Schulenburg ISD Making Mental Health a Big Priority

The Kyla Faith Memorial donated $1,500 to Schulenburg Junior High last week. The money will be used to support mental health and suicide awareness in the junior high and high school.

Lindsey and Eric Tillery lost their 16-year-old daughter Kyla Faith to suicide on Jan. 20, 2020. Kyla’s death shocked the community. She grew up in Swiss Alp, went to school in La Grange, worked in Schulenburg and had friends and family across the County. She was active and outgoing. She had friends. And she seemed to always carry a smile.

The Tillerys formed the Kyla Faith Memorial nonprofit in her honor.

“Our purpose is to break the stigma,” Lindsey said. “Get to know what’s behind that smile.”

The organization holds fundraisers, hosts motivational speakers and provides scholarships for local students. Lindsey said the group wants to find ways to directly reach local young people who might be dealing with a crisis. The group’s donation in Schulenburg last week was a first step in that direction.

“Our motto is if we reach just one person, then we make a difference,” Eric said.

Lindsey, Eric and their friend and supporter Charles Jobb visited the school last Friday, Jan. 28. Junior High Principal Callene Zapalac and teacher Heather Pavlu took them on a tour of the campus.

“Before, I never let students know it was OK to have sad feelings and to talk about it,” Zalapac told Lindsey. “I always just tried to be upbeat all the time. Since Kyla’s passing, you have helped me see that even the most beautiful young lady who always seemed happy, with so many things going on for her, could take her own life. I have learned and grown. I look at my students differently and try to offer what help they need.”

Zapalac grew up in Schulenburg and went to school there with many of the parents of her students. That gives her a unique perspective and ability to communicate concerns.

Zapalac explained several ways in which the school is trying to break the stigma of talking about mental health – by posting encouraging words on walls in the hallways and bathrooms, a tackboard where students can post notes with positive messages for their friends, QR codes posted in the halls of the high school that students can scan and send confidential messages to a counselor.

Zapalac keeps a store of school supplies and hygiene products in her office. If a students needs something, they can go to her office without fear of embarrassment. More importantly, students know they have someone they can talk to.

Zapalac said one of the biggest improvements to mental health on campus came when the district hired Pavlu to serve as a social emotional learning (SEL) teacher on the secondary campus.

“Students know they can come into my office,” Pavlu said “They know it’s a safe space.”

Zapalac’s said the number of discipline referrals have dropped since Pavlu started working at the school.

Zapalac stressed the importance of treating students as individuals with unique skills and challenges. She showed the group the campus’s “cool-off ” room. Inside a young man was taking a nap – something not normally encouraged at school.

“We found out this young man was having some issues at home, and it was causing problems at school,” she said. “The biggest problem was he wasn’t getting enough sleep at night. We said, you know what, if sleep is the problem then let’s re-arrange his schedule and give him a 55-minute period to sleep.”

She said the boy’s learning and behavior improved dramatically.

The Texas Education Agency puts great pressure on school administrators to improve test scores. School accountability ratings, for example, are closely tied to how well students perform on standardized tests.

“You can’t get test scores up if you don’t provide safety and security,” Zapalac said.

Zapalac said the school will use the donation from Kyla Faith Memorial to purchase supplies and materials to support the school’s social and emotional learning efforts. One of those projects is a three-year program called “The Leader in Me.” Students learn healthy habits and adult skills that prepare them for not only the workforce, but to become active members in the community.

“Y’all are leading something in Fayette County that no one else is doing,” Jobb said to Zapalac and Pavlu.

“I hope other schools see what you’re doing and know it’s OK to talk about these things,” Eric said.