Murphy says education, recreation crucial to students

MIDDLETOWN — The state’s junior U.S. senator met with education and summer camp officials Tuesday to gauge their priorities in an era when students are experiencing learning loss, as well as emotional and social distress as a result of the pandemic.

“This is a very, very important summer for kids,” U.S. Sen Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said during a roundtable discussion at City Hall.

“The traumas that kids have been through over the last 10, 12 months are hard wrapping your head around,” said Murphy, who acknowledged there are many support systems in place.

“Maybe the best way to look at the summer, first and foremost, is an investment to get psychological help to reset them so, when schools looks more like normal again — we hope — next September, they are ready to learn,” Murphy said.

Murphy led 12 Senate Democrats last week in sending a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell urging additional funding for summer enrichment programs in the next COVID-19 relief package.

He proposed allowing for a portion of the money to be dedicated to meaningful summer programming for kids that not only would address learning loss due to remote learning, but also their social and emotional needs, Murphy said in a release.

“There’s not going to be a one-size-fits-all approach,” Murphy said. “I worry a little bit about my colleagues in Washington who maybe aren’t parents thinking about their summer purely through an educational catch-up lens.”

As a father, February and March are “consumed” with trying to get camp set up as early as possible, he said, calling it the “bane of my existence.”

“Our kids need to be in some program every week. It’s so hard right now because you don’t know what programs are open, what aren’t, how many slots exist, so the more certainty we can have with it, the sooner the better for parents and kids,” he said.

Murphy, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, held a similar discussion earlier this month in New Haven. He has also spoken with state leaders on the issue, Murphy said.

Among those who engaged in conversation were Director of Recreation and Community Services Cathy Lechowicz, Russell Library Director Ramona Burkey, YMCA Camp Ingersoll Assistant Director Emerson Badessa, Oddfellows Playhouse Executive Artistic Director Dic Wheeler and Middletown Public Schools Chief Academic Officer Magda Parvey.

Lechowicz, who also runs the city’s summer rec camp, said she was overwhelmed at seeing how happy kids were last year during even a modified camp that incorporated COVID-19 safety measures.

“The joy we saw in kids faces last summer after being away for three months was just incredible,” she said.

She and other summer program hosts had to dramatically cut back enrollment last year due to the pandemic, but they hope to increase the number of slots this year.

Many said free meals for students is a huge component of setting students up to succeed, something that has been funded in the past in Middletown.

Common Council Majority Leader Gene Nocera, a former longtime city principal who now teaches online courses at the University of St. Joseph, said the city does a great job with offering camp and other programs for children 5-12, but he’s interested in what can be done for teenagers.

“What I hear from teachers is they’re very concerned about emotional side of the pandemic,” Nocera said. “It’s really taken a toll. Kids have more time now to create emotional drama with one another. This is so unusual because we’ve been so disconnected … that’s I’m concerned about the return to school.

“The rigor is not there to the extent it will be when it’s five days a week,” Nocera said.

“That engagement part is something we struggle with with students, especially since they can turn their (laptop) cameras off (during hybrid classes),” said Parvey, who added a partnerships with local camps is essential to providing that muchneeded component.

She’d like to see parents offered reduced tuition or scholarships. “Some of our family who require academic support can’t afford the recreational piece,” Parvey said. Working parents also need affordable beforeschool care, she said.

Parvey would like to see wellness activities incorporated into summer recreation and academics., noting “that’s what our students need.” She’s also intent on getting more books into students’ hands, which Burkey is focused on as well.

“Meeting people where they are” is the library’s slogan, Burkey said, but that is difficult to do in a city that’s 42 square miles in size. “We have one library building many may not be able to go to,” said Burkey, who hopes the future can bring “pop-up” libraries at farmers markets, downtown and the schools. “How can we get books of high interest matter into kids’ hands,” is her challenge.

Wheeler runs the Children’s Circus, now in its 33rd year. “It’s the community and the connections that are the big thing we’re all in the business of keeping alive, and it’s been taken from kids in this past year,” he said, Especially considering the struggles parents are going through with distance learning, loss of jobs, and over COVID-related issues, “they’ve got to be welcomed and deserve that sense of community,” Wheeler said.

Murphy said there is an urgency to get the funding bill passed as soon as possible, something the senator hopes could become law as early as the end of next month. “The issue is timing. In order to expand summer programming, we need to know that you’re going to have the money by March.”

“Shame on us if we appropriate $130 billion for school systems, which we’re talking about doing — what I expect we’ll be doing — and we don’t fix the program of summer learning,” Murphy said.