The group cited evidence showing closing schools has contributed to depression and suicidal ideation in children:
“The importance of in-person learning is well-documented, and there is already evidence of the negative impacts on children because of school closures in the spring of 2020.
“Lengthy time away from school and associated interruption of supportive services often result in social isolation, making it difficult for schools to identify and address important learning deficits as well as child and adolescent physical or sexual abuse, substance use, depression, and suicidal ideation.”
No school knows the tragic effects of social distance learning better than the Clark County School District in Las Vegas. The school has reported at least 20 student suicides since distance education started last March. The number is double that of 2019.
The rash of suicides is one of several reasons the Clark County Schools have begun the process of re-opening schools. Teachers and support staff are slated to return on February 22, and pre-K through 3rd-grade students are set to return on March 1.
The grandmother of one child lost to suicide spoke with 8 News Now reporter Cristen Drummond about the various factors which led to her granddaughter’s death. Darlene Terryberry said her granddaughter died from suicide by hanging on October 3.
Terryberry found her granddaughter, Angel, in her bedroom.
Describing her granddaughter as a loving 17-year-old senior at Green Valley High School, Terryberry said she adapted to online learning quickly at first, but that the isolation from friends began to show in by Fall:
“Going to school, she did have friends, and there were girls she could talk to or be around. She may have texted with them a little bit or something, but she didn’t have that relationship with them outside of school, oh, she missed that.”
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