CHARLESTON, W.Va. — “It keeps them up at night” is how the president and CEO for Communities In Schools described the worries of site coordinators in West Virginia and other states who’ve been trying to stay connected to students during the coronavirus pandemic.
Communities In Schools is an organization that works with at-risk students on their physical, social and emotional needs through connections with community members and resources via schools.
Public schools in West Virginia closed in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19, the respiratory illness the novel coronavirus causes, at the end of the school day on March 13.
Currently, school reopenings are not planned before April 30 at the earliest.
“For the students who we truly care about who we think are falling behind, the crisis existed previous to the first COVID or corona exposure in West Virginia,” said Rey Saldana, president and CEO of Communities In Schools.
“We had many students who were living in poverty who were struggling already.”
Those struggles for students with economic and social inequalities have only increased with climbing coronavirus case numbers in the Mountain State.
Connectivity issues have limited their remote learning opportunities.
Transportation may be a problem to food distribution sites.
Availability of other supplies was possibly limited.
Gaps in medical care existed.
Trauma and anxiety without regular counseling and mental health services could get worse, Saldana said.
Prior to the pandemic, both Governor Jim Justice and First Lady Cathy Justice were advocates for Communities In Schools in West Virginia.
In West Virginia, affiliates included Greenbrier County, where Communities In Schools got its start, and the state Department of Education.
Under the DOE, a 2018-2019 pilot program that launched in Berkeley County, McDowell County and Wyoming County was expanded for 2019-2020 to include these counties: Cabell, Calhoun, Clay, Fayette, Hardy, Lincoln, Pendleton and Raleigh.
A January 2020 expansion brought in Braxton County, Lewis County and Taylor County.
Altogether, 79 schools with 76 site coordinators were working with more than 1,000 students, according to the state Department of Education.
Goals had been to further expand Communities In Schools into additional counties and schools across West Virginia with a focus on sustainability.
Saldana said he had been in touch with some West Virginia site coordinators during the pandemic.
In many cases, “They tell you they have a list of 20 students, but there are five students who they know, not only don’t have access to food at home, but — for them — they’ve had histories of violence or exposure to opioid addiction that truly puts them in harm’s way,” he said.
“We have to think about what the world is going to look like when the fog lifts and whether we are prepared to receive these students.”
To assist with those preparations and to help meet current demands, CIS had established emergency funds for donations HERE.
“Really what this has done for us is reposition our organization as a nonprofit that, not only works in schools, but is now getting practice on working on how to meet students’ needs in times of crisis,” said Saldana.
“I think this has really shaken everybody up into a newfangled thinking.”