By Roxann Nazario and Farnaz Kaufman

Farnaz Kaufman (left) and Roxann Nazario

As California lawmakers debate whether to allow districts to offer distance learning this fall, there’s no consensus from parents on what’s best for their kids. One size does not fit all when it comes to education, and families desperately need quality options -- without forcing anyone to participate in distance learning or to show up on a campus against their will.

It’s clear by now that not every school or child has handled distance learning well, and many kids have suffered tremendous learning loss as a result. Full-time in-person instruction needs to be the default this fall, an approach favored by Gov. Gavin Newsom and some key Democratic lawmakers. Forcing all schools to offer a remote option is definitely not the answer because it asks too much of schools and educators who are not experts in online teaching, and trying to do all things sacrifices quality for everyone.

Dismantling all online schooling options altogether, however, would also be a mistake. A recent NPR poll found that nearly a third of parents wanted to keep their kids learning remotely indefinitely, and the demand is highest among some Black and Latino parents. About 20% of districts around the country are creating virtual academies as a result, according to a recent Rand Report cited in The New York Times.

There’s no reason California cannot allow districts such as Los Angeles Unified to create a separate virtual academy as one of many school options parents can choose from, including themed magnets, pilots or dual language immersion schools. There should be guardrails to protect the amount and quality of instruction for kids, but a separate virtual option would not take anything away from the vast majority of kids who need to return to full-time in-person instruction this fall.

California also should protect the remote schooling options that families already have. The legislature is currently debating AB 1316, a bill that would attack the funding for homeschooling and online/blended learning charter school options, at a time when demand for such options has soared. Some of these schools are experts in remote learning, and there’s no reason to remove such flexibility for families who want and need it.

We two parents want to share our reasons for supporting online learning options. One of us, Farnaz Kaufman, is an educator at a school network that includes online, hybrid and in-person learning, and the other, Roxann Nazario, is a Speak UP parent engagement coordinator, planning to exercise an online learning option this fall.

Roxann Nazario:

As a parent, my biggest fear is that a return to school sites will mean a return to the status quo. The status quo approach to education has never worked for my daughter. And that is mainly because my daughter has a lot of anxiety when it comes to attending school daily. It is something we have been dealing with since kindergarten. Before the pandemic, that was the only option I thought we had. I knew there were homeschool and online learning options, but I wasn’t sure how they worked or if they would work for us. Being a single mom who works full time, I was hesitant to take the risk of pulling her out of the middle school she was attending to try out an educational experiment.

As soon as I told my daughter last March that she would no longer attend school on campus, though, she immediately was relieved. And I really saw how much stress going to campus daily caused her. We figured this could be a good opportunity to see what online learning might be like. Being able to log on anytime and complete her asynchronous assignments independently really gave her flexibility and freedom. She also took more ownership over her school work, and her grades went up. After this experience I knew going back to campus five days a week would never be for her again. At the most, I think a hybrid program, where she goes to school in person two to three days a week could work, but it is not necessary for her to be on campus five days a week.

These are the reasons why I have decided to enroll her in an online charter program in the fall. And I am not the only parent making these kinds of choices for their kids. We need to protect options because different kids have different needs.

Farnaz Kaufman:

As educators, many of us saw that some of our kids thrived with remote learning, while others struggled. We saw those who had difficulty speaking up in class now able to self advocate from home. We saw those who needed the social aspects of class suffer with the isolation. For educators who were comfortable with tech integration, the shift was easier, and those who fed off that kid energy struggled with the screen in between us.

As parents, we struggled right along, trying to decipher what our kids had to do and how it would fit into our own disrupted lives. We also saw our teachers trying their best to maintain that connection and develop rapport with our children. And again, we witnessed those that were successful and those who fell short.

Our perception of distance learning is completely based on our own experiences with it. And since each district and each charter school tackled it all differently, it’s hard to assess how distance learning went as a whole. However, it has been clear that for most families this has been a difficult 14 months. But before we chalk it up to experience and simply return to how things were, perhaps we need to step back and reflect.

During this pandemic, most schools and districts made the mistake of simply replicating what was happening in the classroom over Zoom. The best online schools, however, are not simply virtual replicas of brick-and-mortar schools. The best online schools give students flexibility, access to curriculum in multiple formats, as well as a strong understanding or a flipped approach to education so that any time the students are with their teachers, it is well planned, focused and purposeful.

As an educator, I see this as an exciting time filled with possibility. We have a chance to really do what's best for all kids. We have a chance at a do over (or as I like to call it a do better). We know what works and what doesn’t. We had the opportunity this year to individualize and give our students some independence and voice and choice. Let’s not just go back to normal, when “normal” leaves some kids behind.

--- Roxann Nazario is a Speak UP parent engagement coordinator. Farnaz Kaufman is director of global education initiatives at iLead schools.

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