Editorial: How will we handle schooling in the next emergency?
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There was little question that the coronavirus pandemic would have widespread ramifications.
It would hit the economy. It would hit social services. It would hit government and retail, and let’s not forget hospitals.
But from the beginning, one of the main concerns was how it would impact education.
The answer is becoming clear. The pandemic slammed schooling into the boards like an angry hockey player.
Today’s high school seniors have dealt with an interruption in their education that is unlike anything in recent memory.
They didn’t finish ninth grade with their classes, being sent home on March 13, 2020, with the idea that they might miss a week or two. Their sophomore year may have been remote if their parents opted that way, or it might have been in the classroom — except when high positive numbers would close a school here or there or when they might have come down with the virus themselves. Junior year tried to get back to normal, but how much of it was catching up?
Now they are facing typical 12th grade decisions like which college or career or branch of service, but are they as prepared to do that as the Class of 2019 was?
Studies are showing most kids lost ground while learning at home. There are also indications that the hardest hit were those who could least afford it. Impoverished schools with few resources had a harder time making distance learning work. Poorer households also suffered from an inability to help or supervise remote schooling — and that’s not even mentioning internet access.
Is this a failure of the school systems? No. They were reacting to an unprecedented incident. Teachers did not fail their students, and students didn’t fail their teachers.
What it does point to is a failure of planning.
The potential for a pandemic the likes of the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak has been noted for years as not just possible or even likely but overdue. America loves to plan for a catastrophe. We run fire drills. We do active shooter training. The military does war games. Almost every industry and agency tries to forecast worst-case scenarios.
So why doesn’t government — not school districts but the state and federal departments of education — better game out possible solutions for intervention in the case of long-term interruptions in schooling?
Right now, Puerto Rico, Florida and South Carolina are all reeling from crippling hurricane landfalls. These will impact education. An ill-timed ice storm or blizzard or flood in Pennsylvania could do the same. On a more local level, an incident like a shooting can interrupt the school year; just ask the people of Uvalde or Newtown or Parkland.
Now is the time to look at the lessons that were learned in the pandemic. The dos and don’ts. What worked and what didn’t. Look at them critically, not politically, and see what the takeaway might be for more than just test scores and report cards.
We spend time planning how to get kids out of the building in an emergency. The pandemic should teach us that we need to plan the next step. What happens if the kids can’t go back in?