What we need to open schools is not threats and intimidation, but planning to arrange for more space to create optimum safe learning environments.
There is ample evidence for why schools need to re-open. The American Academy of Pediatrics affirms, “Schools are fundamental to child and adolescent development and well-being and provide our children and adolescents with academic instruction, social and emotional skills … and mental health therapy.”
No one would argue that the pandemic has not introduced vast amounts of stress. The Journal of the American Medical Association reported on a Hubei, China, study in which 1,784 students in grades 2 to 6 were surveyed. After one month of school closure, 22% reported symptoms of depression and 18.9% symptoms of anxiety, both of which are higher than baseline.
In an ACLU survey, prior to the pandemic, 65% of students rated their mental health on a 10 point scale at 7 or better. After the pandemic the percentage was less than 40%. Six hundred and fifty students from 49 districts in California responded. More than half the students who responded to the survey said they’re in need of mental health support.
Routine is important for children’s well-being. Dr. Heha Chaudhary, child and adolescent psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School said, “Routines can be like swaddles for the mind, keeping thoughts and anxieties contained so that they don’t spin and grow.”
From an Education Trust- West Survey it was reported that
Almost three in four (74%) public school parents report higher levels of stress than usual, including 32% who say their level of stress is much higher than usual.
Asked about her experience with meeting school requirements from home teaching combined with virtual teaching, one mother that I talked to said that she felt the dynamic created an unhealthy parent/child relationship and she ended up feeling perpetually broken.
We know that schools are important in addressing social and racial disparities. The same survey cited above found “72% of Spanish-speaking parents, 62% of African American parents, and 61% of low-income parents said they were very concerned that school closures would throw their children off track to go to college, compared with 51% of parents overall. 58 percent of low-income families and African American parents said they were very concerned about their ability to provide financially for their families during school closures compared with 48% of families overall.”
In all of this, there is a call to action. For schools to open safely, physical distancing has been identified as a key component to limiting the spread COVID -19. Recommendations differ between elementary schools and secondary schools. But to come close to meeting the recommendations, we will have to think outside the walls of the schools. Weather is a limiting factor to outdoor schooling.
Meanwhile, throughout our communities there are hundreds of empty churches during the week. Let’s open them to the schools.
As the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends, we need to create cohorts of students who will stay together to limit contacts. In this case there would be a church cohort and a school cohort. Half the students could move for classes just within their building with more social distancing possible and thus cutting exposures by half.
Teachers would alternate between church and school — with the half that is not in-person on a given day being taught virtually from church or school. Volunteers could proctor students where the teacher is not physically present.
We are a community of volunteers. Let’s get creative.
Julie Day, M.D.
Julie Day, M.D., Salt Lake City, is the medical director for quality improvement and population health for the University of Utah Community Physician Group and Medical Director of the University of Utah Redwood Center.