Road ahead for schools doesn’t get easier, but let’s enter the new year with some hope

So now what?

Schools made it to the holiday break, but, best as I can read things, it was an uphill slog for a lot of kids and adults. Navigating school life, health worries and social issues was exhausting.

And here we are, entering part two of the school year with (how do I put this gently?) more of the same in the forecast.

You think of COVID first when you think about school life these days. But this isn’t March 2020; there is not much call for stopping in-person schooling. It might happen, at least for short periods, especially if there are large numbers of cases among teachers and other school employees.

But the realization of the substantial academic and social negative effects of so much remote time in the recent past is a big reason there is determination to keep buildings open now.

That leads into looking at some of the issues that have made it so tough to move education forward so far this school year – issues beyond COVID alone, issues that won’t go away even when (or if ?) COVID eases.

Here are thumbnail looks at four of those concerns:

Students

Are all the kids struggling with mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and alienation? Of course not. A lot of kids continue to do well. But you can’t be oblivious to what so many school leaders and health professionals are describing as the large number of students who are in need of help. Mental health and emotional issues were rising before the pandemic. Now they are worse.

States, including Wisconsin, are making more money available to provide counseling, therapy and guidance to kids. Many school districts are using some of the federal pandemic relief money they are getting to respond.

In addition, there are many anecdotes and claims that student behavior has gotten worse and classroom management harder because so many kids missed so much socialization over almost two years now. I am not aware of any data on this, but it appears the broad picture of the atmosphere in schools needs serious attention.

Are responses to all this equal to the needs? That seems highly unlikely. Have these problems peaked? That seems unlikely also. How well everyone in schools handles the intangible needs of students will be crucial not only to helping individual children but to stabilizing school environments.

Teachers

I got a powerful email a few days ago from a veteran teacher who suggested that the debates over a lot of hot-button issues connected to schools currently are like complaining about the food on the Titanic. The real issue is the iceberg that could sink the ship, he said. That iceberg is the state of teaching.

I hope he’s wrong. I’d like to think he’s wrong. But I fear he might be right. There are so many trends shaping teaching currently and almost all of them are worrisome.

Well before the pandemic, the number of people choosing teaching as a career had fallen substantially in Wisconsin and in many other places. Many school leaders I have spoken to are reporting fewer applicants for jobs, jobs being given to people with weaker qualifications than in the past, teaching positions being left open in schools for extended periods, and, perhaps most startlingly, unprecedented numbers of teachers quitting while the school year is underway, often to leave the profession, sometimes to take jobs elsewhere because desperate schools are raiding each other.

So what is going to be done to strengthen the future workforce of teachers, both in terms of quantity and quality?

As many schools have also found, the same concern applies to all the other adults who work in education – substitute teachers, bus drivers, classroom assistants, cafeteria workers, you name it. There have been lots of vacancies and resignations, and this impacts the strength of school operations.

Education

It is an overstatement to say actual education in school has been set aside because of so many other concerns about keeping kids, teachers, and entire schools going. But all of the non-instructional issues seem to mean less time for instruction. One of the best school leaders I know told me recently that this is exactly what is happening in the schools she works with.

This is startling, especially when put it in the context of academic performance — especially among low-income students and minority students — which was showing declines before the pandemic started. What does this say about prospects for long-term educational success?

Parents

Let me set aside the subject of parents as political activists for another time. It will be an especially significant matter as many school board elections are held in the spring.

But for parents as a whole, the challenges continue. Making a path for their kids and themselves through pandemic issues, on top of all the demands of daily living, is leaving many parents worn.

The COVID period has underscored how important parents are and how big a role they can (and, let us hope, do successfully) play in helping kids through all this. Big cheers for parents who, despite it all, are succeeding in being allies for the best futures for their children.

For parents, as well as educators, staying strong and steady and setting the best possible tone for everyone around them is more important than ever. Consider this both the challenge and the opportunity in coming months.

It’s become a cliché to say crises should not go to waste — they should be used to spur positive changes. It’s not going to be easy to overcome the challenges facing education in 2022. But maybe this all will spark constructive action.

A tall order? Sure.

But it’s good to enter a new year with hope and commitment to finding ways to turn things for the better.

Alan J. Borsuk is a senior fellow in law and public policy at Marquette Law School. Reach him at alan.borsuk@marquette.edu.

MIKE DE SISTI/MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL Students in a K3-K5 class sit at their desks with protective barriers as a COVID safety measure at MacDowell Montessori School.