Last spring, we looked to summer with hopes that the 2021-2022 school year would be different, easier, better. In many ways it was. Students returned to their school buildings, we had months of lower COVID rates and some of kids’ favorite learning strategies—like group projects, stations and flexible seating—came back.
In other ways, this school year was harder. Earlier this year, America’s pediatricians and the U.S. Surgeon General declared youth mental health a national emergency. We are in the midst of historic teacher and substitute shortages. COVID remains, and students are still getting sick, or going to school with fears of catching the virus.
