Although for some, Mother Nature is letting us know that winter is still here, Spring Break will arrive shortly for many students across the country. This time, as with the 100th Day, is a reminder the end of the year is just around the corner.
Most students and families get excited about Spring Break. It is a time many will take a mini vacation somewhere close to home or around the globe. For seniors, they may go with friends to places like Florida (at least where I grew up, most went to Florida), for a last hurrah before going off to college, bootcamp, or jobs. But not all students and families look forward to Spring Break.
For those students and families, it can be a reminder of their financial or living situations. That they can’t go on a family vacation. That due to work schedules, they need to find childcare for their young ones and worry when needing to leave pre-teens and teens alone. That they aren’t sure how their child might eat for that week or two of break.
Our families can carry heavy burdens. As educators, we feel those heavy burdens and wonder how we can help. Our own worry for our students, who become like our own children, increases during this time too.
In our environments of caring classrooms and schools, there are some ways we might be able to help our families who struggle during school breaks. These might include:
- Sending home a list of shelters and social services in case there is an impending eviction.
- Sending home a list of food banks available in the area and their hours of operation.
- Conducting a school food drive to restock the school’s food pantry to fill BackPack or PackSnack programs at your school.
- Providing a list of non-profits who provide spring break programming for a subsidized or free cost, or who provide funds to cover the cost of programs offered by others.
- Providing the telephone number of the various district liaisons they might contact should the need arise, such as the District McKinney-Vento Liaison, Special Education Office, Student Service Center, Title I Program Administrator, etc.
- Writing a short note saying you will miss them over break and will be there when they return to alleviate any anxiety a student may have.
- Creating a calendar where a student can mark the days down until school opens again so they’ll know when they will return to their “safe” space.
These are just a few examples of how we might help keep the caring going when we won’t see our students and families for a little while.
In what ways do you prepare students and families for Spring Break?