Reaching Students amidst the Enduring Pandemic and Racism

My daughter’s friend (16 years old) was at the house one day last week and I asked her the most annoying question an adult can,

“Are you excited for school to start?”

She then told me that she had chosen to do all remote learning this year. When I asked her what made her choose that option, she said,

“Well, I really don’t like school.”

Of course, I had to say,

“Tell me more about that.”

As we talked about some of her negative experiences at school, I asked her,

“Are there any adults in the school that you feel connected to and can go to if you have a problem?”

Her answer was

“No.”

As an educator and a mother, this conversation has replayed in my mind over the last few days. I wonder how many other kids in schools feel the same way. I think about how difficult and lonely it must be to be in a place for 7 hours a day, sometimes struggling with academics, emotions or any host of issues and have no adult that you feel comfortable turning to for support.

Meanwhile, my mind is also occupied by the historic times we are living through.

We are in the middle of a global pandemic. In the United States, 6,226,879 have contracted the virus and 188,051 people have died. To understand what a huge number that is, consider this. Rochester, NY, which is the mid-sized city where I live had a population of 206,284 according to the US census bureau in 2018. In the last 6 months, in the US, almost the equivalent of the population of a mid-sized US city has been wiped out by Coronavirus. Worldwide, according to CNN Health, since December, 27 million people have gotten sick. 881,000 people have died. That’s the entire population of South Dakota.

In addition to causing sickness and death, the pandemic has exacerbated anxiety and depression, especially for those who struggle with mental health due to the social isolation it demands and the fear it creates. Additionally, we find ourselves as a nation politically divided over issues related to the pandemic ranging from mask protocols to appropriate government response. Every day, television, social media and print bombard us with reminders that the state of the pandemic in our country is serious and not likely to go away anytime soon.

But the US is not just in the middle of one historic tragedy, we are enduring two at the same time. In addition to fighting a pandemic, we are battling the systemic racism that has plagued our country since its birth and has reared its ugly head once again. Black men and women are being killed in alarming numbers, often at the hands of police and thankfully people are speaking up and demanding justice and change.

The Black Lives Matter movement was founded in 2013 after George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain, was acquitted of murder after shooting Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager. The movement gained more momentum in 2014, following the deaths of 2 more African American men, Michael Brown and Eric Garner, while in police custody.

Since 2014, unarmed black men and women have continued to die in police custody. In 2020, the death of George Floyd on May 25 at the hands of police who knelt on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds until he died, brought the Black Lives movement back to the forefront as people around the globe protested police brutality and the senseless killing of black people.

City streets have been filled with protesters and rioters for more than three months now. In my own city, which I have been proud to call home for over 20 years, a black man, Daniel Prude, who was naked and having a mental breakdown, was killed in police custody after they put a “spit hood” over his head, handcuffed him, and held him on the ground until he stopped breathing.

Between the pandemic and the senseless killings of black people, we are living through historic, tragic times, and no doubt, the mental health of everyone is being affected. At the end of June, the CDC released a new survey showing that almost 41% of the people who took the survey reported grappling with mental health issues. I imagine, given the constant stress we are under as we have continued to fight the pandemic and Racism since the survey, peoples’ mental health has likely taken a turn for the worse.

Which brings me back to my daughter’s friend and the sadness I felt in hearing her say that there was not one adult at her school whom she felt comfortable going to if she had a problem.

Countless studies and articles have been written about the importance of strong connections between teachers and students and the positive effects these connections have on both students’ social-emotional growth and academic achievement. I don’t need studies and articles to know that forming relationships with students is essential for a successful year for everyone. I’ve lived this reality.

I’ve had students who take months to build trust with me, only to eventually be the ones who seek me out for support; both academic and emotional. I’ve seen how having a positive relationship with students will motivate them to keep trying when the work is difficult, because they know I will be there to support them. I’ve been the person that students tell about their fun weekend adventures as well as about their heartaches.

Connections at school between students and adults are important during “normal” times. We are not living through “normal” right now. We are living through turbulence and hardship like we have not seen in a long time. If connections between students and adults were important before, I think we can safely say that they are critical now not only so that students will grow academically, but so that they have a village of people who will help them survive these trying times with their mental health intact.

School with kids starts for me next week. We are beginning the year fully remote. When we went remote in the spring, I already had formed relationships with my students. It wasn’t easy, but through encouragement over phone calls, texts, google classroom, Zoom, and porch packet and incentive drop-offs, I was able to keep all 12 of my students learning and engaged.

Now, I am faced with the daunting task of establishing relationships with a new set of students who have disabilities; all of whom have struggled academically in the past and many who have struggled behaviorally or emotionally. And, I, like every other teacher in the country, am faced with the knowledge that my students have endured the stress of the pandemic and the fight to end systemic racism for the last 6 months while likely being more socially isolated than usual.

I understand the gravity of the job ahead of me.

I’m overwhelmed as hell, but I know what I have to do.

I will do my best every day, FIRST to reach students and THEN to teach them.