Legislators in two states heard testimony this week from the Southern Regional Education Board on the mission of a new SREB Crisis Recovery Support Network.

This morning, after hearing testimony from SREB president Stephen L. Pruitt, the Kentucky Senate Committee on Education unanimously passed a resolution to begin training counselors who would provide sustained student, teacher and community support long after a school tragedy. Pruitt also testified on Tuesday before the Georgia Senate about the network.

“This initiative is going to be about recovery,” Pruitt told the committee. “It’s about supporting schools and colleges after crisis management has run its course.”

A former chief of staff for the Georgia Department of Education and chief state school officer in Kentucky, Pruitt testified about the challenges local educators faced after the 2018 shooting at Marshall County High School in Kentucky.

Pruitt said SREB plans to train at least 40 counselors in each of the 16 SREB states to eventually prepare more than 600 counselors with specific training in psychological first aid and stabilization at schools and colleges. The network will then have a pool of professionals who will provide a coordinated response to crisis recovery, including year-long emotional and mental health support for students, teachers and communities.

The trainees will come from partnering K-12 districts and postsecondary institutions. When called to serve, counselors will coordinate with the local district, school or institution to develop the most appropriate response to meet the specific local need.

Pruitt took office as the sixth president of the Southern Regional Education Board in July 2018. He started his education career as a high school chemistry teacher in Fayette County. During his career he has amassed education policy, assessment and instructional background at the local, state and national levels.

Before coming to SREB, Pruitt was Kentucky’s state commissioner of education. His experience includes working with schools to accommodate students displaced by Hurricane Katrina and providing in-person support to the administration and counselors of Marshall County High School. In that role, he directed a network of crisis-trained counselors for the next year as they provided support to Marshall County.

At the national level, he had worked closely with state agencies and educators around the country to improve policy and practice in science education. In addition to serving as the state education department’s chief of staff, Pruitt served as Georgia’s science and mathematics program manager, director of academic standards and associate state superintendent for assessment and accountability.

Media are invited to contact SREB to arrange interviews with Pruitt about the Crisis Recovery Support Network.

For frequently asked questions and more information, see the following links:

SREB Crisis Recovery Support Network

Frequently Asked Questions for Crisis Recovery Support Network

Contact: Janita Poe, SREB News Manager, at Janita.Poe@sreb.org or 404-879-5516, ext. 216

The Southern Regional Education Board works with states, districts and schools to improve education at every level, from early childhood through doctoral education and the workforce. An interstate compact and a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization based in Atlanta, SREB was created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislatures to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region.