Schools and childcare programs face significant challenges as they work towards reopening this summer and fall. But a panel of health and human services leaders agreed Thursday that those challenges can be met, and that the current situation presents opportunities to do things differently.
The leaders spoke via a Zoom web conference hosted by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.
Dr. Shari Nethersole, executive director of community health at Boston Children’s Hospital, said the COVID-19 crisis has interrupted all kinds of care for children.
"There are not as many eyes on children," she said. "So we don't really know how they're doing. We we honestly don't really know how they're doing."
With kids staying at home, there have been reductions in reports to the state's Department and Children and Families, as well as other places where children's welfare becomes apparent, like emergency rooms.
"And I think we all need to spend some time trying to understand that better," said Dr. Nethersole.
And as kids return to school and daycare programs after an extended absence, they're likely to show up with some anxiety, said Dr. Shella Dennery, director of Boston Children's Hospital's Neighborhood Partnership Program.
"They're listening to us," Dennery said. "They're watching how we're reacting to all of this. And they're going to mirror how we respond to this. And so our job is to really guide and lead them — prepping them, scaffolding them, getting them ready to go back, knowing that we have to tell them 'it's going to be OK. There may be some unknowns or maybe some challenges, but we are going to get through this together.'"
Dennery said support workers in schools, like psychologists, nurses, social workers and guidance counselors will be essential to helping kids navigate those challenges.
"And we know in Massachusetts that some schools don't have these positions. Some schools have part time positions," Dennery said. "And so I really think it's a great opportunity to look at staffing models across the Commonwealth to make sure that kids have the support they need when they need it."
Dennery said Boston Public Schools have 70 psychologists for their 125 schools.
"So we we can do better," she said. "That's not quite acceptable."
Initial guidance from the state Department of Public Health has said school class size will have to be limited to 10 students, with six feet separating each desk. More detailed guidelines are expected in the coming weeks.
"School communities are resilient, and school communities are eager to return to school," said Dr. Mary Jane O'Brien, who served as a school nurse for decades and now works as a consultant for Boston Public Schools. "And with that sort of spirit, I think that we will be ready in September."
To meet the new requirements, Dr. O'Brien said schools are going to have to try new things.
"For example, where one class stays in that classroom and the teachers move from class to class, rather than the students changing classes. [And] looking at different staggered start times for students," she said. "So everything is on the table at this point in time."
O’Brien said meeting the challenge is made harder by recent layoffs of teachers and support staff in Boston schools.
The crisis has also had a devastating impact early childcare centers.
"Some of them have been able to take advantage of the paycheck protection program loans offered through the federal COVID support funding," said Sharon Scott-Chandler, executive vice president/chief operating officer of the social service agency ABCD. "But I have heard that if that a few may not make it, and may not reopen their doors."
Scott-Chandler said there are two models for early childcare centers — those, like ABCD, which are in under-served communities and survive through government subsidies, and those which are based on fees from parents.
"And in both instances, providers are compensated based on enrollment," she said. "And obviously, since this emergency, there has been no enrollment. So that has really put programs in precarious situations trying to maintain staff, [and] make sure that staff will be available when we're going to reopen."
Scott-Chandler said the fact that both kinds of childcare are hurting now bolsters the argument for universal access to publicly funded early childhood education.
"So all children have access to high quality education, regardless of where they are, regardless of COVID-19, regardless of anything."
Several of Thursday's panelist agreed that the current crisis highlights the need for Boston's business community to step up funding for schools and early childhood education.
"The wish list for schools, what they need right now from the business community [and] from health care - they need supports to do school based pantries," said Dr. Shella Dennery, of Boston Children’s Hospital. "They need tutors and mentors... They need books for home libraries. They need school supplies, PPE donations. They're also trying to create community schools and a hub model.
"And they need champions help fund coordinators for schools. So I think that this is a really exciting time to think about how we all can step up, because schools cannot do this alone."
And as the nation grapples with a reckoning over racism and systemic inequality, Dr. Shari Nethersole, Executive Director of Community Health at Boston Children’s Hospital, said new interventions should address those inequities.
"We know that there are underlying factors that address communities, so it's not just about investing in individual children, or individual child care programs, but it's about how do you think about communities and what what they need and how do you structure systems so that they have the power and resources to address those needs."
