Margarita Santiago’s twin girls start second grade this year in the Worcester Public Schools, and she's not convinced online is the best way for her daughters to learn.
"My kids really didn't enjoy the remote learning" in the spring, Santiago said. "They spent most of the time under the table, going in the bathroom, and grabbing snacks."
While district leadership can’t do much about fidgeting, Sarah Kyriazis, instructional technology and digital learning manager for Worcester Public Schools, said the district is offering other support to help parents make online learning work better for their kids.
The district has launched a Caregivers Technology Academy designed to help parents, and others caring for students, understand the technology tools students will need to attend school this fall. The materials are posted in the eight languages most used by families in the district including English, Nepali and Twi.
GBH News spoke with a half-dozen caregivers for their perspective of the program. No two were alike. And they ranged from finding it useful, to having never heard of the academy.
“It’s going to be a process,” said Kyriazis. “We won’t get everyone ready by Sept. 15."
But, she said, "working through the schools and working through the teachers, we are going to provide as much support as possible.”
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