“Never in history has it been so hard to decide what to do with our children’s education as it is right now.”
Coronavirus came suddenly, unexpectedly and threatened and intimidated our lives as if we had no other things to worry about. Before we knew it, the fear of an unknown menace invaded our routines and children were stuck at home unable to participate at any on-campus school activity. Most of us felt as if we were learning how to fly an airplane in mid air.
Schools were unprepared to deal with such a drastic and challenging change in education. Caregivers were compelled to reinvent themselves in order to keep the demands of not only being parents, but a teacher as well. Children were forced to adapt to this “new normal” school life that was anything but “normal”. The truth is that all these changes were rightly needed to protect our most vulnerable members of the community from a threat that doesn’t know any boundaries and attacks ruthlessly with no mercy.
We are four weeks away from returning to classes and there is no clarity into what should be the best approach for returning to school. We want to provide our opinion on how to make this decision at a personal level. First, we want to recognize and acknowledge:
- Children who are infected typically don’t become as sick as adults
- Children could be potential vectors that spread the virus to vulnerable groups
- Schools are not fully equipped to handle current CDC recommendations for social distancing
- The nature of a child’s development will be a big barrier in implementing school safety precautions
- It is clear that for some children, remote learning can be challenging
- Children that receive special education services do not do well with distance learning and require additional support.
- Parents do not feel competent to assist or tutor their children
- Many families do not have the resources to provide adequate technology and internet connectivity to sustain online remote learning
- The goal is for students to be physically present in school as soon possible, but we want to achieve this goal in the safest way possible for every community.
Most experts agree that schools in areas with high levels of COVID-19 community spread should consider not reopening to on-campus school learning until cases start trending downwards. However, there are many communities that don’t have high levels of COVID-19 and will be restarting schools this Fall. Many families within these communities are unsure whether to elect on-campus learning, hybrid learning or distance learning. As you may conclude, determining which form of education children need at this time is a very complex and challenging endeavor.
So how can we make the best choice for our children’s learning? Is it better to select distance, hybrid or onsite learning?
The Four Factors
Looking at multiple variables that affect children’s school learning during COVID-19 times, we selected four factors that play a major role in both safety and education. We consider the following factors are very important and can assist families in making the best school decision for their child’s needs.
FACTOR ONE: Having an immediate family member at high risk for severe COVID-19
According to scientific evidence, advanced age (>65 yo) and adults at any age with pre-existing medical conditions including obesity, heart disease, lung disease, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, or compromised immune systems are at a higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19. A recent study published by JAMA Internal Medicine identified advanced age, male sex, higher-than-normal body mass index (BMI), coronary artery disease, active cancer, low oxygen levels, and kidney and liver dysfunction at admission as risk factors for death. Most people without any of the above risk factors have mild illness and successfully recovering at home.
However, those that have risk factors and get severe forms of the illness receive supportive care in the hospital and have higher rates of death. Because of these reasons we believe having an immediate family member at high risk for severe forms of COVID-19 is the most important factor to consider when thinking about going back to school, and should be the first question to ask before deciding which school system to use. Many experts have identified children as potential vectors that spread the virus, thus if you have a vulnerable person at home in contact with a sick child this could have catastrophic consequences.
FACTOR TWO: Family who rely on schools and cannot provide basic needs
We can’t deny this, schools in the US feed children and provide some of the most basic needs. According to the organization No Kid Hungry, in the US there are over 11 million kids that live in what has been termed “Food-insecure Homes”. This term described a home where there may not be enough food for everyone to have a “healthy life”. The National School Lunch Program provides funds for meals that feed an average of 22 million kids. When you think about this number you understand the magnitude of this problem. The US census estimates that this year we will reach about 74.1 million total population of kids. The humbling calculation reveals that 1 in 3 kids in our country depends on school to provide them food that is enough for a “healthy life”.
It is not only our concern but also our responsibility to assure that these kids do not go hungry as a result of adjustments into school life during this year. Another aspect that is usually discussed under this subject is the reality that working families require kids to be in school to allow them to fulfill their responsibilities. In other words, schools provide daycare assistance so that families can thrive. It is beyond this writing to investigate the socioeconomic reasons of this factor but we must accept that society will be unable to fully function and will be impaired if working or single parents are unable to obtain daycare assistance that is usually provided by schools. Besides this “physical” needs, students are able to thrive in an environment where safety and social needs are met, self esteem can be potentially enhanced and self actualization is accomplished. The basic needs that schools provide in our society must be consider when making these important decisions.
If the child does not have any family member at high risk and the family relies on the school system to provide some basic needs, our recommendation is to consider on-campus learning. On the other hand, if there is a family member at high risk and the family relies on the school system to provide some basic needs, we recommend the family looks at other factors such as presence of technological resources, adequate structured environment, history of good distance learning performance or presence of special education needs to aid in making the most convenient decision.
Factor Three: Lack of technological resources and a structured learning environment that provides adequate online learning
We acknowledge many children will have lower quality of education during this time and understand achieving the best outcome relies on having an appropriately structured setting and adequate access to technological resources. Having an appropriate learning environment with a designated work area that removes any obvious distractions, like television, loud music, video games and toys from your child’s homeschool work area it’s very important in remote learning. We know most children learn better in a structured setting with fixed schedules. Thus, having a daily school plan its recommended with clear predictable routines including bed and wake up times.
We recognize many families don’t have the resources to provide adequate technology and internet connectivity to sustain online remote learning. Schools around the country have found ways around this by providing paper packages, but this form of remote learning relies highly on caregivers who are not always present at home. We believe these factors are crucial elements to consider when deciding a child’s educational method.
For the purposes of this paper, we give priority to the safety of family members at high risk over the potential transitory impact on education. If the child has a family member at high risk and lacks the above-mentioned resources, we recommend for the family to consider distance learning if: (1)the family does not rely on school to provide basic needs; (2) the child does not have any special educational services; (3) the child has a history of doing well in remote learning. On the other hand, if the child has a family member at high risk, lacks technological resources, has a history of doing poorly with remote learning and/or a history of special education needs, we recommend for the family to consider distance learning, hybrid learning or on-campus learning according to their own preference.
FACTOR FOUR: History of not doing well with distance learning and presence of special education needs
The last factor to consider when thinking about potential child success with remote learning has to do with how the child did in the past with this education modality. Our recent history of distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, led to the recognition of many parents that for some children academic learning at home is been a huge challenge. Even though we believe the suddenness and unpreparedness with how remote learning was done earlier this year negatively impacted children’s academics, we still think a good predictor of children’s remote learning outcome is how they did in the past with distance learning.
Another element to consider as a potential predictor of distance learning success is the need for special education services by a child. Children with special education needs that require specific approaches may have significant challenges with distant learning. Not having specialized assistance from teachers and modifications required to compensate for reading, writing, math or any other learning disorders can present as a significant barrier to learning at home.
Many parents and children might feel overwhelmed as they face these obstacles in learning and resort to engaging in less stressful and fun activities, thus falling behind more on their academic learning. We believe history of remote learning performance and presence of special education services can potentially offer some understanding into which child may be a better candidate to receive distance learning at home. In the situation of having an immediate family member at high risk for severe COVID-19, having a child with history of good distance learning performance and no special education needs can be a positive predictor for remote learning outcomes.
We want to close by sharing these two Decision Trees that we hope will help parents, teachers and educators navigate through this challenging decision. See you in school…
Shrink Box Podcast is a social and mental health initiative carried by Dr. German Corso, Dr. Daniel Gutierrez and Dr. Ricardo Irizarry. We are a group of mental health experts proudly serving our community at South Texas Behavioral Health and Tropical Texas Behavioral Health
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