US schools close again as children’s mental health declared national crisis

Public school districts, mostly across the Northeast and Midwest, closed this week as the omicron variant of coronavirus surges following the winter break and the country’s students face a mental health crisis.

Various school systems in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland and other states have delayed reopenings after winter break, citing COVID-19 concerns and related staffing shortages. More than 3,200 schools are closed this week, according to a public school opening tracker from community event website Burbio.

Members of the Chicago Teachers Union are holding a vote Tuesday – a day after reopening – to return to remote learning for two weeks if their demands for a large increase in COVID-19 testing for all students to go back to school are not met.

“What I’m hearing from parents is that it’s a flashback to the beginning of 2021, and they’re ready to challenge this,” Laura Zorc, director of Education Reform at Building Education for Students Together (BEST), told Fox News. “…Based on the science, we know that the mental health of children and the learning loss is greater than the risk of COVID.”

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The delays come as U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Children’s Hospital Association, declared a “national emergency” or “crisis” in child and adolescent mental health in the U.S.

“It’s a huge concern,” Dr. Sara Bode, a member of the AAP Council on School Health, said of returning to remote learning. “Kids have been through a lot. What I can tell you through my experiences in schools is that when schools got back to in-person learning, it wasn’t so quick and easy for kids to adjust. They had been out for a long period of time. It took weeks for schools to get back to their routines and positive culture and climate, and now, with another set of disruptions, it [will] just set things back even further.” – READ MORE