Middle school students get candid about COVID-19

By LINDA CHION KENNEY

The eighth annual Middle School Student Forum, hosted by Hillsborough County school board members, addressed the realities of the coronavirus pandemic, with a first-ever virtual forum and a deep discussion of stresses and anxieties tackled by today’s students and educators.

“You are the heart of our why,” said Lynn Gray, school board chair, in a recorded wrap-up session for the Jan. 26 forum, which drew representatives from area schools, including the district’s 42 traditional middle schools. Students and board members met in virtual breakout sessions, returning again for a closing session to summarize key points.

In asking her students to recount “the best part of their school day,” school board member Stacy Hahn said she learned a supportive school climate and culture is key to dealing with troubling times, as students said it was important to connect with their peers through different activities, including lunch and clubs.

Also important, “having teachers who support them through these difficult times that they can talk to, whether they’re face-to-face or quarantining,” said Hahn, whose District 2 seat includes Eisenhower and Shields middle schools, in Gibsonton and Ruskin, respectively. “Feeling support from their teachers, that’s what’s helping them this year.”

And while students “love the academic side,” Hahn said, they also “talked about how music and the arts have been so important to them this year.”

School board member Melissa Snively, whose District 4 seat includes Barrington and Rodgers middle schools, in Lithia and Riverview, respectively, said her breakout session also stressed that support is key.

“We’re all going through a lot right now, and everybody has different levels of anxiety and stress,” Snively said. “The foundation of our schools right now is about the culture and the atmosphere and the environment, and making sure that we’re caring for each other’s mental wellness and emotional wellness.”

According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), based on a federal health surveillance program from March through October 2020, the share of mental health-related hospital emergency department visits for children ages 5 to 11 and adolescents ages 12 to 17 increased approximately 24 percent and 31 percent, respectively, when compared to the same time period in 2019.

“The combination of disrupted routines, fear of sickness or family loss, and economic and housing mobility all have proven to be significant stressors for adults as well as children,” according to a November Education Week article written about the CDC report. “But developmentally, the social isolation caused by repeated and sudden quarantines and widespread social inequities may prove the heaviest burdens for young and older adolescents, who are going through a period of growth in social learning now thought to be as intense as the cognitive growth seen in toddlers.”

According to newly elected school board member Henry “Shake” Washington, whose District 5 seat includes Giunta and Progress Village middle schools, his breakout session students said the best things about this school year are “coming back to school, being with my friends and meeting my teacher.”

“It’s so good to be positive in times like this because they want to do right, they want to come to school, they want to participate in extracurricular activities, they want to be involved with sports, they want to be involved in clubs and organizations, they want to do their work,” Washington said. “It’s phenomenal the ambition they have about being successful.”

According to the latest enrollment report from school officials, the district’s 42 traditional middle schools enroll 38,386 students, with three in 10 students attending eLearning classes.

School board chair Gray said her breakout session students want “to make sure they continue to work together . . . to build upon their strength.”

“They want their classmates to come back to school,” Gray said. “They want to work with them. They miss them.”

Karen Perez, who, like Gray, holds a community-wide, at-large seat, said it’s important to consider the “mourning process” eighth-graders are going through as the pandemic continues to affect their lives.

“They’re not going to have their banquet, they’re not going to have their eighth-grade trip, and this is a rite of passage for them,” Perez said. “We have to think about how we can replace that and to make this eighth grade memorable for them when they graduate.”

Newly elected board member Jessica Vaughan (District 6) gave high marks to her breakout session students for “their ability to dig deep and ask questions and think profoundly and share honestly.” She said her students talked about the importance of “motivating and empowering” teachers who meet the emotional and academic needs of students.

The students also asked us “to make sure we’re diving deep when we talk about black history or when we study culture in general,” Vaughn said. “They’d really like to see diversity in their education and conversations.”

Newly elected school board member Nadia Combs (District 1) said having spent most of her career as a middle school teacher, she was particularly impressed with her breakout session students, who asked for “more of a balance of work.”

“They really want to give back to the community and do wonderful things,” Combs said. “They really want to make sure they have the time to academically thrive as well as the time to do other activities.”

To view the student forum and its breakout sessions, visit the HCPSVideoChannel, online at www.youtube.com/user/HCPSVideoChannel/videos. For help in dealing with children in these pandemic times, visit www.CDC.gov and search for “COVID-19 parental resources.”

Top, Lynn Gray, chair of the Hillsborough County School Board; beginning at second row, from left, Nadia Combs (newly elected, District 1); Stacy Hahn (vice chair, District 2); Keren Perez (at-large seat, District 6); Melissa Snively (past chair, District 4); Jessica Vaughn (newly elected, District 3); and Henry “Shake” Washington (newly elected, District 5).