In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, our physical and economic survival is tied to a renewed realization of how schools educate our children and serve many of their other critical needs. We’re trying desperately to continue educating students while they are confined at home—but it’s not easy.
Jokes abound across the internet. We laugh over cartoons of parents crouching over laptops in the bathroom, trying to work as the kids poke their heads in and holler, “We’re hungry! What’s a quadratic equation? I’m bored, I wanna go back to school."
Everyone gets it, including the many teachers and administrators working from home with their own children craving attention. The laughter is telling, and it has never mattered more.
Some 50 million public school students and their families are relying on us. But we can’t turn on a faucet and go from in-school learning to distance learning overnight. Most children don’t have the focus for learning remotely. And we don’t have the practice, training or the access to sufficient equipment. What we do have is the passion, expertise and talent to teach.
No one was prepared to implement a full program of effective long-term home instruction, but the challenges for low-income communities are especially daunting. School principals, assistant principals and teachers are struggling, without adequate protective gear, to distribute computer equipment and meals.
We’re hearing of some principals traveling from home to home with equipment, also at personal risk. The homes they deliver to often have four people to a room, and mothers and fathers who are holding down essential jobs in hospitals, on ambulances, on loading docks and in transit facilities.
But even if kids get computer devices, Pew research indicates that as many as 18% of students in our country lack Wi-Fi access and are unable to complete school assignments that call for it. These students already are the most vulnerable in our system, and now they are being hit even harder.
The new $2 trillion federal stimulus bill doesn’t address this reality at all. Unions and school systems now are fighting to get another bill that makes sure these precious children don’t lose once again.
School leaders are trying to do it all even as we face exhaustion, health risks and the demands of our own families. We are adapting our old rules and practices for short-term shutdowns like hurricanes and snowstorms and trying to make them work for long and indefinite closures.
Keeping students engaged in distance learning is tough. Educators stay up at night coming up with innovative ways to capture and keep kids’ attention on screen. Most students thrive on interaction with teachers and classmates. During summer vacation, their learning slides significantly. We can’t let that happen now. They are counting on us to keep them focused—so we huddle with our colleagues to develop and refine ways to do just that.
No matter what, we can’t replicate schools with kids at home. Schools are so much more than classrooms. Sports teams play here, orchestras perform, chess clubs compete, actors put on plays, robots get built. Daily structure and discipline are provided, and special services and mental health needs are met. Students are looked after, often from morning to evening, so parents can make a living and contribute to the economy. And children are fed.
Schools are the heart of our communities—a place where all can gather to find hope. This is where families go for all kinds of reassurance. This is where children go to seek the path to growth and achievement.
Whenever this pandemic is over, we and our children will be changed in ways we can’t imagine now. One change we should have is an enhanced appreciation for the tremendous return society gets on its investment in public schools—and a better understanding of how central public schools are to our families and society.
When students return to classrooms, we as a society need to renew our commitment to support them and our schools with needed resources. And we can breathe easier knowing if a situation like this happens again, we will be prepared to jump in and give our students and their communities everything they need.