Students in southwest Louisiana were out of school for six months in 2020, with varying degrees of learning opportunities offered during that time depending on the school district or family situation. Educators fear the time out of the classroom may take until next school year to bring students back to where they were in March 2020.
Some connected with teachers via Zoom or weekly phone calls. They were encouraged to log in to online reading programs like Amplify. The younger ones or those without internet access were given paper packets of worksheets to complete. All of it was voluntary and none of it graded.
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Lafayette Daily Advertiser
Renee Box s three daughters start school every morning at the family s dining room table while she logs on herself to teach third-graders math and language arts.
After nine weeks, Megan Romer and Kevin Wimmer found virtual class through Lafayette Online Academy just wasn t a good fit for their 10-year-old son. So they withdrew him to start homeschool instead.
Sarah Beth Laughlin decided to homeschool her four school-age children from the start this year. They even took class on the road when evacuating for hurricanes in the fall.
Andree Lamke does bus duty at Grolee Elementary in Opelousas every morning before heading into her classroom to teach virtual class. Her own children head to their aunt s house to tackle school.