Outbreaks strand some students at home with minimal learning

Outbreaks strand some students at home with minimal learning

SeattlePI.com

Published

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Within his first week back at school after a year and a half, 7-year-old Ben Medlin was exposed to a classmate with COVID-19, and he was sent home, along with 7,000 other students in the district, for 14 days of quarantine.

Not much learning went on in Ben's home.

On some days last week, the second-grader was given no work by his teachers. On others, he was done by 9:30 a.m., his daily assignments consisting of solving 10 math problems or punctuating four sentences, according to his mother.

“It was very much just thrown together and very, very, very easy work,” Kenan Medlin said.

As coronavirus outbreaks driven by the delta variant lead districts around the U.S. to abruptly shut down or send large numbers of children into quarantine at home, some students are getting minimal schooling.

Despite billions of dollars in federal money at their disposal to prepare for new outbreaks and develop contingency plans, some governors, education departments and local school boards have been caught flat-footed.

Also, some school systems have been handcuffed by state laws or policies aimed at keeping students in classrooms and strongly discouraging or restricting a return to remote learning.

The disruptions — and the risk that youngsters will fall further behind academically — have been unsettling for parents and educators alike.

The school board in Ben's district in Union County, outside Charlotte, relented on Monday and voted to allow most of its quarantining students to return to the classroom as long as they aren’t known to be infected or have no symptoms. On Wednesday, the state’s top health official threatened legal action against the district unless it returns to stricter quarantine procedures.

Union County school officials said they are not offering...

Full Article