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We are journeying through this pandemic together–at a distance. How very odd it all seems, when we want to be close, enjoy the holidays together, visit friends, and hug (and be hugged) tight. So we’ve focused this Buzz on ways to cope with as well as bridge the distance without jeopardizing individual or collective well-being.
We hope you enjoyed lots of treats and scary, imaginative decorations of late, and now we’re back to the tricky new normal, with its challenges and complexities. This Buzz connects you with resources for supporting parents during COVID and for cultivating strong home-school collaborations.
We hope you can squeeze in time to check out the many new resources and tools appearing on the autumn scene, because they are timely and highly relevant to the work we do and the people we care about.
This issue of the Buzz bulges a bit more than normal. It’s organized into 3’s: 3 new resources relevant to each of CPIR’s 3 most important audiences: Parent Centers, children and youth with disabilities, and their families and educators.
Doesn’t it feel like too many huge issues are simultaneously colliding? It’s August, it’s back to school time, yet the pandemic rages on and schools may not be where our children actually, physically go. So… remote learning? Students will go back to school online, from their homes? What about the families who don’t have reliable Internet access, or any Internet access? This Buzz provides you with new resources across each of these issues as they collide and entangle: COVID-19, back-to-school worries, and how we address racial inequity in our communities and nation. Challenging times, these.
School reopenings are top of mind for all of us. When? How? For whom? As Parent Centers we are being asked to help parents make decisions about various reopening models and how they will or will not work for children. We wish that we had clear answers or a simple solution we could put in your hands. We don’t. But we can point you to several resources that can help. That’s the main focus of this issue of the Buzz.
CPIR cares deeply about the welfare of the indigenous peoples who were here long before anyone else. It’s an honor to support Parent Centers as they reach out to one of the nation’s most underserved communities. This Buzz brings you exciting news that the 3rd learning tier of the Native American Resource Collection is now up on the Hub! We spotlight 3 resources in Tier 3 you will find especially useful when working with Native youth with disabilities.
This Buzz mixes pleasure and planning. It’s summertime, after all, and we’re snapping around on flip flops, eating corn on the cob, and firing up our BBQ grills. Fall seems a long way off. It’s hard to summon energy or interest enough to plan ahead. But who says we can’t play now, enjoy summer’s treats, and also plan ahead to the reopening of schools?
This Buzz has been very painful to write, and we expect that it will touch a lot of already raw nerves. Still, we must take the time and have the courage to talk honestly about race, especially to our children, and to work individually and together against the inequities and injustices that African American men, women, and children confront every day. This Buzz will connect you with the new series we have humbly begun: Talking about Race. We also share with you less disturbing information about the goings-on in the Parent Center network, summer camp information, and other resources you may find useful.
Summer’s nearly upon us, the need to school at home has ended for the moment, and children and adults alike want to play in the sun and have cookouts and get-togethers. Yet COVID-19 remains very much in the picture. How do we safely combine that reality with reopening venues and workplaces, beaches and camps, and choosing between all the opportunities and responsibilities that come into play as a result?