Teachers Weigh In

In the past several weeks, the COVID-19 pandemic has become bigger than it ever has been. Wisconsin is currently at 470,— cases and has seen 4,539 deaths. The United States as a whole has seen 16.9 million cases with over 300K deaths. There have been individual days this month that are considered the deadliest days in US history, up there with Pearl Harbor, 9/11, and the 1918 flu outbreak.

During this time, schools have had to either learn remotely through zoom, ore drastically change their classroom settings. This has led to questions regarding the future of education both during and after the pandemic, as well as question regarding the current and lasting effect this will have on the mental health states of their students.

“One of the long term impacts will be surrounding the ability for students to continue to access their education remotely when they need to be home,” says Samantha Daun, Guidance Counselor for the Ripon School District. “Before the pandemic, if we had students absent from school for things like recovery from surgery, injury, family emergency, travel, etc. they were not able to access their education. I think that students will be able to join their classes remotely in these types of situations to continue their academic progress if their situation allows.” 

“Schools will need to rethink the measures and data they use to place students in advanced and remedial courses – School will need to embed wellness into the already very tightly scheduled day,” says English teacher Joan Mestelle. “High education will need to create more room for remedial classes or create a new level of curriculum to help bridge the gap created by at home learning or absent students who did nothing while at home.”

“I’m worried that students will suffer from the change’s schools have had to undergo due to the covid virus,” says Mike Mestelle, Joan’s husband and a teacher at Lakeland Union High School. “The type of schooling done has not been the same as it was normally before the virus.  Students have had to do things at home or through video on their own without as much help from the teachers.  Many students have suffered from lack of technology or slow internet and are having a hard time being successful in their learning.”

Many are also wondering what this will mean for the future of snow days, something that kids often look forward to. However, with doing school from home now being an option, some are thinking they will become a thing of the past.

“Our school has already stated that snow days will be snow days, not remote learning days,” Joan Mestelle says. “That may be due to the fact we’re open every day with all students as well as offering a at home option. We believe in outdoor play and adventure as part of our curriculum.”

“I don’t think that our school district will have snow days turn in to remote learning days,” says Mr. Mestelle.  “Many in our district do not get adequate internet service and would not have the capability to do remote learning from home.  The students who have opted to do that in our district were able to get a hot spot connection from the high school to assist their connectivity issues.”

The mental health of students is something that has been a subject of debate, many have been wondering what schools are doing to ensure that the mental health of students is ok during these times. “I have created a Monday check-in that I send to each student in Google Classroom”, Joan says. “It asks a series of questions and offers students a chance to privately let me know if they need anything. Help, warm clothes, shoes. These are examples of what I have learned through this process. I also have had kids tell me a student is in need but is afraid to ask for help. Our school is not really doing anything school wide that I know of. Last week a bunch of kids cracked, meaning, fights started, vaping was back, two students were kicked out of school for threats made.”

“The pandemic has affected the mental health of kids and adults alike. Something that we have implemented at our high school is a mental health screener,” Daun says. “The use of the screener gives us another opportunity to identify students that may need additional support or services. Also, I think teachers/advisors need to take the time, more now than ever before, to connect to their students. Sometimes taking a step back from academics to connect to the students is highly impactful for struggling youth.” 

“Our school (Lakeland) is making the mental health of students (and staff) a priority,” says Mike. “Our counselors are very active in contacting students who may not be connecting with their teachers regularly and working with them to keep them on track.  But still it has been very difficult on students.  Many of our remote students want to be here in the building but are not allowed to because of the fear that they may spread the covid virus to their families.”

Lastly people are concerned schools will learn nothing from these times. The teachers disagreed. “Schools are learning a ton every day, Mike says. “Our school nurse and health care system is being modified frequently when needs arise.  We have learned so much about how the virus spreads since last spring that we are able to conduct a better version of school this year than we did last spring.  Myself as a teacher I’ve also learned many new things.  I am learning many things about technology and teaching to remote learners in order to meet their needs.  So, from a school district standpoint, we have learned a tremendous amount.”

“I hope they don’t learn nothing,” Daun says. “One of the things that has impressed me the most from the teaching staff during the pandemic is the grace that is being extended to the student body, because teachers can empathize about how the pandemic is impacting their students. I hope this grace can continue into the trauma informed approach that we should have when interacting with students. The pandemic has brought to light the very different worlds some of our students live in. I hope this is not forgotten as things return to ‘normal.’”