A YEAR OF COVID-19: School systems facing challenges in return to normalcy

https://dothaneagle.com/news/local/a-year-of-covid-19-school-systems-facing-challenges-in-return-to-normalcy/article_0c1fec22-7df6-11eb-882d-ef49040ddfaa.html

As the one-year mark nears for disruption due to COVID-19, local and state educators say some schools are still struggling to keep students on a stable path towards normalcy and it’s unknown what tomorrow holds for many children, especially those in lower grades.

While a significant percentage of students are still choosing or in an area that requires virtual learning, experts worry that children have been slowly falling behind, creating gaps that will be difficult to fill once the constant concern of COVID-19 is put to rest.

There are also discrepancies among students of color and low-income students. According to a survey by Educators for Excellence, “high percentages of educators reported that their schools were not meeting the needs of vulnerable populations, including homeless students, students with disabilities, English learners, students from low-income families, and students of color.” Similar to schools nationwide, the Alabama education system wasn’t prepared for the rapid changes the pandemic brought. Alabama State Superintendent Dr. Eric Mackey said schools were forced to close much faster than he could have ever anticipated. “In the back of my mind, I knew a lot of Alabama schools wouldn’t make it to the end of the school year without closing, but within a matter of days I realized we would be shutting all schools down immediately,” Mackey said to the Eagle. “When I was making these decisions, I had no idea what a long haul we were in for.”

Mackey said he was preparing for Alabama schools to be about 15-30% remote, but ended up with much higher numbers, meaning it was difficult to gear up enough remote instruction to cover what was needed. He said as COVID-19 continued to get worse, it was a constant change of plans and reworking procedures. As the struggles in schools continue, one of the biggest concerns focuses on young students around kindergarten age. Educators say younger students have not fared well with remote learning, as it is difficult to keep them engaged and ensure they are retaining the material they are being taught.

Kindergarten enrollment numbers were down by a noticeable amount across the country this year. An Associated Press and Chalkbeat study showed that kindergarten reductions or opt-outs accounted for 30% of the nationwide decline this year in enrollment. Locally, early learning programs like the Coleman Center at Troy University Dothan campus that prepares children to enter kindergarten have worked hard during the pandemic to ensure the kids didn’t fall behind and to help ease the gap experts are worried will arise in this age group. “Our children haven’t missed any curriculum,” Interim Director at the Coleman Center Tonya Conner said. “COVID has made our time with the kids shorter, so we make sure we use every moment as a teaching moment. We learn something with everything we do, and by doing that we are filling that gap.”

A huge amount of federal funding has been pushed into schools during the past 12 months to help schools adequately supply students with the tools needed for remote learning, however, as the year has progressed, the gaps continue to grow larger for those remote students.

Mackey said he worries about the younger students because they are at such an important developmental age, it could prove difficult to fill any learning gaps that form. He said the Alabama public school system’s main focus is academic recovery for students who are falling into those gaps. “We’ve been talking to superintendents creating really strong plans for high quality assessment, professional development for teachers and instructional materials that will help us catch up,” Mackey said.

“We are also thinking about how best to reach those young children. Right now, it’s looking like a lot of after school tutoring and summer school programs to help the kids catch up. We are going to have to move a lot faster than what we do in a normal year, so we really need all hands on deck.”

Houston County Schools Superintendent Brandy White said students have missed a tremendous amount of instruction and extracurricular activities that are imperative for a student’s success. “This time period will definitely have a long-term impact on our children’s education, and we have a lot of work to do to bridge that gap,” White said.

As for high school students, it seems that virtual instruction may be here to stay for the foreseeable future. Dothan City Schools is planning to introduce a fully-virtual school starting next year for students who choose that route. Mackey said he has hope that we are well on our way out of the pandemic, but the only way out is through vaccination.

“Now that teachers have access to the vaccine, I think we will continue to see numbers go down,” Mackey said. “My concern is when the vaccine will be available for youth. “We have been fortunate that we’ve had very few ill students, but we still grieve the ones we have lost as well as students who have lost teachers and family members. Even though we haven’t had as much concern about children contracting the virus, I don’t think a lot of students’ mental health has fared well.”

An article published by USA Today said schools are going to have to have a dedicated effort to accommodate prospective changes in the education system moving forward, but many “worry that young children, their teachers, and parents will be left to pick up the pieces.”