We are still dealing with the effects of school closures in 2023
Zachary Faria
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The effects of school closures during the pandemic persist even now, more than three years after the pandemic began, and it will take even more time to fix the cultural issues they have created.
As the fall 2023 semester begins, the issue of students being chronically absent remains one of the most important facing schools right now. Before the pandemic and the school closures that accompanied it, around 15% of students missed 10% or more of a school year, making them chronically absent. For the 2021-22 school year, that number rose to over 25% of students.
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The trend shows no signs of slowing either, given the limited attendance data we have from the 2022-23 school year. Massachusetts and Connecticut have provided that data, and both stats continued to see double the rate of chronically absent students compared to before the pandemic.
The closures and restrictions placed on schools during the pandemic are directly to blame. Children were told that school is not important and that they could receive the same level of education sitting in their own homes. When teachers unions demanded school closures, they were saying that teachers were not “essential workers” in the same way as grocery store employees. If it was not essential for teachers to do their job, why would students think it would be essential for them to go to school?
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Clubs and sports were shuttered or limited, removing extra incentives for some students to show up to school. Children were forced to stay home over mild illnesses or no illnesses at all if they tested positive for COVID-19, giving some students an excuse to stay home whenever they want by saying that they feel sick, a time-honored excuse children used for years that parents previously did not tolerate. Transportation, accommodations for medical or mental health issues, and anxiety or depression that were caused by initial closures are all factors as well. All are a result of the closures that never should have been forced on children.
This is not a problem that will just solve itself, nor is it one that can be solved by throwing money at it. School closures did massive damage to children in terms of their educations and their emotional and social development, and they have also caused this massive cultural shift that could take years to reverse. This is a direct result of prioritizing teachers unions over children, and it is yet another reminder that there must be a reckoning for those who were responsible for these decisions.