MEGAN PRATHER: Grandparents raising students face extra challenges during COVID-19 - NONDOC

Grandparents raising students face extra challenges during COVID-19

Grandparents raising students face extra challenges during COVID-19

Linda Chambers has had guardianship over her two grandchildren for the past four years. There were new things to learn, like getting the hang of school schedules and navigating programs through the Department of Human Services.

But the biggest adjustment came this year, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and she found herself facing hurdles she could never have anticipated.

“This year has just been crazy,” Chambers said. “It’s obviously a mess. You want them to go to school and have the experience, but you also want to be safe.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has added a new layer of difficulty for all families, but grandparents taking care of children have faced some particular challenges. Helping students in a virtual school environment has been a problem for some. And sending children to school to potentially bring the virus home is especially risky when the primary caregiver is elderly. These families also have to consider some difficult topics, such as what would happen if the guardian becomes ill with COVID-19.

‘There’s nowhere to send these boys if they get sick’

Chambers has a grandson who graduated from Epic Charter Schools last year and a CONTINUE READING: Grandparents raising students face extra challenges during COVID-19

Arthur Camins: My Hopes and Dreams for My Grandchildren’s Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

Arthur Camins: My Hopes and Dreams for My Grandchildren’s Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

Arthur Camins: My Hopes and Dreams for My Grandchildren’s Education

Arthur Camins has had a fruitful career as a teacher, science educator, and technology expert. He writes here about the kind of education he hopes his grandchildren will have.

He begins:

Persistent inequity and underfunding, especially after decades of emphasis on test-based accountability and privatization, largely unopposed increases in racial and socioeconomic segregation, and four years of leadership by an active opponent of public education bring us to a moment of choice for K-12 public education in the United States: Change or give up on the needs of most of America’s children.

I usually write what I hope are persuasive essays about education policy and other social justice issues. However, the divisiveness of the last election demonstrates that we can’t argue or campaign our way to lasting fundamental change through presidential elections.  The change we need begins with building relationships through shared multiracial conversation and struggle.  

Today, I offer my hopes for my two grandchildren and the rest of the children with whom they will grow up and live CONTINUE READING: Arthur Camins: My Hopes and Dreams for My Grandchildren’s Education | Diane Ravitch's blog