On April 6, The New York Times published an article titled “As School Moves Online, Many Students Stay Logged Out”. This article, as the title says, talks about how student absences are occuring at a much higher rate with online school. Absences in this case may be that students are not logging in, not checking in with their teacher or failing to complete assignments in a timely manner. “The absence rate appears particularly high in schools with many low-income students, whose access to home computers and internet connections can be spotty.” Due to all of these reasons, teachers have reported having fewer than half of their students attending class. 

Teachers and educators have even reported that parents as well as students have dropped all communications with their schools and that they cannot be reached through any means, whether it be email, phone or otherwise. Students in rural areas also may be unable to attend online classes due to their homes being in areas that are “unserved by internet providers.” There is now a widespread concern among educators about how to resolve the issue of “chronic absenteeism” with many potential solutions being talked about or considered such as summer sessions, an early start in the fall, or maybe even having some or all students repeat a grade once students can return to the classroom.

Image courtesy of Flickr.