THE STRAIN OF REMOTE LEARNING ON STUDENTS IN TEMPORARY LIVING SITUATIONS

by Suzanne Hanney

Remote learning last spring in the Chicago Public School (CPS) system “was very very challenging” for Students in Temporary Living Situations (STLS), who are often living doubled up with friends, says Alyssa Phillips, education attorney with The Law Project at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

“One of the big issues was just actual physical space. If they were living doubled up or in a shelter, it can be difficult for a child to find a place to do work. There was a lack of access to technology. CPS did eventually provide access to computers and hot spots but until then, they were trying to work on a phone or get paper copies. A lot of families might have a device but not minutes on it, a data plan. We had some parents who were trying to get students to do this work on their smart phones or using their smart phones as a hot spot.”

After remote learning started in March, it took about a month for families to start accessing technology. CPS loaned out about 128,000 Chromebooks last spring and signed up 100,000 low-income students for high-speed internet at no charge via the Chicago Connects initiative. However, once CPS agreed to distribute these laptops through the schools, there were families who didn’t have transportation to reach the schools to get the computers. If students were staying with a grandparent or great-aunt, their caretakers didn’t always have the computer literacy to help them log on to the CPS portal. And if they were staying at a shelter, the wifi would crash because so many students were trying to log on, Phillips said.

The 2019-20 school year ended with 16,451 Students in Temporary Living Situations (STLS), according to CPS, but “we definitely believe there will be quite a big number of newly homeless families when the eviction moratorium ends, and just with COVID-19 in general” going into the new school year, Phillips said.

“Even during periods where in-person instruction is suspended, school is often the safest and most stable part of life for a child experiencing homelessness,” according to guidance issued by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) on how to best support students experiencing homelessness this year. The ISBE paper was written by Phillips and The Law Project of CCH, with input from CCH leaders who are parents or grandparents of school-age children with lived experience of homelessness. McKinney-Vento liaisons, and national partners, also contributed to the essay.

Regardless of remote learning status, “it is more important now than ever that schools serve in the role of community hub and align delivery systems to ensure that the needs of students and families are holistically addressed,” according to the ISBE paper.

For example, every CPS student can access free breakfast and lunch, which may be the only meals for a student experiencing food instability. CPS has a waiver that allowed them to distribute the food. A family could go and pick up two to three meals; if the families couldn’t get to the schools, the meals would be delivered. “It was a really awesome, super vital service for students,” Phillips said. “Our request is that as long as distance learning continues, that students have access to that.”

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Act requires that each child experiencing homelessness has equal access to the same free, public education as any other child. “Schools have the affirmative duty to identify the student,” Phillips said. “It’s not on the student.”

Identification became difficult during the pandemic as students at risk of homelessness actually lost their housing during remote learning, she said. If the kids had been in a traditional classroom setting, their homelessness would have been recognized and they would have received resources.

The McKinney-Vento Act also says that students have the right to stay in their school of origin. “The big reason is stability,” Phillip said. “A homeless student is very transient. Having school be this consistent, same place is really, really important. School plays this essential stabilizing factor for many homeless students.”

Well ahead of the September 8 school opening, McKinney- Vento liaisons – the persons in charge of coordinating homeless services in the school or district – should have reached out to students orally and in writing to say that they have the right to remain in the school where they were last enrolled. These students can have immediate registration even without the usual required documents, as well as free meals and fee waivers, tutoring, transportation to and from the school of origin, help with distance learning, and more.

However, students may not identify themselves as homeless if they are living doubled up, rather than on the street, and they certainly don’t want to be flagged publicly in the front office of the school as needing help, according to the ISBE paper. The McKinney-Vento liaisons should put up posters on the rights of homeless students in places where they are likely to go, such as shelters, motels, laundromats, libraries, soup kitchens, and public aid offices.

And as schools transition between fully-remote, blended-remote, and in-person instruction during the coming school year, the liaisons should maintain multiple emails and phone numbers for students, who also may be adjusting to new CO- VID-19 and eviction realities. CPS prepared materials echo the ISBE paper by stressing that because of the continuing uncertainty around both COVID-19 and evictions, schools should also have a person of contact in stable housing for each unstably housed student.

Most likely, students coming back to remote learning this fall are dealing with trauma that must be addressed before education can begin, Phillips said. “Obviously, for a lot of students and adults, COVID-19 has been really scary, if you were staying in a shelter and there was a potential outbreak but you didn’t know if you were safe because you didn’t have room to self-isolate. Also, homelessness is a racial equity issue and there’s a lot of trauma around the disparities. The disproportionate number of students experiencing homelessness in CPS are Black, [with associations to] George Floyd. We saw communities of color disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and the loss of loved ones, or caretakers getting sick. We’ve also been talking to students and a lot of them are afraid of getting behind. For homeless students, education is a crucial piece of getting stability and access to resources.”

There is even a concern among parents that homeless students will be penalized if they cannot afford masks. The answer is to keep extras on hand to give away quietly, according to the ISBE paper.

Yet another service that homeless liaisons are supposed to provide is a transition to adult living for juniors and seniors in high school, such as help in applying for college financial aid. The student can apply on their own if they are not accompanied by a parent or guardian: if they left home because it was unsafe for example.

Every CPS school has a STLS liaison, but for many it is secondary to some other job, such as guidance counselor. During its contract negotiations last year, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) won 18 additional dedicated STLS liaison positions for schools where the numbers of homeless students is highest. Some schools gained two STLS positions.

“We are really excited about that win,” Phillips said. “Having that liaison plays a huge role in terms of identification and support, connecting to community resources, which is really important during this time. That will be really significant in terms of housing resources, mental health, food. One of the big challenges homeless families face is where do you go to get these resources, because when you are trying to navigate these systems, you get the runaround.”

“With all that is going on we realize that what was once normal is no more, and we have students who have lost family members, housing and stability,” said Lucille Thompson, STLS liaison at Schurz High School and a member of the CTU rank-and-file bargaining team, in CTU prepared material. “Having these advocates in our buildings, whose sole responsibility is to help families adjust to this major trauma, is awesome.”

The 18 new STLS liaison positions this fall will be in:

1. Roberto Clemente High School, 1147 N. Western Ave.

2. Chicago Vocational High School, 2100 E. 87th St.

3. Chalmers Elementary School, 2745 Roosevelt Rd.

4. Nicholson STEM School, 6006 S. Peoria St.

5. Fenger High School, 11220 S. Wallace St.

6. Simeon Career Academy High School, 8147 S. Vincennes Ave.

7. Dewey Elementary Academy of Fine Arts, 5415 S. Union Ave.

8. Julian High School, 103300 S. Elizabeth St

9. Bowen High School, 2710 E. 89th St.

10. Howe Elementary School, 720 N. Laurel Ave.

11. Gage Park High School, 5630 S. Rockwell St.

12. Parker Community Academy, 6800 S. Stewart Ave.

13. Beethoven Elementary School, 25 W. 47th St.

14. Faraday Elementary School, 3250 W. Monroe St.

15. Melody STEM School, 3937 W. Wilcox St.