ART CREDIT: NPR
In 2020, Governor Kristi Noem ordered state schools to close their doors for aggressive cleaning. That one-week break turned into remote learning across the state, followed by a summer of planning and decision-making prior to bringing students back in Fall of 2020.
Justin Zajic is the superintendent of the Chamberlain School District. He says that pulling students out of school led to a mental health crisis.
“Last spring, cutting off those students so quickly from their friends, from the structured activities led to a mental health crisis. I recall last spring making welfare check calls from my front porch a couple times a day, three or four a week, that really… the kids are just struggling because they're not with their friends.”
Kelly Glodt, superintendent of the Pierre School District, says he hurts when thinking about students who are still not in school.
“When I watch the national news, my heart just bleeds for these kids that haven't been in school since last March.”
Both Superintendent Glodt and Zajic believe that getting kids back in the classroom was the right choice.