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Children lose a lot in a disaster. there are many Lost family members The wildfires that have swept across Los Angeles in recent days. They lost their homes. They have lost the sense of security and predictability that many children rely on. And, to add insult to injury, many of them lost their schools.
At least nine schools The Los Angeles area was destroyed or severely damaged by fire. The video was posted by the principal Odyssey Charter School’s south campus in Altadena shows buildings still burning as smoke billows from the playground, blotting out the sky. Marquez Charter Elementary School in Pacific Palisades “Dust,” a parent Kat said. Meanwhile, thousands more schools were closed last week as communities were warned to evacuate, power outages and Air full of smokeLeaving more than 600,000 students out of school.
Unfortunately, these disruptions are part of the new normal for children as climate disasters become more frequent. Last year, the experience of Americans 27 meteorological disasters $1 billion or more in damage, the second-highest number ever — Meanwhile, the number of days American schools are closed due to extreme heat doubled in recent years.
Officials often can’t do anything to avoid closings, especially if the school is damaged or without power. But “when schools are closed, children don’t learn,” he said Melinda MorrillAn economics professor at North Carolina State University who has studied the impact of closures.
Research after school Hurricanes Matthew and Florence Quiet in North Carolina. Especially in the early grades, “the students didn’t come back,” he said Cassandra R. DavisA professor of public policy at UNC Chapel Hill who studied closures. In some cases, the academic impact persisted More than a year.
Beyond academics, Millions of students rely on their school for services such as mental health support or speech therapy; Millions more Free or reduced-price meals must be provided by the school cafeteria. Schools are also an important source of stability in many children’s lives, a place where they go five days a week to see their friends, their teachers, their favorite books, their art on the wall, the special stuffed animal in the quiet corner. Losing all of that can be a huge trauma.
Students at Odyssey Charter School are currently meeting at the local Boys & Girls Club, where teachers and staff meet them, the principal said. Bonnie Brimcomb I’ve been told that some kids who had big, lively personalities “just don’t talk, and they just sit,” she said. Others “just hold you so tight and they won’t let go.”
Experts, educators and families are just beginning to understand what helps students recover after a storm or fire destroys their school. But one thing they agree on is that districts and policymakers need to start preparing schools and students for the next disaster — today. “It’s going to happen again and again,” said Susanna Joy Smith, a mother of two in Asheville, North Carolina, whose children were out of school for a month after Hurricane Helen last year. “We have to learn from these experiences and we have to adapt.”
Missing school hurts kids academically and emotionally
In the Los Angeles Unified School District, all schools were closed for at least two days last week as the wildfires spread. Many reopened Monday, but about 10 remained closed as of Monday evening, some because they were in evacuation zones and three because they were badly damaged or destroyed, the LAUSD Deputy Superintendent’s Office of Business Services and Operations said. Pedro Salcido I’m told students from Marquez and another destroyed elementary school will be relocated Two schools nearby For the rest of the school year. All 23 schools in the Pasadena Unified School District, including Altadena and other areas, were destroyed. Eton Fire, stay closed this week
It’s a disruption that is sadly familiar to more and more children and families across the country. In 2018, the campfire was destroyed Eight out of nine schools in Paradise, California. That same year, Hurricane Florence swept across North Carolina, forcing some schools to close 26 days. Then last year Hurricane Helen hit the western part of the state. At least one school was destroyed and others closed for weeks due to flood damage and lack of power or water.
School closures after Hurricane Florence were associated with significant declines in students’ math and reading test scores, Morrill was foundEffects were seen across demographic groups and among both high- and low-performing students. “All students are affected,” Morrill said.
For Smith’s older son, “missing a month of second grade is huge,” especially since Primary grades are therefore important To develop reading skills.
Many school districts are shifting to remote instruction for at least some weather-related closures, e.g snow day. But remote schools have been difficult for many students during the Covid lockdown, a time when children face significant learning losses. Not every kid has access to a laptop or internet connection, and Neurodivergent students Or those with learning differences may especially struggle with virtual learning.
Odyssey students fear a return to the days of pandemic virtual learning, Brimcombe told me. “There’s a lot of trauma from their experiences on Zoom.”
The impact of missed days can be compounded when disasters strike the same children repeatedly. In places like North Carolina, where “we usually get hit by a tropical storm every year,” students can see their education repeatedly disrupted, pushing them further back, Davis said. “It’s like a constant catchup.”
Meanwhile, students may struggle emotionally long after a disaster is over. A few months after Hurricane Matthew, teachers had to stop classes during the rain to help students who were “scared of being washed away,” Davis said.
In Helen’s view, the Smiths’ youngest son, who is 4, is very aware of the fact that “lights can go out overnight and they might not go out for weeks,” she told me. “It’s heartbreaking, but that’s the reality these kids are growing up with.”
Children face a complicated recovery
Adults can still help kids adjust to this reality, experts say. Davis said that means adjusting curriculum to account for lost time as well as learning to provide mental health support to both students and teachers.
Children should also learn about climate change and disaster preparedness in school, Smith said. “These are just life skills for kids today.” Vox’s Allie Volpe has tips for preparing kids for climate disaster; LAist is there A list of resources Especially for talking to children about fire.
Making school buildings more climate-resilient is also important, experts say, for school districts across the country already working. And when disaster strikes, districts must figure out how to get kids back to school as quickly as possible and make up time for the days they missed, Morrill said. “Having a weekend class is not enough for the bottom 10 percent,” he told me. “Everybody is going to suffer some loss.”
At Odyssey, the first priority is finding classroom space where kids can return — school leaders are reaching out to local churches and rental spaces, and A GoFundMe has been launched To help with expenses. Expect them to come back in person next week.
When they’re together in a new place, “we’re not going to start with learning,” Brimecombe says. “We’re going to start with the community. We are going to start with social-emotional lessons. We are going to start with joy.”
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from my inbox
This week, my oldest is worried about the wildfires in LA. I told her I was worried too, but it was nice to talk to people who are working to get kids back to school.
Now I want to hear from you how you talk to the children in your life about disasters like storms and wildfires. What are their questions? What is your answer? How are you helping them (and how are you coping yourself) with the world we live in? Let me know at anna.north@vox.com.
