WEBVTT 1 00:00:06.519 --> 00:00:10.599 Hey everyone, and welcome to Parenting Beyond the Headlines. I'm Sarah Cody. 2 00:00:10.679 --> 00:00:15.199 I'm here along with my friend and co host Amy Alabar. How you even 3 00:00:15.240 --> 00:00:18.199 today, Amy, Hey, Sarah, I'm doing well. I am now 4 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:22.359 from Texas. We used to go Bite coastal and now we're sort of mid 5 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:26.640 country from one another. Guess where I've gone since you've moved to the West 6 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:33.479 Coast. I don't know nowhere. I'm still in the same living room that 7 00:00:33.560 --> 00:00:37.719 you know. I keep bouncing around. So it's good to talk to you. 8 00:00:37.719 --> 00:00:41.880 We're in the end of summer and kind of looking forward to back to 9 00:00:41.960 --> 00:00:47.280 school, looking forward with a little bit of nervousness. We've seen a rise 10 00:00:47.320 --> 00:00:52.039 in COVID cases, breakthrough cases, and we're very excited to be talking with 11 00:00:52.359 --> 00:00:56.600 Kiln Belsha, who's a national education reporter for Chalkbee. Thank you for joining 12 00:00:56.640 --> 00:01:00.520 us, kailin Welcome. Thanks so much for having me. Yea, So 13 00:01:00.679 --> 00:01:03.719 we talk to you a couple months ago, and we were in the heart 14 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:07.480 of things then and since then it felt like we were really on the right 15 00:01:07.519 --> 00:01:14.319 track, that vaccines were happening, that school might happen without masks and in 16 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:18.040 a normal fashion. And then all of a sudden, what amy the past 17 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:23.359 two weeks seems like we're looking at a different scenario again. The CDC has 18 00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:26.920 been speaking out the last few days about masks and schools. What is your 19 00:01:27.079 --> 00:01:33.239 understanding about where we stand? It seems like we're looking towards masks in school. 20 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:36.959 Yes, so I would say yeah, if you would ask me this 21 00:01:37.079 --> 00:01:40.480 question a couple weeks ago, my answer would have been very different. So 22 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:45.319 this week the CDC did reverse some earlier GUIDANCETEAD had put out at the beginning 23 00:01:45.319 --> 00:01:49.200 of July, suggesting that it would have been okay for vaccinated students and staff 24 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:53.400 to go maskless, and this week they're saying that their recommendation is that everyone 25 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:59.920 inside school buildings K twelve keep those masks on, especially to help prevent again 26 00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:04.599 the new more highly contagious delta variant. There's been some new science that shows 27 00:02:04.599 --> 00:02:08.120 that vaccinated folks can spread that if they're infected, and so out of an 28 00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:15.120 abundance of caution, that is their recommendation. The American Association of Pediatrics Academy 29 00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:19.800 of Pediatrics also had issued similar recommendations. A lot of teachers unions are on 30 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:23.560 board with that, so it seems in general like that's the recommendation, but 31 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:25.960 we've seen lats of states that may not be following that. So I think 32 00:02:25.960 --> 00:02:30.879 we're heading into a time where there's going to be a huge patchwork of policies. 33 00:02:30.280 --> 00:02:35.000 Is this complicating planning for a lot of school districts. So I think 34 00:02:35.039 --> 00:02:37.960 it's going to be really interesting in the fall to see where the chips fall 35 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:40.560 and who actually follows that. So, you know, you talk about changing 36 00:02:40.599 --> 00:02:45.599 policies, and we saw companies kind of inviting people back or starting to make 37 00:02:45.639 --> 00:02:50.439 preparations, I know for maybe after Labor Day, and now they're holding off. 38 00:02:50.439 --> 00:02:53.360 We're seeing some companies saying nope, not going to start just yet, 39 00:02:53.479 --> 00:02:58.439 We're going to wait, maybe require vaccines. What are you seeing with schools 40 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:01.719 have they made decisions, had they even made them yet to reopen in person 41 00:03:01.800 --> 00:03:06.479 like, what are you seeing as trends across the country? I would say, 42 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:09.080 you know, I'm still seeing the push for reopening five days a week, 43 00:03:09.159 --> 00:03:13.319 full time in person learning. I think that that is not going to 44 00:03:13.400 --> 00:03:16.560 change. I think people know that some of the academic effects of the pandemic 45 00:03:16.599 --> 00:03:21.680 have been really strong, and we've gotten a lot more data recently about what 46 00:03:21.719 --> 00:03:24.960 those effects have been. So I have not seen districts kind of scaling back 47 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:30.479 their plans to reopen, But I mean it might change what some families feel 48 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:32.879 and whether or not they want to try to take a virtual option. There 49 00:03:32.919 --> 00:03:36.879 are some states that tried to ban virtual options, so again, it's going 50 00:03:36.919 --> 00:03:39.039 to really depend on what your state says and does. But I could see 51 00:03:39.080 --> 00:03:44.400 some families choosing maybe a different choice for their child and seeing how comfortable they 52 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:47.280 feel, especially if their kid is under twelve and is not eligible for the 53 00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:52.039 vaccine. I could see some families being hesitant. We've seen polling data that 54 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:55.360 shows black and Latino families are still the most hesitant about in person learning, 55 00:03:55.599 --> 00:03:59.960 although by the end of the school year, nearly every child had the opportunity 56 00:04:00.199 --> 00:04:02.479 to do in person learning, but many families were still choosing to stay home. 57 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:06.479 So it really kind of it's unclear what's going to happen, but I 58 00:04:06.520 --> 00:04:12.719 haven't seen anyone totally rolling back saying we're not going to reopen. I read 59 00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:16.120 a tweet this morning that Governor DeSantis in Florida is going to let families do 60 00:04:16.199 --> 00:04:23.439 whatever they want to do despite the CDC's recommendation. So I think you're right 61 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:28.759 that we're going to see just a cacophony of confusing differences amongst the state, 62 00:04:28.839 --> 00:04:31.920 which is the way it's been, frankly with masks and for the past few 63 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:35.759 months. My son asked an interesting question. So we got an email from 64 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:42.160 my son's schools school. They both go to a private, all boys Catholic 65 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:46.800 school, and it said that as of now, of the six hundred students, 66 00:04:46.839 --> 00:04:49.879 two hundred have sent in vaccine cards, and that you know, wasn't 67 00:04:49.879 --> 00:04:53.839 a great number, and that anyone who hasn't sent in the vax the scan 68 00:04:53.920 --> 00:04:57.600 of the vax card send it on in and they hope it grew by the 69 00:04:57.639 --> 00:05:00.720 time school started, etc. Etc. My son said to me, since 70 00:05:00.759 --> 00:05:04.519 we go to a private school, can they mandate masks, mom, like 71 00:05:04.600 --> 00:05:09.439 a college's I guess the college is mandating vacs, That's what he said. 72 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:13.680 Can they mandate vaccines like a college is? And I said, I don't 73 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:19.519 know. So do you have any wisdom on that public schools versus private schools 74 00:05:20.040 --> 00:05:27.040 can some mandate things that others can't. Well, I can say, like 75 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:30.519 in general, you know, we know that schools are allowed to mandate vaccines, 76 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:32.720 they have for many, many years. But I think the problem right 77 00:05:32.759 --> 00:05:35.920 now is the FDA hasn't issued its full approval of the vaccine, and many 78 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:40.639 kids can't get the vaccine yet. So we've seen a hesitancy of K twelve 79 00:05:40.759 --> 00:05:45.199 public schools to require it. Yet because of that, I think there is 80 00:05:45.240 --> 00:05:49.120 an expectation that eventually it will be required. So I haven't tracked exactly how 81 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:53.720 private schools have been responding, but yes, we have seen certainly colleges are 82 00:05:53.759 --> 00:05:56.639 starting to indicate that they're going to ask their staff and students to do so. 83 00:05:56.920 --> 00:06:00.480 We saw recently the New York City Public Schools is going to start wiring 84 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:05.120 its staff to get it. We've also seen discussion of perhaps like federal employees 85 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:08.639 will be required to get it. So I think we're starting to like see 86 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:12.959 movement in that direction. But it's certainly in the past. You know, 87 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:16.319 there hasn't been problems with requiring the facts like vaccines in general, So you 88 00:06:16.439 --> 00:06:19.439 do see that somewhere down the line when all of this works out further, 89 00:06:19.560 --> 00:06:25.480 maybe the next school year or even the next It wouldn't surprised me yea if 90 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:29.120 that became an eventual requirement, But I think right now. It's just there's 91 00:06:29.160 --> 00:06:31.600 a lot of questions about whether or not younger children it's safe for them and 92 00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:35.560 things like that. That's interesting, and I've seen it with my older kids. 93 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:42.160 You know, their colleges are requiring it and their public colleges. You 94 00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:46.439 know, what do you see into I feel badly for my sons. I'm 95 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:49.959 not a mom who's like parents against masking. I'm not if masking is going 96 00:06:49.959 --> 00:06:54.920 to solve this, let's mask up. But on the other hand, my 97 00:06:55.079 --> 00:06:58.319 boys are high school age, so all those kids have the ability to get 98 00:06:58.319 --> 00:07:02.519 the vaccine if they can. We've tried to do all the right things. 99 00:07:02.560 --> 00:07:06.839 They're fully vaccinated, We've followed the rules. So I do feel bad if 100 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:15.279 if high school comes in September and they have to wear masks again for tests 101 00:07:15.319 --> 00:07:18.160 and things like that, where it is somewhat distracting. So do you find 102 00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:21.959 I know you're you're focused more on the academics and the education, but in 103 00:07:23.079 --> 00:07:26.040 terms of the social world around that parents, and I think there's going to 104 00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:32.040 be shaming too, right, Yeah, judgment going to be an uncomfortable situation 105 00:07:32.680 --> 00:07:38.360 in school come fall because of all that I'm saying. Yeah, I mean 106 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:42.959 I think because the previous CDC guidance had indicated that it probably would have been 107 00:07:42.959 --> 00:07:45.560 okay for a lot of high schools to go without masks, and so I 108 00:07:45.560 --> 00:07:47.120 think probably a lot of kids were excited about that. It is a lot 109 00:07:47.160 --> 00:07:49.920 easier to talk to your friends and to your teacher. It's easier for your 110 00:07:49.959 --> 00:07:54.600 teacher to hear you. We have heard teachers say like, there's just it's 111 00:07:54.600 --> 00:07:58.120 harder to make connections when you can't see facial expressions, and for sure that 112 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:01.160 can impact kids who already went a year with a lot of social isolation and 113 00:08:01.240 --> 00:08:05.879 not getting to spend as much time with people. I do think that in 114 00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:09.519 general, we've seen like pretty good compliance rates when schools have asked their students 115 00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:13.720 to put them on in the classroom. But I also know that it's really 116 00:08:13.800 --> 00:08:20.120 hard to enforce a policy that's not equally applied across everyone. And so some 117 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:22.079 folks have said, well, when you have universal policies, it's just easier 118 00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:24.839 to know you're not constantly asking kids are you vaccinated? Are you not? 119 00:08:26.680 --> 00:08:30.639 And like you mentioned earlier, we've seen just the uptake and students getting vaccinated 120 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:35.120 that being as high as many federal health officials had expected. Recently this week, 121 00:08:35.159 --> 00:08:39.919 the President directed school districts to hold more pop up vaccine clinics and is 122 00:08:39.960 --> 00:08:43.200 asking all the pharmacies that are participating in the federal pharmacy program to try to 123 00:08:43.320 --> 00:08:46.679 work with them to do that. So I think just right now, while 124 00:08:46.759 --> 00:08:50.120 the vaccine rate among a lot of students is low, it's just a difficult 125 00:08:50.360 --> 00:08:54.600 time. But I mean, in school still have the ability to make these 126 00:08:54.639 --> 00:08:58.440 policies, and so if they see that there's a really big vaccination rate in 127 00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:00.960 their school, like, they have the ability day to make that call. 128 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:05.279 So it's going to be again by the state, by the community, and 129 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:09.039 kind of what the behavior husband. But for sure it's still not going to 130 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:11.279 be a normal school year, and there are still going to be some effects 131 00:09:11.320 --> 00:09:16.000 on kids socially, academically and emotionally. Yeah, you talked about that before, 132 00:09:16.039 --> 00:09:22.200 you talked about the academic loss, and I'm curious to know, you 133 00:09:22.200 --> 00:09:26.679 know, if they are offering choices for kids, will we see a further 134 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:30.240 gap do you think between the kids who choose to be in person? I 135 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:33.480 mean, I don't even know how the schools would would plan to staff for 136 00:09:33.519 --> 00:09:37.639 both versions. Are you looking at how they're doing that. I mean again, 137 00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:39.759 I'm sure you're going to say it varies state to state and school to 138 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:43.360 school, but you know, any trends any ways that people are trying to 139 00:09:43.399 --> 00:09:48.159 face this. Yeah, I mean, I think we learned a lot about 140 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:50.440 what works for a virtual education and what does not, and for a lot 141 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:54.399 of studenss is not work. I mean, I think one thing we've seen 142 00:09:54.519 --> 00:09:58.600 is that schools are really trying to move away from hybrid where a teacher is 143 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:01.720 responsible for teaching in per and kids who are home virtually at the same time. 144 00:10:01.799 --> 00:10:05.120 That really does not work. Kids are distracted, the teacher is distracted. 145 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:07.759 It's really hard to teach that way. So we're seeing a lot of 146 00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:11.039 places get rid of that. But there's also just going to be just fewer 147 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:15.559 kids who are probably learning virtually, and so when you lose that scale, 148 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:18.080 you lose some of the structure. And so I think there are concerns about 149 00:10:18.120 --> 00:10:22.559 what kind of quality education kids will get if they are staying virtual, and 150 00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:26.240 whether or not there will be as many dedicated teachers, if some of that 151 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:30.679 might be outsourced to companies. So I think it's going to be trickier when 152 00:10:30.679 --> 00:10:33.720 there are fewer kids learning that way. But there's also more teachers who have 153 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:37.320 more practice doing it, and so there's like a little bit more experience and 154 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:41.840 comfort level, and kids are more comfortable doing that too. So I think 155 00:10:41.879 --> 00:10:45.039 we're going to see kind of it'll go both ways. But yeah, we're 156 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:48.200 definitely very interested to see what those virtual options look like, and many school 157 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:52.799 districts are still offering them. Anecdotally, to me, it seems like people 158 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:58.480 are leaving the field of education. Is that happening, Like I've just noticed 159 00:10:58.519 --> 00:11:01.799 in my area where I moved from in San Francisco and now I'm in a 160 00:11:01.799 --> 00:11:07.039 new district, and it looks like they're having trouble hiring and that people are 161 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:11.879 retiring superintendence principles teachers. You know, is that happening? Is that a 162 00:11:11.960 --> 00:11:15.519 trend or am I just sort of magnifying it in my head because of what's 163 00:11:15.559 --> 00:11:18.799 going on. I mean, there is some level of turnover kind of every 164 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:22.039 year, and so, you know, teachers retire and things like that. 165 00:11:22.360 --> 00:11:26.080 So the research that I have seen has not shown a dramatic uptick in teachers 166 00:11:26.279 --> 00:11:31.120 leaving the field, although I think that there are some expectations that over the 167 00:11:31.159 --> 00:11:33.919 coming school year we might see that. But by the end of last school 168 00:11:33.960 --> 00:11:35.759 year. In the states that looked at this, there were not indications at 169 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:39.720 the pandemic had done that. I think for a couple of reasons. We 170 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:41.799 were, you know, in an economic recession, and a lot of people 171 00:11:41.799 --> 00:11:45.600 don't leave their jobs when that's happening. It was also the middle of a 172 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:48.919 difficult school year, so I think this next school year will be really interested 173 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:52.039 to see what those effects are. We have seen some very high profile superintendent 174 00:11:52.039 --> 00:11:56.960 turnover. You're right, a lot of the big districts lost their superintendence and 175 00:11:56.399 --> 00:12:01.279 there was a lot of fatigue and burnout. So I don't know if those 176 00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:03.600 superintendent turnover rates were higher than normal, but we did see a lot of 177 00:12:03.639 --> 00:12:09.279 high profile ones turnover, and I think in general, I mean there's a 178 00:12:09.320 --> 00:12:11.759 lot of movement, but we're also trying to staff up, Like a lot 179 00:12:11.799 --> 00:12:13.720 of schoolerships have more money and they're trying to hire more people, and so 180 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:18.360 some of the vacancies that you're seeing are probably new positions too. And we 181 00:12:18.440 --> 00:12:22.279 know in general that some specialty positions are just really hard to fill. Special 182 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:26.600 ed math, English language learner positions like bilingual ed fools have always been harder 183 00:12:26.679 --> 00:12:31.360 staff and will probably continue to be. So. I did a story amy 184 00:12:31.879 --> 00:12:37.480 a couple months ago about there being a shortage of preschool teachers in Connecticut due 185 00:12:37.480 --> 00:12:41.120 to the pandemic because they just weren't paid enough to not stay home with their 186 00:12:41.159 --> 00:12:45.399 own kids who had to stay home to learn. And it was kind of 187 00:12:45.399 --> 00:12:50.120 this vicious cycle that Congresswoman Rosadelora was getting involved in. So I do think 188 00:12:50.120 --> 00:12:56.080 there are shortages in some pockets of people. We talked about learning loss the 189 00:12:56.159 --> 00:13:00.799 last time we had you on the podcast. Do you feel that at you 190 00:13:00.840 --> 00:13:05.039 know, our students stepping back? Are they going back a year? Two 191 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:07.799 years? I mean, how severe is the learning loss? Water statistics showing 192 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:11.480 Yeah. So some of the new data that just very recently came out in 193 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:16.080 the last couple of weeks has shown that some of the projections that happened earlier 194 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:18.679 in the pandemic did not come to pass. It was not as dramatic like 195 00:13:18.759 --> 00:13:24.159 this kind of regression of multi year like loss that people thought might happen. 196 00:13:24.440 --> 00:13:28.679 So kids are behind by a couple of months to several months typically. We 197 00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:33.039 saw that in math kids tend to be behind even more in elementary school, 198 00:13:33.159 --> 00:13:35.679 especially younger students, and also in reading, but math has been the big 199 00:13:35.720 --> 00:13:39.960 trouble. Math builds on itself, and so once you lose a couple of 200 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:43.200 skills, it becomes harder to build your knowledge. So we know that math 201 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:46.120 will probably be a challenge for lots of kids going into the new school year. 202 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:50.279 We also saw that in general, Black, Latino and Native American and 203 00:13:50.399 --> 00:13:54.320 students from low income families have been hit harder and had some of the biggest 204 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:58.320 gaps that they were behind. A lot of students were already behind their peers, 205 00:13:58.360 --> 00:14:01.799 so I think that there's a lot of concerns about how do you focus 206 00:14:01.799 --> 00:14:05.200 on those students make sure that they get the attention that they need. But 207 00:14:05.320 --> 00:14:07.159 in general, like kids were behind by a couple of months, and so 208 00:14:07.879 --> 00:14:11.039 there's definitely gaps that need to be filled, and there needs to be work 209 00:14:11.080 --> 00:14:13.440 done, and I think, you know, there's going to be time to 210 00:14:13.480 --> 00:14:16.879 do that. Not all of that catching up has to happen, like right 211 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:22.159 away. Do school districts have more money now because they saved on substitute teachers 212 00:14:22.200 --> 00:14:28.759 and field trips and cultural arts department that cultural arts performances and things that they 213 00:14:28.759 --> 00:14:33.159 would bring into the school last year. It's kind of a mixed bag. 214 00:14:33.240 --> 00:14:37.039 Some districts spent more money on cleaning protocols and other kind of safety protocols that 215 00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:41.519 they weren't prepared to, but they also have gotten so much more money from 216 00:14:41.559 --> 00:14:45.279 the federal relief packages. A lot of school districts are getting hundreds more dollars 217 00:14:45.320 --> 00:14:48.360 per child, and they normally would high poverty districts are getting more. So 218 00:14:48.440 --> 00:14:52.519 in general, schools do have much more money to operate with. They have 219 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:54.879 several years to spend that money. So maybe it's not all happening at once 220 00:14:54.879 --> 00:14:58.279 and you won't just see a giant increase in the budget, But a lot 221 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:01.080 of our big urban school districts have a lot more to work with right now. 222 00:15:01.399 --> 00:15:05.440 Do you think they'll put provisions in place with that money so that they're 223 00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:07.919 more prepared if this continues, if something like this goes on again, you 224 00:15:07.960 --> 00:15:11.759 know, laptops for each kid. I know in Hartford there was some scramble 225 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:16.000 to do that. I don't know are they going to put that money to 226 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:20.039 use? Thinking about it practically in terms of what our world is like now, 227 00:15:20.039 --> 00:15:24.000 I mean, yeah, we definitely saw that technology was a huge way 228 00:15:24.039 --> 00:15:26.879 that school districts spent their first round of coronavirus relief money, and we've seen 229 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:31.519 there's a lot of money going into broadband right now. In the new infrastructure 230 00:15:31.559 --> 00:15:33.559 build that's being talked about, there would be even more money for internet. 231 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:37.519 So I do think there's been some long term thinking about kids will need technology 232 00:15:37.559 --> 00:15:41.240 and internet access going forward forever. So I do think that a lot of 233 00:15:41.279 --> 00:15:46.879 districts have much more than they did when the pandemic started. We're also seeing 234 00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:50.480 a lot of school districts we're talking about spending their coronavirus really funny to make 235 00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:54.919 building improvements, So things like ventilation that districts struggled with significantly, air conditioning, 236 00:15:56.159 --> 00:15:58.960 making sure that air quality is good. We're seeing a lot of investment 237 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:00.960 in that. So that is kind of long term thinking. But some the 238 00:16:00.960 --> 00:16:03.879 other ways that school to shifts are spending money kind of it's going to really 239 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:07.879 depend and we've seen some folks are talking about making class sizes smaller. I 240 00:16:07.879 --> 00:16:11.320 don't know how much longer they'll be able to keep that up. That can 241 00:16:11.320 --> 00:16:15.080 be expensive hiring more staff. That's also kind of a temporary thing. So 242 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:17.759 some of the changes we're going to see may not be long term, but 243 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:22.159 might be around for a couple of years. So this is I mean, 244 00:16:22.200 --> 00:16:25.879 it's daunting, right, Like, we're parents here and we're talking to parents. 245 00:16:26.399 --> 00:16:30.360 What can you leave us with any words of wisdom? How can parents 246 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:34.840 go into this with hope and excitement and embrace the new year and feel like 247 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:38.200 they're giving their kids what they need? Is there any thing you can offer 248 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:42.799 us, any advice and talking about it or otherwise? I mean, I 249 00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:45.600 think in general, the advice that I've heard a lot of teachers giving is 250 00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:49.840 to not focus so heavily on whether or not kids are behind academically. Right 251 00:16:49.879 --> 00:16:52.519 now there will be time to make a lot of those things up and to 252 00:16:52.600 --> 00:16:56.320 just kind of focus more on the social and emotional aspects. How kids are 253 00:16:56.360 --> 00:17:00.960 feeling. Are they feeling comfortable at their school, They feeling comfortable with what 254 00:17:00.039 --> 00:17:04.359 our protocols are being followed? Are they excited about seeing their friends? So 255 00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:07.559 I think a lot of that is what schools say that they're going to be 256 00:17:07.559 --> 00:17:10.240 focusing on at the beginning of the school year, and I think parents can 257 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:12.640 do the same thing and just make sure that their kids are happy and a 258 00:17:12.680 --> 00:17:15.039 lot of kids are gonna get to spend time with kids that they didn't over 259 00:17:15.079 --> 00:17:18.039 the last year, and so I think they thought is a you know, 260 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:22.160 that's a positive thing to take a step back, enjoy the transition as best 261 00:17:22.200 --> 00:17:26.359 you can, and you know, know that we're all in this together kind 262 00:17:26.359 --> 00:17:29.079 of thing, like, yes, you might be behind, but we all 263 00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:30.640 have to kind of catch up. Yeah, yeah, going to not be 264 00:17:30.720 --> 00:17:33.559 so focused on that. Yeah, yes, thank you, great advice. 265 00:17:34.039 --> 00:17:40.319 How can people find your work? I write for a chalkbeat dot org and 266 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:42.400 so they can find my work there. Wonderful. Well, thank you so 267 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:47.720 much for joining us. This is wonderful information as we embrace the new school 268 00:17:47.799 --> 00:17:51.039 year, and thank you listener for joining us. We're always glad to have 269 00:17:51.160 --> 00:17:55.440 you along for the ride. Please do follow us, like us find us 270 00:17:55.440 --> 00:18:00.400 on social media. I'm Amy Alamar and Sarah is Sarah Cody Media. You 271 00:18:00.519 --> 00:18:03.119 got it. And Kaylin, I have kind of a sixth sense that we're 272 00:18:03.160 --> 00:18:06.039 going to have to see you again and maybe like November to see where to 273 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:08.960 see her again. You have to kind of keep tabs on where this year 274 00:18:10.039 --> 00:18:14.799 is going and hopefully, who knows, hopefully it'll be okay, but fingers 275 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:18.920 crossed all around. I look forward to it. All right, We'll take 276 00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:21.279 good care of Kaylin, and thank you, as Amy said, thank you 277 00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:22.720 listener for taking part, and we will chat again.