ANC (:18)There is no question that school districts that had to go remote to teach during the pandemic faced a host of challenges. But now that students are back in the classroom it has become apparent that some districts are continuing to experience lasting effects from the pandemic. Kendra Broddus reports on the toll COVID-19 continues to take in particular, on the students and teachers in urban schools.
KENDRA: During the height of the pandemic providing certain services turned out to be more essential than ever, for Urban schools like those in the city of Syracuse.
Syracuse School Board member Katie Sojoweiz worked hard to provide them.
SOJOWEIZ: The high levels of poverty mean that one of our most important focuses especially back in March of 2020 was meals for children. So how do we make sure that meals that they relied on in school like breakfast and lunch are still provided and the district did a fantastic job but anytime you prioritize resources to an area that means they’re not prioritized somewhere else.
KENDRA: The district also provided computer devices as well as wifi hotspots to ensure that all students would be able to have access to virtual learning.
But once students returned to in-person-learning, a new problem arose; a bus driver shortage, forcing long waits at the bus stop.
Morgan Wix, a second grade teacher at a Syracuse elementary school, sees this issue play out almost everyday.
WIX: The bus shortages are to the point where it seems like most parents are getting frustrated. They don’t want to have their child waiting at a bus stop for between a half hour to an hour waiting for the bus and by the time the bus gets them to the school some kids were showing up an hour late, two hours late which obviously impacts their academics because they are missing a big chunk of their school.
KENDRA: Sojoweiz says teachers are having to do a lot of backfilling with their curriculum, especially for those who are learning foundational skills.
SOJOWEIZ: There’s a real conundrum that teacher’s and schools are having to figure out because you still have to teach your grade level material but then also how do you make sure everyone’s getting what they need to be on level. This is going to happen for years and school’s are gonna have to figure this out.
KENDRA: Wix sees these gaps between levels everyday in her classroom, but is making adjustments.
WIX: We completely modified our reading program. It is completely modified. Some of my kids started on the kindergarten level and I just had to move them forward based on how they progressed.
KENDRA: Not only has there been a set back in students’ educational levels, but in their behavioral skills as well.
WIX: Since my kids are in second grade some of them have not been in a school building from this year since kindergarten so you gotta think kindergarten is really your first year where you’re learning how to act in a school and how to behave in general you’re five years old. So I would say it impacted their routine of school life. It was like starting from scratch.
KENDRA: For students who didn’t really take part in many of the virtual classes, adjusting back to an interactive and physical environment in the classroom meant catching up on missed material, and working on developing social and behavioral skills.
Senior at Syracuse’s Corcoran High School, Emma Cecile, recognizes there is still some growing that students have to go through.
CECILE: Our freshman and sophomores haven’t actually been in a high school environment so they’re still stuck in a 12 or 13 year old mindset and that maturity level of still transitioning into high school didn’t happen for them the way that it should have. So I think that there are more behavioral problems with that but it’s really because we haven’t been in contact with anybody for two and a half years.
KENDRA: The last time sixteen-year-old Pat Boyle had gone to school, he was an eighth grader at a school that taught kids through the eighth grade. He was among the oldest at his school. But that was two years ago, and now he’s spending his first in-person year in high school. He’s a sophomore – but he says it doesn’t feel that way.
BOYLE: I found it difficult at first like I had nowhere to go. It was kind of like I was a freshman with a bunch of freshmen.
KENDRA:The after school program has been resumed at Syracuse schools, and elementary school teacher Wix believes it brings more to the table than just extra time on the school day.
WIX: The after school program, yes it’s a way for them to still do academics but it’s also a way for them to still socialize without having the consistent rigor of the school day. So I feel like that’s kind of another way they incorporated the kids to get more of a social piece.
KENDRA: Ultimately, senior Emma Cecile is very passionate about her city school and the caring environment she feels when there.
CECILE: Everyone there, the teachers, administrators, principals are there to see you graduate and move on to bigger and better things.
KENDRA: The Syracuse city school district is still reeling from the effects that the pandemic had on its students and staff. But it’s trying everything it can to help ensure that students make that transition back to in-person learning, and in the end, graduate with a quality education. I’m Kendra Broddus.
There is no question that school districts that had to go remote to teach during the pandemic faced a host of challenges. But now that students are back in the classroom it has become apparent that some districts are continuing to experience lasting effects from the pandemic. However, the toll that COVID-19 continues to take on everybody is amplified on the students and teachers of urban schools.
During the height of the pandemic providing certain services turned out to be more essential than ever, for urban schools like those in the city of Syracuse. Syracuse School Board member Katie Sojoweiz along with others, worked hard to provide them.
“The high levels of poverty mean that one of our most important focuses especially back in March of 2020 was meals for children. So how do we make sure that meals that they relied on in school like breakfast and lunch are still provided and the district did a fantastic job but anytime you prioritize resources to an area that means they’re not prioritized somewhere else,” Sojoweiz said.
The district also provided computer devices as well as wifi hotspots to ensure that all students would be able to have access to virtual learning. But once students returned to in-person learning, a new problem arose; a bus driver shortage, forcing long waits at the bus stop.
Morgan Wix, a second-grade teacher at a Syracuse elementary school, sees this issue play out almost every day.
The bus shortages are to the point where it seems like most parents are getting frustrated. They don’t want to have their child waiting at a bus stop for between a half-hour to an hour waiting for the bus and by the time the bus gets them to the school some kids were showing up an hour late, two hours late which obviously impacts their academics because they are missing a big chunk of their school,” Wix explained.
Due to all of the school that was missed regardless, Sojoweiz says teachers are having to do a lot of backfilling with their curriculum, especially for those who are learning foundational skills.
“There’s a real conundrum that teachers and schools are having to figure out because you still have to teach your grade level material but then also how do you make sure everyone’s getting what they need to be on level. This is going to happen for years and schools are gonna have to figure this out.”
Wix sees the gaps between levels that Sojoweiz explained every day in her classroom, but is making adjustments.
We completely modified our reading program. It is completely modified. Some of my kids started on the kindergarten level and I just had to move them forward based on how they progressed.”
Wix has noticed that not only has there been a setback in students’ educational levels, but in their behavioral skills as well.
“Since my kids are in second grade some of them have not been in a school building from this year since kindergarten so you gotta think kindergarten is really your first year where you’re learning how to act in a school and how to behave in general you’re five years old. So I would say it impacted their routine of school life. It was like starting from scratch.”
For students who didn’t really take part in many of the virtual classes, adjusting back to an interactive and physical environment in the classroom meant catching up on missed material, and working on developing social and behavioral skills.
Senior at Syracuse’s Corcoran High School, Emma Cecile, recognizes there is still some growth that students have to go through.
“Our freshman and sophomores haven’t actually been in a high school environment so they’re still stuck in a 12 or 13-year-old mindset and that maturity level of still transitioning into high school didn’t happen for them the way that it should have. So I think that there are more behavioral problems with that but it’s really because we haven’t been in contact with anybody for two and a half years,” Cecile said.
The last time sixteen-year-old Pat Boyle had gone to school, he was an eighth-grader at a school that taught kids the eighth grade. He was among the oldest at his school. But that was two years ago, and now he’s spending his first in-person year in high school. He’s a sophomore – but he says it doesn’t feel that way.
I found it difficult at first like I had nowhere to go. It was kind of like I was a freshman with a bunch of freshmen.”
The after-school program has been resumed at Syracuse schools, and elementary school teacher Wix believes it brings more to the table than just extra time on the school day.
“The after school program, yes it’s a way for them to still do academics but it’s also a way for them to still socialize without having the consistent rigor of the school day. So I feel like that’s kind of another way they incorporated the kids to get more of a social piece.”
Ultimately, senior Emma Cecile is very passionate about her city school and the caring environment she feels when there, “Everyone there, the teachers, administrators, principals are there to see you graduate and move on to bigger and better things.”
The Syracuse city school district is still reeling from the effects that the pandemic had on its students and staff. But it’s trying everything it can to help ensure that students make that transition back to in-person learning, and in the end, graduate with a quality education.
