The urgency of reopening our schools this fall
As California prepares for a somewhat full reopening June 15, Gov. Gavin Newsom and state health officials are also telling parents, teachers and school administrators they expect all schools and higher education institutions to open for full-time, in-person instruction in the fall.
As in “all.”
But, there are some “ifs” as well.
Already, the debate has begun whether individual school districts will be allowed to also offer distance learning as an option, or even continue the current “hybrid” model that has students returning on a limited basis.
Reopening is guided by the color-coded tier system in place for California. And the optimistic reopening plans coming out of Sacramento anticipate an end to the tiers – as long as the vaccine supply holds up (far from certain) and more younger people get vaccinated, and as COVID-19-related hospitalizations remain low.
Meanwhile, teachers’ unions remain concerned about safety issues, even as the state has said it is safe for student desks to be separated by 3-foot distances in classrooms, rather than the previous standard of 6 feet – which would seemingly make it easier to welcome back greater numbers of students.
But lost in the announcements and squabbling is a shared realization that the pandemic has taken a terrible toll on children — especially those kids who were already at risk of educational failure in our often struggling schools. These same children often live without the kind of resources or family support that are taken for granted among wealthier Californians.
A new report on the impacts of the pandemic school shutdowns in the Los Angeles Unified School District, which is the second largest school system in the U.S., tells the real story of what has happened.
L.A. schools, lagging others in the state, will finally begin opening this week after more than a year of distance learning, though educational offerings will still be far from “normal.”
The Great Public Schools Now report finds that in the district “over 13,000 middle and high school students were consistently disengaged in fall 2020” from online learning and “an additional 56,000 did not actively participate on a daily basis.”
In January and February, some 22,800 students missed three or more days of virtual class a week.
The report goes on that during the 2020-21 school year, 37% of Los Angeles kindergartners exhibited basic literacy skills, compared to 57% a year before.
Fewer young students of color are on target in reading skills compared to a year earlier. And it shouldn’t be shocking to learn that across all academic progress indicators, students of color, low-income students, English learners, students with disabilities and homeless students have fallen further behind advantaged peers.
The prolonged school closures have also taken a toll on students’ mental health. National surveys have found that 84% of high schoolers studying remotely are suffering from stress-related ailments including exhaustion and insomnia, while 42% said they were lonelier since schools locked down.
Studies have also shown that following other disasters, as many as half of all children suffer from negative reactions, including symptoms of anxiety and depression. Many bounce back, but some, especially those kids already experiencing difficulties, don’t, and end up with long-term learning problems and mental health issues. No doubt, these children will struggle even more in returning to school, providing they do return as soon as possible to full-time, in-person learning.
What has been lost since March of 2020 may affect children for decades to come. That’s why there should be no higher priority for state leaders, school administrators, teachers’ unions and parents to ensure that schools are fully, and safely, reopened, no later than this fall.