Parents, districts scramble to feed, teach kids as schools close

The announcement Friday by Gov. Tom Wolf closing all K-12 schools in Pennsylvania set in motion a challenge for parents to replace school lunches, find child care and help their kids download their homework.

Moving education online will present several issues. As more people head home — then head online for digital assignments or digital entertainment — chances are it will slow down internet speeds across the board.

That means it will be hard for parents to get work done from home, hard for students to download assignments, and hard for anyone to watch TV or play a game online, said Andrew Cohill, president of Design Nine Inc., a company that provides broadband network planning, design and build-out services.

“This idea that we can just send everybody home and have them work and do their schoolwork — very broadly in this country, we don’t have the infrastructure that’s been designed to do that,” Mr. Cohill said. “I think all the distance-learning platforms, they were never really

designed to suddenly support hundreds of thousands of additional users.”

Mr. Cohill and his team have been working with the Southwestern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission to help rural communities in the region secure access to reliable broadband networks.

Right now, anywhere from 10% to 40% of houses nationwide don’t have access to a strong internet connection, he said.

In southwestern Pennsylvania, counties are investing in their own broadband infrastructure to fix the problem. But the process will take at least several months, Mr. Cohill said.

For the time being, students and parents in rural areas without reliable internet access will likely have to travel out of the house to complete assignments — whether by going to the parking lot of their schools or to a McDonald’s to use the Wi-Fi. In another effort to prevent the spread of the virus, many public libraries are also shutting their doors, closing off another alternative connection.

In Virginia, where Design Nine Inc. is based, one school district got creative: It sent school buses around to collect students’ laptops, brought them to the school to upload assignments, then returned them to the students.

In Pennsylvania, there are about 1.7 million K-12 students across 500 districts.

Varying by districts

The way those children will learn at home the next two weeks likely will vary by district, based on resources and by grade level, said Mark DiRocco, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators.

Students in higher grades are better situated to work online and or use other remote means, he said. Younger children, especially those in kindergarten and first and second grades, are less so.

Conditions at home, including the number of children versus the number of computers, will have an influence. So will work schedules.

If one or both parents work outside the home, “There are going to be child care issues,” Mr. DiRocco said.

Mr. DiRocco said schools already were beginning to empty for the weekend Friday as word of Mr. Wolf’s closure order came, meaning there won’t be much time to implement any remote teaching plans.

“They’ll at least have 48 hours,” he said.

Pittsburgh Public Schools said Friday that students would not be required to complete lessons during the shutdown because not all of them will have access to the internet.

Some rural communities that lack reliable internet access don’t see it as a major problem, said Edward Albert, executive director for the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools, a statewide advocacy organization based in Centre County.

Already he has talked to several superintendents considering alternative lesson plans, such as a senior project or advanced work packets for high school students or reading requirements for elementary schools.

“I think it’s going to be a case-by-case basis of how you make up school and what counts,” Mr. Albert said.

Districts will get flexibility to deal with these unknowns. The governor’s order states, “Be aware that no district will be penalized if it fails to meet the 180-day or school hours requirement,” Mr. DiRocco said.

Feeding students

School lunches are another issue that many districts are working to address, because many families rely on the meals their kids get in school cafeterias.

Pittsburgh Public Schools will provide some meals to students beginning Monday. The district typically serves over 12,000 breakfast meals and over 19,000 lunch meals daily, according to its website.

During the shutdown, “We will have all school buildings open so students will be able to access food,” district spokeswoman Ebony Pugh said.

Students will be able to get lunches at the school closest to their home, which is not necessarily the school they attend. Full meals will be served in a “grab-and-go” style, and students will not be allowed to eat in the school buildings to avoid groups of people congregating.

At North Hills School District, the plan is for free and reduced-price lunches to be available on school days during the closure for students who qualify. They can pick up grab-and-go breakfast and lunch options from West View Elementary School between specific times.

Heather Pelat, spokeswoman for the school district, said the district will create a “drive-thru” where people can have a boxed breakfast and lunch handed to them in their car.

Out of around 4,500 students, 26% of the North Hills district’s students qualify for a free and reduced-price lunch program — around 1,170 students, Ms. Pelat said.

Penn Hills School District stated on its website that an administrative meeting will be held Monday to discuss the issue. “Families should not expect that PHSD will be serving meals on Monday,” the statement read.

“We all realize this is a very difficult time that has created extra anxiety, especially for our families. PHSD is committed to helping our extended school community navigate this unprecedented event,” the statement read.

Mt. Lebanon School District plans to provide daily meals starting Monday for students in need, with distribution at the high school, according to a statement from the district Superintendent Timothy J. Steinhauer and posted on its website.

Plum Borough School District said brown bag meals will be made available at certain times at Holiday Park Elementary School and Plum Borough High School, while at Sto-Rox School District, breakfast and lunches will be available for students at several locations.

Support from schools

Despite the challenges, what Mr. DiRocco has heard so far from members is support for what the governor did.

“Superintendents from our membership, many of them were very concerned about the spread of the virus. Once it gets in your school system, it’s going to go through like wildfire,” Mr. DiRocco said.

“They were concerned about keeping their kids safe, their staffs safe and the entire community.”