School districts take unplanned plunge into online learning

In a whirlwind week, teachers came up with digital versions of everything from high-school English discussions to kindergarten gym classes, city officials scrambled to find laptops for students in need, and parents grappled with how y would keep kids’ attention on schoolwork.

New York City school system, nation’s largest with 1.1 million students, is taking plunge into online education on Monday, joining districts around U.S. in an unplanned, unprecedented test of virtual teaching during coronavirus shutdowns.

Among many wondering just what it will look like is Wilson Almor, a junior who traveled an hour from his Bronx home to his Manhattan high school Thursday to try to get a loaner laptop. He left empty-handed, though he said he was told he’d get a call this week about a loaner tablet.

“I’m t used to online classes. I don’t kw if it’s going to really help me,” said Almor, who is concerned about keeping up with his vanced Placement classes and staying on track to gruate, and about how he’ll ask questions of teachers in digital cloud.

Plus, “when we are in school, we’re learning but we’re also having fun,” said Almor, who arrived from Haiti in 2018 to join his mor, who works with elderly.

Virtual school — sometimes kwn by “distance learning” or or terms — has existed for deces. But it’s far from ubiquitous in U.S. schools because of digital inequities among students, concerns about implications for teachers, and or factors.

Rey or t, schools everywhere are getting a crash course. In U.S., more than 118,000 public and private schools in 45 states have closed, affecting 53 million students, according to a tally kept by Education Week.

“We’re about to go into very big unkwn, but we’re excited,” New York City schools chancellor Richard Carranza said Friday. To him, it’s an opportunity to take concept to a grand scale.

Some or experts aren’t so optimistic. y say too few U.S. educators have been trained to teach effectively online, and one should expect too much of stopgap programs rolled out within days during a stressful time for teachers, students and families.

“It has potential to be awesome, but t this way,” said Michael Young, a University of Connecticut professor who specializes in education techlogy.

Educators, too, ackwledge that distance learning can only go so far.

In suburban Atlanta, Fulton County school district has sped up computer purchasing and lent Wi-Fi hotspot devices to some of its 94,000 students. Superintendent Mike Looney credits teachers with delivering inventive and rigorous online instruction.

Still, “I don’t want to give anyone false pretense that digital learning tools are as effective as a classroom teacher,” he said.

Some school districts, including Philelphia’s, have decided against requiring online learning during ir shutdowns, saying it wouldn’t be fair to students without computers and high-speed internet at home. y’re distributing packets on paper.

In New York, Carranza said school system will start distributing 25,000 tablets Monday, while working toward getting 300,000 in all and making pencil-and-paper packets available in meantime. Students also can work on smartphones, though ir small screens aren’t ideal.

Schools and teachers have been strategizing about how best to eng ir students, sharing pointers in training sessions and Facebook groups.

“It won’t be perfect. But we need to get this done,” teachers union president Michael Mulgrew said.

Jane Paul, an elementary school physical education teacher in Brooklyn, plans to post videos for students to view on ir own schedules. She intends to check in with individual students regularly but thinks convening a virtual class would be unworkable for families who might be sharing devices or juggling school time with parents’ work hours.

“Everybody has to understand challenges, and we have to make allowances for m,” Paul says.

John Berr, on or hand, is going to try to preserve real-time discussions among his 11th-gre English students, as he feels interactions help clear up questions and misconceptions.

He realizes that students at his techlogy-focused Manhattan high school might be caring for younger siblings and sharing devices, so he’s making allowances, too. He’ll record discussions, and he’s prepared for typos from students working on phones.

“This might t be time when I’m harping on ‘you used wrong ‘re,’” he said.

Broome Street Acemy, a Manhattan charter high school where nearly half students are homeless or in unstable housing, alrey h emphasized getting students connected for extra help online before crisis. Eighty-five percent showed up when Broome Street started remote-only learning March 16, said Eric Weingarten, CEO of Door, social services group that runs school.

But he worries that students may miss out on legal, mental health, medical and or help that are rmally right down hall but w virtual at Door, w shut until at least March 30.

“We have se built-in supports, and w those aren’t as easy to provide,” he said.

Parents, too, are having a distance learning experience — carving out for ir own work and ir kids’, trying to keep small ones engd through a school day, making sudden peace with screen time.

With second- and third-gre sons, Dr. Steven Rowitz isn’t sure how effective online education can be for ir group. “I really don’t want m in front of a screen, but I guess we do best we can,” Manhattan primary care physician said.

Andrea Francis and her 11-year-old son, Ayden, are rey to go. She’s t working because of medical problems and didn’t have a computer, but his Manhattan school loaned m one Thursday, and he was itching to get on it for his math club’s webinar.

But with school out at least through April 20 and middle school starting next year, Ayden doesn’t want to miss out on school dance, his fifth-gre “senior trip” and everything else that goes with being in school in person.

“I’m t going to be with my friends,” he mused. “And I’ll miss my school and learning, even though we’re still getting work.”

(AP Photo/John Minchillo