The Department of Education is looking forward to helping
districts, schools, and communities with the mask mandate ending in just over a month.
The decision to drop the mandate at the end of March was selected to give districts and their school boards time to decide if they’ll continue with masking and on other mitigation efforts.
It will also allow time for more children to get vaccinated.
Education Secretary Mark Holodick said he’s heard school and district leaders concerns about how the pandemic has taken a toll on students, especially those living in poverty.
And while ensuring in-person learning continues is one way to help Holodick said keeping kids engaged this summer is also important.
"Whether it be playing sports, travel, being involved in camps, and just having opportunities that lead to natural learning and growth and we want all of our kids to have that," said Holodick. "So I've been encouraging and
imploring our schools and districts to think about opportunities that they could offer this summer."
Holodick notes getting extra-curricular and co-curricular activities back on track is vital so kids are engaged with each other and getting back to building healthy social relationships.
Meanwhile, staffing issues, especially with bus drivers, have come to the forefront during the pandemic, but Holodick is optimistic they can be addressed.
He is confident a wage increase is coming for bus drivers, and believes that will help in recruiting and retaining them.
Holodick also feels the changing work climate could help deliver new bus drivers in the future.
"That might actually open the door in time starting pretty soon for people to perhaps be bus drivers because they're working virtually right and they have a little more flexibility in their work life so they could do both. I think that has potential," said Holodick.
Holodick also worries about the loss of instructional staff, saying teachers are worn out, retiring early or not working longer before retiring which was previously normal in teaching circles.
He adds the pandemic has been an issue there because building relationships with students and their families hasn’t been the same.
