Year of remote learning causes many challenges to Downriver students, educators and parents | News

Hours of Zoom classes, log-in issues, camera-shy students, internet connection failures, day care costs, Chromebook requests, classroom management — and the list goes on when it comes to the challenges of remote learning.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has come at a cost, in various ways, to districts and families since schools shut down and went virtual about a year ago.

One of the first things the pandemic exposed was the importance and necessity of school lunch programs.

When buildings first shut down, many parents began to feel the economic impact, and not just those in districts that aren’t as wealthy as others.

Districts throughout Downriver launched food distributions for parents — many of which remain in place today.

At the beginning of the pandemic, parents relied on social media to find where food was being distributed, and it was gone within minutes.

As the pandemic stretched on and those problems were figured out as the number of schools offered meals, others complications arose.

Remote in Romulus

Romulus school Supt. Benjamin Edmondson said the pandemic didn’t just create hardships for parents and students, it also put some staff members in crisis mode.

He believes the staff is the engine that drives students towards success, and Edmondson said educators have to be “well” in order for the educational process to work.

One thing he recognized as a hardship was day care for some staff.

He put a program in place and was able to offer day care in one of the school buildings for staff at $25 a day for one child and $50 a day for two or more.

“It was a no-brainer,” Edmondson said. “It made the job easier. I had one teacher who was in a financial situation and it was still a hardship for her. I feared I was going to lose her.”

He didn’t let that happen.

The superintendent came up with a solution so that it worked into her budget.

“She was so thankful,” he said. “We have less than 20 staff members taking advantage of the child care. It will continue through the end of the school year.”

All of the staff in Romulus had to report to their respective buildings for virtual learning.

The district made sure all students were in possession of a Chromebook, but other challenges quickly arose.

Managing the classroom also proved to be a challenge initially.

It was a different process for students and it took a little while for the students to adjust.

“We’ve ironed out all those kinks now,” Edmondson said.

Those kinks weren’t easy to smooth over in Romulus or in other districts, such as Ecorse Public Schools.

Trying to keep children fed during the pandemic, parents are taking advantage of a food program launched by the district that offers enough to last five days.

Making sure students had enough to eat was an early challenge, but not the biggest one Romulus educators faced with school out and remote learning in place.

Ecorse challenges

According to Ecorse school Supt. Josha Talison, nothing beats face-to-face instruction, but when forced to switch to remote learning, keeping students engaged was a top concern — especially for long stretches of time.

One instructional issue that seemed simple enough, but turned out to be a challenge, was actually getting students to turn on their cameras while in class.

Some students didn’t initially take the virtual classroom as seriously as school officials demanded.

Talison said he was aware that a few students were “attending” class still in their pajamas.

Some also were not turning in work.

Ecorse officials had to turn up the heat to make students aware this wasn’t a request.

“We had to make some home visits for those students not turning in work,” Talison said.

Fearing access would be a problem for some families, the district not only distributed Chromebooks, but arranged to get internet hot spots for students in need and worked with Comcast to make access possible.

Even with all of those bases covered, some parents struggled getting acclimated to the online learning programs.

Parents expressed apprehension about being able to assist their children due to a lack of technological capabilities or knowledge of some subjects.

Workshops were held to help bring parents up to speed on areas of concern.

Talison said the district wanted to remove any barriers parents believed they had.

Parents had the option to have their child attend school in person or go virtual.

About 70% of students have been receiving instruction online.

Many who chose remote learning had second thoughts.

“A lot of parents didn’t understand the time commitment,” Talison said. “I had parents crying, begging me to let their child come back. They were saying: ‘I can’t do this. It’s very daunting.'”

He found even college-educated parents who weren’t tech savvy had some difficulty with the technology.

Today, about 95% of his parents want to return to in-school learning.

He’s noticed that grades are better in person, as well, and admits that some learning loss has taken place.

Missing classmates

Ryan Gorgon, a kindergartner at Arno Elementary School in Allen Park, appears to be handling the online instruction quite well, but his father, Steve Gorgon, said it’s also been disappointing for the youngster.

Gorgon said this was to be his son’s first time going to school for daily instruction, and COVID-19 ruined that.

By the time he was able to have face-to-face instruction, it wasn’t long before remote learning was put back in place due to virus outbreaks.

“It started getting frustrating,” Gorgon said.

Nevertheless, his son said he likes remote learning.

“I like it because I get to take breaks at home and watch my favorite TV show, ‘Adventure Agents,’” Ryan Gorgon said.

What he doesn’t like is missing being with his friends.

His father said being at home takes the seriousness out of schoolwork. Later in the day, he said, his son starts to get distracted.

Nevertheless, his grades are good.

That very well could be because the youngster gets a good amount of support from his parents and grandparents.

“I can’t imagine what it’s like having two parents who work,” Gorgon said. “It’s very different for them. I have my parents who help a lot. There are people out there who don’t have that.”

The father said having to oversee his son’s classroom instruction is quite time consuming, but necessary so he knows for sure what his son is assigned to do.

He credits the district for making the process as easy as possible on parents.

Family matters

Kathy Watkins is a Romulus parent with a graduate from Summit Academy Schools last year, and a junior and sophomore still in school.

The pandemic has had an impact on each of them in different ways.

Her oldest son missed his high school senior year baseball season due to the pandemic, but still earned a full baseball scholarship to a school in Chicago.

Once there, his season was canceled due to the virus.

Her son who is a junior at Summit has always been an academic standout, but she has watched his grades take a tremendous dive.

“He can’t get engaged,” she said. “The only thing that keeps him going is work. He says this online learning doesn’t make sense to him. I’ve tried everything to motivate him.”

She said he just wants to be back in school where he can do his work as it’s always been done.

On the other hand, her youngest son, who has never made the honor roll, currently has a 3.6 GPA and is flourishing with remote learning.

Being able to work at home and at his own pace has helped transform him into a better student.

The virus has taken a toll on Watkins, as well. Although she has a son thriving in virtual learning, she said there are far too many distractions.

“I know the teachers are overwhelmed,” Watkins said. “A lot of them are trying to teach and they have their own children to deal with, too.”

Internet issues

That inability to build relationships is what Kimberly Soranno, superintendent for the Melvindale-Northern Allen Park School District, said is a major challenge to remote learning in her district.

The district has organized many activities, including a Valentine’s Day drive-thru at Strong Middle School and virtual reading nights just to keep students engaged with staff.

Soranno said she wouldn’t go as far as saying the district was totally prepared to handle the challenges of the pandemic, but said there already had been a push for curriculum-based technology learning, and that gave them a strong advantage.

Soranno said the district was moving in the right direction for handling the challenges of remote learning.

All students received computers rather quickly when schools closed.

“The COVID money helped us a lot, so that wasn’t a problem,” Soranno said. “We had more service (internet) issues than issues with computers. About 25% of our students didn’t have service.”

District officials handled that issue.

Her students are 100% virtual and Soranno said she’s proud their efforts have resulted in a good attendance rate.

Learning labs have helped in that endeavor as well, especially for special education and bilingual students.

District officials and parents have identified numerous areas of concern and pointed out some bright spots to remote learning. Most are hoping the end of computer-screen instruction is near and the days of student-filled classrooms are just around the corner.

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