Pierce County students ‘absolutely in crisis’ after COVID, say area superintendents

Pierce County public school superintendents say there is a dire need for more resources as districts grapple with reduced enrollment and student mental-health concerns in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Superintendents from Franklin Pierce School District, White River School District, Peninsula School Strict, Carbonado School District and Bethel School District addressed the County Council’s Human Services meeting Tuesday. They reflected on the challenges and lessons staff learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among their concerns was the fact they were not given clear guidance and direction as to how to handle issues like social distancing, remote learning and the transition back to in-person classes early on in the pandemic.

The stresses of managing an unprecedented global health crisis often left staff feeling overwhelmed and as if they were caught in a political crossfire between parents and the government, said Franklin Pierce School District Superintendent Lance Goodpaster.

Superintendents said taking different approaches to reduce the spread of COVID and returning to in-person learning also created confusion and a lack of cohesion between districts.

Loss of trust from the community, gaps in internet access and the absence of supportive programming and community spaces for students in some districts continue to worsen disparities and student mental health, the superintendents said at the meeting.

More guidance, support from state was needed

The superintendents thanked Pierce County Emergency Management and other agencies they’d received funding and guidance from during the pandemic but said there were many areas for improvement.

They cited a disconnect between Pierce County, the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, the Washington Department of Health and the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction as one example.

Goodpaster said there were times during the pandemic when district staff felt they were “being kind of caught in the middle” of political debates and forced to make decisions “that shouldn’t have landed on school districts when they were certainly health-related.”

Bethel School District Superintendent Tom Seigel said there aren’t many people in school administration trained in immunology or virology, and they needed an expert to be the arbiter of what direction they should’ve followed.

In addition, a “lack of consistent and coordinated data collection processes” created additional work for the school district, Goodpaster said.

“As we collect data and we analyze data and we use that to make informed decisions, it felt like we were doing that in an echo chamber and not comparing our data and what we were seeing with data from across the state, across the nation,” he said. “We have large, urban school districts, we have small rural school districts, and the data was there for both. And so I guess that was just a challenge, and it left us scratching our heads at times trying to answer very direct and fair questions about why some kids were being allowed to go to school in Washington state and some kids were not.”

Peninsula School District Superintendent Krestin Bahr said districts enforced different back-to-school policies based on the number of positive cases and outbreaks, among other things. Bahr said it was hard to know what to do because districts received conflicting information from Pierce County, state health departments and the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

“There has to be a better way to connect the dots in a major pandemic where we don’t feel that we are trying to play Mom against Dad, from the state, to the county, to our local ability to be able to negotiate. There was such fear and anxiety, to the point that some school districts just stayed remote for almost an entire year,” Bahr said. “We’re feeling the implications of that [disconnect] with lower enrollment, with more polarization, with lack of trust, all of those things. Our ability to go out for bonds and our ability to serve students with our levies and being able to pass at high rates. If we knew then what we know now, I think we would have made many different choices.”

White River School District Superintendent Scott Harrison said it felt at times that public health concerns about a dramatic increase in marijuana and alcohol sales during the pandemic, as well as potential mental health impacts on students, were overshadowed by the focus on preventing COVID outbreaks.

“We reopened our schools because we were afraid we’re going to start losing kids. And I’m not saying losing kids because they’re going to a different school district. I’m saying losing kids because they’re committing self harm,” Harrison said. “I would like to hope that in the future, we think about public health in its totality, and not just in any singular sense.”

Lasting impact on student mental health

Bahr said she’s been working in education for 39 years, 10 of them as a superintendent, and has seen the impacts of the pandemic and social isolation on students first-hand.

“I think that we absolutely are in a crisis,” she said. “What we’re seeing now is almost a lack of empathy and engagement and belonging. And that is also exacerbated by drugs and alcohol and access [disparities]. We have a lot of really hurting kids … We’re seeing a lot of kids that have mental illness: anxiety, deep anxiety, social discomfort, not having friends.”

Bahr said many districts are managing with their own nurses, but she said most academic counselors are not trained mental-health professionals.

Carbonado School District Superintendent Jessie Sprouse said special-education directors have been seeing more students qualify for programs and individualized education since returning in-person.

“I think a lot of people will just connect that to thinking it’s this huge learning loss, because you didn’t have kids on campuses. And it’s actually a significant increase specifically in the category of social-emotional behavior, not reading, written language and math,” Sprouse said. “That is a shift. And it’s significant because that impacts whatever classroom you’re in, for sure.”

Rural districts suffer from lack of programming

Harrison, the White River School District superintendent, thanked Council member Jani Hitchen and the rest of the council for their work addressing equity concerns but said there remains many areas of Pierce County that are “resource deserts” that lack stable internet access, programming geared towards youth, pharmacies, grocery stores and public transportation.

Bethel School District Superintendent Tom Seigel said there are three parks in his district and no Boys and Girls Club or YMCA despite serving over 20,000 students. In the summer, there’s no pool for kids to go to either, he said.

“It’s just totally under-resourced, has been that way for generations,” Seigel said. “It’s going to require some real money to make up the difference to get the resources out here.”