RAPID RESPONSE As the coronavirus outbreak significantly alters life for Bay Area residents, business owners, community members, local governments, organizations and school districts are offering assistance.
MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGES
“EVERYDAY IS SOMETHINGNEW, ANDWE FEEL LIKE WE’RE BUILDING THE AIRPLANEWHILE IT’S FLYING IN THE AIR,” CLEAR CREEK ISD SUPERINTENDENT GREG SMITH
PROBLEM: Families with both unemployed and essential workers are feeling the increased effects of depression and anxiety, experts said.
EDUCATION CHALLENGES PROBLEM: Distance learning presents many challenges for Clear Creek ISD students, particularly those without consistent access to meals at home: About 1 in 4 students participate in the free and reduced-cost lunch program.
RESPONSE: The League City Regional Chamber of Commerce hosted two mental health- focused webinars in April: • “Coping with Stress, Anxiety and Fear” on April 14 • “Taking Control of your Mental Health” on April 23.
RESPONSE: Since March 30, the district has been offering free lunch and breakfast pickup for multiple days at a time on Mondays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. More than 80,000 meals have been served.
RESPONSE: CCISD will help its students build resilience when they return to school, Smith said: “The social and emotional wellbeing of our kids and staff is going to be [priority one] when we return.”
SOURCE: CLEAR CREEK ISD/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
SOURCE: LEAGUE CITY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
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enveloped viruses, including COVID- 19, Gulash said. Gulash and two other partners own another construction company, for which residential construction also came to a halt. Not being able to provide five full-time employees and several subcontractors with work has been difficult, Gulash said. “This has obviously affected my family, but it has also affected the families of many who depend on me to give them work so they can pro- vide for their families as well,” Gulash wrote. “That weighs heavily on me every day.” At RapidWristbands.com, which is owned and operated in Clear Lake, the spring is usually peak business season with schools and event orga- nizers ordering custom wristbands. The business has since moved to remotely producing face shields and respirators. The shields are sold for $5.95 each, which Marketing Director Lorena Hernandez said is the lowest price they can be sold for given pro- duction and material costs. Printers have been running 24/7 with employees producing shields around the clock, Hernandez said. The business will continue making personal protective equipment after the coronavirus crisis subsides and plans to continue to add new PPE products as necessary.
some of the ones he worries for most. Once school does resume as nor- mal, the effects of the pandemic will not have subsided, he added; the trauma of the virus might mean some students are triggered by someone coughing or sneezing nearby. The dis- trict is planning to adjust accordingly when school starts, helping students build resilience so they are equipped to work through any difficulties. “The social and emotional well-be- ing of our kids and staff is going to be [priority one] when we return,” Smith said. Communities in Schools—Bay Area, a nonprofit that provides school drop- out prevention services to at-risk stu- dents in Clear Creek and Dickinson ISDs, has adapted its approaches to maintain connections withMcWhirter Elementary School students during distance learning, Student Support Specialist Lindsey Hoffman said. “CIS has made a commitment to not lose contact with its students,” Hoff- man wrote April 14. “The school clos- ing has allowed CIS to learn new ways to reach out to students and parents.” The organization has done so through a trial-and-error process: CIS first tried emailing and mailing infor- mation to parents about resources and support, but low response rates led them to switch to the platform itslearning. CCISD staff can create pages and post files, make links to websites, make announcements, and send both individual and mass
messages to students on itslearning, Hoffman said, so families can find all information from CIS in one place. CIS staff at McWhirter created a training presentation for other CCISD schools to learn how to start itslearn- ing courses for their campuses. Feed- back has shown the training has helped to reach students and parents that have not responded back through other communication efforts, Hoff- man said. So far, CIS has reached out to over 570 families. “These times are not easy, but CIS will be available to the students and parents of McWhirter, just like it always has been,” she wrote. Business owners fear future Despite the state beginning to reopen its economyMay 1, many small business owners feel a sense of uncer- tainty as they struggle to turn a profit, and some have even reinvented their business offerings to adjust. Talena Gulash, who owns Bio-Saf- etech in Webster, said in a Facebook message the residential side of the company’s construction business “came to a screeching halt.” The com- pany switched gears, buying enough disinfectant to treat more than 30 million square feet, and it is offer- ing cleaning services to businesses. Bio-Safetech uses an Environmental Protection Agency-registered, Cen- ters for Disease Control-approved disinfectant that specifically kills
With work, school and social activ- ities all restricted, residents have had to adapt their day-to-day activities as state and federal officials race to mit- igate the spread of the coronavirus. Amid the global crisis, Bay Area res- idents have found ways to continue supporting one another from a safe distance. Remote instruction adjustment CCISD Superintendent Greg Smith said Texas schools remaining closed for the rest of the academic year— which Gov. Greg Abbott announced April 17—is bittersweet. It provides a sense of certainty in terms of the facil- ities, but it also means distance learn- ing and its accompanying roadblocks will continue. “Every day is something new, and we feel likewe’re building the airplane while it’s flying in the air,” Smith said. Smith said the district is grappling with various logistical challenges, such as ensuring thousands of library books are returned and getting stu- dents the supplies left behind in desks and lockers. Moreover, it is a chal- lenge keeping every student engaged. Smith recalled a senior emailing him in mid-April, expressing fear he might not graduate. This stu- dent works at a local grocery store and said he virtually stopped doing schoolwork as the virus continued to spread. Students like him should not be held back because of today’s cir- cumstances, Smith said, and they are
“We knew the need was there, but we didn’t expect it to be this much,” Hernandez said. “PPE is a sister brand, COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER • COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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