It feels like it's never going to end': Weary D.C.-area parents brace for more all-virtual school
Thousands of D.C. area families that had pinned their hopes on school buildings reopening this fall must grapple with a stunning new reality: Their children will not step inside a classroom for who knows how many months to come.
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The burden is falling especially hard on parents who cannot work from home, those with young children and families in poor financial situations that depended on schools as a source of food and stability. It is also afflicting children for whom school was a safe haven: Experts have warned that rates of child abuse, and abuse-driven deaths, will only rise the longer campuses stay closed. Even for families that suffer none of that, the key question remains: Can students really learn online?
For parents whose children suffer learning disabilities, the future looks especially bleak.
When virtual learning started, Fairfax parent Mindy Bixby said, her severely autistic son, Bobby, knew 50 words. But after a spring and summer spent sitting uncomprehending before a computer, as pixelated teachers failed to reach him, the 7-year-old’s vocabulary dropped to 25. He stopped using sentences, calling “Daddy go?” instead of “Where did Daddy go?” He started having bathroom accidents at home, which never happened before.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/it-feels-like-its-never-going-to-end-weary-dc-area-parents-brace-for-more-all-virtual-school/2020/07/22/b4828058-cc1e-11ea-bc6a-6841b28d9093_story.html
