Despite the headlines, a few new studies suggest that staff shortages may not be our biggest barrier as students return to school this fall. Instead, the rate of learning recovery post pandemic is threatening to perpetuate persistent (and potentially widened) inequities among students along lines of race and class.

It is our time. It is our season to create our own narrative. It is time for us to define ourselves— we are more than mere babysitters; we're more than mere catalysts. We are what we are. And we are people for the next generation.

While innovation, technology, the state school safety, and larger-scale policy reform may feel disconnected, we must reckon with the reality of how we’ve reemerged from the pandemic.