
- School nurses
From those nominated at a local level, one behavioral health professional of the year moves forward to represent each district or the charter school community in the state program. Each district/charter network winner receives a $2,000 personal award from the winner’s district or charter school. The state program then chooses one person annually to serve as Delaware’s Behavioral Health Professional of the Year. State winners receive an additional $3,000 personal award from DDOE as well as $5,000 to be used for the educational benefit of his or her students.
Learn more about all the 2024 District/Charter Behavioral Health Professionals of the Year here.
Media contact: Alison May, alison.may@doe.k12.de.us, 302-735-4006
Related Topics: award, Delaware, education, professional, support, year
Keep up to date by receiving a daily digest email, around noon, of current news release posts from state agencies on news.delaware.gov.
Here you can subscribe to future news updates.
Shannon Gronau, a school counselor from the Milford School District, is the state’s 2024 Delaware Behavioral Health Professional of the Year.
Secretary of Education Mark Holodick and House Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst made the announcement at a statewide banquet honoring the district and charter network behavioral health professionals of the year.
The Mispillion Elementary School counselor said by building strong relationships with students, she’s able to understand how to best support them.
Gronau told the story of a student who “hated school.
“This feeling manifested in many negative ways like attendance issues and aggression. Their parent considered pulling them from school,” she said. “To help I had to understand the student’s needs by building a strong, positive relationship.”
Through check-ins and weekly counseling, she helped the child build coping and anger management skills. She realized the student didn’t feel connected at school and didn’t have healthy morning and night routines at home. She also learned the student’s mother had died, and her family was grieving. Gronau helped connect the student to therapy, worked with the child’s teacher on classroom behavioral techniques and met with the child’s parent to help develop good morning/nighttime routines. She also worked with the school’s family interventionist to connect the family with needed community resources.
As their work together progressed, she offered the student the opportunity to help her run a small group to help other girls in the school also feeling a lack of connection. Today the student is flourishing at school and home.
“From this experience, I saw true growth because the student believed in their ability to do well and had someone that believed in them,” Gronau said.
Teaching leadership development is one of Gronau’s passions. She created a peer leadership group project that trains fourth and fifth grade students to mentor first graders who need a positive connection at school.
“Students thrive when they believe in their unique abilities and are given the opportunity to be a role model for younger students,” she said.
Her assistant principal, Ashley Ganley, said Gronau is beloved by her students.
“Walking the halls, you can see the hugs and waves she receives. The students trust her and confide in her,” Ganley said. “During her workday, Shannon can be found providing individual and group counseling. Her students learn valuable self-regulation skills in small groups or whole classes, which is so needed in today’s classroom and society.”
The Delaware State Behavioral Health Professional of the Year (BHPY) program is administered by the Delaware Department of Education (DDOE). The program recognizes outstanding service by school employees who are health care practitioners or human service providers who offer services for the purpose of improving an individual’s mental health. The Delaware Charter School Network also is invited to participate. Employees considered for the award include:
- School counselors
- School social workers
- Licensed clinical social workers
- School psychologists
- School nurses
From those nominated at a local level, one behavioral health professional of the year moves forward to represent each district or the charter school community in the state program. Each district/charter network winner receives a $2,000 personal award from the winner’s district or charter school. The state program then chooses one person annually to serve as Delaware’s Behavioral Health Professional of the Year. State winners receive an additional $3,000 personal award from DDOE as well as $5,000 to be used for the educational benefit of his or her students.
Learn more about all the 2024 District/Charter Behavioral Health Professionals of the Year here.
Media contact: Alison May, alison.may@doe.k12.de.us, 302-735-4006
Related Topics: award, Delaware, education, professional, support, year
Keep up to date by receiving a daily digest email, around noon, of current news release posts from state agencies on news.delaware.gov.
Here you can subscribe to future news updates.
DELAWARE COUNTY, Ohio — People in Delaware County said it feels like new housing developments are popping up on every corner.
WSYX
“What haven’t you noticed, right? The whole area just exploded,” said Scott Shonebarger.
Scott Sanders, the executive director of the Regional Planning Commission, said companies like Intel and other industries are a main driver for thousands of people moving to Delaware County.
With the big boom comes an urgent need for more housing.
John Wicks is the developer at Real Property Design and Development.
He has spent over a decade building homes for families in Delaware County.
Wicks said the Olentangy School District is one of the hottest spots for new homes.
“I started with one high school up until the 90s, then now we’re up to four up to five different high schools so it’s just a big draw,” said Wicks. “It’s a beautiful community.”
The district has grown into the fourth largest in Ohio with a new elementary school opening next year, and a fifth high school in 2028.
Wicks said the growth has presented some challenges over the years like labor shortage and some opposition.
“It’s become a big issue for a lot of people that live in and around these areas. They tend to oppose new growth and new development, so restrictions have gotten a little bit harder. Costs have obviously gone up over the last 20 years,” said Wicks.
The planning commission says between 275,000 and 350,000 people could call Delaware County home by 2040.
That’s up from 214,000 in 2020.
Scott Shonebarger said he supports growth but wonders when is enough.
“I mean to a certain extent I think you know at some point right you have to have some sort of boundaries I think, getting into the fact that now you have five high schools,” said Shonebarger. “What’s the limit?”
Police in Wilmington, Delaware, shot and killed a 19-year-old man Wednesday night.
The incident happened in a residential area near 24th and Jessup streets just after 11 p.m., Wilmington police said in a news release. The person who was shot has not been publicly identified.
Officers were monitoring a large crowd gathered outside when they saw a man exit a home with a handgun and point it toward the crowd, police say.
When officers approached the man, he ran away and a foot pursuit began, police say.
At some point in the chase, an officer fired their weapon and hit the 19-year-old. The man was taken to a local hospital, where he later died.
Police say they recovered a loaded gun from the man and that the officer was not injured.
Video filmed at the scene shows a crowd of residents gathered outside after the shooting.
Police are asking anyone with more information to come forward. The shooting is under investigation by the Delaware Department of Justice and Wilmington police.
Delaware Supreme Court Justice Karen L. Valihura announced Wednesday that she will lead a new corporate law institute at the Wilmington University Farnan School of Law.
She will step down from the bench of Delaware’s highest court in late July, after choosing not to seek reappointment at the end of her 12-year term. She revealed her plans for the next phase of her legal career in a special session of the court in Wilmington.
As well as joining the Wilmington University law school faculty, Valihura will be the founding director of the school’s new Corporate Law, Governance and Practice Institute. …
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