December 5, 2024, Boston, MA — The National Parents Union released a statement regarding the impact of school closures and findings from GOP Oversight, Democratic Oversight and AFT:
“The COVID-19 pandemic reshaped every aspect of our lives, but few areas have been as devastating or enduring as the impact on our nation’s children due to prolonged school closures. Just ask this country’s parents, guardians and families.
The disastrous impact can even be seen in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), an international comparative study released this week that shows American students fell behind their international peers during the pandemic—by alarming margins. We have to be clear eyed about what the overwhelming data show: school closures caused severe and avoidable harm to children’s academic, mental, and physical health, leaving a scar on an entire generation.
The COVID-19 pandemic inflicted profound harm on America’s children, but much of this damage was preventable. While school closures dragged on unnecessarily, the National Parents Union stood as a leading force in the fight to safely reopen schools. We advocated tirelessly for the academic, mental, and emotional well-being of students, even as powerful interests prioritized the wants of adults and institutions over the needs of our children. As parents and advocates for our children, we were extremely frustrated by the decisions to keep schools closed for extended periods.
It is well-documented that the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) wielded significant sway over the CDC’s guidance on school reopenings, prioritizing their own agenda over the urgent needs of students. Instead of advocating for evidence-based approaches that could have safely reopened schools, the AFT influenced guidelines that perpetuated closures far longer than necessary, disproportionately harming the most vulnerable students.
The damage to our nation’s children is immeasurable. Prolonged school closures caused unprecedented learning loss, setting students—particularly low-income, Black, and Latino children—back years. How can we claim to be preparing our children for the future when we continue to fall further behind other industrialized countries as demonstrated by the TIMMS scores and other comparative international assessments that portray similar crisis level outcomes while other nations advance?
We know the ripple effects of this disruption will echo for decades: widened achievement gaps, increased dropout rates, and diminished earning potential. Beyond academics, children also endured significant mental health challenges, including anxiety, depression, and isolation, alongside physical health setbacks due to lost access to critical school-based resources like meals and physical activity.
Parents have every right to be outraged. Decisions that should have centered on the well-being of children were instead driven by callous political and organizational self-interests.
The National Parents Union will never stop fighting for the fundamental right of every child to a high-quality education, no matter the circumstances. We stand with parents, teachers, and communities across the country to ensure this never happens again.”
ABOUT THE NATIONAL PARENTS UNION
With more than 1,800 affiliated parent organizations in all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, the National Parents Union is the united, independent voice of modern American families. We channel the power of parents into powerful policies that improve the lives of children, families and communities across the United States. https://nationalparentsunion.org/