Giving Compass' Take:

• In this podcast, educators from a preschool that helps kids who have experienced trauma discuss how they continue to support students amid school closures during COVID-19. 

• What are the primary mental health concerns that educators have for students right now, and how are they addressing them? 

• Read how school districts can prepare for coronavirus. 

As the nation’s educators navigate the sudden school closures that the COVID-19 outbreak has brought upon them, many debates, decisions and news stories are focused on how students will continue to learn and receive instruction outside their brick-and-mortar school buildings.

And while academics are certainly important, for many kids school is so much more than a place for learning. It can be a reliable source of two meals a day, a refuge from an unstable home environment, or a way to access counseling and other mental health services.

So how are the children who depend on schools for those additional services getting by, now that seemingly everything in the country has ground to a halt?

Last fall, this EdSurge reporter spent a few days in southwest Ohio, visiting a specialized preschool program for kids who have experienced severe trauma. These are kids who depend on wraparound services such as meals, transportation and mental health services.

So when the coronavirus hit the U.S., and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine ordered the closure of all schools statewide, beginning March 16, the staff at TIP had to scramble to come up with a plan: How would they ensure their kids got fed? Would they have to stop counseling sessions? Would the TIP kids slip further behind?

Ashley Dobrozsi-Ferguson, the director of the TIP program, and Jenny Minnick, one of the mental health counselors on staff, were gracious enough to make time to check in with EdSurge last week about what this crisis has been like for them, and how they are managing to make the most of an incredibly difficult situation.

Read the full article about prioritizing mental health in early education by Emily Tate at EdSurge.