A fourth-grade boy has gone viral for sitting outside of his school while distance learning so he could get back to a normal routine and have Wi-Fi amid school closures due to the coronavirus.
“He was like, ‘Yeah, I need to be back on the school property, and I could be like a normal kid again,” 9-year-old Jonathan Endecott’s mother, Angel, said.
Jonathan Endecott attends a school in Roswell, New Mexico, which closed earlier this year in a bid to stem the spread of the coronavirus. His mother suggested he go to the school’s property and use its Wi-Fi while completing his remote classes, as she can not afford Wi-Fi after losing both of her jobs.
“Him just being outside of the building gives him that, ‘Hey, I’m at school’ feeling even though he’s not around other classmates or teachers,” she said.
“The principal, the secretary, and a few teachers, they do come outside to check up on him and see if he needs anything,” she added.
One teacher, Sabrina Talbott Harbour, shared a photo of the boy online that has garnered thousands of shares and comments. She also slammed lockdown orders and how they affect young children in the post.
“This young boy has no internet at his home,” Harbour wrote on social media. “He has been getting up and walking to school every day to connect to the school Wi-Fi from outside the school. He sits there every day from 8:00-2:45.”
“This isn’t OK. The kids will be better off in school. The kids are suffering socially, academically, mentally, and physically,” Harbour wrote.
President Trump and his allies have repeatedly advocated for schools to reopen, arguing students suffer when they don’t have set routines.
“We cannot indefinitely stop 50 million American children from going to school and harming their mental, physical, emotional, and academic development and inflicting long-term, lasting damage,” Trump said this summer.
This is crazy! Reopen our schools, @GovMLG!https://t.co/BeHdQJWrvQ
— Steve Pearce (@Pearce4NM) October 21, 2020
Recent data out of Wisconsin shows youths have suffered mentally during lockdown orders, with cases of depression and suicide increasing.
Youth suicides in Wisconsin’s second-largest county, Dane County, shot up nearly 90% when compared to data last year.
“The social isolation, the lack of success in virtual schooling, the lack of ability to connect with staff at school — not one kid comes here that doesn’t have that as a current, significant stressor,” Dr. Katie Schmitt, medical director of UnityPoint, said.
