On Friday, March 13, 2020, Governor John Bel Edwards of Louisiana announced all schools would close for two weeks while the state evaluated the rising number of cases of COVID-19. Before that two weeks were up, the closure was extended. Eventually, it was extended to the end of the school year.
Since then, school districts all over the country have been recovering, albeit in different ways. Locally, I’m lucky. We got kids back into classrooms sooner and tried to return to a sense of normalcy. But it’s still been an incredibly tough time for teachers these past two and a quarter years no matter the number of kids in the classroom or the schedule they’re on.
The end of the year is always a tough time on students and teachers alike. This is especially true right now. It’s actually hit me harder this year than others, and you’ve seen it (or rather, not seen me) in this newsletter. I’ve been largely MIA for the last couple of weeks.
I hope you’ve been keeping up with the podcast (and, if you haven’t, be sure to check it out on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, or Amazon), because most of the thoughts you’d read here are spoken there. I do plan to return to writing a column every day now that summer is (almost) here. And, no, this email doesn’t count.
I’ve made it a point, though, as we’ve come to the “end” of the pandemic to note that my biggest concern with the last two years has been the state of mental health in the country and how our COVID-19 mitigation protocols have (in hindsight for many of them) been horrendous for the social and emotional health of the country. The gaps in social and emotional development for our children especially have never been wider.
Everyone needs a summer break. I hope you all get as good a break as you can (economy notwithstanding).