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Double Standards: As more public schools opt for remote learning this fall, child care providers are remaining open, which highlights the contrast between societal perceptions around K-12 education versus child care and preschool, according to education policy expert Elliot Haspel and as published in The New York Times. This duality is rooted in a perceived gap between what “care” and “education” mean and has set the two sectors on different paths of funding, governance and professional power. According to Haspel, K-12 education leaders have expressed resentment over school being thought of as “care” during the pandemic, and as such, many argue they should not reopen simply so parents have somewhere to send their children. Child care leaders, on the other hand, are more comfortable seeing their work as both care and education, and understand that positive care experiences underlie healthy brain development. Another aspect of the divide comes from the fact that the child care workforce is disproportionately made up of women of color, which historically has a societal connotation of being “less valuable.” This is an especially damaging connotation as child care providers are risking their health, losing income and paying more in expenses just to stay open during the pandemic to keep the industry afloat and care for their communities, according to a new survey from U.C. Berkeley and as reported by EdSource.
Related article: Center for American Progress: Costly and Unavailable: America Lacks Sufficient Child Care Supply for Infants and Toddlers
Safe in Kinder: How does one stay physically distant –– but not emotionally distant –– with kindergartners and pre-K students under new COVID-19 safety guidelines in the classroom? Early education teachers are asking themselves this question as they prepare for students to return for in-person learning this fall, as reported by KQED. Creative solutions will be necessary, and some teachers are planning to use visualization techniques such as asking children to pretend they’re in 6-foot bubbles to keep them distanced. To teach kids emotional expression while still wearing masks, other teachers plan on having children take pictures of themselves making various expressions that they can point to, to express themselves when masks are on. Other teachers plan on using clear face shields in lieu of masks so kids can read facial expressions, which is an important aspect of emotional development. One teacher states that it’s important to support rather than punish children who don’t follow safety rules, especially as other empathy building techniques that rely on touch can’t be used. This means focusing on “do’s” instead of “don’ts”, and avoiding shame-based tactics like behavior boards.
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Untenable Juggling Act: As most schools prepare for virtual classes to begin in two weeks, working parents are in “panic mode” figuring out how they’ll balance work with their child’s virtual learning schedules, as reported by The Washington Post. This has raised challenges for families and child care providers alike, who are struggling to pick up the slack of school closures but are facing increased costs due to safety guideline implementations, as reported by USA Today. According to a new survey from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, what working parents are doing now to balance work and child care during this time is not a sustainable solution, as reported by WTOP. According to the data, 60% of working parents with kids at home during business hours said that their current situation needs to change within the next three months, and 22% said that they aren’t sure if they’ll be able to return to work the way they did before the pandemic. This is particularly true for single parents, who are often unable to tag-team supervision as they juggle work and family-life, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. In Latinx communities where the virus is causing a disproportionate amount of death, 83% of caregivers reported (in an Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors survey) that they were afraid of their children falling behind in school due to online learning. Still, 68% of Latinx caregivers reported that they’d rather have their child distance learn than risk their health, as reported by NBC News.
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Pact for School: The Los Angeles Unified School District has reached a tentative agreement with the teachers union on what remote instruction will look like come the start of the school year, which is in two weeks. Under the agreement, school days will be shorter and teachers can provide a mix of live and pre-recorded classes, as reported by The Los Angeles Times. The improved online learning structure will also feature attendance taken each day and more teacher-student interactions and smaller groups. According to LAUSD SuperIntendent Austin Beautner, the district’s objectives are to balance the educational needs of students with the impact the virus is having on working families, while simultaneously ensuring everyone in the school’s community is protected, as reported by KTLA. This also includes providing families with nutrition, mental health resources and child care.
Elementary Waivers: When school closures were announced, Governor Gavin Newsom also issued a footnote allowing elementary schools to apply for a waiver to open given certain requirements, as reported by EdSource. The specific conditions were issued on Monday and included a long list of requirements, such as a school must be in a county with less than 200 cases per population of 100,000, and a lengthy application form. Taking these requirements into consideration, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced on Tuesday that they were not accepting waiver requests until cases dropped in the region, as reported by LAist.
Related article: MarketWatch: Should schools reopen amid the coronavirus outbreak? The downside of keeping kids home is pretty severe, Goldman says
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What's Known and Unknown: While scientists continue to learn more about the novel coronavirus, there are still many unknowns, especially for pregnant women, reports WTOP. What is emerging from the data, however, is that pregnant women, whose cardio vascular system is already taxed by supporting both mother and fetus, are at higher risk for ICU admission or to be put on a respirator, reports Science Magazine. The pandemic has also exacerbated anxiety and depression among pregnant and post-partum women, in part because of the increased social isolation needed to curb the spread of the virus, reports Health. In a lengthy interview for NPR’s show “Short Wave,” Dr. Laura Riley, the chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Weill Cornell Medicine, shares her recommendations on how to stay safe while pregnant during the pandemic, but also addresses families planning to get pregnant, saying it’s an individual decision but fair to question if it’s the right time. Reuters reports that two of the largest coronavirus vaccine trials in the country will exclude pregnant women from the initial stage. The exclusion of pregnant women is common in vaccine trials, but problematic, as a large percentage of the population are pregnant women or women of childbearing age.
Heat and Pregnancy: Complications from coronavirus is not the only worry for pregnant women, reports BuzzFeed News. The summer heat can hasten preterm birth and pregnancy complications, including delivering early, having a baby with a low birth weight, and even infant mortality. These complications are especially prevalent for people of color, who may live in high-heat zones. New research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association details the physical and mental damage that climate change and high maternal mortality rates have on the Black community. “The analysis shows that Black neighborhoods in particular are threatened by air pollution and rapid heating,” reports Popular Science Magazine. High maternal mortality rates for Black women can also be traced back to slavery, says Deirdre Cooper Owens, a professor of the history of medicine at the University of Nebraska, and author of the book "Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the origins of American Gynecology," in an interview with ABC News.
COVID and Kids: A new study published in JAMA Pediatrics shows that children younger than 5 who are infected with coronavirus may host up to 100 times the amount of the virus in their upper respiratory tract than adults, reports MarketWatch. And while study authors have not concluded that children are passing the virus more frequently, the new data is important to consider, reports The New York Times. Study authors concede that the small sample size and lack of demographic data in the study points to the need for further research, but the initial findings do defeat the claim that children cannot contract the virus, reports MSNBC. In fact, Wednesday, Facebook and Twitter had to remove a post by President Donald Trump, who said in an interview with Fox News that children are "almost immune from this disease," reports NPR. The social media platforms claimed that the video clip of the statement violated their policies around spreading misinformation regarding COVID-19, reports USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. "This video includes false claims that a group of people is immune from COVID-19 which is a violation of our policies around harmful COVID misinformation,” Facebook said in a statement.
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Expiring Support: At the start of the pandemic, the federal government provided 12 weeks of expanded paid leave to those affected by COVID-19 -- including working parents taking care of kids during school closures -- but that leave is about to run out, as reported by The Sacramento Bee. At the moment, more leave for workers who have exhausted the benefit is not being discussed by Congress in the next relief package. The cost and inaccessibility of child care has made this an untenable situation for a lot of workers, including state workers who have been relying on the benefit while their kids are home from school. Other federal pandemic benefits that expired at the end of July are the additional $600 per week in unemployment funds and the moratorium on evictions –– and families are already hurting, as reported by CNBC. With 30 million currently unemployed and uncertainty whether pandemic unemployment insurance will be extended, a wave of evictions is expected to occur in many states, as reported by The Los Angeles Times. As the pandemic continues, the homeless population will grow and be hit the hardest by the virus as un-housed individuals typically lack access to healthcare. This also includes the women and children who make up 37% of the homeless population and 50% of the sheltered population and who are especially vulnerable to the gendered impacts of homelessness, such as not having diapers, as reported by Refinery29.
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Photo Project: Our friends at KPCC/LAist are inviting caregivers and educators to participate in an interactive project to document caregiving experiences through photos. Are you a caregiver? Sign up for this exciting project here, or if you are more comfortable in Spanish, sign up here.
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ICYMI: In Case You Missed It, More Great Reads
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