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More than 250,000 students in Los Angeles Unified will be eligible for extra tutoring, summer school and other academic help after the district settled a class-action lawsuit alleging that its remote learning practices during the pandemic were discriminatory.

The , filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, was announced Wednesday by the law firm representing families who said their children fell disastrously behind during the Covid-related school shutdown in 2020-21.

鈥淎fter five years of tireless advocacy on behalf of LAUSD students and families, we are proud to have secured a historic settlement that ensures students receive the resources they need to thrive,鈥� said Edward Hillenbrand, a partner at the law firm Kirkland & Ellis. 鈥淭his critical support will help pave the way for lasting educational equity.鈥�

Los Angeles Unified had no comment on the case because the settlement has yet to be approved by the court. A hearing is set for December, although the settlement goes into effect immediately.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Los Angeles and nearly every other school district in California closed for in-person learning from March 2020 through fall 2021. Students attended classes virtually, and most fell behind academically. after schools reopened. Chronic .

In fall 2020, a group of families whose children were languishing during remote learning sued Los Angeles Unified, saying the district wasn鈥檛 doing enough to ensure students were receiving an adequate education.

One parent, Akela Wroten Jr., said that his second-grade daughter was behind before the pandemic and became even more lost during remote learning. She struggled with reading and never got the extra attention she needed because teachers weren鈥檛 assessing her progress.

Another parent, Vicenta Martinez, said her daughter didn鈥檛 get any instruction in spring 2020, in part because she never received logon information for remote instruction and the school never followed up. When she finally did access remote classes, the lessons were short and teachers offered little feedback.

鈥淟AUSD鈥檚 remote learning plan fails to provide students with even a basic education and is not preparing them to succeed,鈥� the lawsuit alleged.

The suit singled out an agreement between the district and its teachers union that said teachers would only be required to work four hours a day, wouldn鈥檛 have to give tests and weren鈥檛 required to deliver live lessons 鈥� their lessons could be asynchronous, or recorded beforehand. In addition, the agreement said the district wouldn鈥檛 evaluate or monitor teachers during that time.

United Teachers Los Angeles supports the settlement, saying it provides more assistance for students while leaving teachers’ “hard-won contractual rights” intact and avoiding “unwarranted judicial interference” in the district.

The union also noted that student test scores have recovered significantly since the pandemic..

The plaintiffs argued that the 诲颈蝉迟谤颈肠迟鈥檚 policies discriminated against low-income, Black, Latino, disabled and English learner students, because those were the students least likely to have adequate support to succeed in remote learning. Those student groups also comprise the vast majority of students in the district, the nation鈥檚 second-largest.

The settlement requires the district to offer a host of academic support, including summer school and after-school tutoring, to the 250,000 students who were enrolled in L.A. Unified during the pandemic and are still with the district. Among those students, 100,000 who are performing below grade level will be eligible for 45 hours of one-on-one tutoring every year through 2028.

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Inserting brief quiz questions into an online lecture can boost learning and may reduce racial achievement gaps, even when students are tuning in remotely in a distracting environment.

Before COVID-19, snow days like these were routine, not even worth mentioning. But with the switch to virtual schooling came because of weather would soon be . There would be no reason to cancel classes if they could just go remote. An from November 2020 even reported that % of principals and school district officials had converted or were considering converting snow days to remote learning days. 

But a 74 survey of policies around the country finds that while some districts have made the shift  鈥� or tried to 鈥� others have gone back to that time-honored tradition.

Seattle Public Schools into its academic calendar but ended the practice after the pandemic. While a traditional snow day isn鈥檛 completely off the table, the district usually implements remote learning when schools close due to emergencies, said Tyler Hamilton, Seattle鈥檚 director of school operations.

鈥淎re we getting the same level of quality instruction at the end of the school year? Is having some type of instruction remotely going to be more meaningful than having paused completely and then doing some type of makeup day?鈥� Hamilton said. 鈥淚t really is more of 鈥� looking to provide as much consistency as possible for kids.鈥�

When the entire district had to switch to virtual classes on Feb. 5 and 6 because of a snowstorm, some students remembered the routine, while younger children who weren鈥檛 yet in school at the beginning of the pandemic struggled, Hamilton said. High school and middle school teachers were expected to host classes like normal, while elementary teachers had a less structured schedule.

鈥淪econd graders [were] showing off their bedroom to their friends and being excited as like a show and tell opportunity, which was similar to a lot of our earlier days of COVID,鈥� Hamilton said. 鈥淚f my [high school] class was normally a 55-minute class with my algebra teacher, I’m going to have that same time of day with that algebra teacher.鈥�

Attendance policies were the same as for in-person classes 鈥� but students weren鈥檛 counted as being late if they didn鈥檛 join the class on time. Hamilton said the district is still analyzing attendance data from the two snow days.

For some schools, attendance routinely lags during remote learning on snow days. Last year, attendance rates in Pittsburgh-area schools on virtual days ranged from 99% to as low as 66%, according to the .

New York City Public Schools tried to implement remote learning on a snow day in February 2024 for the first time since its no-snow day policy was introduced two years earlier. School officials after students were unable to sign in. The district and for future snow days. 

Challenges like access to the internet or computers at home have made some schools rethink their remote learning plans.

One said his district of 2,300 students will continue traditional snow days because some kids can鈥檛 access online learning.

鈥淣ot every family can be linked in,鈥� Superintendent Christian Elkington told the Sun Journal. 鈥淣ot every family has the same supports and services.鈥�

Other districts have to implement traditional snow days because state regulations leave them no choice.

In New Jersey, to count toward the 180 school days required each year unless schools are closed for three consecutive days because of a state-declared emergency. Virtual classes were permitted during the pandemic because of an executive order. Last year, lawmakers to allow remote instruction during snow days, but it failed to advance.

also have to use traditional snow days after the state鈥檚 education commissioner told superintendents in December that remote learning shouldn鈥檛 count as school days because it doesn鈥檛 鈥渁dequately meet students鈥� needs.鈥� 

In Seattle, Hamilton said administrators are still assessing how the two days of remote learning went. Some parents reported technical or logistical difficulties.

鈥淎s a whole, the day went much smoother than some of our initial implementations,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e’re going through our data right now looking at how many students and staff members were online [and] how long they were online.鈥�

Bridget Bolder sent her daughter, Mia, to kindergarten at a neighborhood public school. After all, it seemed the 鈥渘ormal, regular thing to do.鈥�

But Bolder started to worry that some of her daughter鈥檚 classmates were exposing her to inappropriate topics. Early in the school year, Mia had to tell a teacher about a boy groping some of the other girls.

鈥淚鈥檓 like, she鈥檚 a baby,鈥� Bolder said. 鈥淏ring her home a little while longer before I throw her to the wolves.鈥�

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Brian Wilson and his wife homeschooled three of their children last year. They struggled to juggle home life, both parents鈥� jobs and teaching the kids.

The family briefly switched to in-person school, but Wilson said it only validated the parents鈥� theory that the individual attention the kids got at home had been working.

鈥淭hey seemed like head and shoulders above all the other kids when it comes to learning,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y son, Aaron 鈥� he鈥檚 the youngest 鈥� he was actually helping kids in his class.鈥�

Both families have turned to the new Brookside Virtual Academy so they could keep their kids at home and still rely on professional teachers to lead their schooling.

The academy is attached to Brookside Charter School and bills itself as Kansas City鈥檚 only virtual program where teaching happens on live, interactive video calls.

Online school isn鈥檛 widely popular. It鈥檚 been blamed for some of the learning loss that set kids back during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kansas City Public Schools closed its virtual academy for kindergarten through fifth grade this year because of shrinking enrollment, district spokesperson Shain Bergan said in an email.

But for a girl with severe social anxiety? A boy with leukemia? A young athlete with a rigorous training and travel schedule?

Leslie Correa, who helped design the KCPS program, said certain students and families need the option. So she found a home for the program at Brookside, where she鈥檚 now the virtual academy principal.

鈥淭he students that virtual works for, it works really well for,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e cannot close the door to them for having a great education.鈥�

Who succeeds in virtual education?

For some students, the computer screen provides a layer of distance that makes them braver, Correa said. Learning from home can also reduce distracting for some kids with autism.

For example, loud or persistent background noise, visually busy environments or other students bumping into them could overwhelm some children.

Other students might need virtual school for logistical reasons.

That could include students who are barred from in-person school for disciplinary issues, traveling athletes, kids going through intensive medical treatment like dialysis or chemotherapy, or parents who struggle with transportation.

Some families identify as homeschoolers but want professional help teaching reading and math, Correa said. Since virtual school is more concise, it leaves more flexibility in the day.

Parents鈥� fears can also push them toward keeping kids at home.

鈥淎nytime that there has been a violent occurrence in one of our schools in Kansas City, I get a big uptick in enrollment,鈥� Correa said. 鈥淭hey feel scared and they鈥檙e looking for an alternative.鈥�

When virtual learning doesn鈥檛 work

To figure out if it鈥檚 a good fit, Correa starts by asking parents why they鈥檙e interested in virtual school.

鈥淚f it鈥檚, you know, 鈥業 don鈥檛 have day care and I need my 12-year-old to be home to watch my kid,鈥� it鈥檚 kind of an alarm,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 not the one to judge what their decision is, but I am the one to help arm them with information.鈥�

The virtual academy serves students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Because Kansas City-area charter schools can only operate within the boundaries of KCPS, its students have to be from that area.

The virtual academy doesn鈥檛 turn students away based on their reason to enroll, Correa said, but it monitors their progress. If a student isn鈥檛 thriving, she meets with a parent to make a plan, like tutoring or switching the child to in-person school.

Schools can deny virtual education if they document that it鈥檚 not in the student鈥檚 best interest.

鈥淢y goal before getting to that point is always to have the parent make that decision for themselves through very hard conversation,鈥� Correa said. 鈥淏ut it does happen.鈥�

Problems can arise when the virtual school doesn鈥檛 think it can fulfill an individualized education program, or IEP, often used to support students with disabilities.

鈥淭he parent has the option to return to in-person learning or waive the IEP, and then their student does not get that support,鈥� Correa said. 鈥淭hey almost never waive the IEP.鈥�

Students can also get removed from virtual school, and referred for truancy, if they stop signing in or engaging at all for too many days.

Correa said she鈥檚 also attentive to offering ways for virtual students to get more comfortable with in-person interaction.

Virtual school students can attend optional in-person events and participate in Brookside clubs and sports.

鈥淚f they want to kind of test the water, the opportunity is there,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f a student is saying to me, 鈥業 am ready to go in a building,鈥� then OK. But then also, if a student is saying to me, 鈥業 need out of the building,鈥� OK, I鈥檓 here. I just don鈥檛 want to disrupt their education.鈥�

How virtual learning works 

Right before the school year started, Brookside Charter School鈥檚 STEAM lab was set up for virtual academy orientation.

Teachers and school leaders passed out laptops, hot spots for internet access and school supplies.

The supply bags include books, basics like pencils and glue, whiteboards and dry erase markers (extra for younger kids, who tend to leave the caps off), and individually packaged science kits for lessons on the solar system, geology or density.

But first, families settled in for a presentation to learn the basics.

Brookside Virtual Academy starts at 9 a.m. with a lesson on leadership.

Most days, students then launch into reading class, followed by math. Wednesdays are for science.

Students spend about two and a half hours in live virtual lessons each day, and another 90 minutes online working through a task list that includes social studies and science.

Live classes use video calls and technology that lets teachers monitor what students are looking at and control their screens.

Parents aren鈥檛 responsible for teaching their kids, but they鈥檙e expected to keep in touch and generally make sure the students are online and on task.

Connecting with families

For some parents, being extra involved in part of the draw.

Wilson, the parent of three kids in the program, said he appreciates that it cuts the school day down to essentials, allowing parents to be more strategic about where they put time into their kids鈥� education.

Bolder, the parent of a first grader, said she鈥檚 looking forward to more easily monitoring what her daughter is learning so she can help supplement that.

Virtual education makes it easier to connect with families, said Tina Duvall, a reading and math interventionist for kindergarten through fourth grade.

鈥淚 get to be in their home with them. It takes away a whole lot of anxiety for kids,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 thought in my years past teaching that I knew 鈥� really, really knew 鈥� my students鈥� families, but not like this.鈥�

Duvall will be working with breakout groups of students, grouped by grade or ability level.

With about 100 students as of Aug. 20, two or three grades are combined under each of four virtual academy teachers. But staggered schedules and help from interventionists like Duvall will allow each grade to learn separately.

The biggest challenge, Duvall said, is not being able to sit by a student to point things out or hand them what they need.

鈥淵ou just want to reach through the screen and help,鈥� she said.

Bolder and Wilson said they have their kids in in-person activities so they can socialize. But they鈥檙e not sure if they鈥檒l ever go to in-person school.

鈥淭here shouldn鈥檛 be such a thing as a bad school,鈥� Wilson said. 鈥淏ut because there is, until we鈥檙e able to put our kids in a good school 鈥� then we feel like we鈥檙e more suited to teach our kids at home.鈥�

This first appeared on and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

OKLAHOMA CITY 鈥� When Zari Bigelow started looking into virtual charter schools for her son, only two options existed.

Twelve years later, Bigelow鈥檚 son, Ashton, 18, is now about to graduate from one of those schools and go to college, having spent his entire K-12 experience in public virtual education.

Her son was lucky that Oklahoma Virtual Charter Academy was the right school for him, she said. The Broken Arrow family tried a year with Epic Charter School, but Bigelow said it wasn鈥檛 as good of a fit.

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鈥淚f we didn鈥檛 have any other options,鈥� Bigelow said, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think Ashton would have been as successful as he is right now.鈥�

That鈥檚 why Bigelow said she鈥檚 been happy to see more virtual charter schools opening in Oklahoma, giving parents today more choices.

Seven virtual charter schools are currently operating in the state, and an eighth has been approved to open later this year.

But as the number of virtual schools continues to climb and as even more apply for authorization, state officials have started to question how many more of these niche schools Oklahoma needs.

The state could surpass a 鈥渟aturation point鈥� if officials aren鈥檛 careful, said Robert Franklin, chairperson of the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board. The board is responsible for authorizing and overseeing all virtual charter schools in the state.

The thought crossed Franklin鈥檚 mind as the board considered two recent applications for new schools. The board rejected both proposals in a March 11 meeting over concerns neither had a fully developed plan for operations and finances.

Franklin said he鈥檚 unsure where the saturation point is, but a sign that Oklahoma has exceeded it could be the day when virtual enrollment reaches its natural limit and students move between schools based on which has the better marketing campaign.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 healthy,鈥� Franklin said.

Rep. Mark McBride, R-Moore, said these schools should produce better academic results before the state considers opening more.

Each of the virtual charter school systems that participated in state reading, math and science tests in spring 2023 scored below the state average for districtwide results, state data shows.

McBride, who leads a House subcommittee on education funding, said there are reasons to have virtual charter schools, but right now 鈥渢hey鈥檙e not doing the job they should be doing.鈥�

鈥淚t raises doubts,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 would like to see these academic scores come up before we entertain this any further.鈥�

School choice advocates, though, say the state shouldn鈥檛 put limits on the virtual options available to families.

There could be a ceiling to how many students will seek out this type of education, but that doesn鈥檛 mean officials should curb the number of virtual charter schools, said Barry Schmelzenbach, executive director of the Oklahoma Public Charter School Association.

Some schools might keep their enrollment low to maintain highly specialized services, meaning there could be room for more online programs, Schmelzenbach said. Oklahoma hasn鈥檛 鈥渃ome anywhere near where that saturation point would be,鈥� he said.

Most virtual charter schools set capacity limits, but they have flexibility to adjust and admit more students during the school year.

Epic is the largest school by a wide margin with 27,000 students. All other virtual charter schools in the state have fewer than 3,500 children enrolled.

About 5% of Oklahoma鈥檚 700,000 public school students are enrolled in a virtual charter school, according to 2024 enrollment figures from the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

That exceeds the national rate.

Only 1% of American public school students were enrolled in a virtual school in the 2021-22 school year, the most recent year of data available from the .

That data includes the hundreds of thousands of students who temporarily flocked to virtual schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those numbers have since declined in Oklahoma, as students returned to their brick-and-mortar schools.

Only 36 states had virtual schools as of 2021-22. Among them, Oklahoma had the sixth highest virtual school enrollment, leading other states that had dozens more online options to choose from, compiled by the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado-Boulder.

Bigelow said she thinks the demand for virtual learning will grow now that more families tried it during the pandemic.

鈥淚 think more and more and more parents are seeing the positive things that (come from) a situation where you have full control on how your child is being treated and how they鈥檙e being taught,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd I think more and more people are going to be looking into that. And so we need more schools so they鈥檙e able to actually do that.鈥�

However, Franklin, of the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, said he doubts online enrollment is going to get close to the pandemic peak any time soon.

After rapidly becoming the largest school district in the state in 2020, Epic lost tens of thousands of students over the following years. State data shows it鈥檚 still seeing a decline, with a 5% decrease this year compared to its 2022-23 student count.

Despite that, Epic remains the third largest school district in Oklahoma.

Unlike Epic, most of the seven virtual charter schools saw growth this school year, and none more so than Insight School of Oklahoma. The alternative education school serving 1,100 students at risk of not graduating grew its enrollment by 19% this school year and by 35% the year before, state data shows.

Executive Director Jennifer Wilkinson said Insight School would support further efforts to expand educational choice in the state.

鈥淢any families have found success for their students in a virtual school, and many more would like to consider the option,鈥� Wilkinson said in a statement to Oklahoma Voice. 鈥淚nsight School of Oklahoma meets a unique need in the market, as evidenced by our continued growth.鈥�

Another virtual charter school yet to open could demonstrate a growing interest in online education.

As it prepares for its inaugural school year in August, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School expects most of its future students are attending brick-and-mortar schools right now, said Brett Farley, a member of the school鈥檚 board of directors.

St. Isidore would be the nation鈥檚 first religious charter school. Multiple lawsuits are challenging its existence, but without a court order blocking it, St. Isidore is preparing to open next school year with a maximum of 500 students in year one.

Farley said the school could attract Catholic families who live in areas where a parish school isn鈥檛 available and students whose learning styles could be better served in a virtual environment rather than traditional, in-person schooling.

Students of all backgrounds and faiths can attend St. Isidore, but its unique characteristics mean it appeals to a niche audience that would stick with the school even if more virtual charter options open in the state, he said.

The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa are supportive of the state adding more virtual schools.

鈥淭he multiplicity of options is what鈥檚 going to help kids the most,鈥� Farley said.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janelle Stecklein for questions: info@oklahomavoice.com. Follow Oklahoma Voice on and .

By March 20, I鈥檇 realized that this was one of Those Moments, a historical signpost when your choices and behavior will echo back at you later, whenever someone asks, 鈥淲here were you when?鈥� By the middle of that summer, though, as my social world filled with people shocked that their vacations and family reunions had become superspreader events, I鈥檇 also realized that we were collectively going to spend most of this catastrophe it away. 

The rest, as they sort of say, became history. The pandemic鈥檚 consequences were 鈥� are 鈥� too dire to ignore, but also too inconvenient to fully acknowledge. Four years later, we鈥檙e also at an awkward remove from its most dramatic moments: The pandemic is largely concluded as an historical event, yet we鈥檙e not yet far enough out to have anything like a clear view of what鈥檚 happened. Most of us are still too battered from the burdens we carried to pause and genuinely reflect. We鈥檝e all spent so many hours of the past four years jabbering into webcams at screenfuls of tiled faces. March 2020 was so many pixels ago. 

That鈥檚 why this anniversary should also be an invitation to extend a modicum of grace to ourselves, our peers and our schools. These were four punishing years. Pretending they can be quickly shaken off is . Both individually and collectively, Americans have not yet accepted the scope of the tragedy and we鈥檙e taking it out on our schools. 

This odd unwillingness to recognize the pandemic as an unavoidable calamity is part of why we鈥檙e still endlessly relitigating pandemic mitigation measures in schools 鈥� closures, masks, quarantine policies, and the like. If, in 2019, we鈥檇 conducted a thought experiment, asking folks to predict the educational impact of a then-hypothetical viral pandemic that would be transmitted via breathing and , most of us would agree that kids wouldn鈥檛 steam forth making the usual academic progress. 

And indeed, the real pandemic unquestionably U.S. students鈥� academic trajectories, even if they appear to . Yet here on the other side of that disaster, we鈥檙e determined to assign blame for dips in U.S. students鈥� academic achievement, as if learning loss could have 鈥� should have 鈥� been avoided in a moment of . Say it plain: There was no educational and public health playbook that could have wholly averted the pandemic鈥檚 impacts on kids., 鈥淸T]he declines, all told, strike me as relatively small, given the context: a brutal pandemic that terrified the country and killed more than a million of its citizens, upending nearly every aspect of our lives along the way.鈥�

But because we can鈥檛 face that, we鈥檙e now in an educational 鈥淥ne Weird Trick鈥� era, as the field floods with quick-fix solutions to reversing the pandemic鈥檚 impacts (particularly with federal pandemic recovery ESSER funds sunsetting). While it鈥檚 always appropriate to prioritize high-quality learning opportunities for children, it鈥檚 a short step from 鈥渓et鈥檚 help kids accelerate their learning鈥� to 鈥渋f we do enough now, we can 鈥� yet again 鈥� banish the pandemic鈥檚 impacts from kids鈥� lives鈥� (particularly if we just buy the right new ed tech product). 

The reality is much harsher. Researchers have known for years that it鈥檚 much tougher to shift students鈥� academic trajectories later in their careers. That鈥檚 why children who miss early literacy benchmarks . It鈥檚 also why investments in high-quality early learning 鈥� like universal pre-K programs 鈥� . Now, we have a country of children who, again, , faced . that closures contributed to lost learning, but only as one of many, interrelated variables, and 鈥� as noted above 鈥� students鈥� academic achievement in the U.S. appears to have suffered less than it did for students in peer countries that reopened on different timelines and with different COVID mitigation strategies.

Furthermore, the educational story of the past few years is far more complicated and painful than we鈥檇 like to admit and its aftereffects won鈥檛 vanish because we invest in some limited tutoring programs. Nor could they have been averted if only schools had found some magic mitigations formula to maintain normalcy for kids even as a whole lot of us repeatedly exempted ourselves from responsibility for flattening the curve. 

Why are we so resistant to facing this fact of the pandemic, even now that it鈥檚 mostly receded from daily life? It鈥檚 flatly impossible to look back at these four years without seeing how national leaders鈥� rhetoric drove this attitude: real and massive suffering coupled with willful self-deception and disinformation. The Trump administration flailed through COVID鈥檚 early stages, insisting it would be over in a few days or weeks, then dabbling in pseudoscience 鈥� remember , , and light and/or disinfectant 鈥溾�� into people鈥檚 lungs? 

That deadly unseriousness was contagious and collectively punishing. We鈥檒l never know how the country would have behaved under less erratic leadership, but this band of feckless incompetents convinced masses of Americans that the pandemic could be largely ignored if we just wanted it badly enough. Their glib irresponsibility built the narrative that still plagues U.S. public education today 鈥� this notion that schools could somehow persist as normal when absolutely nothing around them was. It seems obvious that the ungainly federal response damaged Americans鈥� trust in public institutions and the social strains it caused ripped deeper holes in our shared social fabric. 

American pandemic flounderings were also personally crushing for many of us. Looking back, I feel a flat, dull, full-body weight settle back into my spine, that familiar 2020-vintage exhaustion. And that鈥檚 why, I know this for certain: whatever we all think now about the precise sequence of school closures, reopenings, mitigations, learning loss, and so forth, the past four years ripped a chunk out of the well-being of U.S. , and . 

That鈥檚 probably the clearest reason that the country鈥檚 still so determined to shift the pandemic out of mind and/or erase its impacts. No one wants to accept how far it knocked us 鈥� and our children 鈥� off the trajectories we hoped we were following. I remember reaching a point in the endless work-life-kids-panic pandemic juggle where I developed this yearning to just sit quietly on a rocky beach somewhere and watch the waves roll in. To just meditate and let my mind unspool from the tension of masks and ambulances. 

I kept telling my wife, 鈥淚 bet I could sit there and stare for days before my head finally got back to something like normal.鈥�

In the 2021-22 school year, more than one in four U.S. public school students missed at least 10% of school days. Before the pandemic, it was closer to one in seven, the Associated Press , relying on data from 40 states and the District of Columbia. 

In New York City, the nation鈥檚 largest district, chronic absenteeism , according to district officials, meaning some 375,000 students were regularly absent. In Washington, D.C., it . In Detroit, .

Data are just beginning to emerge for the most recent school year, but a few snapshots present a troubling picture:

• In Oakland, Calif., district officials said were chronically absent in the 2022-23 school year; 
• In Providence, R.I., the district in September said of students missed at least 10 percent last year;
• And in suburban , near Washington, D.C., about 27% of students were chronically absent last year, up from 20% four years earlier. As elsewhere, high school students were more likely to be chronically absent. 

While many policymakers have cited disconnection from school as a key reason for the problem, others say it has different causes unique to the times we鈥檙e in 鈥� causes that educators have rarely had to deal with so fully until now, from the death of caregivers to rising teacher absences and even, for older students, a more attractive labor market. 

Here, according to researchers, school officials and parents鈥� organizations, among others, are six hidden (and not-so-hidden) reasons that chronic absenteeism rates remain high.

1. Worsening mental health

In a by the National Center for Education Statistics, 70% of public schools reported an increase in the percentage of students seeking mental health services at school since the start of the pandemic; 76% reported an increase in staff voicing concerns about students with symptoms of depression, anxiety and trauma.

And after modest declines in 2019 and 2020, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported during the pandemic. Suicides are rising fastest among young people, among other groups.

鈥淲e’re in the middle of a mental health crisis for kids,鈥� said , president of the National Parents Union. She said mental health support, both in our public education system and larger health care system, is inadequate to deal with the crisis.

鈥淜ids are literally refusing to go [to school]. That is a major issue that I hear from parents every day. ‘I can’t get my kid up. They do not want to go.’鈥�

For many students, school has lost its value, she said, 鈥渂ecause there’s not a lot of meat on the bone,鈥� either because instruction has worsened or because many students feel they can do what鈥檚 required from home. 

2. Death of caregivers

As many as in the U.S. have lost one or both parents to the pandemic, researchers now estimate, with about 359,000 losing a primary or secondary caregiver, including a grandparent.

Those losses hit hardest in multigenerational, low-income households, since many grandparents and other relatives were playing caregiving roles, said , a research professor at Johns Hopkins University鈥檚 School of Education. 鈥淚t now falls to the teenagers,鈥� he said. Even those who don鈥檛 care for younger siblings may now need to do so for surviving parents or even grandparents, making school less of a priority.

3. Teacher absences 

Among the most politically charged storylines to emerge from the pandemic was the that of teachers and other school staff pushing to ensure their safety, often by keeping schools operating remotely or demanding generous COVID-related sick-day policies.

The result has been an explosion of teacher absenteeism alongside that of students. In Illinois, just 66% of teachers had fewer than 10 absences in 2022. In west of Chicago, it was even lower at just 54% of teachers.

A May 2022 found that chronic teacher absenteeism during the 2021-22 school year had increased in 72% of schools, compared to a typical pre-pandemic school year. In 37% of schools, teacher absenteeism increased 鈥渁 lot.鈥�  

Simultaneously, it found, 60% of schools nationwide found it harder to find substitute teachers. And when subs couldn鈥檛 be found, 73% of schools brought in administrators to cover classes.

That makes school a lot less valuable for students, said Rodrigues. 鈥淲hat we saw in COVID is how little instruction many of our kids are actually getting,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd so it’s very hard as a parent to make the argument: ‘No, you’ve got to go. This is important for your future,’ when all you’re doing there is sitting and watching a movie because you have a sub again and again and again.鈥�

4. Remote assignments

While many students struggled to keep up with schoolwork during the pandemic, the experience revolutionized schools鈥� thinking about remote learning. Most significantly, it gave students the ability to complete classwork entirely at home, without stepping into the school building. In many districts, schools have continued to allow students to, in essence, work from home like their parents.

Combined with looser rules around sick-day attendance, observers say, this has resulted in millions of students 鈥� and their parents 鈥� deciding that five-day-a-week school attendance is no longer mandatory. 

鈥淜ids don’t see why they can’t ,鈥� said Tim Daly, former president of TNTP and co-founder of the consulting firm . In a recent issue of his newsletter, Daly noted that when students miss a day of school, 鈥渁ll the work is available online in real-time, making it simple for a student to complete it all from home before the day is even done.鈥�

Given the low quality of instruction that many parents saw during the pandemic, he said, parents now are less likely to worry if their child is missing a day. 鈥淪itting in a desk for six hours a day,鈥� he wrote, 鈥渋s for suckers.鈥�

Student testimonials bear that out, said Montgomery County鈥檚 Neff.

Students in focus groups now tell administrators that five-day-a-week attendance now seems optional, he said. 鈥淭hey’ve told us repeatedly, ‘We got so used to a year-and-a-half or more taking classes, sitting on our bed in our pajamas on our computer.’ And many of them are continuing a struggle to get back into school regularly.鈥�

Students who learned reasonably well at home, he said, now wonder, 鈥溾�榃hy are you telling me now I have to sit in seven periods a day for five days a week?’ 

At one of the nation鈥檚 most renowned suburban high schools, New Trier High School near Chicago, the percentage of chronically absent students rose to more than 25% last winter, the Chicago Tribune . Absenteeism rose as students got older, officials noted, with rates of just over 14% for freshmen but nearly 38% for seniors.

By late May, even the student editors of the school newspaper declared that they : 鈥淲hile this trend isn鈥檛 unique to New Trier,鈥� they wrote in an editorial, 鈥渋t鈥檚 also not acceptable. We believe that both the school and students need to do more.鈥�

Jean Hahn, a New Trier board member, last spring pointed out that many adults now work remotely. 鈥淪o many of us don鈥檛 have to be at our desk 9-5 Monday through Friday anymore,鈥� Hahn told attendees at a board meeting. 鈥淚t鈥檚 challenging for parents to explain to our young people why they do.鈥�

5. A higher minimum wage

Over the past few years, more than half of the 50 states have been in a kind of arms race to raise their minimum wage, tempting teens to trim their school hours or drop out altogether to help their families get by.

While the federal minimum wage since 2009 has remained $7.25, 30 states have set theirs higher, according to the left-leaning . While just four states and the District of Columbia now guarantee a minimum wage at or above $15, eight states are on pace to get there by 2026 or sooner.

In states offering $15 an hour, said Hopkins鈥� Balfanz, this likely made the absentee problem worse. 

鈥淭hat’s real money to a 17-year-old,鈥� he said, offering them both a bit of personal agency and the opportunity to help out their families. 鈥淭hings that did not make sense at $6 an hour do make sense, then, at $15.鈥�

Steven Neff, director of pupil personnel and attendance services for Montgomery County Public Schools, the suburban D.C. district, said students 鈥渁re telling us that there is great value in being able to have a job that is paying reasonably well.鈥� Minimum wage work, he said, now 鈥渉as even greater financial enticements than when I think about minimum wage when I was their age.鈥� 

6. Better record-keeping

One reason why chronic absenteeism seems to be spreading may have less to do with actual attendance and more with better record-keeping by districts and states.

Until recently, researchers found that the problem was often confined mostly to high-poverty neighborhoods. 

But here鈥檚 the thing: A decade ago, few schools even kept track of chronic absenteeism. Most states didn鈥檛 actively track it until 2016, when new flexibility under the federal allowed them to choose indicators of school quality according to their own desired outcomes. That鈥檚 when about 30 states made it an indicator in their accountability systems 鈥� and on school report cards.

Before that, Balfanz said, school districts typically measured average daily attendance, which could actually mask high chronic absenteeism that lurked around the edges. It’s mathematically possible, he said, to have an average daily attendance of 92% 鈥渂ut still have a fifth of your kids missing a month of school. Different kids on different days are making up that 92%.鈥�

So by 2020, when the pandemic hit, schools had only been tracking it for a few years and had few good strategies to address it, Balfanz said. 鈥淚t’s relatively new. And then the pandemic spread it everywhere.鈥�

Where do we go from here?

At New Trier, student pressure eventually paid off, resulting in a new plan this fall: In preparation for the 2023-24 school year, a school committee recommended for absences, including just five 鈥渕ental health days鈥� per year. It also bans students from participating in extracurriculars if they鈥檙e not in class that day. They鈥檒l get an email by 3:15 p.m. notifying them not to show up to sports or other activities.

Simple interventions can also help: A found that offering parents personalized nudges by mail about their kids鈥� absences reduced chronic absenteeism by 10% or more, partly by correcting parents鈥� incorrect beliefs that their kids hadn鈥檛 missed as much school as they actually had 鈥� research shows that both parents and students underestimate it by nearly 50%.

That鈥檚 probably preferable to how many schools attack the problem, via 鈥渟upportive鈥� phone calls home, said Hopkins鈥� Balfanz. 鈥淲ho’s going to make 150 phone calls a day in a school?鈥� he said. 鈥淚f you have that one person assigned to it, they literally would be spending the whole day calling.鈥�

EdNavigator鈥檚 Daly says schools should reset the discussion around attendance, urging parents to let their kids miss school as rarely as possible and communicate honestly about absentee rates.

Neff, the Montgomery County attendance services director, said transparency 鈥渋ncreases the urgency in all of us鈥� and is essential if schools want to get parents on board.

鈥淚n order to fully have them understand the gravity of the situation, we needed to show them: 鈥楬ere is our data. Here is where it was, here is where it is and where it is for certain groups. We need your help to fix this.鈥� 鈥�

With Lahaina schools set to reopen in about two weeks, Stefanie Hegrenes said her two youngest children are ready for a semblance of normalcy and eager to return to their friends and extracurricular activities on campus.

But she鈥檚 not sure she鈥檚 ready to pull them out of the distance learning program they began attending along with hundreds of other children after the deadly Aug. 8 fire that left much of their town in ruins. One school 鈥� King Kamehameha III Elementary 鈥� was destroyed beyond repair, while the other three temporarily closed for repair and cleanup efforts.

In the coming days, Hegrenes hopes to see for herself if the three Lahaina schools set to reopen over three days beginning Oct. 16 have clean air and safe water. State education and health officials have repeatedly assured the public that extensive air, drinking water and soil quality testing at the schools .

鈥淎s a parent, I just want to make absolutely sure that my kids are going back to a safe environment,鈥� Hegrenes said.

As concerns about schools鈥� reopening abound, Lahaina families continue to seek alternatives even as the DOE scales back its distance learning options. A waitlist for the , which provides in-person support for children taking online classes, suggests that demand remains high.

Distance Learning Hub To Close But Program Continues

The DOE plans to close the hub on Thursday, although the state distance learning program will remain open for families. The department is assessing families鈥� future plans before making staffing decisions, said Teri Ushijima, assistant superintendent for the DOE鈥檚 office of curriculum and instructional design.

Demand for distance learning spiked in late August and early September, with the DOE鈥檚 program increasing by approximately 500 Maui students as some parents sought alternatives to enrolling their children in schools elsewhere on the island that took in many of the displaced students. For comparison, the distance learning program currently enrolls 192 students elsewhere in the state, Ushijima said.

Many displaced families went from emergency shelters to federally funded hotel rooms and had lost their cars, making distance learning an attractive option. The state DOE also provided Chromebooks to students in the distance learning program and hotspots to families with connectivity issues.

The state鈥檚 learning hub at Citizen Church has served more than 350 additional Maui students, who are counted separately from those completing their classes entirely online, according to DOE spokeswoman Nanea Kalani. 

At the peak of families鈥� interest in distance learning, students enrolling in the program had to wait for three to four weeks to start their programs as the DOE ordered 400 more Chromebooks and assigned Lahaina educators to online classes, Ushijima said.

Hegrenes signed her two youngest children 鈥� a sixth and an eighth grader 鈥� up for the program at the end of August, but they ended up on a waitlist. With no indication how long they would have to wait, Hegrenes bought every homeschooling book she could find and set her children to completing activities via . 

She added that, during those two weeks of uncertainty, she briefly thought about moving her family to her home state of Minnesota, where the school year wouldn鈥檛 start until early September. 

Although the online application for Maui families to enroll in distance learning states that the program still has a waitlist, Ushijima said this information is incorrect. The department no longer has a waitlist, although it takes around five days for students to receive their Chromebooks and start their remote classes, Ushijima added. 

The distance learning hub in West Maui, however, currently has 58 students on its waitlist, Kalani said. 

Mindi Cherry is one of 18 Lahaina teachers temporarily reassigned to the state鈥檚 distance learning program. 

Cherry, who had been a first-grade teacher at King Kamehameha III Elementary, currently co-teaches an online kindergarten class consisting of four Lahaina students. Her daughter, a seventh grader originally enrolled at Lahaina Intermediate, also takes online classes as part of the DOE鈥檚 distance learning program.

As both a parent and teacher, Cherry said she understands the benefits of distance learning, adding that the flexibility of online classes provided her daughter with stability and allowed her students to remain with their families during the day. But she and her daughter both plan on returning to their respective Lahaina campuses in October.

鈥業鈥檓 On A Waitlist Here, I鈥檓 On A Waitlist There鈥�

Families have other options. When Rita McClintock heard about the DOE鈥檚 waitlist, she enrolled her daughter in , a charter school offering hybrid and distance learning options to students across the state. Within a month of the fires, HTA opened a new campus in Lahaina, enrolling over 115 students in kindergarten to eighth grade who attend classes at the school two to three times a week. 

Once again, families鈥� demand exceeded available space: interim executive director Matt Zitello said HTA鈥檚 waitlist quickly filled to 300 students, forcing the school to close its applications in early September. Some of the families at the Lahaina campus sought out HTA after unsuccessful efforts to enter the DOE鈥檚 distance learning program, Zitello said. 

鈥淎 few families had said, 鈥極h, I鈥檓 on a waitlist here, I鈥檓 on a waitlist there,鈥欌�� Zitello said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e dismayed by the fact that they didn鈥檛 get into us.鈥� 

Smaller-scale efforts also emerged to meet families鈥� educational needs after the fires. McClintock runs a learning group for Lahaina families, relying on community volunteers and donations to teach approximately 20 kindergarten to sixth grade students for four hours a day. McClintock said half of her families came to her learning group when they were unable to transport their children to and from the West Maui learning hub, which provides instruction in two-and-a-half hour blocks. 

While McClintock plans on ending her learning group once Lahaina schools reopen, HTA has no intention of closing down its Lahaina campus. Instead, the school plans to hire more staff and relocate to a permanent location pending final approval from the State Public Charter School Commission, Zitello said.

He added that, despite the DOE鈥檚 announcement to reopen Lahaina schools, he has not heard of many families who plan on leaving HTA.

McClintock plans to keep her daughter enrolled since she appreciates the school鈥檚 stability and challenging curriculum.

鈥淪he鈥檚 in the program that鈥檚 right for her,鈥� McClintock said. 

Civil Beat鈥檚 education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.

Civil Beat鈥檚 coverage of Maui County is supported in part by grants from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.

This story was originally published in .

Mayor Eric Adams and the city鈥檚 second-largest union, the United Federation of Teachers, struck a tentative five-year agreement on Tuesday, one that significantly raises starting salaries for newly hired teachers and includes a major expansion of remote learning.

The deal, which must be approved by the union鈥檚 120,000 members, guarantees raises of 17.58% to 20.42% by 2026, including compounded wage increases and bonuses.

In addition to broadening an existing pilot on remote learning, high schools and combined middle-high schools will be able to offer virtual learning programs after school and on weekends. Students and teachers will have to volunteer to participate in the remote programs, according to a summary of the agreement.

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The UFT and the Adams administration also agreed to a yearly, perpetual retention bonus, which will top out at $1,000 by 2026, and an additional one-time $3,000 ratification bonus.

The starting salary for new teachers would be $72,349, including the bonuses, by the end of the proposed agreement 鈥� up from the current $61,070 floor, according to the UFT. The top salary for paraprofessionals would be $56,761.

The deal is retroactive to September 2021, when the most recent contract expired. It provides for 3% raises for the first three years and 3.25% bonus in the final two years, a pattern similar to that in February.

Adams announced the agreement from the City Hall rotunda Tuesday afternoon alongside UFT President Michael Mulgrew, Schools Chancellor David Banks and Office of Labor Relations Commissioner Renee Campion.

鈥淚鈥檓 proud to announce that the city of New York has reached a tentative five-plus year contract agreement with the United Federation of Teachers that provides substantial wage increases for the people who teach, support and safeguard our children and secures a fair deal for taxpayers as well,鈥� Adams said.

Virtual Expansion

The after-hours virtual learning expansion in the nation鈥檚 largest school district that allows students to log in, from their own school buildings, to take online courses taught by public school teachers in other parts of the city.

The program outlined in Tuesday鈥檚 tentative agreement would begin in the 2023-2024 school year, with 25% of high schools eligible to be selected. All high schools will be eligible to participate by 2027-28, according to the UFT鈥檚 summary of the agreement.

Students and teachers would not be required to participate in virtual learning. Rather, schools where students miss hours or days of school because of work would be able to offer virtual lessons outside of traditional school hours. Teachers would not take extra time in order to teach the after-hours virtual lessons: their time will be redistributed.

Adams said he was 鈥減roud鈥� of the proposed remote learning experiment, saying it 鈥渨ill create new opportunities for our students, including those who want the ability to take classes at non-traditional times like evenings and weekends, as well as those whom traditional in-person schedules don鈥檛 work for.鈥�

Mulgrew also noted the remote-learning pilot would also benefit students who fall behind on literacy.

In line with the contract covering DC37 municipal workers, some UFT members who do not work directly in schools would be eligible to work remotely up to two days a week under the deal, according to the teachers鈥� union.

Campion and Mulgrew said health care premiums and benefits, a key concern for many union members, remain unchanged.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not getting rid of our benefits,鈥� Mulgrew said in response to questions from THE CITY. 鈥淚 wish the rest of America would do what we鈥檙e doing here in New York City because health care is a crisis and it is destroying the pocketbooks of so many families.鈥�

Mulgrew also announced the tentative agreement will cut in half 鈥� from 15 to eight years 鈥� the length of time it takes most teachers to reach a salary of $100,000.

The union president also highlighted the retention bonus as a win for members.

鈥淎nd that goes on forever, in perpetuity,鈥� Mulgrew said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e saying to all of our titles and every member, whether you鈥檙e in the first year or your 25th year, New York City is saying that we appreciate you, and we recognize the challenges that you take on every day.鈥�

Additional reporting by Katie Honan

THE CITY is an independent, nonprofit news outlet dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that serves the people of New York.

Marissa Sladek knew her son Christopher had fallen far behind when she bought him a copy of Jack London鈥檚 鈥淭he Call of the Wild.鈥� The movie had opened just before the pandemic, and survival-themed fiction was his favorite.

Lockdown cut him off from literacy support he鈥檇 been receiving as a special education student. During remote learning, his autism and learning disabilities left him unable to navigate email or Google Meets. By the following year, when he entered the seventh grade, Christopher was reading near a third grade level.  

鈥淗e could read the words,鈥� his mother said, 鈥渂ut he couldn鈥檛 comprehend them.鈥� 

Sladek asked the Hillsborough Township Public Schools in central New Jersey about compensatory education 鈥� the term for a 诲颈蝉迟谤颈肠迟鈥檚 duty to make up services when it fails to provide them to students with disabilities. By Sladek鈥檚 calculation, her son had lost about 8,000 minutes of instruction. The district initially offered a fraction of that amount 鈥� 300 minutes 鈥� and according to her complaint, an official said they weren鈥檛 going to 鈥渄well on the past.鈥� An attorney for the district emailed to say officials don鈥檛 鈥渂elieve that Christopher is entitled to any compensatory education.鈥�

Parents around the country are facing similar pushback as they try to recoup services lost to the pandemic. It is the latest battle in one of the most litigated arenas in education. In , just 20% of parents of students with disabilities said their children were receiving required services and a said the pandemic was exacerbating learning gaps for those students.

But district officials say they can鈥檛 be blamed for a public health disaster that was out of their control. They insist teachers did the best they could under extraordinary circumstances. 

鈥淭here is no humanly way possible to make up for 12 months, 13 months, 14 months of services if a school was shut down. It would take years,鈥� said Phyllis Wolfram, executive director of the Council of Administrators of Special Education. 鈥淲e have to think reasonably and logically.鈥�

Federal officials see things differently and launched civil rights investigations in three districts and one state. Last month, the U.S. Department of Education reached with the Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia, requiring them to identify which students they failed to serve and begin to make up for it.

鈥淚 started shaking as I read the report, overwhelmed by happiness, sadness and anger,鈥� said Callie Oettinger, a parent advocate who runs focusing primarily on special education in Fairfax. 鈥淲e could have avoided the destruction done to kids and to the relationships between educators and parents.鈥�

But Wolfram said such requirements place undue burdens on school districts that are already spread thin. The debate is starting to play out in court. In , a federal judge ruled in March that the Beebe School District doesn鈥檛 have to pay a year of private school tuition for a student with dyslexia because teachers sent home packets of assignments and offered remote instruction.

A went in the opposite direction. A judge ruled in March that the district owes a child compensatory services because federal law 鈥渃ontains no exception that would allow suspending special education services because a global pandemic forced schools online.鈥�

Across the country, many parents didn鈥檛 hear from their children鈥檚 therapists or teachers for months after schools shut down. 

鈥淚 have seen so much neglect and carelessness and the absolute marginalization of these kids during and after the pandemic,鈥� said Georgianna Junco-Kelman, a special education attorney who represents families in Los Angeles. 鈥淭hese kids are not going to regain those skills. You don鈥檛 get that time back.鈥�

Multiple investigations 

The failure to maintain services for students caught the attention of former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in the of the Trump administration, sparking an investigation by the department鈥檚 Office for Civil Rights. 

The probe found that staff members counted simple emails and phone calls to families as actual services to students, and didn鈥檛 consider kids鈥� individual needs.

Under an Superintendent Alberto Carvalho signed in April 鈥� similar to the one in Fairfax 鈥� the district must determine how many of its 66,000 students with disabilities are now eligible for services. 

Similar probes targeted the and the after federal officials received multiple complaints from parents in the state.

Some districts did scramble to find solutions. Just weeks after schools shut down in New Jersey鈥檚 Tinton Falls School District, about an hour southeast of Hillsborough, special education director Kerri Walsifer began reviewing the individualized education programs that guide the instruction of special education students to see what the district could realistically provide.

And when educators couldn鈥檛 come through, she tried to make it right.

Prior to the pandemic, Tinton Falls paid for Lina Esposito鈥檚 daughter Ella, who has ADHD and autism, to attend school in the nearby Long Branch district, which was better equipped to meet her needs. But when students returned from remote learning last fall, teachers complained about Ella鈥檚 behavior. They said she refused to go outside for a fire drill, was a 鈥渟afety risk鈥� and that Long Branch was no longer a good fit.

But Walsifer didn鈥檛 have a spot for her in Tinton Falls either. That left Ella home with no services until this past February, when the district found her a new school.

The special education director arranged for Ella to receive speech therapy and behavioral support to make up for some of the services she missed.

鈥楾hey tear you up鈥� 

But other families found districts unwilling to negotiate. For Los Angeles parents Lori and Stephen Saux, the request for compensatory education turned into a drawn-out struggle that ended with them pulling their son Liam out of the district. 

鈥淭hey tear you up, and they make you feel helpless,鈥� Lori said.

During remote learning, Liam, who has Down Syndrome, didn鈥檛 receive most of the services spelled out in his IEP, such as a modified physical education program and a 鈥渞esource鈥� teacher to help him practice challenging words before answering questions aloud in class. 

To fill that void, his mother or father sat with him during Zoom sessions. The teachers would 鈥渏oke and say, 鈥榊ou should get your teaching credential because you鈥檙e so good,鈥� 鈥� Lori said. She didn鈥檛 find it funny. 

Last fall, when COVID cases among students, Liam鈥檚 doctor put him at a higher risk of infection and strongly advised against him returning to school in person until he was fully vaccinated. But school was the only place Liam could get the education he needed. 

The Catch-22鈥檚 didn鈥檛 end there. The 诲颈蝉迟谤颈肠迟鈥檚 home hospital program turned Liam down because he wasn鈥檛 sick, and his IEP said placing him in the remote, independent study program would be inappropriate.

Home for four months with no education, he eventually enrolled in a charter school.

A spokesperson for the district said 鈥渟tudent matters are confidential鈥� and wouldn鈥檛 discuss the case. 

Now at Citizens of the World, Liam remains uncomfortable in social situations after nearly two years without classmates and behavioral support, Lori said. It took him a while to sit with others at lunch and join in games. And he still struggles to construct a paragraph and 鈥済et out what he鈥檚 trying to say.鈥�

His parents started to help others advocate for their children and go into negotiations with districts knowing what to.expect.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think their goal is to correct things,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think their goal is to create a system that looks like they鈥檙e doing what they鈥檙e supposed to do.鈥�

鈥淚t was literally the best I鈥檝e ever done,鈥� he said, remembering how such moments fueled big ambitions for life after high school. 鈥淗alf the fun was 鈥� getting to perform at some college that I even thought about going to 鈥� like Stanford or Berkeley.鈥�

But less than two years later, the smile had faded 鈥� and so had the dreams. Just weeks into remote learning in the spring of 2020, Jason stopped attending class at American High School in Fremont. By the middle of the following year, he had descended into academic failure and depression. After months in which he had trouble getting out of bed, plagued by thoughts of suicide, he spent 10 days in a residential mental health facility.

鈥淚 felt so worthless,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 had no clue when things were going to go back to normal.鈥�

As scholars debate the pandemic鈥檚 effect on lost learning and student well-being, Jason鈥檚 story is a reminder of the suffering millions of young people experienced when they were no longer tethered to school. Cut off from friends, teachers and extracurricular activities, students reeled from the effects of school closures. And the aftershocks continue: Into early 2022, were still seeing spikes in students admitted for eating disorders, depression and suicidal behavior. 

鈥淐onnection to one another is a core need for all of us. Having that stripped away is traumatizing,鈥� said Karen Larsen, CEO of the Steinberg Institute, a Sacramento-based think tank focusing on mental health. She added that while some teens quickly bounced back, others 鈥渕ay never fully recover from what they have lived through these past few years.鈥�  

The shutdown 

Another snapshot, also pre-pandemic: A laughing Jason is carried by a friend in student council. They鈥檙e wearing pajamas, part of a promotion for a school movie night.

Typical Jason, thought his mother, Carol Finuliar. She posted on Facebook: 鈥淢y son does not have a self-conscious gene.鈥�

He was popular 鈥� and gifted. In sixth grade, he got 1,150 on an SAT practice test, a competitive score even for students much older.

By sophomore year, he was active in student council and president of the speech and debate club at his school in the 33,000-student Fremont Unified district. When the pandemic shuttered classrooms in March 2020, he was a kid whose 鈥渋dentity was tied to school,鈥� Carol said. 

Like most students in the Bay Area district, Jason faced lockdown with a mixture of shock and relief: He looked forward to an extended spring break. At first, he participated in Zoom classes and tried to have a 鈥渃ool background鈥� on his screen to stand out. 

But, as a teacher noted in comments later used to evaluate him for special education, and shared by his parents with 社区黑料, Jason quickly disconnected from school. 

鈥淗e was always a happy student ready to help others in the class,鈥� wrote Purvi Mehta, Jason鈥檚 10th-grade life sciences instructor. 鈥淎fter March 13, when we started distance learning, he stopped responding to my emails and submitting work.鈥�

Over time, Jason started thinking no one cared whether he made the effort. Rolling out of bed right before class, he grew self-conscious. 

鈥淢y hair is sticking up, and I鈥檓 wearing the same shirt for days on end,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 really feel like I was even in school. It felt like I was watching this movie on repeat, and I wasn鈥檛 necessarily enjoying this movie.鈥�

Like schoolwork, Jason鈥檚 favorite outlet 鈥�  鈥� went virtual. That, too, felt dispiriting. In junior high, he rehearsed speeches every day, starting a few weeks before a tournament, and practiced in front of friends and family.

A favorite selection was a one-man show in which he acted out a scene of a boy and girl running for class president, altering his voice to play each character.

But as competitions went remote, Jason found it too easy for students to cheat because they could read a 鈥渟cript鈥� on screen and record their entries.

All of this ran counter to what he loved about speech: the thrill of delivering a well-prepared address before a live audience.

鈥淭hat was the point of competition,鈥� he said.

鈥業 thought he was being lazy鈥�

Jason also lost motivation in other aspects of his life. By the summer of 2020, he had stopped taking care of Cookie, the family鈥檚 3-year-old shih tzu, and doing other chores. Increasingly frustrated, Carol sent him to stay for a month with her brother in Sacramento. 

“I just thought he was being lazy,鈥� she said. She and her husband felt 鈥渂lindsided鈥� by their son鈥檚 struggle. 鈥淚 didn’t know that you don’t choose to be depressed. I didn’t understand that at all.”

In fact, she initially worried more about Jason鈥檚 younger sisters, Julia and Cherie, who are more reserved than their outgoing brother. Julia, now a senior at American, said she actually found school easier online and 鈥渨ay more relaxed.鈥�

Jason, for his part, doesn鈥檛 remember a single argument that led to his ejection from the house 鈥� just that his mother 鈥測elled at [him] for random stuff.鈥� 

When he returned home in the fall and again refused to participate in remote classes, Carol made him get a job. 

That turned out to be a blessing.

Taking orders and making chalupas at Taco Bell funded his love of Nintendo Switch games like Minecraft and Mario Kart. Streaming games to Twitch, an interactive online platform, linked him to other players. In those moments, he felt less alone. 

And working fulfilled his need to interact with people in person. His mother remembers: The days he worked were the only times he got out of bed.

He also looked forward to sessions with Yvette Helmers, a school psychologist for the district and the only staff member to see him in person. At school, they talked about his anxiety. In psychology-speak, she said Jason experienced an 鈥渆mbedded level of maladaptive perfectionism.鈥� Avoiding stressful situations, for fear he couldn鈥檛 control the outcome, only made them harder to face. 

鈥淗e felt like, 鈥榃hat鈥檚 wrong with me? Why can鈥檛 I manage this? I鈥檓 just supposed to go to school,鈥� 鈥� she said. His response to closures, she added, was not atypical.

Jason鈥檚 decline from A and B sophomore to clinically depressed teen is a reminder that even students who had sailed through school and lived relatively comfortable, middle-class lives didn鈥檛 escape COVID鈥檚 gauntlet. But they also enjoy privileges many students do not. They typically have access to quality medical care and parents with the time and financial security to care for them. Scholars studying how prolonged continue to affect students say the damage to learning was far worse in high-poverty communities and for those who were already struggling.

By contrast, the median household income in Fremont is $142,000, roughly twice the statewide average. The district serves a majority Asian population, where many parents work in the tech sector for familiar brands like Apple and Tesla. In 2018, Meta鈥檚 Facebook expanded into a research and development hub not far from Jason鈥檚 high school. His father, Jesse, works as a computer programmer and networking engineer.

Growing up in a Filipino-American family, Jason lived with high expectations. Carol, a self-described 鈥渢iger mom,鈥� enrolled him in SAT prep classes in elementary school and, the summer after his freshman year, placed him in a community college astronomy class taught by a former NASA engineer.

A doctor later suggested that maybe Carol was pushing him too hard. At the time, she was offended.

Such behavior is by no means unique. 鈥淔remont is a very high-performing district,鈥� Helmers said. 鈥淪tudents already have a high level of depression. People say, 鈥楾hey have everything 鈥� access to tutors, technology. Why would they not do well?鈥� 鈥�

But beneath the high GPAs and extracurricular activities, she said, is often an unhealthy pattern of behavior 鈥� staying up past midnight and going to school sleep-deprived. By the time the pandemic began, she said, 鈥渢hey were already taxed.鈥�

Thoughts of suicide

Midway through the school year, Jason鈥檚 mental state worsened. On his 17th birthday, Jan. 21, 2021, Carol made pancakes with whipped cream and berries 鈥� his favorite. But he didn鈥檛 get out of bed. 

Jason began to think 鈥� and dream 鈥� about suicide. In one recurring nightmare, he stepped off the end of a pier. By day, he thought of jumping off the Dumbarton Bridge, which connects Fremont to Palo Alto over San Francisco Bay. 

He told a doctor he had placed a metal coat hanger in the closet around his neck to see if it would support his weight. It didn鈥檛.

The situation was serious enough that a psychiatrist referred him to Sunol Hills 鈥� a single-story house in a residential area of Fremont converted into a treatment facility for youth with behavioral health problems. In a recurring theme, his stay there wasn鈥檛 a dark period he鈥檇 like to forget, he said; rather, it filled a deep need for human contact. 

鈥淚t felt nice to be around people my age,鈥� Jason said. 鈥淚 felt understood.鈥�

He had his own room and went to sleep to the sound of a passing train. During the day, patients took supervised walks through the neighborhood and played card games like .

As nourishing as the experience felt, Jason said he never forgot where he was. After the games, staff locked up the cards because some teens had a history of cutting themselves. 

There were no hangers in the closet.

鈥楩ighting against everything鈥�

Meanwhile, Carol put aside hopes for college scholarships and honed her advocacy skills. A workers鈥� compensation attorney for the state, she took off as many as four days a week to 鈥渄eal with the school and get him treatment.鈥� 

By March 2021, roughly 43% of schools nationwide or offered a hybrid split between remote and in-person learning, according to the Center on Reinventing Public Education, a think tank that tracked school closures. Brown University economist Emily Oster鈥檚 of test data in several states confirms those with less access to in-person learning saw drops in proficiency as high as 20 percent. 

California were among the last to reopen, and Jason鈥檚 district finished out the 2020-21 school year online.

Carol attended regular school board meetings, fired off lengthy emails to administrators with links to about learning loss and pushed officials to evaluate Jason for special education services to alleviate his depression. She hoped to ease Jason back into school by getting him more time on tests and the ability to skip missed assignments.

In doing so, she got a glimpse of the bureaucratic morass so many parents with children in special education face. A 鈥渟tudent study team鈥� first met in January 2021 to take up the family鈥檚 request. But it wasn鈥檛 until May, just weeks before the end of the school year, that the team determined Jason was eligible for an individualized education program, or IEP 鈥� a plan that outlined the additional services and accommodations he would receive.

The report determined that 鈥渢he situational factors of the pandemic cannot be ruled out as contributors to his mental health and academic performance.鈥� 

Despite her activism, Carol felt helpless as neighboring districts gradually implemented hybrid schedules. 

She saw other families flee the district for private schools.

Some left the state.

Fremont parent Nely Rojas-Matteo helped organize to force an in-person option that spring, but soon moved with her family to Florida, where schools were open. 

鈥淲e were fighting against everything and everyone,鈥� she said. 

But the situation in Fremont complicates a pandemic narrative that typically pits angry parents against reluctant educators. Rojas-Matteo said it was hard to get the district’s 鈥渞isk-averse鈥� families on board with reopening, even after said it was safe for students to return and warned of 鈥済rave mental health problems鈥� if they didn鈥檛. 

Nationally, Asian families were the most hesitant to resume in-person learning, a fact researchers attribute to of COVID caution and fears of linked to the virus鈥檚 origin in China. Even in Fremont, an Asian woman and her 10-year-old daughter were of 鈥淕o back to China鈥� by a neighbor in October 2020. 

In an email to 社区黑料, Fremont Superintendent C.J. Cammack insisted the district 鈥渃entered the well-being of our students and staff at every turn in the decision-making process.鈥�
 
For example, Fremont opened some classrooms for on-site learning in March 2021 and added 鈥渨ellness centers鈥� at high schools that fall.
 
But the in-person hubs turned out to be classrooms where students sat together while teachers remained virtual. Jason found the scene 鈥渃haotic鈥� and asked not to return.
 
Helmers, the school psychologist, described the wellness centers as places where students can read, paint, drink tea or 鈥渟it and do nothing.鈥� However, neither Jason nor his sister Julia said they knew anything about the center at their high school.

In the push to reopen, several California districts took advantage of from the state and reached agreements with unions for teachers to return. Not Fremont. By the end of that March, Cammack 鈥� appointed just before the 2020-21 school year 鈥� that talks with the union had broken down. 

The union the district for the failure to find 鈥渕iddle ground鈥� and said teachers 鈥渃arried the weight鈥� of knowing that most parents weren鈥檛 even interested in returning to in-person learning before the end of the year.

Brannin Dorsey, current president of the 1,700-member Fremont Teachers Association, wasn鈥檛 in charge then.

And she鈥檇 rather not play 鈥渁rmchair quarterback and critique how it could have been done differently,鈥� she told 社区黑料. 

鈥淚 think the entire nation is thinking about that.鈥�

鈥楪enuinely wanted 鈥� my diploma鈥�

As the school year drew to a close, Jason grew so desperate to escape the daily pressure of signing on to Zoom that he was prepared to leave high school for good. In his IEP evaluation, he told educators he 鈥渟aw no value鈥� in remote learning. He took the high school equivalency exam 鈥� an option far more typical of students who have already dropped out. 

For Carol, the test offered a final 鈥渢icket out鈥� of regular calls about Jason鈥檚 truancy. 

He passed the exam 鈥� remotely 鈥� despite panicky feelings over a proctor watching him on camera. A picture Carol took of him holding his certificate offers almost a reverse image of the happy kid in the snapshot from two years earlier. Standing in the kitchen, hair almost covering his eyes, he looks defeated.

鈥淚t was heartbreaking,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t was such an accomplishment, but he couldn鈥檛 celebrate or find anything to be proud of.鈥�

Something was missing. For a student who had once been so immersed in school, he still felt driven to stay on a traditional path toward graduation. When American reopened in person last fall, his friends persuaded him to return for senior year.

鈥淚 genuinely wanted to get my diploma from that school,鈥� he said. 

But he remained emotionally fragile. One teacher refused to give him more time on tests, as his IEP stipulated. He came home in tears the Thursday before Halloween and didn鈥檛 join friends going out in costume. By Monday, Carol told the school he wouldn鈥檛 be coming back. 

Post-high school, he worked at a grocery store 鈥� hours that Carol believes contributed to his healing 鈥� and spent spare time playing Pok茅mon with friends he made at a comic book shop near his old junior high. 

Carol didn鈥檛 let up on making sure he enrolled in school somewhere. But the thought of entering college only reminded him why he had left American. Jason worried professors wouldn鈥檛 make accommodations for him. During the summer, he said, he still needed 鈥渢ime to work through the trauma.鈥�

A student accessibility office at Ohlone, a community college in Fremont, gave him the time and space to do that. Over the course of several visits to the campus, counselors broke down the admissions process into small steps and assured him that instructors would consider his needs. In late July, he registered for the fall semester. Carol said she 鈥渘early cried.鈥�

On Aug. 29, his father made him a breakfast burrito and Jason reported to class. 

In looking back at her son’s two-year ordeal, Carol remains bewildered by how quickly school closures knocked Jason off course. Despite her disappointment that he鈥檚 not attending a traditional university this fall, she has learned to focus on his happiness.

鈥淲e are all a little bit more aware of mental wellness,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t is so hard to accomplish anything when you’re depressed. The healing process is so slow, it’s painful.鈥� 

Carol believes that Jason no longer feels like a failure, but still worries 鈥渙ne little obstacle will set him off.鈥�

His progress, while visible, is far from linear. Relearning study habits hasn鈥檛 been easy.  Sometimes, he procrastinates on assignments and skips class.

Carol tells him to break up homework into one-hour increments and often sits with him in his room to get it done. He especially enjoys his Japanese class, and a county rehabilitation agency is helping him look for a new job.

For Jason, there’s solace in knowing he’s not alone. A friend in his early morning English class recently opened up about feelings of anxiety. 

鈥淚t’s kind of comforting knowing that he’s sharing with me what he’s going through,鈥� he said.

When his own dark thoughts return, Jason remembers he鈥檚 鈥渂een through so much worse.鈥� And he鈥檚 in a counseling program at Ohlone that will give him a better shot at transferring into highly competitive Berkeley 鈥� a goal he鈥檚 rekindled.

鈥淭here’s much more that I want to accomplish.鈥�

Districts that spent the majority of that year learning remotely tended to lose more ground in fourth-grade math scores than districts that reopened sooner. Every 10 additional days of school closures was associated with a roughly 0.2-point loss on NAEP from 2019 to 2022. The pattern was statistically significant and held even when controlling for the share of students eligible for free- or reduced-price lunch, a proxy for poverty.

鈥淭he districts with more remote learning have larger test score losses,鈥� said Emily Oster, a Brown University economics professor who has tracked school closures through the pandemic. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty consistent with what we have seen up until now,鈥� added the researcher, an early and ardent supporter of reopening schools during the pandemic shutdown whose positions were .

The finding adds to the that online learning during the pandemic had a negative impact on student learning outcomes, even while there is renewed debate over how strongly the 2022 NAEP scores reflect it. The highly anticipated results released Monday showed the largest drops ever recorded in 4th and 8th grade math.

Peggy Carr, head of the U.S. Department of Education center that administers NAEP exams, played down any possible relationships between school closures and test results.

鈥淭here is nothing in this data that tells us there is a measurable difference between states and districts based solely on how long schools were closed,鈥� she said during a Friday press conference.

Oster, who also of the relationship between remote learning and NAEP results, called the National Center for Education Statistics director鈥檚 statement 鈥渙dd鈥� and 鈥渘ot very consistent with what we are seeing in the data.鈥�

However, she acknowledged that there is an element of truth to Carr鈥檚 words.

鈥淢aybe what they’re saying is that [school closure] is not the only determinant, and that鈥檚 right. It is not the case that there is a straight line between remoteness and test score losses,鈥� she said.

An NCES spokesperson affirmed that stance Tuesday, denying any 鈥渟imple direct relationship between duration of remote learning and score declines based on NAEP results鈥� in a statement emailed to 社区黑料.

鈥淐ontrolling for free- or reduced-price lunch is helpful but not sufficient,鈥� the spokesperson continued. 鈥淣CES will be conducting analyses that conform to the highest statistical standards, consider multiple variables and link data collected by NCES to other high quality datasets.鈥�

On the whole, results from what鈥檚 known as the Nation鈥檚 Report Card revealed the stark drop offs in math and a slide in reading since 2019, the last time the exam was administered. Some individual school systems, however, performed better than expected, including Los Angeles, among the districts which stayed in remote learning the longest and which saw improvements in reading for fourth graders and in both reading and math for eighth graders.

Since the release of NAEP results on Monday, and have conducted several analyses correlating scores with length of school closures and found moderate, statistically significant links. However, those analyses have largely focused on state data, an approach some experts warn against because it lumps districts that reopened quickly with those that stayed shuttered much longer.

鈥淲ithin states, there’s a lot of heterogeneity in terms of closure policies,鈥� said Tom Loveless, a longtime education researcher who formerly led the Brookings Institution鈥檚 Brown Center on Education Policy.

鈥淟ooking at district data is superior to looking at state data because that’s where the [reopening] decisions were made,鈥� he said.

社区黑料 took the district-level approach, crunching data from a sample of large urban school systems included in the NAEP release. Their scores were then matched with closure data from Oster鈥檚 , which tracked the percentage of the 2020-21 school year that districts offered remote, hybrid or in-person instruction. From the full sample of 26 school systems, Fresno was removed because it had no publicized 2022 NAEP scores and New York City, the nation鈥檚 largest school district, and Shelby County, Tennessee were excluded because they had no district-level school closure data available in the Hub.

Among the 23 remaining school systems, fourth-grade math was the only subject with a statistically significant relationship between district performance and time spent in remote learning. There were weak correlations in fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math and no association for eighth-grade reading.

鈥淚t was very hard for the little kids to focus on Zoom,鈥� said Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education. 鈥淚t wouldn’t surprise me if the younger students saw more of an impact on literacy skills and early foundational computational skills.鈥�

Her research group analyzed data on the effects of school closures, finding , especially for younger students and those living in poverty. 

鈥淪chools stayed closed too long, especially in urban areas,鈥� Lake said, noting that her judgment is much easier to make now with the benefit of hindsight as opposed to during the height of COVID when the science on infections and transmissibility was still coming into focus.

The variation in the NAEP results represents 鈥渟hades of badness,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ome states are celebrating not being as bad as other states, but nobody has much to celebrate here.鈥�

NAEP results must be interpreted carefully, experts caution. They are built to show how students are doing, not to explain the reasons behind their performance, Loveless said. (He compared the exam to a thermometer: 鈥淚t can tell you if you have a temperature, but it can鈥檛 tell you why.鈥�)

However, the exam is also the only U.S. test administered to students in all 50 states, making it 鈥渢he only game in town when it comes to comparing across states,鈥� said the former Brookings Institution researcher.

社区黑料 analysis, he said, 鈥渕akes an addition鈥� to the continued dialogue on the impacts of school closures during the pandemic.

Now, with the extent of pandemic missed learning coming into greater focus across the nation, Lake said, it鈥檚 time to hone in on how to respond.

鈥淲e’ve just got a lot of work to do to give kids back what they were owed, both academically and developmentally.鈥�

Oster agreed that it may be time to put aside reopening showdowns and instead work toward recovery.

鈥淭here is a very reasonable desire to move on from the discussion of, 鈥楬ow important were school closures?鈥� into, 鈥楬ow do we fix this?鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淚’m quite sympathetic to that desire to move on.鈥�

The delay is significant, experts say, because points to a direct correlation between the closures and lost learning.

Of the nation鈥檚 25 largest districts, those that were in remote learning for at least half of the 2020-21 school year have spent an average of roughly 15% of their relief funds from the American Rescue Plan. 

compiled by the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University shows that Los Angeles Unified, where schools stayed closed until April 2021, didn鈥檛 start spending any of its $2.5 billion until this fall. And the Chicago Public Schools, which reopened the same month, has spent just over 6% of almost $1.8 billion.

鈥淲hat opportunities might we be missing for kids to catch up?鈥� asked Jana Wilcox Lavin, CEO of Opportunity 180 in Las Vegas, where the Clark County School District never fully reopened that year. The nonprofit helped gather ideas from the community on how to use the funds, but the district has so far spent less than a quarter of it. Parents, she said, 鈥渃an鈥檛 point to where they see that money showing up in the classroom.鈥�

The dire consequences of school closures were reinforced last week when the National Assessment of Educational Progress revealed sharp declines for 9-year-olds in reading and math since 2020.

From the moment the U.S. Department of Education began distributing $122 billion in relief funds in March 2021, officials emphasized the need to act swiftly to help students make up lost ground.

“It’s hard to argue with the importance of addressing lost instructional time for all students,” Roberto Rodriguez, the department’s assistant secretary for planning, evaluation and policy development, told 社区黑料. “We want to see these dollars put to work now.”

But some districts haven鈥檛 spent the first dollar, much less the minimum 20% specifically spelled out for academic recovery.

The sluggish pace has caught the attention of House Republicans, who last month sent Education Secretary Miguel Cardona asking how districts are using the funds to 鈥渞emedy the acute learning losses brought on by prolonged school closures.鈥� Experts expect the tempo to pick up this fall, but education groups are with the department to stretch the to the end of 2026.

The disconnect is frustrating for parents and local politicians seeking evidence the money is being used to boost student performance.

The reopened on time in the fall of 2020. But as in many urban districts, high percentages of Black and Hispanic families So far, the district has spent just 6.8% of its $804 million.

鈥淲e’re going to get to the end of the next two years and nothing is going to look different for the school system,鈥� said Sue Deigaard, a Houston school board member. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not, so far, demonstrating consistency of any result, nor do I even see the dollars being spent in a way that looks particularly strategic and targeted.鈥�

She points to from the 2021-22 school year showing that third graders not only didn鈥檛 reach the 诲颈蝉迟谤颈肠迟鈥檚 literacy goal, but performance actually dropped between winter and spring.

District leaders insist they鈥檙e not just sitting on their hands. Projects have been bogged down in supply chain delays and staff vacancies have been difficult to fill. Changes in leadership have also taken a toll: Among the 25 largest districts, 16 have lost at least one superintendent during the pandemic.

While superintendent turnover might not change a 诲颈蝉迟谤颈肠迟鈥檚 spending plan, it can have a 鈥渃ascading impact,鈥� said David Rosenberg, a partner at Education Resource Strategies, which advises districts on budget issues. 

Staff vacancies and burnout can drag down even the 鈥渉ighest-functioning and most stable district teams,鈥� he said. 鈥淟ayer in superintendent turnover and potential turnover at the level below them and the work gets even more complicated.鈥�

Houston, which superintendent Millard House II has led for about a year, is one district experiencing such churn. 

Click here to view full chart.

August Hamilton, special assistant to House, said he鈥檚 grateful for the federal funds. But he doesn鈥檛 hold out much hope students will make rapid gains.

鈥淚 think we have to understand that you have first graders who never went to pre-K, never went to kindergarten 鈥� a first grader who’s now being asked to take a [state] test in 3rd grade,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat is going to be the challenge of this work. It鈥檚 a long time to have virtual instruction.鈥�

That鈥檚 one reason, he said, why the district moved $6.1 million in relief funds to aid the academic recovery of its neediest students this year. Officials said they no longer needed that money for masks and other COVID mitigation strategies.

鈥楤ackfilling鈥� budgets

To pinpoint spending patterns, 社区黑料 reviewed relief fund data from the and checked it against state figures. Districts provided details on when they fully reopened five days a week in 2020-21 鈥� if they did. And the , led by Brown University economist Emily Oster, offered additional data on the extent to which districts remained open, closed or in hybrid mode.

Districts generally haven鈥檛 made it easy to track how the money is being spent. Some states, like California,  how their districts are spending the 20% targeted specifically for learning loss. But most do not. 

New York state doesn鈥檛 post any information on relief fund spending. The Georgetown lab had to use a public records request to get any data, according to director Marguerite Roza. That showed that New York City, the nation’s largest school system, had spent none of its $4.8 billion. A spokesman for the district, which is tied up in  over its budget, declined to give an actual figure and called it a 鈥渕oving number.鈥� 

The halting pace ignores what researchers say is needed to lift performance in high-poverty districts that spent most of 2020-21 online. The authors of a May said districts need to spend all of their American Rescue Plan funds on extra instruction to help students recover 鈥� not just the 20% the law requires. The longer they wait, the authors wrote, the greater the 鈥渋mplications for future earnings, racial equity and income inequality.鈥�

Districts closed the longest have also seen the most enrollment loss. On average, enrollment in those districts has fallen by 4.4%, according to from the conservative American Enterprise Institute. Because state funding is tied to enrollment, some are now 鈥渂ackfilling鈥� budgets with relief dollars to make up for the losses, said Roza. In fact, she expects spending partly for that reason. 

鈥淚n the ones that were closed longer, it鈥檚 been harder to get kids to come back,鈥� she told 社区黑料. She points to districts such as the Seattle Public Schools, which plugged federal funds into its last year, and the , which described its use of relief dollars as an effort to 鈥渆nsure continuity of existing programs and services.鈥� 

In Los Angeles, enrollment fell almost 6% this year and is expected to drop below a year from now. The district waited to dip into its $2.5 billion because it still all it received from the first two rounds of federal aid, said board member Tanya Ortiz-Franklin. 

Statewide, California schools were among the last to bring students back in person. Unlike some governors, California鈥檚 Gavin Newsom didn鈥檛 order schools to reopen. 

Click here to view full chart.

Several districts in the state never resumed in-person instruction that spring, and some have yet to spend any of their funds from the March 2021 bill. They include the Simi Valley Unified School District, where Ron Todo, associate superintendent of business and facilities, said the district is hanging on to its $13.8 million for now. The deadlines to spend the earlier relief funds are more pressing, and the newest grant, he said, has a 鈥渓onger shelf life.鈥� 

Roza has heard such explanations before. But Congress designed the third round of funding to be different from earlier relief bills: It appropriated almost twice as much as the other packages combined and specifically required districts to address learning loss.

Districts 鈥渟hould be well into鈥� spending it by now, she said.

Under the legislation, districts have to obligate the funds by September 2024, and have through March 2026 to spend them. But Roza asked, 鈥淚f the money was intended to get kids back on track, why wait two years?鈥�

Education advocacy groups, like AASA, the School Superintendents Association, want the department to extend that deadline until the end of 2026. 

鈥淚 definitely have concerns about spending it all in time 鈥� not just for the practicality of getting it done,鈥� Ortiz-Franklin said, 鈥渂ut also strategically to best serve our students鈥� short- and long-term academic and social-emotional recovery.鈥�

Extending the timeline has political ramifications, Roza said during a recent .

鈥淭he accusation will be that we didn’t really need it, or at least if you needed it, you’re not even spending it on the kids that were impacted in the pandemic because they got older and they graduated,鈥� she said. 

In Simi Valley, Todo said his district plans to use the funds this school year for additional elementary counselors, social workers and intervention teachers to help students who have fallen behind. But a plan to get math teachers to work an extra class period met with resistance. 

鈥淲e have teachers who have survived the pandemic, and they are too tired to be in the classroom an extra hour,鈥� he said. Despite the exhaustion, Todo added, he sees a benefit to the current spending deadline: 鈥淲hen there is at least a healthy sense of urgency, we push ourselves a little harder.鈥�

Another third are continuing longstanding programs that had been in place before schools shuttered, and the remaining third are operating new virtual programs created during the pandemic, the review found.

The distinct approaches of America鈥檚 100 largest districts suggest that most are jettisoning remote learning entirely, or reverting back to programs that existed before the pandemic forced them to swiftly provide all families with some sort of online option.  

The discontinuation of virtual programs launched during COVID shutdowns could mean they weren鈥檛 as effective or popular as those already in place before the pandemic upended America鈥檚 education systems in early 2020.

CRPE, a nonprofit research center at Arizona State University, has monitored the learning options offered by the nation鈥檚 100 largest school systems since March 2020. In its review this month of districts鈥� learning plans for fall, CRPE found 35 indicating they planned to end remote learning entirely, 34 that would continue virtual programs established before the pandemic and 31 that would keep their new, pandemic-era online options.

For example, the , a virtual school in the Clark County School District in Las Vegas, has operated since 2013. But the individual Clark County schools initiated last school year are being suspended; Nevada Learning Academy will be the only virtual option the district offers in 2022-23.

In Colorado, Aurora Public Schools plans to continue the virtual school it opened last year for K-8 students, but only for students in .

Fewer students in general are eligible to enroll in district-run virtual programs this year than last. In 2021-22, 56% of large and urban districts offered all students the ability to learn remotely. This year, that number dropped to 46%.

In Detroit, the district this year to try to improve attendance and reduce failure rates, according to Chalkbeat Detroit. Detroit Public Schools in 2021-22, intending to make it permanent, and had planned to spend $5 million on staffing. But it struggled with , and hiring challenges mounted. This year, the school is not accepting students in third through 12th grades who were chronically absent last year and failed one or more core academic classes. The school also did not accept children in kindergarten through second grade who were chronically absent last year, according to the . 

Other large districts have pivoted to expand virtual options 鈥� either because students were successful or parents wanted them, or both. Four of the 100 large districts we鈥檝e tracked have widened their virtual academies since the start of the pandemic. Gwinnett County Public Schools in Georgia, for example, recently expanded its full-time online learning option to K-3 students. But parent demand has been strong for Gwinnett County’s online program, which started in 1999. The district even extended the enrollment period for fall 2022 to accommodate the inquiries, according to documents we reviewed.

Last fall, when CRPE reviewed the learning models of large and urban school systems for the 2021-22 school year, 94 of the 100 large districts said they intended to offer remote learning. This year, they have understandably phased out many of these programs as more students return to full-time, in person classes.

What鈥檚 curious is that a majority of them are not keeping anything developed in the pandemic, when educators had to innovate quickly to reach all students. Some districts may be ending their programs because they have not matched the academic quality of in-person classes, or because interest dropped among families. But the window is closing for districts to continue pandemic-era innovations that created new options for families. While virtual schooling has become a permanent part of some districts鈥� repertoire, it鈥檚 unlikely to become a defining feature of urban public education in the years to come.

According to an April survey conducted by the Christensen Institute and Bay View Analytics, 97% of teachers reported they were teaching in-person last spring, yet only 85% said they preferred in-person instruction 鈥� a 12-point difference. Similarly, a recent Pew Research survey conducted in April and May found that 80% of teens were attending school completely in person, while only 65% said they preferred completely in-person instruction 鈥� a 15-point gap.

The majority preference for in-person instruction fits with the common research-based narrative that hastily implemented remote and hybrid instruction harmed students鈥� academic growth. But generalized conclusions also marginalize the perspectives of the small but notable minority who indicate that in-person instruction is not what they prefer. If education leaders and policymakers want to do right by all students and teachers, they need to take a more nuanced view on remote and hybrid teaching by considering why some might favor these approaches.

While survey data do not delve into why teachers and students hold their stated preferences, it鈥檚 worthwhile to consider a few research-based hypotheses that might explain their views.

Academics

Despite the generally negative effects of school closures on learning, remote and hybrid arrangements during the height of school building closures were not monolithic experiences. They looked different from school to school and from classroom to classroom, and some found ways to make hybrid instruction work well. For example, some teachers created videos that allowed students to receive instruction on their own schedule and used class time to focus more on providing individualized support. There is no good research on whether more innovative approaches to remote and hybrid instruction can produce better academic outcomes than conventional in-person instruction, but innovative approaches should be explored and evaluated before they鈥檙e shut down.

Unique learning needs

For some students, in-person school presents challenges. Children who have experienced bullying or have learning differences such as ADHD or autism may find that remote or hybrid arrangements work better than in-person class because they take away in-school factors that hamper their learning. Other students may simply prefer remote learning because it distances them from negative influences at school that detract from their learning 鈥� like pressure to fit in with the dominant peer culture. Where these types of student needs exist, they should not be ignored.

Flexibility to accommodate other priorities

Some families took advantage of remote instruction to travel together, unconstrained by the geographic constraints imposed by in-person instruction. Additionally, as the Pew survey revealed, many teens came to feel closer to their families over the course of the pandemic, likely due to the increased time they had together while they weren鈥檛 spending their days in school buildings.

Challenges associated with poverty

According to our latest survey, 38% of low-income students said they prefer remote and hybrid instruction, as did 17% of teachers who work in high-poverty schools. What might explain these differences? Low-income students often face transportation issues, housing insecurity and other challenges that make it difficult to show up to school on time and ready to learn on a daily basis. Low-income students may also have heightened concerns about COVID-19 exposure because of a lack of access to health care, greater likelihood of living with medically vulnerable family members or greater risk of lost family employment and income due to contracting the coronavirus. For these students, remote and hybrid instruction may be less than optimal, but they are far better than missing school.

Affirming racial identity

Our survey also indicated that remote and hybrid options were preferred more often by Black students (41%) and by teachers who serve mostly non-white students (23%). For children who experience racism and discrimination at school, learning in remote or hybrid arrangements might provide a needed escape from oppression. And even if that is not the case, some Black students may prefer remote and hybrid options because they can provide a racially and culturally affirming setting.

Teacher burnout

Educators have experienced overwhelming stress this year. As a result, some teachers may prefer remote or hybrid instruction not because they are superior modes of instruction, but because they can make the workload more manageable. As schools face teacher shortages, remote and hybrid teaching options may be an effective way to retain staff who might otherwise leave the profession.

School systems face a mountain of challenges right now, and working through them all isn鈥檛 easy. There are no silver bullet solutions 鈥� all decisions involve tradeoffs. As schools are once again able to open their doors, full-time, in-person instruction may well be the best option for most students and teachers. But it鈥檚 also important for education leaders to consider and accommodate the views of those who break from the majority if they are truly interested in serving their communities’ varied and diverse needs.

Mayor Eric Adams has vowed to reverse this loss. He and Schools Chancellor David Banks have promised that they will listen to parents. One thing families have been clamoring for since fall 2021 is a remote learning option for those still reluctant to return to in-person school. During the 2021-22 school year, NYC was the outlier among large urban districts in not offering any remote option. Most of these districts with some virtual schools in the fall.

As far back as July 2020, we advised that NYC could halt student attrition by creating a remote learning district. Last month, Banks finally announced they鈥檇 be creating two new virtual schools.

A recording of the Roundtable is available, see link below for video & time frame topic is discussed.

ALL NYC students & families deserve a & those w/ health & safety concerns or risks deserve an OPTION, like virtual to protect themselves!

— Vanessa Sica Kasabach (@VSicaKasabach)

NYC already offers home instruction for medically fragile children. Jennifer Taylor, mother of a ninth grader who receives the service due to COVID anxiety and iron deficiency, explained, 鈥淚t鈥檚 not really a remote option. One teacher she does remote with. He posts the work, she does it, then they video call and go over it for about two hours per week. The math teacher comes here and works with her for two hours a week. She鈥檚 only taking two classes. It鈥檚 not a lot.鈥�

A remote option would expand these services for any rising ninth graders who opt in 鈥� but details have not been released. They are promised 鈥渟oon鈥� (the administration鈥檚 favorite word). We don鈥檛 know who will teach in these schools, how students can apply or even whether they will open in time for the new academic year. We don鈥檛 know what a formal remote learning day will consist of. 

Taylor, whose daughter wouldn鈥檛 be able to benefit from the program, as she will be in 10th grade next year, says, 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 important to have a remote option for school, but I don鈥檛 think the kids need as much time as they have in school because there鈥檚 a lot of filler. I don鈥檛 think they need more than a few hours per day. I think it鈥檚 good for her to have access to the teachers, but I honestly don鈥檛 think it needs to be more than three or four hours a day.鈥�

If the administration agrees, could remote schools offer two sessions, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon? They鈥檇 be able to serve more students, but keep down class size, something NYC has just been to do by the state Legislature. Adding a remote option could contribute to shrinking in-person classes, too. A win-win!

The biggest question about creating permanent remote learning schools is what the benchmark will be for their success. At some NYC high schools, only around a graduate . Will remote schools need merely to match those results, or will they, like charter schools, be required to show superior performance in order to be allowed to continue?

And if this year鈥檚 remote ninth grade is a success, will NYC add the rest of the high school years? Middle school? The city Department of Education currently says it is against including elementary grades, because that would require an adult at home to help. But if a parent is willing to supervise their child鈥檚 education or hire someone else to do it, as we saw with pandemic learning pods, shouldn鈥檛 they be allowed to? Parents of younger children were unhappy when schools shut down in March 2020 because that meant they had to stay home with their kids. This would be their choice. No one would be doing it against their will.

And if that happens, might, in the future, students be able to attend K-12 remotely for no other reason than that they prefer it? Taylor admits that, in addition to her medical needs, her daughter opted for home instruction because the public high school she was assigned to 鈥渨asn鈥檛 a good fit.鈥�

NYC is desperately looking for ways to coax reluctant families back into the system, since for every student lost, the district loses $28,000 in funding, which affects those who stay.

Could listening to those parents who want a remote option be the magic bullet the department has been looking for? Could it outlive the pandemic? Could it become just another school choice, the way New Yorkers can already opt their children into , , gifted-and-talented programs, etc.?

And if that鈥檚 the case, might the rest of the country follow the lead of America鈥檚 largest school district?

By offering remote schooling beyond students who are medically fragile, might NYC lead the way to even more educational choices for all?

From educators鈥� reflections on two tumultuous years to escalating school board fights over curriculum and transparency and new data surrounding both student reading scores and the benefits of tutoring, here were our most shared articles from February: 

700 Days Since Lockdown: Educators, Students, Parents and Researchers Reflect on Pandemic鈥檚 鈥楽eismic Interruption to Education鈥�

Reflections: 700 days. That鈥檚 how long it鈥檚 been since more than half the nation鈥檚 schools crossed into the pandemic era. On March 16, 2020, districts in 27 states, encompassing almost 80,000 schools, closed their doors for the first long educational lockdown. Since then, schools have reopened, closed and reopened again. The effects have been immediate 鈥� students lost parents; teachers mourned fallen colleagues 鈥� and hopelessly abstract as educators weighed 鈥減andemic learning loss,鈥� the sometimes crude measure of COVID鈥檚 impact on students鈥� academic performance. As spring approaches, there are some reasons to be hopeful. More children are being vaccinated. Mask mandates are ending. But even if the pandemic recedes and a 鈥渘ew normal鈥� emerges, there are clear signs that the issues surfaced during this period will linger. COVID heightened inequities that have long been baked into the American educational system. The social contract between parents and schools has frayed. And teachers are burning out. To mark what will soon stretch into a third spring of educational disruption, Linda Jacobson interviewed educators, parents, students and researchers who spoke movingly, often unsparingly, about what Marguerite Roza, director of Georgetown University鈥檚 Edunomics Lab, called 鈥渁 seismic interruption to education unlike anything we鈥檝e ever seen.鈥�

鈥擯hoto History: 鈥嬧�婼cenes from 24 months of lockdown and perseverance (See here)

鈥擲tudent Relationships: Teens share their tales of romance & friendship 700 days into COVID (Read here)

鈥�74 Interview: Ed finance guru Marguerite Roza on funding, parental 鈥榓wakening鈥� and being a data person in a time of public health panic (Read more)

鈥擲pecial Series: See our full coverage 鈥� Reflecting on the COVID school years 

Million-Dollar Records Request: From COVID and Critical Race Theory to Teachers鈥� Names & Schools, Minnesota Districts Flooded With Freedom of Information Document Demands

School District Chaos: In bucolic Owatonna, Minnesota, the head of the school system鈥檚 HR department has been working since August to fulfill a request for records anonymous activists believe might reveal the presence of critical race theory in local classrooms. Down the road in Rochester, district officials told another group it would cost more than $900,000 to conduct its document search, which asks for curriculum covering history, social studies, geography, English, English literature, U.S. history and world history, and 鈥渁ny courses with a sociological or cultural theme [and] any courses with a curriculum that includes a discussion of current events.鈥� In tiny Lewiston-Altura Public Schools, some of the activists lodging the requests have protested board meetings. The public has an absolute right to know what鈥檚 being taught in schools, freedom of information advocates tell Beth Hawkins, and Minnesota鈥檚 鈥渟unshine laws鈥� make asking for records as inexpensive as possible to ensure public access. Still, as one small-town newspaper groused, it鈥檚 hard not to see 鈥減olitically motivated, overreaching demands designed to bury districts.鈥�

鈥榃e Have First-Graders Who Can鈥檛 Sing the Alphabet Song鈥�: Pandemic Continues to Push Young Readers Off Track, New Data Shows

Learning Loss: Young children learning to read 鈥� especially Black and Hispanic students 鈥� are in need of significant support nearly two years after the pandemic disrupted their transition into school, according to new assessment results. Mid-year data from Amplify, a curriculum provider, shows that while the so-called 鈥淐OVID cohort鈥� of students in kindergarten, first and second grade are making progress, they haven鈥檛 caught up to where students in those grade levels were performing before schools shut down in March 2020. This year鈥檚 quarantines and short-term closures likely contributed to the slow progress, 鈥淔or the youngest learners to go to school for two or three days and then be out for 10 鈥� it鈥檚 not just picking up where you left off; it鈥檚 actually starting all over again,鈥� said Susan Lambert, chief academic officer of elementary humanities at Amplify. Results from fourth- and fifth-graders, however, show greater recovery, with the rates of students meeting benchmarks nearly back to the same level they were in the winter of the 2019-20 school year. Tutoring providers are seeing the impact of remote learning up close. 鈥�We have first-graders who can’t sing the alphabet song,鈥� Kate Bauer-Jones told reporter Linda Jacobson.

As Schools Push for More Tutoring, New Research Points to Its Effectiveness 鈥� and the Challenge of Scaling it To Combat Learning Loss

Research: In the two years that COVID-19 has upended schooling for millions of families, experts and education leaders have increasingly touted one tool as a means for coping with learning loss: personalized tutors. Now, days after the U.S. secretary of education declared that every struggling student should receive 90 minutes of tutoring each week, a new study offers more evidence of the strategy’s potential 鈥� and perhaps its limitations. An online tutoring pilot launched last spring yielded modest, if positive, learning benefits for hundreds of middle schoolers. But those gains were considerably smaller than the results from some previous studies, perhaps because of the project’s design: It relied on lightly trained volunteers, rather than professional educators, and held its sessions online instead of in person. 鈥淭here is a tradeoff in navigating the current climate where what is possible might not be scalable,” study co-author Matthew Kraft told 社区黑料’s Kevin Mahnken. “So instead of just saying, ‘Come hell or high water, I’m going to build a huge tutoring program,鈥� we might be better off starting off with a small program and building it over time.”

NYC Schools Reported Over 9,600 Students to Child Protective Services Since Aug. 2020. Is It the 鈥榃rong Tool鈥� for Families Traumatized by COVID?

Absenteeism: Paullette Healy鈥檚 younger child had nightmares after the knock at the door of their Brooklyn apartment. Standing outside was a caseworker, explaining that the family was being investigated for educational neglect for not sending their children to school amid COVID fears 鈥� even though the kids had kept up with their work remotely. The report was one of 9,674 made by NYC school staff for suspected abuse and neglect to the state child abuse hotline from August 2020 to November 2021, according to public records obtained by 社区黑料. In the first three months of the 2021-22 school year, there were about 45 percent more reports than during the same time span the year before, when most of the city鈥檚 nearly 1 million students were learning virtually. Now, after NYC student attendance rates plunged in early January amid the Omicron surge, and with ongoing debate over a remote learning option, there are fears even more families may get entangled in the child welfare web. 社区黑料鈥檚 Asher Lehrer-Small reports.

School Choice Backers See Opening in COVID Chaos, Even as Culture War Issues Threaten to Fracture Coalition

Education Reform: School choice has always relied on a fragile left-right coalition, mostly between Black and Latino activists and centrist-to-conservative legislators pushing to rebalance the public school power structure. The coalition had weakened over the past few years. But COVID-19 is changing that. Fueled by parental impatience with lockdowns, quarantines, and mask and vaccine mandates 鈥� as well as curricula that some view as politically charged 鈥� there has been a flurry of legislative choice efforts in Kentucky, Missouri, Virginia and West Virginia. 鈥淭he legislatures are on fire right now for these kinds of things,鈥� said former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who chairs the nonprofit reform group ExcelinEd. 鈥淎nd I don’t see it going away.鈥� But as 74 contributor Greg Toppo reports, even as choice backers see fresh opportunity in pandemic chaos, there are early warning signs that the coalition could fracture again. Greg Richmond, a longtime school choice advocate who now leads the Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic Schools, said concerns over so-called critical race theory could be 鈥渢he Achilles heel鈥� of the current choice renaissance. The new rhetoric, he said, is 鈥渘ot in pursuit of higher graduation rates and test scores,鈥� but 鈥渨inning the culture war.鈥�

Vax Up, Masks Down: Maryland, Massachusetts Lead Effort to 鈥極ff-Ramp鈥� Face Coverings in School

School Safety: As Omicron cases recede in most of the country and K-12 debate turns to whether students should still have to wear masks, two Democratic states have charted a middle path that offers highly immunized districts the option. If more than 80 percent of students and staff are fully vaccinated, Massachusetts and Maryland let districts do away with mask requirements. Maryland also allows an end to masking when case rates remain low. Meanwhile, governors in New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware all announced this month their school mask mandates will be sunsetting, as soon as Feb. 28 in Connecticut鈥檚 case. Their actions follow a growing chorus of experts nationwide calling for mask-optional classrooms. 鈥淵ou cannot mask in perpetuity,鈥� Maryland State Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury told 社区黑料鈥檚 Asher Lehrer-Small. 鈥�You have to be able to have a responsible off-ramp.鈥�

Report: With Omicron, Math App Zearn Reveals a Troubling New Gap in Student Engagement 鈥� Even Where Schools Are Open

Missing Students: When the latest variant emerged, the data scientists at Zearn saw the same socioeconomic disparities in student use of their math app as they did in the first days of the pandemic. Or so they thought. Just as in March 2020, the number of affluent students using the popular math program remained relatively stable as December鈥檚 COVID-19 disruptions plunged schools into chaos, while the number of low-income kids plummeted. But this time, the Zearn team could find no correlation between the dip in student math participation and pandemic-related school closures. Instead, the drop seems to be tied to case counts 鈥� the gaps appear to be biggest where COVID-19 infection rates are highest. And kids in the low-income communities are hit hardest. Beth Hawkins has the story.

New National Poll: Americans Split on Whether Schools Should Teach Current-Day Racism

Curriculum: As battles erupt around the country over how the subject of race should be treated in the classroom, a new survey finds Americans are split over whether schools should teach children about current-day racism. It found that 49 percent of 1,200 respondents from around the U.S. believe schools have a responsibility to ensure students learn about the ongoing effects of slavery and racism in America. Meanwhile, 41 percent believe schools should teach students about the history of slavery and racism 鈥� but not about race relations today. A full 10 percent said schools do not have any responsibility to teach about slavery or racism in the U.S., according to the latest Mood of the Nation Poll conducted by The McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State. The poll, released today, also addresses the degree to which people believe parents should influence their child鈥檚 education 鈥� another current flashpoint 鈥� the teaching of evolution and sex education, and COVID safety. Across the board, respondents said parents should have the most sway, followed by teachers. Jo Napolitano breaks down the results.

Increasing Segregation of Latino Students Hinders Academic Performance and Could Amplify COVID Learning Loss, Study Finds

School Segregation: Elementary students from low-income families are less likely than they were two decades ago to attend school with middle-class peers 鈥� a trend tied to the growth of the Latino population and continuing white flight from many school districts, according to a new study. In an analysis of over 14,000 districts nationwide, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Maryland showed that in 2000, the average child from a poor family went to an elementary school where almost half the students were middle-class. By 2015, that figure had fallen to 36 percent. The increasing segregation, the authors said, has implications for districts鈥� efforts to address learning loss related to the pandemic because Latino families were among those hardest hit. Linda Jacobson has the story.

Teen-y Tiny Pandemic Love Stories: Students Share Their Tales of Romance & Friendship Two Years Into COVID

Student Relationships: Online games. Dating apps. Penpals from across the globe. Amid nearly two years of the pandemic, young people at every turn have found creative ways to connect with their friends and potential love interests. Despite what at many times has been a largely virtual world, teens often came out on the other side of lockdown with relationships that were stronger for the experience. Or as one New York City high schooler put it: 鈥淚f you鈥檝e been through a pandemic with someone, I feel like we鈥檙e bonded for life.鈥� From long-harbored crushes to new friends over Zoom, breakups to hookups, and Bumble DMs to online multiplayer games, young people share their experiences of pandemic friendship and romance, brought to you in the form of seven mini-love stories. Asher Lehrer-Small has our Valentine鈥檚 Day special.

America鈥檚 School Boards Are in Crisis. Here Are 9 Ways to Fix That 鈥� and Keep the Focus on Educating Children

Commentary: The governing of public schools in many communities is nearing total collapse. From coast to coast, fights over book bans, curricula, bathrooms, racial issues, masks, vaccinations and police on campus have torn communities apart and led to angry confrontations, violence and destruction of property. People have resigned from school boards or declared they will not run for office due to the intensity of these conflicts. Meanwhile, problems such as student performance, teacher pay and working conditions, and learning loss during the pandemic remain on the sidelines. To help save one of the oldest forms of governance in this country 鈥� predating the American Revolution 鈥� contributor Christopher T. Cross suggests a number of actions that every state, every school board, can take to improve the governance of our public schools.

鈥�74 Opinion: See all our latest op-eds and commentary

Go Deeper: Get essential education news and commentary delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up here for 社区黑料鈥檚 daily newsletter.

The result of this infusion of education technology is that it is now a permanent part of the K-12 instructional landscape, not only virtually but in the physical classroom. Some young learners, like the second- and third-graders I teach, have never known school to be anything other than tech-centered. Whether they鈥檙e at home or in an actual building, they turn on a laptop or tablet, log in to a content management system and start exploring instructional games, puzzles or videos. Every time I walk into a classroom, I鈥檓 reminded that COVID-19 has turned a generation of kids into full-fledged consumers of ed tech content.

Now they鈥檙e ready for the next step: creating that content themselves.

Today, students can make their own movies, design their own graphics and power their own robots. At Newtown Elementary School in Virginia Beach, kids have used Wixie to create language arts presentations, Dash robots to learn coding and BrainPOP to create their own animations about weather. Not only do children love using these types of tools, but shows that active, hands-on learning can lead to higher retention rates and increased academic performance. Technology that gives students control over their education also has the potential to agency, the process where students begin to lead their own learning, adapt when things get tough and believe they can succeed. 

Here are three tips for transforming young ed tech consumers into content creators: 

1 Make students the teachers

Four years ago, my school started a program called the Hour of Power. Teachers nominate students to join me for a 45-minute lesson each month to become familiar with an ed tech tool that promotes active learning. Afterward, they go back to their classrooms and teach their peers how to use the tool. Some students are so excited to share what they鈥檝e learned that they ask to present to other classes. It has become a huge hit with the kids, who are building enthusiasm for content creation while showing their classmates that they鈥檝e mastered a subject. 

There鈥檚 also a side benefit to the Hour of Power: Once students are comfortable with the technology, teachers are more likely to incorporate it into their lessons.

2 Don鈥檛 rescue students when they鈥檙e floundering

Many tech entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley say that their greatest failures led to their greatest successes. The same is true for young learners. I鈥檒l sometimes see teachers start to 鈥渞escue鈥� students who are struggling, whether it鈥檚 with science, STEM or a tech tool. 鈥淗ang on,鈥� I tell them. 鈥淟et them figure it out on their own.鈥� Learning becomes more powerful when children discover the solution themselves. For that reason, I never teach my Hour of Power learners all the features of a new tech tool, though I sometimes hint that there are 鈥淓aster eggs鈥� hidden within. When they find them, the wide grins that spread across their faces tell me everything I need to know about teaching and learning. Then they get to share with their classmates.  

3 Balance technology with other forms of learning

During remote instruction, our 诲颈蝉迟谤颈肠迟鈥檚 leaders stressed the importance of finding ways other than through technology to reach students. That鈥檚 something we鈥檝e continued as we’ve returned to the physical classrooms. For example, one of my favorite science-based lessons is on erosion. After students learn about the process from their teachers, I come in with a tub of sand and a bucket of water and show them what erosion looks like. Then, they take on the role of city engineers, with the goal of preventing their houses from washing away.

In my work as an instructional technologist, I鈥檝e heard some teachers say students鈥� time could be better spent building skills in math or reading than on the trial-and-error process of experimenting with software. I鈥檇 argue that it鈥檚 not a binary choice. Content creation tools are powerful vehicles for teaching core subject matter while helping students develop into self-motivated, lifelong learners. Giving children the tools to decide what is meaningful and relevant to them has benefits that transcend subject matter.

Kevin Rickard is an instructional technology specialist at Newtown Elementary School in Virginia Beach.

Even as Omicron surged through Los Angeles early last month, Hilda Avila knew she would send her son back to his public middle school when classes resumed.

鈥淎s a parent, it is my responsibility to teach my son that there are going to be challenges,鈥� said Avila, whose 12-year-old son Jaziel attends Wilmington Middle School. 鈥淎dversities are going to come, and as a human being one cannot live out of fear.鈥�

But the first few weeks were not easy, said Avila, who recalled feeling frustrated that teachers were absent and substitutes she did not know led her son鈥檚 classes. Some teachers at the school taught online after getting a vaccine exemption, she added.

Many LAUSD parents seemed last week to have caught up with Avila鈥檚 thinking, sending their children back to school in growing numbers after keeping them home earlier in the month.

According to , attendance increased from  in the first week of school in early January to nearly 80 percent last week. 

When schools resumed classes on January 11, The Los Angeles County Department of Health was reporting

But parents and educators said that while things have slowly gotten better inside the nation鈥檚 second largest 诲颈蝉迟谤颈肠迟鈥檚 schools, the first week was not easy. 

Irma Villalpando, an aide at the Maywood Center For Enriched Studies Magnet school, said more than 300 students and at least 10 teachers were out the first week.

鈥淭here were two subs sent from the district and the rest of the classrooms were covered by counselors, principal, assistant of principal, some teachers had a training period and they also helped in and covered classrooms,鈥� said Villalpando. 鈥淚t ran very smoothly.鈥�

But Villalpando said while classes were covered, not much learning was going on: 鈥淪ome students did tell me that it was difficult because they were not doing much, they were bored.鈥� she said.

 The parent of two high school students attending Maywood, Villalpando said one of her daughters told her 鈥渟he had a hard time staying awake in one of her classes because she had nothing to do.鈥� 

Last week, Interim LAUSD superintendent Megan Reilly, COVID cases were dropping, and added that 100 percent of school teachers and employees are fully vaccinated. Teachers that would fail the vaccination mandate would get .

鈥淲e continued to be intelligent and agile in creating the safest learning environment,鈥� said Reilly, 鈥淢onitoring conditions daily, consulting with experts and doctors and reviewing COVID-19 data to ensure all measures are effective.鈥�

District鈥檚 health safety guidelines include weekly COVID-19 testing for both students and employees, isolation for five days if testing positive, and mandatory use of masks. The LAUSD a new mask mandate on Monday, prohibiting cloth masks. 

Vanessa Aramayo, a parent advocate with Alliance for a Better Community said the school district is doing everything possible to implement those guidelines. 

鈥淚 believe the schools reopening during the pandemic allowed for increased testing, identification of cases and environments that are safe for children, and they also provide environments and information for parents to be able to obtain the resources, they need to be able to protect themselves and their families from infection or from further spread,鈥� said Aramayo.

Despite the guidelines and precautions, some families don鈥檛 believe it is safe to send children back to school, including parents of students with special needs, said Lisa Mosko, a parent advocate with Speak UP.

鈥淢any families I know were relieved to be back at school in person because the academic and mental health toll of being out of school for so long on their kids was too much,鈥� said Mosko. 鈥淥ther families I know did not feel ready to go back, especially families of kids who are medically fragile.鈥�

鈥淭hey [The LAUSD] have a very difficult job and that’s making sure that schools are safe, that teachers and students, and that all the faculty will not be in harm’s way if they go back to school,鈥� said Aramayo. 鈥淎nd the testing that they’ve implemented has been groundbreaking and they’ve been a leader in doing that.鈥�

Veronica Sierra is a sophomore pursuing a journalism degree at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. She was born and raised in Valencia, Venezuela; and moved to California in 2015 where she continued high school, graduating in 2015.

Here were our most widely shared articles to kick off 2022:

Why Learning Loss Is Prompting Educators to Rethink the Traditional School Calendar: Start Earlier, End Later, Extend Breaks for Remediation

Learning Recovery: Pandemic-related school closures, which caused alarming learning losses among the country鈥檚 most vulnerable students, have prompted some administrators to reconsider their academic calendars. Though the school year wouldn’t get any longer, an earlier start date, a later end date and numerous, elongated breaks could allow more timely remediation for children in need 鈥� and enrichment for those who are not. The suggestion comes as the fast-spreading Omicron variant is making it difficult for schools to remain open. But districts had already begun scaling back 鈥� moving to four days of instruction per week and adding days off to their calendars 鈥� in an effort to curb teacher burnout. Jo Napolitano takes the national pulse of year-round schooling, including in Washington state, where 22 districts are exploring ways to rearrange their 180-day calendars.

New Research: Students in Majority-Black Schools Had Been 9 Months Behind Their White Peers. Now, the Gap Is a Full 12 Months

Achievement Gaps: While students overall are starting to make up unfinished learning, what’s been described as the pandemic’s 鈥淜-shaped鈥� recovery 鈥� and the resources directed to it 鈥� remain deeply inequitable, according to a new report by researchers at McKinsey & Co. Pre-pandemic, pupils in majority-Black schools were, on average, nine months behind children in white schools. Now, that gap has widened to 12 months. At the same time, the services and in-person instruction that could begin to bridge the gap are imperiled. Student absenteeism is up sharply from last year, and the number of children in individual classrooms who are several years behind is up 9 percent, creating daunting challenges for teachers in terms of tailoring instruction. Beth Hawkins has a quick rundown of the numbers. 

Teacher Trauma: New Orleans Researchers Find Educator Mental Health Closely Tied to Pandemic Classroom Effectiveness

Mental Health: A new report finds challenges associated with student learning loss top the list of pandemic-era stressors experienced by teachers in New Orleans, whose levels of depression, anxiety and PTSD rival or exceed those of health care workers. According to a survey administered by the Trauma-Informed Schools Learning Collaborative, a feeling of being ineffective with students 鈥� reported by white teachers more often than their Black colleagues 鈥� was the top stressor, followed closely by challenges related to hybrid and remote instruction. A joint endeavor of Tulane University, NOLA Public Schools, the New Orleans Health Department and a number of social service agencies, the coalition conducted the survey in June 2021, before first the Delta variant and now Omicron dashed hopes that schools might return to 鈥渘ormal鈥� this year. Beth Hawkins has five top takeaways from the research.

Exclusive: Pittsburgh Schools Reported Zero Student Arrests While Court Records Show It鈥檚 a Discipline 鈥楬ot Spot鈥�

School Discipline: Federal data show that no Pittsburgh students were arrested during the 2017-18 school year 鈥� certainly something worthy of celebration, if only it were true. Instead, a report released this month by the ACLU of Pennsylvania found that Allegheny County 鈥� and Pittsburgh in particular 鈥� is a student discipline 鈥渉ot spot.鈥� While the district said its underreporting was done in error, an analysis of county juvenile court data show that police carried out nearly 500 school-based arrests in Pittsburgh Public Schools that year. Those arrests disproportionately targeted Black students and children with disabilities, often for minor offenses. During the 2018-19 school year in Allegheny County, Black students were arrested nearly nine times more often than their white classmates, according to juvenile court records. That year, 1 in 51 Black boys and 1 in 69 Black girls were arrested at school, compared with 1 in 316 white boys and 1 in 894 white girls. Outside southwest Pennsylvania, federal education data suggest the issue of underreporting student arrests is also widespread. More than 60 percent of large school districts nationwide reported zero school-related arrests during the 2015-16 year, according to a 2020 report by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles. 鈥淭he harms of having police in schools are much more widespread than districts report,鈥� the ACLU鈥檚 Harold Jordan said. Read more by 社区黑料鈥檚 Mark Keierleber.

Supreme Court: Maine allows private religious schools to participate in its tuition benefit program for families that don鈥檛 have a public high school in their community 鈥� except for schools that seek to instill religious beliefs in their students. That caveat is at the heart of Carson v. Makin, . Plaintiffs’ attorney Michael Bindas, with the libertarian Institute for Justice, argued that the state is discriminating against religion. He is representing two families that were told they could not receive a tuition benefit because they wanted their children to attend religious schools. Based on the justices鈥� questioning, experts said, states would likely no longer be able to defend such rules after the court rules next year. 鈥淰ery few of the justices paid any attention to the longstanding principle at the heart of American constitutional tradition 鈥� that taxpayers should not be forced to fund religious education,鈥� said Alex Luchenitser of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. .

Aldeman: There Is No 鈥楤ig Quit鈥� in K-12 Education. But Schools Have Specific Labor Challenges That Need Targeted Solutions

School Staffing: The full numbers aren鈥檛 in yet, but 2021 will likely set a modern record for the number of Americans who quit their jobs. Economists have dubbed it the Great Resignation, as millions of employees search for higher pay and better working conditions. Is this Big Quit happening in education? Says contributor Chad Aldeman, the data suggest the answer is no. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while turnover rates are setting new highs in the private sector, they look pretty normal in public education. That doesn鈥檛 mean there are no labor challenges in K-12. It鈥檚 just that those issues are smaller in magnitude than what the private sector faces, and they are much more about specific schools and particular roles within schools. Districts, Aldeman writes, should respond accordingly with solutions 鈥� including those involving targeted pay hikes 鈥� tailored to the actual challenges schools face. Read the full analysis. 

In Push to Renew School Accountability, Feds Urge States to Keep Eye on Pandemic鈥檚 Effects

Accountability: Following a two-year pause, states must resume pinpointing their lowest-performing schools and those with persistent achievement gaps, according to a recent draft of guidance from the U.S. Department of Education. But bowing to uncertainty sparked by the pandemic, officials will allow one-year changes to the criteria states use to identify those schools. That means report cards states use to communicate student performance to the public could look quite different. 鈥淭his gives a clear signal to the field and to the states that we are restarting accountability,鈥� said Jennifer Bell-Ellwanger, president and CEO of the Data Quality Campaign, one of the organizations that said more statewide data is necessary to fully understand the impact of the pandemic on students. The guidance also invites states to propose long-term changes that account for other areas of student success, such as college and career data. But others argue allowing states to make changes to how they rate schools could leave parents confused. Linda Jacobson reports.

鈥榃e Don鈥檛 Have Any Talented Students鈥�: Confronting English Language Learners鈥� Drastic Under-Representation in Elementary Gifted & Talented

Equity: English learners are drastically underrepresented in elementary school gifted and talented programs, and the one tool advocates hoped would better identify them 鈥� non-verbal assessments 鈥� doesn鈥檛 work, critics say. In Florida鈥檚 Brevard County Public Schools, for example, only five of the 1,927 English learners in grades K-6 are among the 1,836 students enrolled in the district’s G&T program. Experts say teachers are not adequately trained to spot giftedness in these students and often falsely assume their language difficulties mean they are deficient or need remediation. Meanwhile, a national expert told 社区黑料鈥檚 Jo Napolitano, many districts are abandoning costly non-verbal gifted assessments because they yield the same results as traditional verbal tests. A new exam that uses animation could help, and many G&T educators strive to identify giftedness in ways that transcend language. Still, it remains an enormous challenge. 鈥淲e have all of this talent just sitting there,鈥� said Jonathan Plucker, president of the National Association for Gifted Children. 鈥淎nd the child isn鈥檛 benefiting from their own skills. That is a massive societal failure. We simply have to do better.鈥�

Rotherham: Bloomberg鈥檚 $750M Grant Is the Jolt the Charter Sector Needs 鈥� and a Litmus Test for White Democrats Who Claim to Back School Choice

Commentary: Bloomberg Philanthropies’s $750 million effort to create more high-quality charter school seats around the country is an exciting jolt to a sector that needs it, says contributor Andrew Rotherham. Which is why the lack of enthusiasm from the education reform and charter school world over the Bloomberg announcement was as noteworthy as the commitment itself. While charters are not a panacea or silver bullet, they get results. On average, urban charters outperform other public schools in their communities 鈥� often substantially. Support for charter schools is above 70 percent among Black Americans, who, along with Hispanic Americans, disproportionately support expanding school choice. You know who disproportionately doesn鈥檛 vigorously support more school choice? White Democrats. It鈥檚 noteworthy just how much opposition to greater educational choice comes from white progressives who are, on average, to the left politically of Black and Hispanic Americans on pretty much every issue except educational empowerment. Charters are an equity solution in public education because they give low-income parents power and choice and help create good schools in communities too often denied them. The next time someone tells you with great solemnity about how they 鈥渃enter鈥� parents and just humbly follow the evidence on school choice, ask how excited they must be about a $750 million commitment to try to do that. Read the full essay.

Analysis: Pandemic Learning Loss Could Cost U.S. Students $2 Trillion in Lifetime Earnings. What States & Schools Can Do to Avert This Crisis

College & Career: In newly released data, the nonprofit testing company NWEA reports that the median student in grades 3 to 8 returned to school this fall 9 to 11 percentile points behind in math and 3 to 7 percentile points behind in reading. But it鈥檚 difficult to convey the magnitude of that learning loss. To make it more tangible, contributors Dan Goldhaber, Thomas J. Kane and Andrew McEachin propose restating the loss in terms of students鈥� future earnings 鈥� which they calculate could total $43,800 per child, or more than $2 trillion spread across the 50 million public school students currently enrolled in grades K to 12. Schools could compensate for those deficits with tutors, extra periods of instruction in math and reading, Saturday academies and afterschool programs. But no one should expect to produce the equivalent of the necessary eight to 19 extra instructional weeks just by asking teachers to run a few review sessions and to generally pick up the pace. Read the authors’ suggestions for what states and schools can do now to avert this looming crisis.

Curriculum Case Study: We鈥檝e Been Teaching Reading Wrong for Decades. How a Massachusetts School鈥檚 Switch to Evidence-Based Instruction Changed Everything

Curriculum: The second in our recent series of essays about the Knowledge Matters Campaign’s tour of Massachusetts schools spotlights UP Academy Holland and the efforts of educators Victoria Thompson, Elizabeth Wolfson and Mandy Hollister in leading an instructional shift away from balanced literacy. In its place, the trio helped implement a new high-quality, knowledge-building English language arts curriculum specifically designed to support the science of reading 鈥� a curriculum they say changed everything for their students. 鈥淔or us,鈥� they write, 鈥渢his journey and shift has been personal 鈥� personal for ourselves as educators to do right by our students, personal in that we had been taught a way of teaching that was wrong and yet believed it for so many years, and personal for the students who we saw struggle every single day with the way things were taught.鈥� Read more about their students鈥� dramatic improvements 鈥� and how the school’s story ties into a national trend of educators embracing a new vision of teaching and learning through the implementation of high-quality instructional materials. (Also be sure to check out our complete curriculum series right here)听

Go Deeper: Get essential education news and commentary delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up here for 社区黑料鈥檚 daily newsletter.

From early November through Jan. 1, the Bay Ridge, Brooklyn family was under investigation by the Administration for Children鈥檚 Services, or ACS, the New York City agency tasked with looking into suspected cases of child abuse and neglect. Healy had been reported for educational neglect for not sending her children to school amid COVID fears, even though she says her kids kept up with their work remotely. 

The report that spurred their investigation was one of more than 2,400 that New York City school personnel made to the during the first three months of the 2021-22 school year, according to data obtained by 社区黑料 through a public record request 鈥� about 45 percent more than were reported over the same time span a year prior when most of the city鈥檚 . From August 2020 to November 2021, records show NYC school staff made a total of 9,674 reports. 

The highest monthly tally, 1,046, came in November 2021, the same month that ACS and the Department of Education issued 鈥嬧�媔nstructing schools to have patience with families keeping their children home due to COVID-19 concerns, and to avoid jumping to allegations of educational neglect when students don鈥檛 show up.

About a third of the reports from NYC school personnel from September through November 鈥� 839 out of 2,412 鈥� included an allegation of educational neglect. Of that total, just over half named educational neglect as the sole allegation, according to an ACS spokesperson, who pointed out that the rate was actually higher pre-COVID in the fall of 2019, when about 40 percent of reports from city school personnel alleged educational neglect.

Many of the families caught up in COVID-related investigations this school year, including the Healys, say that given the DOE’s statements and guidance, their ACS reports should never have been made.

Child welfare investigations, which disproportionately involve low-income families of color, can have devastating impacts. Charges can stay on parents鈥� records for years 鈥� even in cases like Healy鈥檚 where the agency ultimately found no evidence of neglect. Job prospects in fields like child care and education can be erased. And most dire, children can be separated from their parents 鈥� a trauma that studies show is later associated with elevated risks of .

ACS has clarified that, on its own, missing class should not be a reason for educators to suspect neglect. 鈥淲e are 鈥� working together (with the DOE) to make sure that families are not reported to the state鈥檚 child abuse hotline solely because of [a] child鈥檚 absences from school,鈥� a spokesperson wrote in a Jan. 13 email to 社区黑料, adding that the agency is providing training to professionals working with children on ways to support families without calling the hotline.

But now, after New York City student attendance rates plunged in early January amid surging Omicron cases, and with over how the Adams administration will approach remote learning, questions swirl over whether even more families may get entangled in the child welfare web.

鈥淚’m 鈥� worried about who’s going to be asked to answer for the decisions that they made in the wake of Omicron,鈥� said Gabriel Freiman, head of education practices at the legal nonprofit .

Healy echoed the concern, adding that families who kept children home amid the surge may be 鈥渧ulnerable to possible investigation.鈥�

How did we get here?

Rewind to the fall: New York City announced that schools would open in-person with no option for remote learning, and Healy was terrified. She had suffered massive personal losses through the pandemic 鈥� more than a dozen of her relatives had died of the virus, she said, ranging in age from 36 to 87 鈥� and the Brooklyn mother remained unconvinced that sending her children into crowded buildings was a good idea. She quickly submitted applications for home instruction for both of her kids. 

Meanwhile, just before classrooms reopened, the nation鈥檚 largest school district made a vow to parents: 鈥淭he only time ACS will intervene is if there is a clear intent to keep a child from being educated, period,鈥� then-schools Chancellor Meisha Porter said during a September . 鈥淲e want to work with our families because we recognize what families have been through.鈥�

Even while remote, Healy鈥檚 kids were still learning, she said. Both were accessing and submitting coursework via Google Classroom. She had even met with school staff to update both children鈥檚 Individualized Education Programs, the plans that spell out their special needs and mandated school services.

鈥淚 was in constant contact (with the schools),鈥� Healy said. 鈥溾�嬧�婣ll of the things that needed to happen were still happening.鈥�

So it caught Healy off guard when, in early November, an ACS caseworker knocked on her door. The agency had received a report of suspected educational neglect from a staff member at her younger child鈥檚 school.

Healy had understood that a visit from ACS was a possibility. As a member of the advocacy group PRESS, , she knew of numerous other parents keeping their children home from school due to coronavirus concerns who had been investigated. She had even put together informing parents of their rights when ACS shows up. But her own investigation still took her by surprise. If anything, she was over-involved in her children鈥檚 education, she thought, not neglectful. 

鈥淚鈥檝e always inserted myself into the schools whether they wanted me there or not,鈥� Healy joked.

Familiar with her rights as a parent, Healy did not let the caseworker inside their house. But despite being armed with strategies to navigate the situation, the visit was jarring to the whole family. After the caseworker left, her 14 year-old son, who has autism, paced back and forth for an hour, worried that the unfamiliar woman would return with law enforcement, Healy said. Her 13 year-old child, who identifies as non-binary, had continued nightmares, fearing they would be taken away from the only home they knew. Even Healy herself couldn鈥檛 avoid creeping thoughts of the worst-case scenario.

鈥淵ou automatically think someone’s here to take my kids away,鈥� she told 社区黑料.

鈥楢CS is like the police鈥�

Just like doctors and nurses, school personnel are mandated by New York state law to report suspected cases of child abuse and neglect to a central hotline. But even before COVID-19, alike have critiqued the practice as potentially harmful to families and prone to racial bias.

In New York City, some of children named in ACS investigations are Black or Hispanic, while, together, those racial groups make up 60 percent of the city鈥檚 youth. In 2019, according to , the lower-income, mostly Black and Latino neighborhood of East Harlem saw over six times as many investigations as the nearby Upper East Side, which is mostly white and affluent.

Even among neighborhoods with similar poverty rates, those with greater shares of Black and Hispanic residents face , research shows.

鈥淎CS has long been used to criminalize our families,鈥� said Tanesha Grant, a New York City parent leader who formed the group for mutual aid throughout the pandemic. Many Black parents, she told 社区黑料, see child protective services as a form of racialized surveillance and punishment. 

鈥淎CS is a curse word in our community. ACS is like the police,鈥� she said.

鈥淚t is deeply concerning to us,鈥� said a spokesperson for the agency, 鈥渢hat, year after year, there are dramatic racial and ethnic disparities in the reports ACS receives from the state and is required [by law] to investigate.鈥� 

As per a 2021 state , mandated reporters are now required to undergo implicit bias training intended to keep reporters鈥� assumptions from coloring their assessments of parental fitness.

But just how much of an impact it will make in the K-12 setting remains to be seen. Nationwide, school staff report more allegations to child protective services than any other category of reporters, yet school reports are or lead to family interventions, research shows. In New York City, approximately 1 in 3 calls from school personnel ultimately lead to evidence of abuse or neglect, said ACS. In cases where no evidence is found, families often report that the investigation process can be .

There鈥檚 often a mismatch, said Freiman, of Brooklyn Defenders, between the typical impacts of child protective services investigations and the purpose they are meant to fulfill.

鈥淣eglect is supposed to cover a category below which we don’t expect any parent to go,鈥� the legal expert explained. 

But the parents keeping their children out of classrooms this school year, from what he has seen, tend to be highly involved and caring, like Healy. Some are even former PTA heads at their children鈥檚 schools. 

鈥淭hese aren’t people who are trying to hurt their children. They’re trying to protect their children,鈥� he told 社区黑料. 鈥淎CS is just the wrong tool to employ.鈥�

Even the softer guidance that ACS and DOE offered in November was not enough to sufficiently blunt that tool, advocates said. Healy said she worked with 50 families accused of educational neglect through PRESS and was only able to use the updated guidance to dismiss cases against two of them. 

Miranda rights for child welfare

As a way to mitigate some of the worst effects of ACS investigations, state Sen. Jabari Brisport, a former educator from Brooklyn, is that would require a Miranda-style reading of parents鈥� rights at the outset of every child welfare investigation. 

鈥淧arents of color are more likely to be unaware of the rights they have when dealing with [child protective services],鈥� Brisport told 社区黑料. 鈥淭he bill seeks to address the disparities in the CPS system.鈥�

When, without warning, ACS showed up at the door of Melissa Keaton鈥檚 Flatbush, Brooklyn apartment in late October, the mother was taken by surprise. Having lost her father, who was a caregiving adult to her 9-year-old daughter, in April 2020 during the city鈥檚 deadly first coronavirus wave, Keaton chose not to return her traumatized child to her sought-after dual language school in Manhattan鈥檚 Lower East Side when classrooms reopened. The family was not ready for a two-train commute to and from school each day, Keaton decided. Unlike Healy, she was in the dark about how to navigate the interaction with her caseworker.

鈥淭here’s no paperwork. There’s no way of, you know, finding out what is this process? How does it work? What is expected of me?鈥� Keaton told 社区黑料.

Parents are not legally obligated to allow caseworkers to enter their homes unless ACS has a warrant. But many parents assent without realizing they have a choice. If caseworkers find evidence of drug use or other outlawed practices, it can lead to compounding charges and increase the likelihood of child separation. 

鈥淪ometimes our families actually find themselves in a deeper hole 鈥斅爊ot because they’ve done anything wrong 鈥斅燽ut because ACS comes into the home looking for a problem,鈥� said Tajh Sutton, a PRESS organizer. 鈥淭hey’re going through your refrigerator, your cabinets 鈥� asking these really invasive and inappropriate questions of your children.鈥�

鈥淭his bill doesn鈥檛 create new rights,鈥� explained Brisport. 鈥淚t literally tells parents what their rights are.鈥�

鈥楢CS should not have been called鈥�

Despite the lasting psychological impacts of the neglect investigation upon her children, Healy also acknowledged that her caseworker was kind and actually quite helpful. The staffer fast-tracked her children鈥檚 applications for home instruction, helping her younger child recently gain approval for the program. Healy hopes her son will also soon be approved.

But her example, she believes, is an outlier. Not everyone is so fortunate. 

On Dec. 23, Keaton was preparing to lay flowers on the gravestone of her late father. The day marked what would have been his 63rd birthday 鈥� and because her dad鈥檚 December birthday used to be a part of the family鈥檚 holiday rituals, Keaton was feeling his absence even more acutely.

But before she left, she was contacted by her caseworker, who relayed what the mother thought was good news: She was ready to close the case. Keaton told her to come by.

When the caseworker arrived, she told Keaton that the investigation had been completed, but the agency had indeed found evidence of neglect. The news hit her like a thunderclap, Keaton said, stirring fears for how she might appeal, what the findings might mean for her future employment having previously worked at a children鈥檚 summer camps, and, most of all, whether it opened the possibility of her daughter being taken away.

The message, Keaton said, was 鈥渋mprinted in my mind throughout the holidays, along with the thought of, 鈥榃hat happens next?鈥欌�� 

The caseworker instructed her to appeal, Keaton said. When pressed on the evidence behind the finding of neglect, Keaton said, the caseworker explained that her daughter鈥檚 school had taken weeks to respond to requests, and when they did, they cited her elementary schooler鈥檚 inconsistent 2019 summer school attendance as a strike against the family 鈥� data that Keaton said is 鈥渃ompletely false.鈥�

Staff at the elementary school did not respond to requests for comment and ACS said that it cannot disclose the details of individual cases. Keaton is awaiting paperwork in the mail that will provide insight into the exact reasons the educational neglect allegation was substantiated by ACS. 

Keaton believes her case was unproductive at best, and inappropriate at worst. She was trying to keep her daughter safe and had been putting together educational assignments for her despite, she said, not being provided materials by her school. She was also applying for medically necessary home instruction 鈥� a process through which the November ACS and DOE joint guidance instructs schools to support parents wary of COVID rather than reporting them to child services. 

鈥淏ased on the guidelines,鈥� said Keaton, 鈥淎CS should not have been called.鈥�

Lead Image: Paullette Healy at the front door with her younger child, Kira. (Asher Lehrer-Small)

This article is part of a collaboration between 社区黑料 and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

Los Angeles families are divided along racial lines and income levels over how well the Los Angeles Unified School District handled remote learning and other issues during the pandemic, a new poll shows.

The annual by Great Public Schools Now of 500 Los Angeles families found 43 percent of “very low income” and 27 percent of families of color did not believe the quality of remote learning was good; while just 7 percent of higher income and 27 percent of white families experienced similar problems during the 2020-21 school year.聽

鈥淢any low-income and families of color feel positive about what is going on in public schools in general; but not at the same level as higher-income families and white families in the school systems,鈥� write the authors of the report.

鈥淥ne resounding finding is that ensuring all students and their families have access to the same quality experiences is still not realized,鈥� the report concluded. 

When classes went remote in the spring of 2020, many L.A. students faced challenges such as not having devices or wifi access, the poll found. Concerns were also expressed about student mental health services and educational resources, with white families often reporting better interactions with the school system. 

Here are 5 key findings from the report:

1 Opinions on mental health support for students varied by race and income

78 percent of the respondents said schools handled mental health support well, but racial and income gaps persist: While 80 percent of white families approved of how student mental health supports were handled, just 61 percent of Black families felt that way.

2 Opinions on the quality of remote learning were also mixed

More than 80 percent of higher income, and 63 percent of white families said remote learning made things better for their children, while just 30 percent of very low income and 57 percent of families of color had that experience.

3 Students faced struggles accessing the internet at home 鈥� an issue that was true for students from all backgrounds

According to the survey 84 percent of families encountered internet connection issues at home. This issue transcended race and income with 25 percent of Latino families reporting 鈥減oor access to good internet鈥� compared to 24 percent of white families; and 18 percent of Black families.

4 Survey showed gaps in family perspective on school decisions 

A majority of the respondents (81 percent) reported feeling listened to when it comes to school decisions, but not everyone feels heard equally. Families with higher incomes overwhelmingly felt they had more influence on school decisions than those poor families; while fewer low income families felt this way.

5 Across the board, Los Angeles families wanted a better quality of education

Looking ahead, Los Angeles families uniformly wanted more and better educational resources; with tutoring at the top of the list; followed by after school programs that offer both academic and non-academic support, and out of school time support.

The percentage of teachers who reported their schools had provided their students with such devices doubled from 43% before the pandemic to , a September 2021 report shows.

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In one sense, it might be tempting to celebrate how schools are doing more to keep their students digitally connected during the pandemic. The problem is, schools are not just providing kids with computers to keep up with their schoolwork. Instead 鈥� in a trend that could easily be described as Orwellian 鈥� the vast majority of schools are also using those devices to keep tabs on what students are doing in their personal lives.

Indeed, reported that their schools had installed artificial intelligence-based surveillance software on these devices to monitor students鈥� online activities and what is stored in the computer.

This student surveillance is taking place 鈥� at taxpayer expense 鈥� in cities and school communities throughout the United States.

For instance, in the Minneapolis school district, school officials paid over $355,000 to use tools provided by until 2023. Three-quarters of incidents reported 鈥� that is, cases where the system flagged students鈥� online activity 鈥� took place outside school hours.

In Baltimore, where the public school system uses the surveillance app, police officers are when the system detects students typing keywords related to self-harm.

Safety versus privacy

Vendors claim these tools from self-harm or online activities that could lead to trouble. However, and have raised questions about those claims.

Vendors often how their and the type of data used to train them.

Privacy advocates fear these tools may harm students by and .

As a researcher who and issues in various , I know that intrusive surveillance techniques cause to students, and .

Artificial intelligence not intelligent enough

Even the to understand human language and . This is why student surveillance systems pick up a lot of instead of real problems.

In some cases, these surveillance programs have flagged students discussing music deemed suspicious and even students 鈥淭o Kill a Mockingbird.鈥�

Harm to students

When students know they are being monitored, they are to share true thoughts online and are more careful about what they search. This can discourage vulnerable groups, such as students with mental health issues, from getting needed services.

When students know that their every move and everything read and written is watched, they are also . In general, surveillance has a negative impact on students鈥� . It also of the skills and mindset needed to exercise their rights.

More adverse impact on minorities

U.S. schools minority students. African American students鈥� chances of being suspended are than that of their white peers.

After evaluating flagged content, , who take disciplinary actions on a case-by-case basis. The in schools鈥� use of these tools could lead to further harm for minority students.

The situation is worsened by the fact that Black and Hispanic students rely . This in turn makes minority students more likely to be monitored and exposes them to greater risk of some sort of intervention.

When both minority students and their white peers are monitored, the former group is more likely to be penalized because the training data used in developing artificial intelligence programs often . Artificial intelligence programs languages . This is due to the in the datasets used to train such programs and .

Leading AI models are that those written by others. They are 2.2 times more likely to flag tweets written in African American slang.

These tools also affect sexual and gender minorities more adversely. Gaggle has reportedly flagged because they are associated with pornography, even though the terms are often used to describe one鈥檚 identity.

Increased security risk

These surveillance systems also increase students鈥� cybersecurity risks. First, to comprehensively monitor students鈥� activities, surveillance vendors compel students to install a set of certificates known as root certificates. As the highest-level security certificate installed in a device, a root certificate to determine the entire system鈥檚 security. One drawback is that these certificates .

Gaggle, which scans digital files of more than each year, installs such certificates. This tactic of installing certificates is similar regimes, , use to and that cybercriminals use to .

Second, surveillance system vendors use insecure systems that hackers can exploit. In March 2021, computer security software company McAfee found in student monitoring system vendor Netop鈥檚 Vision Pro Education software. For instance, Netop did not .

The software was used by over 9,000 schools worldwide to monitor millions of students. The vulnerability .

Finally, personal information of students that is stored by the vendors is . In July 2020, criminals stole 鈥� including names, email addresses, home addresses, phone numbers and passwords 鈥� by hacking online proctoring service ProctorU. This data was then leaked online.

Schools would do well to look more closely at the harm being caused by their surveillance of students and to question whether they actually make students more safe 鈥� or less.

This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .

In remarks where he took a swipe at Chicago’s recent labor dispute that shut down its public schools, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Thursday he was ” with the teachers union a temporary remote learning option.

While the mayor referred to United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew as his “good friend,” he did not indicate that the city and the union had reached an agreement on what a “quality” remote option would look like. A sticking point may be whether the union would allow classroom teachers to livestream their in-person lessons to remote students.

More than once, Adams described any possible remote learning option as temporary and strongly reiterated his position that students needed to be in school. “We’ve lost two years of education. Two years” he said. “The fallout is unbelievable. Math and English. English is is not as bad as math, but the numbers with math, they are frightening.”

One day after Mayor Eric Adams said it would take six months to develop a solid remote learning program, the head of the New York City teachers union pressed for quicker action and the schools chancellor said he was working on a plan.

But it might be at odds with how teachers want to deliver virtual learning, leaving students, parents and educators unclear about a path forward as the highly transmissible Omicron variant sweeps through the state and nation.

鈥淲e’ve called for a remote learning program since September, and we believe we need to do this,鈥� United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew said. 鈥淚 think Mayor Adams is really thinking it through, because it is just the fact there’s over 200,000 children who haven’t been in school for over two weeks.鈥�

Mulgrew鈥檚 remarks came during a town hall meeting Wednesday evening with roughly 15,000 UFT members and again Thursday morning on . 

鈥淲e need to set something up, because we hope this is the last wave,鈥� he said, 鈥渂ut we do not know if it is. So, I think it’s time for the city really to think about it and contemplate it.鈥�

Adams鈥檚 鈥嬧�媏stimate that it will take roughly six months for city schools to include virtual options would effectively push remote learning off until the end of the school year. He made the comments Wednesday during a conference call with officials, including more than two dozen city and state legislators who sent him a letter in the first week of January calling for a pivot to remote learning through Jan. 18 to slow the spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, , schools Chancellor David Banks told a parent advisory council Thursday morning that the city was in talks with the union to create a remote option for this year, but needs to iron out the details. 

鈥淢y goal is to create an option that will take us at the very least to the end of the school year,鈥� Banks said at a virtual meeting. 鈥淚f I could figure out a way to do a remote option starting tomorrow I would 鈥� It鈥檚 not quite as simple as that because you have to negotiate this stuff with the unions.鈥�

According to Chalkbeat, Banks suggested that one way to have remote learning immediately would be to do away with an agreement with the union that prohibits schools from requiring teachers to livestream their lessons and urged parents to take their demands for a remote option directly to their local UFT chapter leaders. 

The back-and-forth was prompted by one of the most chaotic weeks in NYC schools since the pandemic first shut down classes in March 2020. Fear of the Omicron variant sparked widespread school walkouts by NYC students, who say they feel unsafe on campus and at risk of contracting the virus and bringing it home to their families. Worried parents have also been keeping their children home in : The New York City Department of Education reported Wednesday鈥檚 at 76.34 percent. 

The figure is a marked improvement from last week when more than 300,000 students skipped class. 

While some reports show the city might have already hit its peak, the infection rate remains troubling with roughly  The fast-spreading Omicron variant now has scores of . 

Studies have generally shown remote learning has led to compared to in-person instruction. In its earlier incarnation in NYC schools, it also posed staffing challenges with one set of teachers instructing children remotely while another set worked with them in the classroom. 

Mulgrew, whose union represents nearly 200,000 public schools educators and school-related professionals, among others, said the city needs a reliable means to connect with those students who are unable or unwilling to come to campus. 

鈥淲e have to make sure we are getting to all of the children because the learning loss we鈥檝e seen already 鈥� is quite large,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut on the remote option, we don鈥檛 want to go back to 65 percent of the children staying home. So, for parents, I’m going to ask again, please if we have this option use it judiciously. And again, think about giving us consent for testing your child and really contemplate about getting your child vaccinated. Because these are two of the things the school system needs right now for keeping your child and all of the children safe.”

The findings, consistent among all racial and ethnic groups Axios said, came as students, teachers and parents in New York City and Chicago protested in-person learning.    

Of the 2,093 Americans surveyed over the weekend of Jan. 7-9, 56 percent said avoiding COVID exposure was more important than keeping schools open. 

Here are the poll鈥檚 key findings: 

Parents are even more likely to support distance learning amid the surge

Of those polled, 62 percent of parents with school-aged children favored remote learning. Preliminary findings from 社区黑料鈥檚 parent survey found similar results: 60 percent favored a remote option. 

Republicans more hesitant to close schools 

Differences in how Americans responded to the poll fell squarely along party lines: Only 37 percent of Republican respondents backed remote learning, compared to 70 percent of Democrats.聽

Findings also exposed generational and income divides

Younger, lower-income respondents more frequently chose to protect 鈥渉ealth and safety鈥� over in-person learning 鈥� with more than 60 percent of Gen Z, millennial and Gen X respondents believing schools should move remote. Of boomers, aged 57 or older, 48 percent responded the same.

The poll showed differences along income as well, with 63 percent of Americans earning under $50,000 annually favoring distance learning.  Those earning more than $100,000 were nearly divided, with 49 percent favoring remote and 51 percent backing in-person learning.

Axios noted a key limitation to the findings is that 鈥渞isk tolerance exists along a spectrum,鈥� but respondents were only offered a choice between prioritizing 鈥渉ealth and safety鈥� or in-person learning. 

Parents who opt to send children to in-person classes presumably may feel that 鈥渉ealth and safety鈥� is prioritized inside schools, while others believe daily exposure to hundreds of people is not a risk their family is willing or able to take.