Omicron is a new low for caregivers of young kids

Childcare workers and parents say they've hit pandemic rock bottom.

View this email online January 23, 2022 This week, we looked daycare woes, student loan updates and staffing shortages. Plus, the supply chain hits Girl Scout cookies. Cooper Neill for NPR Hi. How are you holding up?  Anya here. I’ve spent the past few weeks talking with parents and childcare workers in charge of children under 5 – kids who are too young to be vaccinated and have difficulty masking up consistently. They say the Omicron variant is a new pandemic low – and tempers are high.  "I had a parent tell me to f*** off last week," says Cori Berg. She directs the Hope Day School, a church-affiliated early childhood program in Dallas. What is it about the current moment that has parents and daycare providers at each others’ throats? On the daycare side, providers are struggling to get enough rapid tests and paying for PPE out-of-pocket to keep their doors open. When workers get sick or have to miss work for a COVID-19 exposure, there aren’t enough substitutes to cover for them; people are leaving the profession. Daycares are finding themselves trapped between parents’ expectations and conflicting, unclear guidelines from state and federal agencies. Many of them are still closing classrooms for 10-14 days after a single case. For parents, each daycare closure brings new stress. 1 in 6 parents experienced either a school or daycare shutdown in the past few weeks, according to a national poll from Axios and Ipsos. With every closure, parents are losing their tempers, losing sleep, and even losing their jobs. Charles Billot has a 2-year-old enrolled in daycare in Brooklyn, NY.  When his toddler is kept home for quarantine he’s forced to work at night – after he’s put his daughter to bed. His days finally end at 2 or 3 a.m. So, what will it take for things to change? One big issue is funding. The U.S. has dismal funding for childcare, compared to other rich countries. According to the OECD, the average annual public spending on early childhood care across rich countries is $14,436 per child. In the U.S., it’s $500. The Build Back Better bill allocated $400 billion for childcare, but has been stalled in Congress for months.  Bernadette Ngoh, owner of an in-home daycare center in Connecticut, says that childcare deserves more support than it has. “We are not taking care of little bananas and chickens,” she says, “We are taking care of the next generation of who the nation will rely on.” You can read the full story here, and follow me on twitter @Anya1Anya. Read More Newsletter continues after sponsor message Now, let’s get into some news …  Schools are desperately trying to staff classrooms in the wake of massive substitute shortages. States are proposing unorthodox solutions to the problem of teachers and school staff calling out sick in high numbers because of an omicron-driven spike in COVID-19 infections across the country. In Oklahoma, state employees can now work as substitute teachers while keeping their current jobs. California is expediting the hiring process for new substitute teachers. Kansas will allow people with no college credit to become subs. Read the full story here. — Joe Hernandez, Reporter, NPR Newsdesk Navient will cancel $1.7 billion in student loan debt. The loan servicing giant Navient has agreed to cancel $1.7 billion in student loan debts owed by roughly 66,000 borrowers, as part of a settlement announced last week with 39 state attorneys general. The settlement ends a years-long legal fight with states in which Navient faced two serious allegations. First, the company was accused of steering student borrowers into expensive forbearances instead of more flexible, income-driven repayment plans. And second, Navient faced allegations that its predecessor, Sallie Mae, had made subprime private loans to vulnerable borrowers who it knew were likely to default. Read the full story here. — Cory Turner, Correspondent, NPR Ed Student loan payments resume in May – here are 7 ways to prepare. A little more than three months. That's how much time is left before about 41 million federal student loan borrowers have to start making loan payments again. The federal government froze student loan payments at the beginning of the pandemic, and it's extended that freeze several times since, most recently right before Christmas. The U.S. Education Department has said payments will resume on May 1. What should borrowers be doing to prepare? Read the full story here. — Elissa Nadworny, Correspondent, NPR Ed And before you go, have you heard?  Bill Chappell/NPR Nothing is sacred when it comes to supply chain shortages. The latest item to fall prey to supply chain woes? The newest Girl Scout cookie – Adventurefuls – which promised "caramel-flavored crème" and a dash of sea salt . Catch the full story by NPR’s Digital News and Graphics intern Rina Torchinsky here.  Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to hear live radio from WBEZ (edit station). What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: npred@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Music, Politics, Code Switch and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to Education emails. 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