Parents, teachers and administrators across the state and the country are weighing the options for how their children will “attend” school this year. What are the consequences – health risks to teachers and students, funding, impact on educational quality – of each decision?

Please hold those facing decisions about schools and the educational process in prayer. In a prayer offered by Jill Duffield, editor of The Presbyterian Outlook, about the topic, she asks God to “take, bless and multiply our efforts to educate and nurture your children . . . We look to you, loving God, for wisdom, for courage, for inspiration, for creativity.” Read her entire prayer below.  

Hear some thoughts from educators across the country about the topic in the latest episode of  ‘Just Talk Live,’ a weekly web series from Unbound, the online Christian social justice journal of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, and the Young Adult Volunteer program of PC(USA). Click below to see the entire episode and click below to read a related Unbound article – “Adjusting to the Pandemic: A Teacher’s Story” by Milagros Sanchez-Cohen.

And consider new ways that you and your congregation might support teachers, parents and students during these changing times. Some churches across the country plan to provide space, Internet access and even tutoring help to students in districts where only remote learning options will be offered. Read more about these plans in a Religion News Service article posted July 27 by The Presbyterian Outlook. Find the article below.