At the height of the pandemic, even when her school discouraged it, Chicago public high school teacher Anna Lane traveled to her students’ homes to

In Pandemic’s Wake, Numbers Tell The Story Of A Devastating Year For Many Chicago Students

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2021-06-25 15:00:18

At the height of the pandemic, even when her school discouraged it, Chicago public high school teacher Anna Lane traveled to her students’ homes to stand on porches and listen to their struggles. Using money she helped raise through a mutual aid fund, she often brought groceries or cash assistance so their families could pay their bills.

Now, days before Chicago Public Schools lets out for the summer, Lane and other teachers are facing an agonizing situation. They have students who missed a lot of class or have done little work, yet they know that some of them have been depressed or overwhelmed by the havoc wrought by the pandemic.

They wonder if giving their students an F is the right thing to do, especially for underclassmen. Research shows just one F in freshman or sophomore year can doom a student’s chances of making it to graduation.

“So that is the battle I have every day,” said Lane, who teaches at Kelly High School on the Southwest Side in Brighton Park, a working class neighborhood of mostly Latino families. It’s an area where COVID-19 sickness, death and unemployment was especially high.

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