Courageous Leadership in Appalachia

As I drove toward South Webster, a small town in Appalachian Ohio in December, I wondered what the experience would be like. I was going to visit teachers at South Webster high school, Judy Ellsesser and Cyndy Hykes, to learn more about their high school class on the opioid crisis.  

Memories flooded back. I recalled Michael Harrington’s important 1960s book, The Other America, which spurred the War on Poverty, and wondered what progress our nation has made. I remembered my trip to Mingo County, West Virginia in 1966 to see a  a friend and Vista Volunteer living deep in the hollers...  And, I thought about the people who had so warmly greeted me when I arrived as a VISTA Volunteer  in the Bootheel of Missouri right after college, and the documentary Oh Freedom After While that captured their character. 

South Webster, Ohio is in Scioto County, just north of Portsmouth, Ohio, a city  at the confluence of the Ohio and Scioto Rivers.  Through its long history, captured inmurals on the river wall, Portsmouth and Scioto County have nurtured many significant people including Branch Rickey who brought Jackie Robinson to major league baseball and Roy Rogers. And, football fans should know that the Portsmouth Spartans played in the first National Football League Championship Game in 1932 against the Chicago Bears.

Once vibrant, Portsmouth and Scioto County, like many places in Ohio and across Appalachia, are now experiencing major social and economic challenges.  The opioid crisis – arriving on top of an already difficult environment – has made things much tougher;  Scioto County, Ohio has one of the highest opiood-related death rates in the state.

During my visit I found resilient leaders. From students to the Superintendent and Juvenile Court Judge there was a  deep commitment to place and community and a seemingly never- ending struggle to battle what I consider the worst domestic crisis facing our nation. 

Students studying the opioid crisis learned more than about its impact on individuals.  One wrote, “But now I have learned it was affecting not only just the user, but everyone else in the community too, and that has inspired me to want to help the community.” Many students in Ellsesser and Hykes’ class are becoming involved in efforts to support their peers and younger students through sports activities before and after school, mentoring, and educational programs. What students are learning about themselves and their communities was as unusual as was their recognition that they could act to address the problem.

Sandy Smith, principal of the South Webster elementary school, drove me and several local people to visit the homes of local families.  She knew each and every one, bringing the gift of a box of food as the reason for our visit.  She worried about the student who lived too far to participate in the basketball program that might smooth the way forward and the high school students who had been found living in a car but were now in a home we visited.  Addicted parents, regularly come to Smith’s school house, and of course their children, Smith students, bring their experience with opioids through the school house door.

Superintendent Marc Kreischer has been working hard to support his educators. He has arranged a partnership to bring mental health counselors into the schools, but recognizes the burden his teacher face, in light of the demands of state accountability systems.  Kreischer said, “This community has always faced challenges and been tested, but the opioid epidemic has made our work exponentially more difficult.”

An evening meeting at Kenny’s Country Kitchen in South Webster brought together the Juvenile Court Judge, Alan Lemon, his bailiff, court administrator and the new CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) director for conversation with school leaders and me.  Judge Lemon’s noted that his case load has grown by nearly 250% since the emergence of opioids, and the number of children in the foster care system had grown to 173 by the summer of 2016, with more than 50 children under the age of 2. But it would be irresponsible to believe that only poor children and families are affected by the opioid epidemic. The Court administrator made clear that so called “good kids- ” that is, children of lawyers, doctors and business people as well as juvenile court employees - are also caught up in the turmoil.

Judge Lemon has been sending his bailiff and court administrator into the schools of Scioto County, including South Webster; he recognizes that this community problem, like so many others, always arrives at the school house door. And if his team can help schools support families perhaps the number of children before his bench might go down.

The Judge also sees the unique value of the class on the why and how of the opioid crisis that Judy Ellsesser and Cyndy Hykes are teaching. He said, ”Every student in Scioto County should participate in this class. My experience working with high school students tells me that their approach will have a greater impact than will a prevention approach.”

The dictionary defines courage as “the ability to do something that frightens one,” and “strength in the face of pain or grief.” Courageous is the word that best describes the local leaders in South Webster and in the many other communities across the country grappling with the opioid crisis.

I am still waiting for our federal government to support the courageous leaders in South Webster and in other communities and  help them address a problem that is having an unimaginable impact on the fabric of our families and communities and on our politics and economy.