Preface

From the book "RootEd: How Trauma Impacts Learning and Society" by S.R. Zelenz

“We need this insight.” Mike Kernell, Board Member, Shelby County Schools, Tennessee (Memphis)

This work came to fruition during my doctoral dissertation process. My initial inquiry when beginning my doctoral journey was to find out why the child was removed from education. Why do they not see the child? The reason this was important to me is personal. I began having challenges with the school system as a parent. This actually began even earlier than the school system, with the daycares my oldest child was enrolled in during the 1990’s. Much of the tactics used by said daycares were what I considered abuse. However, as the parent, they spoke down to me as if the reason they had to treat my child in such a manner was my fault. They would then point out that they had my child more than I did, so they knew my child better than I did. All this told me was that the behavior issues they were having had to be a direct result of their interactions with my child if they had my child more than …