To close or not to close...
What's in the best interest of our youth? Shouldn't that be the question?
Just over a month ago I was writing about my apprehension about going back to in-person teaching at my school. But we did it, we opened, and everyone began to relax. For four weeks our students and staff settled into our “new-normal” routine. The students adjusted to wearing masks and using laptops, teachers adjusted to teaching both in-person and remotely, and we all figured out how to make a school atmosphere that is absent of many things still feel complete, warm, and whole.
Then, just like that, after four short weeks we were forced to close.
The closing came as both no surprise and a shock to our school community. While all the systems we had put in place seemed to be working in terms of keeping our infection rates close to 0%, the world outside of our school walls wasn’t behaving in the same way. As the city’s infection rates increased it seemed it was only a matter of time before we hit that ominous “3%” that would trigger the shutdown of New York City public schools. As we prepared to close (again) the atmosphere among the staff and students was one of supreme loss. It was as if the collective refrain was:
“We were doing so well. I thought we would have more time”
However, as rates rise across the city, it seems the logical thing to do would be to take every necessary precaution, which includes closing schools. But it begs the question, why does everything else get to stay open?
I find it interesting that in Europe they are doing the exact opposite of the U.S.: they have put stronger restrictions or closed many public establishments such as restaurants, bars, and gyms, and are mandating that all schools remain open with increased health and safety protocols. I believe such a move is a referendum on the values of the leadership. To say that economies around the world are taking major hits due to this pandemic is an understatement. Travel and tourism have greatly decreased and our dining and food industries may never recover from the losses they are currently sustaining. It is truly bad all around. And yet, I believe our country is making a big statement when it says it will keep restaurants and entertainment open, but close its schools. We will continue to allow people to eat inside restaurants, but we won’t let students learn inside classrooms. We will continue to allow people to workout in gyms, but we won’t allow students to have organized play at recess (which is largely done outside).
The statement is clear: dollar signs over children’s minds.
And I get it; our Mayor is caught between a rock and a hard place. Back in the summer people said he was nuts (myself included) for wanting to reopen the largest school system in the country with little guidance on how to keep everyone safe while doing so. He was met with protests and threats of teacher strikes and had to come up with something that would relax the fears of educators and parents alike. But now, after eight weeks of somewhat normalcy, going back to full remote learning almost feels like a punishment. The thought of having to share yet another schedule change with my 6th-8th graders feels cruel and unusual. Already, at this age, their brains lack development in self-management and organization. They will now have to keep track of another schedule change and hope they don’t end up in the wrong zoom class or miss a class altogether since many of them will be navigating this work on their own. For parents of young children, having to navigate their child’s learning schedule with their own work schedule is pushing them to their breaking point.
The biggest problem is that everyone, the Mayor included, is trying to do the best they can without a definitive playbook. While I understand this dilemma, the Mayor was voted in office claiming to be about “education”. Our city needs more from him and his team. Our children will be the ones suffering the most in the long run due to this lack of guidance and direction.
In many countries in Europe the leaders are using their values, research, and science to guide their decision around opening schools. The Irish Prime Minister, Micheal Martin, stated, “We cannot and will not allow our children and young people’s futures to be another victim of this disease...They need their education” (Eddy, nytimes.com). Studies show that when there are strict health protocols in place the infection rates in schools are extremely low. That isn’t to say there aren’t still risks involved with keeping schools open, but I am having a hard time understanding why, as a country, we haven’t already come up with ways to better mitigate these risks and would, instead, increase restrictions on educating our youth whose very development and social-emotional health is on the line.
This past Thursday was Thanksgiving and, like pretty much everything else this year, it looked very different from my Thanksgivings in the past. Instead of seeing my Great Aunt and Uncle and enjoying my Great Aunt’s amazing stuffing and sweet potato casserole, I ventured into New Jersey and had a small gathering with my “pod” of close friends in the city. We all got Covid tests well in advance and we all made sure to stay pretty isolated when we could. On the way there I gifted my nephew a belated birthday gift of 4 books from his new favorite book series. As he opened the box-set I turned briefly to talk to his little brother and when I turned back around he was eagerly diving into one of the books. While I was excited to see our little bibliophile in the making, I was surprised to notice that, prior to opening the book, he had decided to put his face mask back on before he started to read. Now, I recognize it could have just been something he chose to do and that a connection to reading outside of the home and putting on a mask was very unlikely, but the scene still caused me to pause. Later on when we had finished our dinner, a friend's daughter was busying herself by doing dramatic yoga poses in the living room while the other children around her tried to watch a movie. When I asked her why she was choosing this moment to practice these poses she said, “Well this is how I make sure I am socially distancing myself from other people.” She’s six years old.
It is clear that youth growing up during this pandemic are going to have drastically different perspectives after all of this is said and done. It is also clear that if they do not get to have some sort of consistent schooling they will not be set up for future success. And the success I am talking about goes beyond future employment opportunities. Without socializing with peers they will have a hard time learning empathy. Without engaging in meaningful dialogue they will have a hard time knowing how to advocate for themselves and others. We have to keep in mind the type of people we are cultivating in each of these different spaces. Of course we need to be safe and of course we should mitigate risk as much as we can. But if we can eat a burger with friends at a bar, then a child should be able to read books with her peers in a classroom. It’s true this is new terrain for everyone, but the choices I see happening in our government and leadership do not have this educator feeling good about the future of our country’s youth.
Works Cited
Eddy, Melissa. “Why Is Europe Keeping Its Schools Open, Despite New Lockdowns?”. Nytimes.com,https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/29/world/europe/schools-coronavirus-europe-lockdowns.html. Accessed 27. November. 2020