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[quote=Anonymous]People need to stop thinking about our current situation as normal but with distance learning. That's not what's happening.

Of course there will be many more mental health and behavioral issues when kids are in person again. Think about the kids most likely to have behavioral issues in a "normal" school year. It's kids with less stable home lives, whose families have inadequate childcare, who may not be getting sufficient adult supervision and interaction, who lack peer socialization. During non-Covid times, that's a substantial minority of kids. Now? It might be the majority of kids in DCPS. Including many kids from middle class families that normally function pretty well but are now taxed to their limit.

Most families did not form pods. Most families with elementary age kids (including PK kids) cannot afford to replace public school with quality childcare. Parents either had to just figure it out at home on their own, or find childcare they could afford, which may or may not have been particularly good. And a lot of people adopted short term solutions because we were assured schools would be going to hybrid or moving to in person at some point. Those short term solutions weren't great, but families figured, "Well, it's just a couple months." Well a couple months turned into a full year. A full year in inadequate childcare will absolutely cause behavioral and mental health issues in a kid. Yes, they are resilient. But they are also human. And everyone knows how much kids are impacted by their environment.

The idea that we're just going to throw the very diverse community of public school kids back into classrooms together in September and it will work itself out is insane. And in schools that are already overcrowded, already struggle just to meet the needs of existing SN and IEP kids? Plus add in the fact that many kids will be facing serious deficiencies in fundamentals like literacy... we are setting ourselves up for failure.

So yes, DCPS should absolutely be looking at summer 2021 and creating programs that will help re-acclimate kids to the classroom, as well as to help them identify the kids who are going to need more support, whether it's academic or social-emotional, moving into the school year. I'm not sure why anyone would opposed such a plan. Even if your kid doesn't need it, it seems obvious to me that many other kids will, and I want my child going back to a classroom in which all the kids are being properly supported. Just selfishly, that's what I want (though I also actually care about these kids who have been most negatively impacted by school closures).[/quote]

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