Readers tell of pandemic’s toll on education

One year ago, school classrooms closed across the Bay Area. In San Francisco and many other districts, they have yet to reopen.

We asked for readers to tell us their experiences with distance learning, hybrid learning or inperson school. In just over a week, we received more than 200 responses, an outpouring of stories from parents, grandparents, concerned residents and teachers from all over the Bay Area.

Many of the messages contained real hope for the path ahead. Many more expressed anxiety, frustration and fear for what has been lost in the past year, but also what the risks of reopening

might be.

Here are some of the stories we received, which have been edited for length.

“I’m a Latina mom; my English is not perfect. My daughter is in elementary school. I have a baby, too. My daughter is so frustrated with me because I can’t explain to her the assignment, because I have no idea of the subject, because I didn’t go to school here in S.F. She tried to reach out for help with her friends but everyone is doing their own thing.

“I have reached out to the teachers for help, but the district doesn’t have that much of a tutoring program and I end up with only one day a week of help for my daughter. At this point, I have given up with homework. Last week she finally snapped and cried uncontrollably that she wanted to go back to school. It broke my hearts into pieces.

“I kept telling her she will be back one day, and she asked when? And that is my same question, when?”

“I am a nurse practitioner and a solo mother of two 1st graders in the Berkeley public school system. Schools have shuttered their doors for the past year and with this closure, an integral cornerstone of the American social contract has been broken. As a nurse practitioner, I think public health is a valid reason for this rupture, but the closures have remained, despite public health departments giving clearance for schools to reopen.

“I have continued to go to work throughout the pandemic and have struggled to find childcare at the same time.

“I see my children falling behind and losing motivation for learning, (despite the herculean efforts of their teachers online) as I watch my debt climb to cover child care costs.”

“I am a teacher. I wish the district and school board started right away, around late March 2020, to set the course for reopening strategies. Instead, we saw the district and school board launch an exhaustive and sloppily handled school name change campaign, we saw a gay parent volunteer denied membership to a parent volunteer group because the school board felt like his gay identity didn’t meet a particular diversity standard (as a gay teacher I find that deeply offensive, dismissive, and wrong), we saw the district declare that ‘acronyms are a symbol of white supremacy.’

“SFUSD should be the gold standard of public education in the nation and I think we can be with the right leadership. Until then, I fear that our desire to woke signal antiracist policy measures is largely performative and doesn’t result in actually helping our most marginalized and atrisk students learn.”

“This is my 13th year as a SFUSD middle school teacher. I live in a small apartment with a partner who is also working from home. This has been very difficult.

“Researching for, planning, and implementing virtual lessons has been the hardest task I’ve ever faced as a teacher.

“Attempting each day to bring life to the many black screens on Zoom is something I would not wish on my worst enemy. All that said, I am beyond grateful that myself, my students, my colleagues, and my community have been kept safer due to virtual learning.”

“My husband and I have a 7 year old who attends SFUSD. We both work for local nonprofits and are considered low income for SF. My husband is a music teacher and I am a veterinary nurse and essential worker. For an entire year now, one of us works while the other is home supporting our son’s distance learning. We have no childcare support. We are beyond exhausted from being fully employed workers, parents, educators, playmates, and spouses, with no real break in the juggling madness and no end in sight.

“The private school next door to our home has been inperson since the fall. We see many happy kids coming and going to school each day and this is devastating to our son.”

“I am a public middle school teacher in San Francisco. Teaching middle school any year is challenging. In a normal school year, I have 240 minutes a week for inperson teaching with each of my classes. In the virtual world I have 160 minutes.

“I teach about thirty students in each class. At most three students have their cameras on where I can see their faces. Think about that, I’m a teacher and I don’t see the faces of over 90% of my students. I recently offered a variety of topics for an essay. Most students chose why Zoom learning is ineffective. The arguments were profound, salient and heartbreaking.”

“I am the principal of a public middle school located in the

Bay Area. We have been open five days a week for the past four months. Some teachers were freaking out and really angry, but most were grateful to be back in the classroom doing what they love.

“Students are SO HAPPY and so glad to be in school again. We have had zero inschool transmission at any of the schools in our TK12 district because we have followed all CDC and county guidelines religiously.

Many, many family members and students have tested positive, but because we require anyone with even one symptom to quarantine and log on remotely, there has been no inschool transmission.”

“Our fiveyearold son has autism. Before schools closed he was thriving at an SFUSD preschool, receiving individualized services to help him with speech and social emotional skills. He was happy and enjoyed his time at school. After the pandemic forced schools to close, we could see all the progress he made slowly fade. He was more anxious, and everyday we dreaded turning on the computer.

“We tried to recreate school at home buying books and school supplies, doing all kinds of research on what we should be doing to support him, but it never could replace the joy and value of human connection he got at school.

“We’re scared and angry.”

“Distance learning has been a disaster for my family. I have four kids, ages 15,12, 8 and 1 year old. At every point one of them has been in a bad place. My 8yearold has been the most isolated. He’s missed running around with other kids, playing and being an 8yearold boy. He will only work if I sit over him. My 12yearold has gone from an A student to Ds and Fs last quarter and she stopped logging onto school. She pretended she was going but was playing games instead. She’s been so bored and depressed. My 15yearold ran away last week. She went missing for 24 hours, the worst 24 hours of my life. She was contemplating suicide. All of this is so out of character for my bright happy family and kids.

“We are literally just holding on. Just. Just. We cannot keep holding on like this. I can’t afford private schools so we’re talking about moving.”

“I’ve been very grateful to SFUSD for everything they have done for families, teachers and staff during this horrific time. They have rightly put health and safety first.

“I completely support all the standards set by the labor unions, including vaccines and ventilation. I don’t want teachers and staff back in those buildings until they feel safe being there.”

“Distance learning has been very difficult. My 7 year old, previously the happiest child you would ever meet, is making the same comments that a suicidal adult would make. I’m scared he is going to harm himself and I don’t know what to do.

“When I hear people mock and dismiss parents wanting their kids to go back to school as just ‘wanting a babysitter’ I want to scream. I am scared for my 7yearold’s life. Don’t dismiss us. Don’t dismiss the children. Their lives are at stake.”