After the COVID-19 pandemic sent schools remote in March 2020, students in public schools have oscillated between in-person and distance learning as cases ebbed and flowed.
Now, on the cusp of the third school year impacted by the pandemic, administrators at the St. Cloud school district are preparing for an in-person start with additional staff to address the "disengagement and downright trauma" experienced throughout the pandemic, said Laurie Putnam, assistant superintendent of secondary education. "Not a single one of us knows how our kids are going to show up," she said. "Our kids have missed out on a lot of their childhood, their education."
The result, Putnam said, is an anticipated increase in students with depression, anxiety and even anger — so the district is being proactive.
St. Cloud schools will have two new school resources officers contracted through the St. Cloud Police Department — for a total of seven St. Cloud officers — to staff the district's two high schools and two middle schools.
The additional officers aren't in response to increased fights or bullying; the number of student disciplinary actions actually was fewer than normal last spring when students returned to in-person learning.
But they're another resource to help students deal with mental health concerns or harassment issues, according to Shannon Avenson, director of student services for the district.
The most prominent issue that students experienced last school was disengagement, likely caused by the transition from in-person to distance learning and other mental health concerns exacerbated by the pandemic.
The district has more than a dozen in-school therapists from Greater Minnesota Family Services, which provides individual and group counseling in schools in central and southwestern Minnesota. The counselors continued to provide mental health services throughout the summer to help with the fall transition.
