Wednesday, March 04, 2015

The Climate Crisis and childhood education.

I challenge the states and local governments to know the demographics of their children.

We are hearing again the imposition of weather problems on the education of children in some areas of the country. This problem is not temporary; it will revisit states and local governments many, many times.

We have witnessed the change in school schedule by economic factors. Some schools have become creative and taken school days to a longer length while reducing the number of days per week children attend school. 

The challenge of states and municipalities has again manifested to bring about a functional school year. Many schools require 180 days of attendance per year with holidays and average absences figured into that attendance requirement. This is becoming a problem not just to educators, but, also to parents and the support systems tapped to require childcare.

The administrators of school systems should be gathering information from their teachers to the impact children are effected in their education by the Climate Crisis. A decision process has to developed to bring about the best outcomes to our children. 

We know when children are on summer vacation they experience a reduction of their retention of their previous year's education and the first weeks of returning to school are a review for the most part. It is my concern this sort of problem now exists with schools facing repeated and unplanned days off due to the Climate Crisis.

The collective understanding of administrators and teachers as well as input from parents and their support services invited to attend School Board meetings regarding what exactly a "School Year" looks like should be considered to change the calendar. 

Continuous school standards are important and frequent interruptions in learning will set American children at a disadvantage. That has to come forward as an agenda item at the local level.

Are children best served by a full year of classes with shorter school days while the support system to parents picks up the slack? What happens to that support system when it is interrupted with weather problems? What cost increases when parents have longer support system needs brings about hardship to the Middle Class and the Poor? 

I am sure these issues are only the tip of the iceberg, but, teachers are professionals and often with untapped potential to help administrator and parents to solve problems to a child's learning.

I wish every child happiness with their lives and their time in school.