Uncertainty facing many Black parents, children as back-to-school season begins

Crossing guard Willie McCree, left, stops traffic for school children to cross the street in Dallas on February 2, 2022. AP Photo/LM Otero

Public schools around the country are opening doors with increased security measures, heightened anxiety, and concerns about testing scores. Those are the challenges facing teachers. Many schools are facing critical shortages of counselors, teachers and bus drivers. Students have similar concerns. There is bullying, an increase in suicides, and self-harm, and many students are still recovering from COVID-19 learning losses.

“There’s an overall heightened sense of awareness about security considering what’s been happening in schools recently,” Saabirah Muhammad told The Final Call. She spent 13 years as a classroom teacher and is now the executive director of Endurance Literacy Center.

She explained that school shootings are one of many concerns. “Although parents are eager to get children back in schools, for many, this is their second full year of in-person instruction. There is still a looming uncertainty of the impact that the pandemic has caused. Teachers are leaving the classroom. We’ve seen the flight of educators. There’s a lot of uncertainty.”

In suburban D.C.’s Prince George’s County, Maryland, new Superintendent Millard House II announced in July new security measures to enhance safety and reduce weapons in schools. Last school year, 15 guns and 201…