Some can't afford internet as classes go online
Some can't afford internet as classes go online
Five kids, one cell-phone hot-spot: a low-income family in Los Angeles is trying to ensure its kids can learn virtually.
This report produced by Zachary Goelman.
Some can't afford internet as classes go online
"I'm the homemaker and their teacher.
I cook breakfast in the morning, I cook lunch at noon and then dinner.
I clean the house again, get them in the shower and put them to sleep so that they're up early the next day." Anely Solis is a mother of five, and this fall, the family's Los Angeles kitchen will be their online classroom.
Lacking computers or tablets, some were provided through the school district.
The children connect to the internet through a single hot spot on their mom's mobile phone.
Thirteen-year-old Keilly Flores says she sometimes has trouble concentrating at a desk she shares with her siblings.
"If I have a class, I have to at least, like, tell them to go to the other room so I could, like, pay attention." And all of them working at once can drain their single internet source.
"Since it's me, my sister and my brother, and, like, we usually have videos to watch.
Because, like, someone could be using up the internet a lot while the other two are struggling to use it.
This is a hardship Solis and her family didn't anticipate.
"I struggled with the schools in order for them to give us the laptops.
We have to pay rent, bills, food.
We don't make enough to pay $80, $100 for internet.
I can use that money to pay for other things that they need." The 32-year-old stay at home mom says the family barely makes ends meet, with only her husband working as a cook at a local restaurant.
She visits food banks and collects lunches provided by the school district.
The LA Unified School District is the second largest in the nation, and the Solis family underlines the struggle many districts are facing: How do you serve all students while maintaining safety?
Under an order from California Governor Gavin Newsom, schools in counties on the state's coronavirus "watch list" - which encompasses 90% of California's population, including Los Angeles - must stay shuttered this fall, with all classes taking place virtually.
The health crisis, combined with an economic crisis is for many families now an education crisis - one that is impossible to hide from children.