To help equip its counselors with knowledge about how poverty affects students, Garland ISD held a simulation putting staff in the position of an impoverished family.

The simulation was held Sept. 2 at Sachse High School and featured two sessions — one for high school counselors and the other for elementary and middle school counseling staff.

According to the Census Bureau, 12.1% of Garland’s population live in poverty. Tiffany Gilmore, director of guidance and counseling, said it was important to hold this simulation to help its counselors better understand and empathize with conditions students may find themselves in.

“Some of the students and families we serve are experiencing poverty,” Gilmore said. “It was important to facilitate this demonstration to give counselors an idea of what these families deal with so they can better support our students.”

Planning for the poverty simulation began in April, said Raquel Gillham, facilitator for guidance and counseling. The district selected Sachse High School because it was one of the only schools in GISD capable of hosting 170 staff. It also picked Sept. 2 because students were not in school because of the Labor Day holiday.

Tables and chairs were set up by 8 a.m. Sept. 2 for the simulation with about 80 or so counselors attending the morning session and the remaining half attending the afternoon session that began around 1 p.m. Preparations for the event began at 6 a.m., said Gillham.

Garland ISD did not use a third-party facilitator, instead it used a simulation kit created by the Missouri Community Action Network, a Jefferson City, MO, nonprofit organization that serves 250,000 low-income Missourians.

For the full story, see the Sept. 15 issue of The Sachse News.