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Children lose many things when disasters occur. Too many people have lost family members in the wildfires raging across Los Angeles in recent days. they lost their home. They have lost the sense of security and predictability that many children depend on. And to add insult to injury, many of them lost their schools.
At least nine schools in the Los Angeles area were destroyed or seriously damaged by fire. A video posted by the principal of Odyssey Charter School's south campus in Altadena shows flames still smoldering inside the building as smoke billows from the school grounds and obscures the sky. Marquez Charter Elementary School in Pacific Palisades is “dusty,” one parent told The Cut. Meanwhile, thousands more schools closed last week, leaving more than 600,000 students out of school as the region faced evacuation orders, power outages and heavy smoke.
Unfortunately, as climate disasters become more frequent, these disruptions are part of the new normal for children. Last year, Americans experienced 27 weather-related disasters resulting in more than $1 billion in damages, the second-highest total in history. Meanwhile, the number of days American schools are closed due to extreme heat has doubled in recent years.
Especially when schools are damaged or lose power, authorities often cannot do anything to avoid closures. But “when schools close, kids don't learn,” said Melinda Morrill, an economics professor at North Carolina State University who studies the effects of closures.
An investigation into school closures in North Carolina due to Hurricanes Matthew and Florence has sobering results. “Students just didn't bounce back,” especially in younger grades, said Cassandra R. Davis, a public policy professor at UNC-Chapel Hill who has studied the closures. In some cases, the academic impact lasted for more than a year.
Beyond academics, millions of students rely on schools for services such as mental health support and speech therapy. Millions more need the free or low-cost meals provided by school cafeterias. School is also an important source of stability for many children, with five days a week to see their friends and teachers, their favorite books, the art on the walls, and that special stuffed animal in a quiet corner. It's a place I go to. Losing everything can be a huge emotional blow.
For now, students at Odyssey Charter School are meeting at the local Boys & Girls Club, where teachers and staff are visiting, Principal Bonnie Brimcombe told me. Some children who previously had big, active personalities “don't talk at all, they just sit there,” she said. Others “just held you tight and wouldn't let go.”
Experts, educators, and families are just beginning to understand what helps students recover after storms and fires devastating schools. But one thing they agree on is that school districts and policymakers need to start preparing their schools and students for the next disaster today. “We're going to see this happen over and over again,” said Susannah Joy Smith, a mother of two in Asheville, North Carolina. Her children missed a month of school last year because of Hurricane Helen. “We need to learn from these experiences and adapt.”
Losing school hurts children academically and emotionally.
All schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District were closed for at least two days last week as fires raged. Although many establishments reopened on Monday, about 10 stores remained closed as of Monday night, several of them because they were in evacuation zones and three others because they were badly damaged or destroyed. LAUSD Deputy Superintendent of Business Services and Operations Pedro Salcido's office told me. Students at Marquez Elementary School and another elementary school that was destroyed will be transferred to two nearby schools for the remainder of the school year. All 23 schools in the Pasadena Unified School District, including Altadena and other areas affected by the Eaton fire, remain closed this week.
Sadly, this is a disruption that is familiar to a growing number of children and families across the country. In 2018, the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, destroyed eight of nine schools. That same year, Hurricane Florence struck North Carolina, forcing some schools to close for 26 days. And last year, Hurricane Helen struck the western part of the state, destroying at least one school and forcing others to close for weeks due to flooding and lack of power and water.
Post-Hurricane Florence school closures were associated with significant declines in student performance on math and reading tests, with effects seen across demographic groups and both high- and low-achieving students, Morrill said. discovered. “All students are affected,” Morrill said.
For Smith's oldest son, “missing a month of second grade is a huge deal,” especially since the early grades are so important for developing reading comprehension.
Many school districts have moved to remote learning for at least some weather-related closures, such as snow days. However, remote schooling has been difficult for many students during the COVID-19 lockdown, when children have lost significant learning skills. Not all children have access to a laptop or internet connection, and neurodivergent students and students with learning differences can especially struggle with virtual learning.
Odyssey students fear returning to the era of pandemic virtual learning, Brimcombe said. “Their Zoom experience has been extremely traumatic.”
The impact of missed days can also be even greater if disasters strike the same children multiple times. In places like North Carolina, where “we typically get tropical storms every other year,” students have had their education interrupted multiple times and are falling further behind, Davis said. “It’s like a constant game of catch-up.”
Meanwhile, students may continue to suffer emotionally long after the disaster is over. In the months after Hurricane Matthew, Davis said teachers had to suspend classes during the storm to help students who feared being “swept away.”
She said that in the wake of Helen's incident, Ms Smith's younger son, 4, is well aware of the fact that “the lights can go out overnight or they can't come on for weeks”. “It's heartbreaking, but it's also the reality that kids are growing up in.”
Children also face a complicated recovery
Experts say adults can help children cope with this reality. That means learning how to adjust curriculum to account for lost time, as well as providing mental health support for both students and teachers, Davis said.
Children also need to learn about climate change and disaster preparedness in school, Smith said. “They're just life skills for kids today.” Vox's Allie Volpe shares tips for preparing kids for climate disasters. LAist has a list of resources specifically for talking to children about fires.
Making school buildings more climate-resilient is also important, and is something school districts across the country are already doing, experts say. And when a disaster strikes, school districts need to figure out how to get kids back into school as quickly as possible and make up time for missed days, Morrill said. It's not enough to have “weekend classes for the bottom 10 percent,” she told me. “Everyone is going to experience some damage.”
At Odyssey, finding classroom space for children to return to is a top priority. School leaders reached out to local churches and rental spaces and set up a GoFundMe to help with costs. They hope to meet in person again next week.
When we're together in a new space, “we're not going to start learning,” Brimcombe said. “We're going to start with community. We're going to start with social-emotional lessons. We're going to start with joy.”
Avery Colbert, a 14-year-old whose school was destroyed in the Eaton fire, has started a recovery fund for teens affected by the disaster. “I want special items for these girls so they can feel like themselves and regain their confidence,” she told Time magazine.
New research shows that the majority of 11- and 12-year-olds have accounts on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat, even though they technically require users to be at least 13 years old. This was discovered through a survey.
There is growing evidence that 'risky' play, such as climbing and jumping, is beneficial, but children have less access to it than ever before.
My youngest and I are enjoying a perfect time Frog and Toad Daysthe other animals are strangely mean (robins, who hurt you?), but the bond between the titular amphibians is eternal.
This week my older child is worried about the Los Angeles wildfires. I told him I was worried too, but that it would be good to talk to the people who are working to get kids back to school.
I'd love to hear how you talk to children around you about disasters like storms and wildfires. What are their questions? What is your answer? How do you help them cope with the world we live in (and how do you cope yourself)? Let us know at [email protected].
