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While teachers and administrators know the start of new academic years can be stressful, there are concerns the 2021 academic year will have additional stresses students might have difficulty navigating.
Robert Vellani, an English teacher in Burlington, spoke at length about the unique stresses of the approaching academic year and how talk around evictions only compounds that stress.
"Homelessness and housing instability create a white noise storm in a child’s mind that compromises their classroom focus," said Vellani, who is in his sixth year teaching at Hugh M. Cummings High School. "Can they worry about a fictional character when their real-life brims with conflict and trauma?"
August marked the end of the initial eviction moratorium suggested by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The moratorium was put in place to help those who were financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the weeks leading up to August, there were concerns that those who couldn't pay their rent during the moratorium would be on the hook for weeks of back rent.
The CDC has since suggested an extension on the moratorium, eliminating the immediate eviction crisis but not alleviating the concerns held by Vellani and others.
"As an educator in both Houston and the Bronx, I have known of homeless or couch surfing students," Vellani said.
The moratorium's original expiration falling on back-to-school time, coupled with the recent rise of COVID-19's delta variant has created a kind of perfect storm of stress for your average student, according to Vellani, who added that concerns about student housing security have been overshadowed by the pandemic.
"Unfortunately, the COVID 19 protocols have colonized the worry bandwidth of educators and support staff," Vellani said. "This additional obstacle has the possibility of impeding our student’s educational experience."
While the ongoing pandemic continues to be a major focus of concern, educators have made it a point to direct attention toward the issue of student housing insecurity. It's a problem that, according to Lead School Social Worker Kimberly Yarborough, predates the pandemic.
"We have witnessed an increase in that challenge since the pandemic," Yarborough said.
Yarborough describes what impact housing security has in the classroom.
"When students are faced with eviction, it could certainly impact learning," Yarborough said. "The uncertainty of not having a stable place to live can bring about stress and anxiety for students. If there is a disruption in their living situation, students may become worried and/or fearful about where they will go and if they will have a change in school assignment."
Vellani said that teachers do undergo training to help students as best as they can.
"Every year, Alamance Burlington School System [ABSS] educators participate in staff development that educates and raises awareness to ever-growing issues that our students may present to us in any given school year," Vellani said before suggesting making schools hubs for social services. "It is my personal belief that the Graham and Cummings high schools should be the hubs on a wheel of wrap-around social services much like the East Durham Children’s Initiative in Durham."
Vellani believes the state has the resources to help.
"The refrain from the GOP-held General Assembly is that our surplus is for that proverbial rainy day. Yet, those who hold the surpluses are those who will never be rained upon. Still, the rain still falls hard on far too many," he said. "COVID has stripped bare our many inequities. The eviction crisis is one more."
Dean-Paul Stephens covers racial justice. Follow him on Twitter @DeanPEStephens. If you have tips, send an email to dstephens@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Times-News: Alamance County educators consider eviction struggle's impact on students
