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Hillsborough Achievement Schools risk losing ground during shut-down

Families are struggling, but COVID-19 makes outreach difficult.
 
Meeting remotely, an advisory committee for Hillsborough County's Achievement Schools discussed how to connect with hard-to-read students while schools are closed for COVID-19.
Meeting remotely, an advisory committee for Hillsborough County's Achievement Schools discussed how to connect with hard-to-read students while schools are closed for COVID-19. [ Times staff ]
Published April 2, 2020|Updated April 3, 2020

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TAMPA — Equity remains a pressing issue as the Hillsborough County School District closes out its first week of distance learning.

Spanish-speaking parents are telling community leaders they are struggling to help young children with their studies.

Parents who owe money to the Spectrum internet provider are being locked out of a free WiFi deal, and large families are running into scheduling headaches as they share computers.

These obstacles are widespread, but they hit low-income communities especially hard. And, while the COVID-19 pandemic dictates strict social distancing, school district leaders do not want to abandon the work of their Achievement Schools initiative.

“Our goal is that we do not want even one of our children to fall through the cracks,” said Tricia McManus, the assistant superintendent in charge of the Achievement program.

At an advisory committee meeting Thursday, held virtually through Zoom, members discussed possible outreach efforts. In some cases, those efforts might stretch the boundaries of a stay-at-home imperative necessitated by the fast spread of the deadly coronavirus.

One such idea: Backpacks, stuffed with books and learning materials, for children who are not able to work through the district's internet platforms.

"Our schools are going to stay open as essential sites and, I think our students having what we need is essential," McManus said.

In her vision, the backpacks would have notes attached that say, “we miss you. Please call.” Staff or volunteers would deliver them to the children’s homes, taking every precaution to keep a safe distance and avoid contamination. “We have their addresses,” she reminded the group.

During the meeting, members gave McManus leads for free book bags and books. The district’s own book depository also has large supply of workbooks, she said.

Separately, the Hillsborough Education Foundation is working to help with the problem of families without either laptops or WiFi.

A fundraising campaign is under way to help families, in some cases providing portable hot spots. The foundation is working with three schools - Potter, Gibsonton and Foster Elementary - already, executive director Kim Jowell said. They want to develop a system before they expanded, Jowell said. “But it shouldn’t take us that long to figure it out.”

Although McManus has only eight more weeks before she leaves for a job in North Carolina, she said her staff does not want to lose all ground that they have made since the project was launched in 2018.

School grades and Florida Standards Assessments have been cancelled for this year.

But McManus said her staff is developing a score card for the 50 schools that measures their success according to academics, climate and professional talent.

For now, the group is awaiting data on how widely the students at the 50 schools are taking part in distance learning.

Early reports, based on usage of the Edsby communications platform, show there is contact with 95 percent of the students at Armwood High School and 93 percent at Greco Middle, said Yinka Alege, a small learning network leader in the Achievement group.

The numbers were lower at Bing Elementary and Woodson K-8, both at about 77 percent, he said.

But those numbers do not take into account the availability of paper work packets, which some families are using instead. These were made available at the schools and, in some neighborhoods, the district is delivering them to central locations along with packaged meals.

The group discussed the possibility of hiring an online tutoring company that would have instructors available through the end of the school year.

McManus also suggested that there might be support roles for district employees who are not classroom teachers. Such employees might serve as translators, or make phone calls to student homes after hours to relieve the enormous burden now faced by teachers.

Another suggestion, to get around the connectivity issue: District staff might upload lessons and learning materials onto thumb-drives and deliver them, along with laptops, so students can work without WiFi.

From Paula Haggerty, assistant director of the teachers' union, came a reminder to take care not to put too much stress on the teachers and families.

"Teachers are feeling frustrated around the same things that you are bringing up," she said.

“I’ve fielded calls from folks who are really frustrated about their non-English speaking students and also about kids who are overwhelmed because this is a new thing." Some children feel overloaded, she said. "It’s frustrating for the teachers and it’s frustrating for the kids.”

Joseph Robinson, second vice president of the Hillsborough Branch NAACP, said he hopes the lessons the district is learning on this crisis can be put to use when the schools re-open.

"This is exposing all of the weaknesses in the school district, in the community, in the home and everywhere else," he said.

“We have now shown beyond a reasonable doubt that the digital divide is real.”