Quarter of high school students not engaged with distance learning
STAMFORD — One out of every four high school students in Stamford is not engaged with remote learning, according to numbers from the school district.
When the COVID-19 pandemic shut classrooms and sent kids home for what has turned out to be the rest of the school year, “remote learning” was still an undefined concept. Many worried whether lessons transmitted through computer screens could stand up to those delivered in person. As it turns out, some Stamford students are not getting any lessons at all.
At Westhill High School, where the problem is worst, 29 percent of students are considered to not be engaged with online lessons, and 16 percent, or 355 students, have not been in contact with the school once since classes were interrupted.
Administrators this week said some students are not checking in because they’re dealing with issues at home, such as taking care of a sibling or sick relative, and some are grieving the loss of a family member. Others are working jobs, which is creating challenges for their education.
“There’s a lot of
reasons,” said Amy Beldotti, associate superintendent of teaching and learning. “We’re handling things on an individual basis.”
And then there are the students whose struggles with attendance are nothing new.
“Some of the students who were not engaged before we closed schools are struggling to engage now that our schools are closed,” Beldotti said.
‘Consistent engagement’
According to district figures, 13.7 percent of students in Stamford as of last month were not consistently engaged with distance learning.
The statistic is vague in description, but schools spokesperson Sharon Beadle said “consistent engagement” for younger students means regular two-way communication between the student and staff. For the middleand high-school levels, consistent engagement is described as two-way communication in four or more classes.
Before Covid-19, about 12.5 percent of the Stamford student body was chronically absent, meaning they missed 10 percent of more of classes in a year, according to figures from the school district, which closely aligns with the percent not taking part in remote learning.
In several schools participation in distance learning is higher than 90 percent, and some are almost at full engagement. The percentage of engaged students at the K-8 magnet school Rogers International is 99.2 percent, meaning only 7 of the 828 students aren’t regularly participating.
By contrast, at Westhill High, which has the lowest participation rate in the city, 635 of the 2,221 students are not regularly signing on to do schoolwork.
“We see some struggles with some of our students in the high schools participating,” Beldotti said at a recent Board of Education meeting.
Beldotti added that some students are picky with their classes, choosing to participate in ones they enjoy, while ignoring others.
Administrators and counselors have set up tiered support systems in every building to keep tabs on students. That means if a teacher can’t reach a student, someone else in the school also will reach out. Each school was able to choose their own protocol, Beldotti said, with some having a social worker or parent facilitator next in line to track down students.
In terms of finding students, every school in the city has at least been able to contact 95 percent of its students.
Except for Westhill, which has been able to contact only 84 percent.
Judy Klym, a co-president of the Westhill Parent Teacher
Student Organization, said her son’s experience with distance learning has been positive so far. She praised the teachers for going “above and beyond” to provide education.
She wondered whether there might be better engagement if Principal Michael Rinaldi could interact with the school community more freely. Rinaldi was suspended in late March for sharing his opinion on an Instagram post that schools could remain closed until the end of the school year. He also was told any further communications with the public had to be approved by his associate superintendent. Rinaldi has filed a grievance over the suspension.
“I know parents and students really do miss his communication and came to rely on them,” Klym said. “I do think there probably would be more participation and involvement and students staying active if he was able to communicate with them.”
Trying to make contact
Beldotti said “a lot of time and effort” has gone into contacting every family in the city.
The district has also handed out more than 4,000 devices — Chromebooks and iPads — to students so far. That includes multiple devices being given to some families with more than one student in the household, which school administrators learned was a necessity.
“The competition for devices at homes as everyone is trying to do their distance learning is really difficult,” Beldotti said.
Access to the internet was another challenge. The school district had handed out more than 400 Wi-Fi hot spots as of late last month, and continues to distribute them.
Diane Phanos, president of the Stamford teacher’s union, said teachers have been working long days as well to accommodate the disparate schedules of students.
Some younger students can’t get to their online assignments during the day because their parents are working. Which means they get to their work at night when a parent is with them.
Phanos said she knows of teachers who are communicating with kids as late as 11 p.m.
“It’s really become an around the clock job for teachers,” she said.
Often, teachers are not just instructing their students, but the parents too, training them on how to use technology to access classwork.
“Teachers have become more than teachers,” Phanos said. “My teachers are really putting in their fair share of effort to get everyone participating.”