For a learning pod of homeless students, school days unfold in a motel carport
LA TimesA dozen bleary-eyed children bundled in sweaters, jackets and knit caps trickle into the motel carport, taking seats at metal desks evenly spaced atop the gasoline-stained concrete. They are just a fraction of the L.A. Unified School District’s estimated 11,000 homeless students, who, according to data, are especially vulnerable to the pandemic’s learning impacts: lower grades, attendance rates and online participation. “Quite a few of our students hadn’t been logging into school at all until they came to our pod,” said Emma Gerch, a coordinator with School on Wheels, the nonprofit that has provided volunteer tutors. “If those students are able to log on and pay attention, that’s a win.” At the Hyland, they take a page from more affluent district parents, who have pooled resources to hire teachers or tutors and set up well-equipped backyard classrooms to accommodate the challenges of distance learning. “Many of our kids are behind in grade level because of all the challenges of homelessness, and they’re falling even further behind because it’s so hard to stay engaged in online learning,” Gerch said.
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Learning ‘pods’: a new solution to the coronavirus school crisis
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