Decatur students struggle with covid-19 restrictions
DECATUR — The covid-19 lockdown around the world and the numbers of cases and related deaths have topped the headlines in every major global news media outlet. The public is bombarded with so much information that it is easy to get overwhelmed. For our nation’s youth, this crisis is a new and terrifying road that none have ever experienced, and it is likely to have an adverse and prolonged effect on their lives into adulthood.
For students at all four Decatur campuses, this national crisis has meant isolation from friends, long days of internet schooling and prolonged stress on families at home.
Steve Watkins, Decatur school superintendent, sees both ends of education, not just from an administrator’s point of view but as a parent. Watkins’ youngest son, Ben, is a freshman at Decatur High School. He sees the problems facing parents firsthand. “More emphasis is being placed on the parents and students during online learning,” Watkins said.
“One of the biggest concerns as a parent with regard to instruction has been finding ways to keep the kids motivated and on a regular homework schedule. Another is the uncertainty during the shift from direct instruction to alternative methods of instruction. The guidance from the governor and the Division of Education and Secondary Education during Monday’s press conference provided significant clarity. With the continued partnership between the school and parents, I am positive that the remainder of the 2019-2020 year will be engaging and beneficial for our students.”
But the online classes can be just as stressful for college students. James Garner, the AP English teacher at Decatur High School, recalls the experience of his daughter, Taelor, a student at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Okla.
Her computer, a MacBook Pro, stopped working suddenly and she could not get it to the Apple Store in Tulsa because it was closed, so she had to take it to an Appleauthorized repair shop that was open and it was so swamped with work she was told it would be weeks before it could fix her computer.
Getting another computer might seem like a small problem most of the time, but she had to have one with specific programs that she had already paid to have on her MacBook and could not access.
“It was not just the loss of the computer that was the problem; it was the loss of access to programs she needed for school and the inability to just go to the campus library to use a school computer as much as she needed because of the covid-19 restrictions,” James Garner explained.
“She did not feel like all of her college professors understood the problem and she was very stressed about how late assignments might affect her grades and, ultimately, the scholarships she depends on to continue school.
“She now has a temporary computer to use, borrowed, but is still having to deal with access issues and making up assignments she could not complete on the days when she was trying to get her computer fixed instead of trying to quickly buy a new one she did not feel like she could afford,” James Garner said.
Ryan Shaffer, a 2017 graduate of Decatur High School, found himself in a difficult position too. Shaffer attends the prestigious Tufts University in Medford, Mass.
On March 10, Tufts University suspended all in-person classes for the remainder of the semester and went to online instruction.
Four days later, Shaffer made the long twoday trip back to Decatur where he entered self-quarantine. His online classes resumed on March 25.
He found that the road for the next few weeks would be a real challenge.
“Having all my classes online is hard,” Shaffer said.
“I’m taking four college-level courses that require me to read quite a bit each week, and working from home does not really allow me the time or space to get all of that done, or at least to do it well. I’m used to going to the library or going to a certain study spot on campus, but now I don’t really have a consistent workspace or even a schedule, at that.
“I also have to work with the time zone differences. It’s just a one hour difference for me, but some of my peers who I have to work with on group projects are in California, which is three hours off. Just finding a time to meet with them and go over things is more challenging. Not only do we have the time zone differences, but our technology may not work well, so communication is hard to maintain, making working together even more difficult.”
The shutdown of inperson classes has been a particular challenge to teachers and school counselors nationwide since most students depend on the interaction they have with others.
The loss of this interaction can put a great deal of stress on the students, leading to depression for some.
Unfortunately, suicide rates nationwide are on the rise become of the covid-19 pandemic. This leads some teachers and counselors to pay closer attention to those they believe are at risk.
Hannah Davis, a counselor at Decatur High School, tries to help not only the ones at risk, but all of the high school students, cope with this prolonged isolation.
“From day one, I made a list of about 25 students and emailed them directly,” Davis said.
“These are students I know that are struggling anyway throughout the year with depression and anxiety. I check in with them to see how they are coping with this shutdown. I know a lot of them are having issues at home, so I check in with them every week to make sure they are all right.”
Decatur students, like their counterparts across the country, have great difficulty transitioning from the traditional hands-on teaching methods to online teaching. That has some frustrated and ready to give up.
“I know that some of our students struggle with online classes anyway and some just absolutely hate them,” Davis said.
“They are very anxious to get back. It makes the kids appreciate school a whole lot more than they did before.”
“The biggest thing I’ve seen in talking with those kids individually is that a lot of them are feeling really down and isolated just because they are not with their friends. Another thing that I’m seeing is that social media isn’t everything; they still need that face-to-face interaction with friends, something they are really missing,” Davis said.
The hardest hit of all the students at Decatur High School is the senior class of 2020.
For the past year, this group looked forward to senior-junior prom, the athletic banquet, awards night, spring sports and, of course, the biggest day of their lives, graduation.
All that is postponed for now.
Davis hears from many of the seniors often and all ask the same question, “When are we going to have graduation?”
“The senior class has been emailing me on a daily basis just checking in to find out the latest news,” Davis explained.
“The only thing I can tell them right now is that this is just a day-byday situation and that we are passing information along as we make decisions that we need to make.”
Davis is in contact with one senior who has expressed his worst fears to her and is struggling to come to grips with all that has happened in the last month.
“I talked to one senior today who is having a hard time because he feels like there may be some seniors that he may never see again,” Davis recalled.
“He was never expecting that and wasn’t prepared. He’s just really missing his friends. We can’t come to school and we can’t hang out on weekends. He is just feeling that loss of time he had left.”
Recent news from Governor Asa Hutchinson and the Arkansas Activities Association paints a grim picture for the fate of Arkansas school children.
All in-house instruction, as well as spring sporting events, have been canceled for the remainder of the school year with online instruction continuing to be the new normal.
With no end in sight, it is important for parents, family members, friends and educators to support their youth by any means possible.
The very existence of our nation’s youth depends on everyone pulling together, even if from behind a computer screen.