HISD flight and student mental health concern

My 7yo son attends an HISD school. When he returned to school after winter break, he came home sad that two of his buddies didn’t come back. “They don’t go to my school anymore,” he said but didn’t know why. Since then, three more kids in his class “stopped going” to his school. I know this happens due to moves from time to time but, five kids in one class in one month?

Well, at a birthday party this weekend, I got confirmation from three of the families that they decided to put their children in private school over concerns about their mental health and after talking to them, they have been experiencing the same problems and concerns I have had this year with my son. And I’ve talked to two other parents still at the school who describe the exact same issues.

These are good kids who did well in school last year, good grades, no behavioral issues, happy kids, very involved parents. This year we all started seeing very bad grades (as in failing or close to), kids coming home upset, crying about school, showing signs of anxiety, low self esteem, and chronic frustration. I was floored that everything I had been stressing over about what my son was going through was EXACTLY what these parents were describing to me. My son had been saying things like “I’m stupid” or “I’m the worst kid in the world” and when a parent mentioned his child saying that kind of stuff I almost cried. What is happening to their self esteem?

When talking to the school, I got two different explanations. One was that the new curriculums were very inflexible and didn’t allow teachers to adjust it to focus more time on areas that students need extra help on. NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT NES. We have not moved to NES…yet… The second one was that this is common for 2nd grade, that for some reason this is the grade where kids transition to start thinking about their academic performance and can struggle with the stress of it. I cannot speak to either of these explanations. Maybe some of you can.

Is anyone seeing this at other HISD schools? Or does this sounds like a “localized” issue?

Just to note, since it make come up, I having been taking steps with my son on his self esteem and managing anxiety via books and discussion. We are working on it, but professional help may be in the future if my own effort do not work (I see a therapist myself and my son has been a big topic in my sessions lately, so I’m already getting some guidance.) I can’t afford private school, and am generally opposed to it for us anyway (we are not religious for one), but I’m going to be very invested in making sure my son is “OK”, especially with NES changes coming next year.