September 2021

Early Intervention (EI) Month Continues

Back to School - Back to Health & Safety

The challenge of just getting to school, both nationally and locally, has dominated headlines as children returned to the classroom this month.  But busing is not the only challenge students face in returning to a normal school day experience.

An issue brief published by the Kaiser Family Foundation outlines the myriad of health issues children have been dealing with in absence of a full school day experience.  The brief found:

• “Some children experienced disruptions in routine vaccinations or preventive care appointments and difficulty accessing care, particularly dental and specialized care. Use of telemedicine has increased but not enough to offset declines in service utilization overall.”
• With service utilization in decline, feelings of depression, anxiety, and psychological stress have been increasing.
• “Black, Hispanic, and other people of color have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic’s economic effects.”
• An estimated 43,000 children nationwide have lost a parent due to COVID-19, with Black children being disproportionately impacted by a parent’s death.

These physical and mental health challenges are just part of what a growing body of evidence shows students have missed without the daily interactions of a normal school day.

Locally, ROC the Future has published an overview entitled “Emotional and Educational Recovery” which quantifies the education losses of RCSD students during the pandemic.  Some of their key findings were:

• Pre-K enrollment in 2020-2021 was down by about 1,000 children. Additionally, 500 - 700 5-year olds who would have normally been enrolled in and attending kindergarten went unaccounted for.
• For grades 3-8:
• Learning loss varies across grade levels;
• Gaps in math are more severe than reading; and 
• Economically disadvantaged students have been hit the hardest.
• The estimated losses are staggering.  Losses in reading may equal 2-7 months of school and losses in math may equal between 4 and 22 months of school. 
• There is troubling data that indicates far fewer students may be enrolling in college or training programs this fall.

Clearly, the stunning education losses children have felt and the losses in health and mental health supports are palpable consequences of the lingering pandemic.  We’re even starting to see studies showing the pandemic’s deleterious impact on the cognitive abilities of infants and toddlers.

ROC the Future’s overview responds to all of this by stating, “Simply ‘going back to normal’ will not be sufficient.” 

The Children’s Agenda wholeheartedly agrees.  Without acknowledging the staggering losses children have felt during their time away from the classroom, their teachers, their providers, and their friends…. Without identifying the individual needs of students through comprehensive assessments in each class and each school…. And without developing clear, culturally relevant and sensitive plans to address these needs…. We risk a broken future ahead, not just a difficult time behind us.

Raising Rochester - New Episodes Available Now

Reminder - Register for the

Violence Hurts our Children’s Mental Health March

We invite you to our parent-led Violence Hurts our Children's Mental Health march starting at 5:30pm on Thursday, September 23, 2021. We will meet at City Hall, 30 Church Street, Rochester NY 14614 then proceed to the RCSD Central Office. Click here to register.

Please direct all questions to TCA’s Parent Advocacy Coordinator, Carmen Torres at carmen@thechildrensagenda.org.

Join the 2021 Children’s Interfaith Weekend

October 15-17, 2021

Join in the 2021 Children’s Interfaith Weekend on October 15th, 16th, or 17th (or an alternate weekend in October)!  This year The Children’s Agenda’s Interfaith Collaborative is once again offering resources to congregations and organizations of all faiths to pray, learn and take action for children.  Resources are available on TCA’s website to help plan how to acknowledge the moral imperative to care for all our children, either in a regular weekly service or a special event.  Resources include children’s activities and worship ideas for different faith traditions developed by the national Children’s Defense Fund Sabbath Celebrations.  To make a change our children need, we will be collecting online signatures for a letter to Rochester City School District (RCSD) leaders urging them to use federal COVID-relief funds to increase mental health and social-emotional supports for students.

The pandemic left tens of thousands of students with inadequate academic, nutritional, and social-emotional support for months.  Now that schools are once again a consistent support for children, there must be services and programs to help them recover from the trauma caused by COVID-19 and the social, racial and economic turmoil from the past almost two years. The letter echoes specific recommendations that were developed by a coalition of students, parents, advocates, education experts and community leaders.  Register for the Children’s Interfaith Weekend here.  For more information, contact Brigit Hurley at bhurley@thechildrensagenda.org or (585) 256-2620 ext. 2602

MARK YOUR CALENDARS/SAVE THE DATE: In recognition of the Children’s Interfaith Weekend, on Sunday, October 17, an interfaith prayer service will be held in front of the Rochester City School District Central Office building.  Faith leaders, members of congregations and the public are invited to attend.  We will peacefully lift up our concerns for the health and well-being of Rochester students.

Out-of-School Time Win for Kids

Worth a Read

TCA In the News

• OCFS Commissioner: Child care is 'superhighway to economic recovery' (Spectrum News)

• Re-imagining New York's child care system post-pandemic (Spectrum News)

Other News

• NY leaders call for passage of 'Momnibus' bill which offers support for Black expectant mothers (D&C)

• NY school safety guidelines: 3 feet of distance for students; vaccine or test for teachers (Westchester Journal News)
• Over 400 economists call on legislative leaders to make the Child Tax Credit expansion permanent
• Manchin Doesn’t Know What He’s Missing (NY Times)
• Pandemic effects may have lowered baby IQs, study says (EdSource)

September 2021 Donors

Mrs. Catherine Albin - Ms. Jen Cathy - ESL Charitable Foundation - Dr. Ann Lenane - Mr. Larry Marx & Ms. Deb Rosen - Partnership for America's Children - Mr. Reinhold Samson - Mr. Paul Tremblay and Dr. Jennifer West

Sustaining the work we do together is only a click away.  Making a monthly donation to The Children's Agenda supports our efforts to help children who are vulnerable because of poverty, racism, health inequities and trauma.

October is National Bullying Prevention Month

The Children's Agenda
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Rochester, NY 14614
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