In the midst of school closures, our team wondered both about the pre-existing educational inequities that we’ve been working to address since our inception and the fact that they’re exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. Our thinking centered around our peers who are least heard in schools specifically and society writ large. We began this project by asking questions about the ways in which school intersects with other aspects of students’ lives from social & emotional support to responsibilities like cooking and caretaking, cognizant of the fact that we can’t divorce schools from communities and the dissonance that often exists between “education” and “learning.” Now, months into data analysis, our commitment to ensuring students are partners in decision making is affirmed and so is a distinct but just as vital commitment to ensuring students are seen, heard, and valued as people.
August 2: Sadie Bograd writes an op-ed about school reopening drawing on Coping with Covid research for NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/covid-19-school-openings-are-dangerous-mix-don-t-force-ncna1235536
August 6: Emmy Sippy, Krupa Hegde, Gabriella Staykova, Zoe Jenkins, and Sanaa Kahloon present Coping with COVID research to Kentucky Board of Education at the 4:48 minute mark: –Emmy Sippy appears with Raj Vinnakota on MSNBC with Brian Williams talking about Civic Spring grant and Coping with COVID study: https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/new-youth-projects-across-united-states-focus-on-civic-education-89658949857
August 7: Sanaa Kahloon talks about COVID study on WKYT: Study shows Ky. students more anxious, depressed & less motivated after initial wave of COVID
August 12: SVT holds public press conference facilitated by Audrey Gilbert, Conner Flick, Pragya Urpeti, Spandana Pavuluri, and Nyasha Musoni
August 12: SVT news coverage of Coping with COVID news conference and release of executive report:
https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/education/article244899992.html
https://www.wtvq.com/2020/08/12/survey-students-report-big-mental-health-impact-from-disruption/
August 18: News coverage of Gabriella Staykova and Krupa Hegde’s presentation to Interim Joint Education Committee featuring SVT research: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/kentucky-lawmakers-hear-testimony-on-reopening-school/ar-BB189KAR
August 18: KQED features SVT research: https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/56526/what-student-activists-want-teachers-to-know-about-virtual-learning-and-reopening-schools
August 22: SVT Coping with COVID research featured in PBS Newshour/Hechinger Report https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/students-have-their-own-demands-for-school-reopeninghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv1n9dQFhoI&feature=youtu.be