Two days a week back in classrooms is a great start
As schools begin to reintroduce in-person instruction, if only for two days a week, I cannot help but feel relieved.
Over the last year, our community has tried to do what communities ought to do: Band together to protect the most vulnerable in our society. Yet, for school children, we fell dismally short of that goal.
To protect the physical health of our friends, family, and neighbors, we temporarily forgot about the mental and emotional health of our students. We forgot that children and teenagers often have the least amount of control over their home environments. We forgot that children need human connection to achieve holistic health. We left them to deal with tech problems, limited resources, confusion, anxiety, loneliness, depression, and worse. It’s time to go back and do the right thing by our children.