Philly schools, citing inequity, won’t teach online

PHILADELPHIA » The Philadelphia School District will not offer remote instruction during the coronavirus shutdown, the superintendent announced Wednesday, citing equity concerns in a city where many students lack computers or high-speed internet at home.

School districts nationwide have been wrestling with the same issues as they explore ways to keep children engaged as classrooms are shuttered for weeks or longer.

In Philadelphia, where some teachers had been offering forms of optional remote instruction on their own, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said at a City Hall news conference that no students will be required to log on to a computer or submit assignments.

“If that’s not available to all children, we cannot make it available to some,” Hite said.

The vast majority of Philadelphia’s 200,000 students come from low-income families. About 130,000 go to district schools, while the rest attend charter schools free to set their own policies. The district has closed schools through March 27.

The district had sent students home Friday with learning packets, and will continue to distribute them along with grab-and-go meals at sites across the city. Teachers can check on students through emails or phone calls, but cannot offer any instruction.

The digital divide is less of an issue in wealthier suburbs nearby, some of which provide laptops or tablets to students.

“It’s showing the cracks in the system between the ‘have-nots’ and the ‘haves,’ so that the ‘havenots,’ who probably have the greatest needs, are the least able to provide the missing resources. It is not a surprise,” said Michael Churchill, staff attorney for the Public Interest Law Center, which has sued the state of Pennsylvania over a school funding formula that leaves some districts spending $10,000 per child per year and others $27,000.