Teachers and principals can no longer look away from the toll that remote learning is taking on students.
For months, parents and health experts alike have been begging public schools to reopen, citing the catastrophic costs to students from remote learning and loneliness. But many administrators chose to listen to the demands of local teachers unions instead. And in some parts of the country, the consequences have been terrible.
Clark County, Nevada, has been struck by a suicide epidemic. District officials were warned back in March that remote learning could negatively affect students’ mental health, but it was impossible to keep track of each individual’s well-being when all interaction was filtered through a computer screen. By December, 18 students in Clark County had taken their own lives.
Six students killed themselves between March and June, and 12 more took their own lives between July and December, according to the New York Times. The youngest was 9 years old. Another student left a note saying that he had nothing to look forward to.
That it took the district so long to act is a scandal. But at least Clark County recognizes the problem for what it is: a public health crisis that they helped create.
“When we started to see the uptick in children taking their lives, we knew it wasn’t just the COVID numbers we need to look at anymore,” Jesus Jara, the Clark County superintendent, said. “We have to find a way to put our hands on our kids, to see them, to look at them. They’ve got to start seeing some movement, some hope.”
Clark County is now working to reopen its schools as quickly as possible to combat the feelings of isolation and hopelessness taking over its classrooms. Unfortunately, most big-city school districts are staying closed. School boards are still dragging their feet because they fear the hysterical protestations of teachers unions more than the deadly consequences for children.
