Schools are a haven. Let’s take this opportunity to strengthen their impact.
By Linda B. Sheriff
It’s back-to-school season. Instead of brimming excitement and anticipation, schools across the nation are trying to plan for a year fraught with uncertainty, brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and amplified by inequities.
I recently heard from a leader of an elementary school in Washington, D.C., that more than 200 students signed up for their virtual summer school program, but not even 100 of those students had attended classes. This school serves a majority of Black students from low-income families in the District. The leader was worried about these students: Were they alright? Had family members moved, lost jobs, lost internet, lost housing? Were they getting food and medical attention? Were they safe?
In addition to the concerns voiced by my colleague, we don’t know exactly how COVID-19 will affect our communities, what our economy will look like, or how school budgets will be impacted. For schools that serve those hit the hardest by the pandemic, such as Black and Hispanic communities and high poverty neighborhoods, the uncertainties and concerns are even greater. One thing we can acknowledge is that students, schools, and staff will need more support than they have received in the past. These schools will need more funding for health protection or online equipment, staff to support the smaller classes necessary for social distancing, training in social emotional understanding for students and staff suffering trauma, grief, and loss, and physical, behavioral, and emotional support staff will be essential.
Furthermore, as we begin the school year and readjust how schools operate in light of the pandemic, we have the opportunity to reimagine schools so that they are more equitable and support success of all students. In 2017, 17 percent of children under 18 lived in poverty in the United States, with 29 percent of African-American and 25 percent of Hispanic children living in households with less than $25,465 annual income for a family of four. In addition, 39 percent of children live in low-income households. The effects of poverty can be devasting on a child and a child’s development. For example, children growing up in poverty are two times more likely to repeat a grade, two times more likely to drop out of school, two times more likely to have a learning disability or behavioral difficulty, nine times more likely to have food insecurity, and fourtimes more likely to have fair or poor health. But schools can act — and have been acting — as a buffer. Many schools have been providing children with the safe places, the support services, and the social learning that help a child grow and succeed. It is time to design schools in a way that acknowledges their importance in the development of the whole child.
If there is a silver lining to the last four months, it is that the nation appears to be awakening to all of the benefits that schools provide. From social media overflowing with stories of overwhelmed parents trying to keep their children on task to the unspoken importance of schools as a lynchpin for the economy, there is a growing appreciation for the nonacademic services schools offer. Public school students across the country receive physical activity, health education, mental, physical, and behavioral health services, school lunches and breakfasts, and environments that support their overall wellbeing so they can be successful. They also provide essential face-to-face interactions and supports for children and adolescents who need momentary or long-term mental or emotional support. The American Academy of Pediatrics recently published guidance for school reopening that underscores the importance of schools not only as an institution of learning, but as “fundamental to child and adolescent development and well-being … [they] provide our children and adolescents with academic instruction, social and emotional skills, safety, reliable nutrition, physical/speech and mental health therapy, and opportunities for physical activity, among other benefits.”
Students from economically disadvantaged families, like the children my colleague teaches, are especially dependent on these essential services and their loss can be devastating. Indeed, when schools closed in March, one of the first priorities for many schools was to ensure that children continued to receive meals. Schools are often a lifeline to our most vulnerable children, frequently providing them with food security, medical treatment, and mental and behavioral health care. Before COVID-19 rocked our world, students in low -income neighborhoods were already entering school at a disadvantage. Unsafe neighborhoods, food scarcity, poor living conditions, poor health care, and other environmental factors beyond their control were causing unnecessary stress and behavioral health issues — conditions that make learning difficult.
Unfortunately, even before COVID-19 many schools were not able to provide all of the support that students need. The School Nurses Association recommends at least one full-time nurse in every school, yet currently only 39.3 percent of schools meet this mark, while 25.2 percent of schools do not employ a school nurse at all. School-based mental health providers do not fare any better. In a report by the ACLU that reviewed 2015–2016 data from the U.S. Department of Education’s Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) on the number of social workers, school psychologists, nurses, and school counselors in all public schools, the authors found that only three states met recommended minimum student to counselor ratios, no states met minimum student to social worker recommended ratios, and four states met minimum student to psychologist ratios. And there are numerous stories about teachers paying out of pocket to have snacks or extra coats, mittens, or scarves on hand for children who do not have them.
Since the onset of COVID-19, economic conditions have deteriorated. According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in April, the financial impact of COVID-19 has been especially hard on Black and Hispanic Americans, with 61 percent of surveyed Hispanic Americans and 44 percent of Black Americans saying they or someone in their household had lost a job or taken a pay cut due to COVID-19. Furthermore, according to the survey, 27 percent of Black adults said they personally knew someone who had been hospitalized or died from COVID-19, more than double the number of Hispanic or White adults (13 percent each). Many children returning to school, whether online or in person, will have had difficult experiences at best and traumatic ones at worst.
Whether in person or online, as we open school this fall we should prioritize the many nonacademic functions of school and have the resources in place to help students and staff. For those who would argue that schools should only focus on academics, look at what schools are already doing to create conditions so children can learn. Schools are going to have to handle the emotional and behavioral impact of COVID-19 just as they have been doing with poverty. Doing so half-heartedly — without training, funding, support or an organized plan — is only setting children and schools up for failure. Let’s build on the essential services already being provided and fully support them. Schools should have the recommended number of school nurses, social workers, and counselors. Teachers should have training in trauma sensitivity and recognizing the signs of mental or behavioral health issues, particularly in those schools serving students who are the most affected by COVID-19. They should understand the impact of grief and loss on a student and have easy access to additional support personnel so that do not have to bear the burden of supporting a classroom of grieving and traumatized students on their own.
Indeed, schools themselves should not bear this burden alone. The responsibility of maintaining student wellness should be borne by many sectors. As we reimagine schools, we should create an infrastructure that connects schools to community and agency resources so that there’s a web of support for students and their families. Community schools have been doing this to great effect for a number of years. A recent study of over 250 community schools in New York City shows significant gains in attendance rates, grade advancement, and graduation. Furthermore, during the COVID-19 closures, community schools across the country have been able to support their students and families by tapping into their large networks of community connections.
But you don’t have to be a community school to start linking to community resources. If you have a staff member, preferably a dedicated staff member, who can coordinate and align services, you can start creating this web of supports. The first step is to survey families to understand the challenges they face and then identify community partners who can provide these essential services and link them to families. It’s even possible for a local organization to work with the school to organize this effort.
As we start the school year, let’s reimagine schools so that all children can succeed. Let’s acknowledge the many services that schools already provide and increase our support for them by creating infrastructures so that schools are not doing this work alone. When students return to school, be it in person or online, let’s provide additional funding and support for personnel, staff training, and school-connected services that students, staff and families. Let’s create and envision schools as a nurturing and learning pathway so schools are once again the great equalizer.
Linda B. Sheriff, M.Ed., is Deputy Director of the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. She is working on her Ed.D. in Administration and Supervision at the University of Virginia.
