According to The Washington Post, officials across the US are reporting an increase in student behavior, including at sporting events, with the rise attributed to stress from the Pandemic.
In Michigan, students will need to be accompanied by a legal guardian at sporting events until January 8 due to behavior at games.
The Oliver sisters, who are both black, were subjected to racist remarks during a basketball game in Zillah, Washington.
The Post reported that the trend at sporting events is due to schools reporting general misconduct among students who are returning after months of remote learning. The outlet was told that stress and emotional damage from the Pandemic had led to unruly behavior by students.
Sports is under the microscope, but where it's really happening is in our schools and society. Bob Baldwin is the executive director of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association. Number one, we haven't had structure. We haven't had a routine. In some cases, a kid who was a junior in high school never really went through their freshman year, so they don't know the ropes on how to behave.
According to The Wall Street Journal, schools have seen a rise in minor misbehavior, like talking in class, and more serious incidents, like fights.
There were 97 reports of gun-related incidents in schools between August 1 and October 1 this year, compared to just 29 in the year before, according to the National Association of School Resource Officers.
In the first three months of this school year, school psychologists across the country saw the same number of mental-health complaints and behavioral issues as they would normally see in an entire academic year, according to Peter Faustino, a school psychologist in New York.
Faustino told The Journal that he thinks the Pandemic was like an earthquake and that the tidal wave hit shore.
Frank Zenere, a school psychologist and crisis management specialist in Miami, told The Journal that the Pandemic has had a bigger impact on student behavior than September 11.
Zenere said that an abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior. I think we're seeing a lot of normal reactions to what they've been through.
Different approaches have been taken to address the issue. Elementary schools in Dallas have started incorporating a 45 minute social-emotional learning session at the start of the school day after some returned to remote learning following violent incidents.
