The Clark County school district in Nevada, which has more than 326,000 students enrolled, has been totally remote since March 2020 – when the Covid-19 pandemic began. In the nine months since March, there have been 19 student suicides in the district, a school official confirmed to CNN. In the previous year, there were only nine.
The district gave no evidence of a direct link between deaths and distance learning. However, six students died from suicide between March 16 and June 30, and 12 students died between July 1 and December 31. There was one more death earlier this month, a district official confirmed to CNN on Monday.
Partly citing social and emotional well-being, the Clark County Board of Trustees voted unanimously to begin bringing students back to personal learning at a meeting on January 14.
“The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a major education challenge,” said Superintendent Dr. Jesus Jara. “We will continue to make the health and safety of students and staff a priority. As we continue to look at the academic and health crisis that the pandemic has caused, I believe that the proposed plan provides the first steps for the return of our students and educators. to the classroom. “
The district has an early warning system in place to help monitor students’ mental health and well-being. With the help of this system, students received more than 4,300 virtual wellness checks and more than 1,400 in-person wellness checks. Suicide protocols have been initiated 30 times since March 2020, according to a report released by the district.
The district report also described the pressure that long-term remote learning is putting on students academically, stating that 90.4% of schools gave more Fs this year than the previous year, and 77.2% of schools gave more Ds than last year. Among those who scored F during the fall semester, 11.2% of them scored all As and B in autumn 2019.
As Covid-19 cases increase across the country, school districts face an impossible dilemma of protecting students’ mental health by returning to the classroom or physical health by keeping them at home.
In October, a group of researchers warned about the consequences of Covid-19 for mental health, predicting a second wave of problems such as increased deaths from suicide and drug overdoses.
However, some teachers in the United States died of the virus – which has led some educators to move to fully virtual classes.
In an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Tuesday, researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted that the type of spread seen in crowded offices and long-term care facilities was not reported in schools.
Transmission at school occurred, but the researchers said there was little evidence that it contributed significantly to the increase in transmission in the community.
For assistance, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). There is also a crisis text line. For crisis support in Spanish, call 1-888-628-9454.
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