**Our Kids Can’t Go Back to School Right Now, So We Need to Make Sure They’re Connected**

Once again, our kids and communities are going to be hit hardest when the last respiratory droplet of the coronavirus dries up.
That’s what I thought to myself recently while standing in front of Jesse Owens Community Academy.
The walls in my house were finally closing in, so I took a break from the shelter in place provision and ventured out for a walk around my neighborhood.
On that excursion, I gained an appreciation for the simpler things in life—a renewed sense of safety and security in moving to a neighborhood in Chicago that was a little more walkable than the one I’d lived in the majority of my life. I listened to birds chirping and picked up a visual reminder that it’s time to start lawn maintenance. That experience offered a brighter side to this pandemic.
But that moment was short-lived as I was thrown back into reality when I turned the corner of 124th and State Street where the elementary school stood.
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