Metro East Sun

Ashley Hunsaker, a candidate for the Illinois House to represent District 113, recently shared her thoughts on school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A UNICEF report from October 2021 found that government-mandated lockdowns and school closures negatively impacted children, leading to more fear, stress, anxiety, depression, alcohol and drug abuse, loss of learning, irregular physical activity and sleeping habits.

"Pritzker's approach lacked compassion for ordinary working families," Hunsaker told Metro East Sun regarding Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s decision to mandate school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. "Billionaires like Pritzker can afford childcare, but as a working mom and small business owner, I saw how hard it was on our team members to continue to come to work while trying to figure out childcare and zoom classes. Local families understand our challenges and circumstances better than Chicago billionaires and bureaucrats.”

Hunsaker said decisions made locally would have “allowed us to do what is right for our kids and engage the community to provide a support net for working families and kids instead of forcing them to choose between their kids' education and putting food on the table."

"The decision on school closures should be made at a local level, not mandated from Chicago," Hunsaker said. "As a mom of four, I know firsthand how important it is to keep our kids safe while ensuring they have access to a quality education that prepares them for success. Like so many parents I talk with, I am frustrated by Gov. Pritzker's go-it-alone approach to forcing all schools to close without regard to regional differences, without clear timelines, and without providing transparency in decision-making."

Enrollment in Pre-K-12 schools in Illinois declined by 3.6%, or roughly 70,000 students, during the 2020-2021 school year, according to Capitol News Illinois. Chronic absenteeism increased during that school year, with 22.8% of all Illinois students missing 10% or more of all school days. The number of students who exhibited grade level competence in math and English language arts decreased, with 17.8% fewer students demonstrating proficiency in math and 16.6% fewer students demonstrating proficiency in English.

“We know from national studies from the (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) that school districts serving primarily Black and Hispanic students provided the least access to in-person learning last year,” said Brenda Dixon, Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) research and evaluation officer. “We suspect that less access to in-person learning contributed to lower engagement among Black and Hispanic students.”

School districts that offered more in-person learning saw smaller declines in enrollment than schools that used mostly remote learning, Illinois Policy reported.

In March, the ISBE announced a $17 million grant to establish a supplemental learning program for students impacted by learning loss due to school closures, according to the Dewitt Daily News. The program will be geared specifically towards low-income students.