On a recent school day, Boston Latin Academy art teacher Taina Vargas was working in her kitchen, leading a class while helping her first-grader, Solwazi, with his own class work.
Vargas is contending with challenges that educators across the city are facing: engaging students through remote learning, locating students who aren’t showing up, translating lesson plans designed for in-person 50-minute classes into 30-minute Zoom meetings and, often, balancing those tasks with caring for their own children.
Students are having trouble finding spaces to perform school work, caring for younger siblings, working to help support their families, and coping with COVID-19 infections and deaths in their homes, BPS teachers interviewed by the Banner said.
Each week, teachers and administrators at the Bradley send 3,000 to 4,000 messages to students and parents through text messages, emails and through the Class Dojo app, a platform that facilitates communication in school communities.
Vargas, the Boston Latin Academy art teacher, said that on any given day, half her students are present, although many have their video turned off, so she can’t see them.
