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Reopening schools, even for a few weeks, “would provide immeasurable benefits to the mental and physical well-being of all children and their families,” it concludes.
“The impact of school closures and the resulting social isolation on the health and well-being of children and youth has become impossible to ignore,” the Canadian Paediatric Society wrote in another open letter last week that was endorsed by 11 other organizations and institutions that care for kids.
It cited “a crisis in children’s mental health,” saying “schools play an essential role in the recovery process.” That’s where kids get routine, accountability, socialization. For some, it’s where abuse and neglect are caught and stopped.
“The benefits of a few weeks in classroom cannot be overstated,” that letter concluded.
Students are “on the cusp of a generational catastrophe,” warned yet another open letter this week by Tracy Vaillancourt, Canada research chair in school-based mental health and violence prevention. This letter was also signed by members of the Royal Society of Canada, a COVID-19 education think tank that has been studying pandemic’s impact on children.
The letter calls on the government to reopen schools “without delay” and “work toward ensuring schools stay open for the foreseeable future.”
“Our professional consensus is that these shutdowns have negatively affected all aspects of child development,” it continues.
“We can no longer stand by and watch this threat to healthy development unfold,” it concludes.
Schools — that is, kids in classrooms, with teachers and classmates — are the “best way to mitigate the threats to the well-being, education and safety of children and youth,” it states.
These are all powerful words by people whose profession is caring for kids. They conclude that it’s not only safe to reopen schools, it’s harmful to keep them closed. If there isn’t consensus, then at the very least, there is the “sound scientific advice” Ford says he wants.
This isn’t the first time it’s been said. More than 100 Canadian doctors signed a letter saying the same things to both senior governments in February, after the second Ontario-wide school closure.
To muse about the “possible” reopening of schools, within a week or two, with no real plan is “incredibly difficult” for children, for parents and for school boards, said local public school board chairperson Alicia Higgison, who is also the mother of three school-age children.
“It’s insulting, to be honest,” she said. “The lack of respect for what that (returning to school) entails is really disappointing.”
“For them this is stressful,” she said of her kids. “They’ve endured so much change, so many back and forths. What they crave right now is stability.”
And her kids enjoy all the advantages of a middle-income family that emphasizes education.
What about the kids who have challenges learning or suffer mental illness, those who need the stability of a trusted adult in a classroom and the structure of a school day? she asked. Some kids don’t have meals if they don’t go to school for a nutrition program.
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