E-Learning in COVID-19 era, and the "e" does not stand for "everyone"

All over Florida, COVID-19 has pushed students out of their classrooms and into their dining rooms, changing their routines and forcing them to adapt to online learning.

On a normal weekday, Myra Arrona would be able to go out for recess with the rest of her third-grade class. In the school yard at Cork Elementary School in Plant City, Arrona played tag and talked with her friends.

“When I was told school was over, I was sad. I can’t see my friends and I can’t see my teachers,” said Arrona.

She now sees her school from a car as her and her mother, Melanie Hill, drive to pick up her schoolwork packet.

Even with the packet, she is still required to do computer work. Arrona is one of many children that do not have access to the internet.

As a solution, Hill sets up a hotspot from her phone for Arrona to complete the one hour a day of e-learning through Clever.com. The website incorporates fun into learning objectives. As Arrona goes through the lessons, she earns coins to play games.

“When she does that one hour, it makes it fun for her. I think that it is something that we will keep doing, even after she goes back to school,” said Hill.

For Arrona, the change to alternative learning has been hard. She had just begun tutoring prior to the start of the pandemic. Hill believes that this has put her child behind and that Arrona should be held back a year.

Unlike Arrona, fifth grader David Baca said that by not having his normal classes at Buckhorn Elementary School in Valrico, he has been able to focus better.

“Classes are definitely easier- there is not as many things distracting me at home. It has been a lot quieter,” said Baca.

Baca is one of few students who is lucky enough to have a parent in education. His mother, Sarah Chepelsky Baca, is a music teacher at Mulrennan Middle School in Valrico.

She has noticed that her children may be learning the information, but questions if they are actually retaining any.

As for her son, he couldn’t care less about missing out on schoolwork, his friends is what he cares about most.

At school, he worked with his friends on assignments and joked with each other. Now his days consist of communicating with them through video games such as Roblox and doing his assignments on his own.

Baca is not the only student missing seeing his friends in person.

For Ender Tennyson, being a seventh grade homeschool student still means that he is missing out on the social aspects of his education.

“It’s hard not to socialize,” said Tennyson.

In homeschooling, Tennyson and his three siblings, would attend Co Op every Tuesday.

This event is the closest they get to traditional education. Other homeschool children and parents are present, by coming together they work on lessons and interact with each other.

Now, the family works together by trying to keep things hands on and entertaining. They even have a scratch off poster for 100 different movies they plan on watching.

As for his sister, Kadence Tennyson, a sophomore, she expressed that being homeschooled has given her a homefield advantage compared to those who are just now learning at home.

“I saw a TikTok talking about [students] being home and now having ‘classes’ like AP Laundry and AP Dishes. I just laughed because I have been having classes like that,” she said.

The Tennyson’s also explained that with all the other schools closed, they have been lucky enough to pick up school lunches, something they normally could not do. Likewise, a lot of the online resources that they would normally pay for, are free.

Even seniors, such as Brianna Hayes, a Durant High School student in Plant City, said that she is missing out on a lot this year.

Hayes is involved with Durant’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program. For her senior year she obtained the highest-ranking position in her corps.

“I miss ROTC. I miss the people, the program and all the things we would do in the community,” said Hayes.

For some seniors prom and senior send off are the most devastating loss, for Hayes, it is missing out on the Cadet of the Year Ceremony. As the recipient Hayes also is acknowledged as one of the Top Ten Cadets in Hillsborough County.

“I was looking forward to Cadet of the Year. When I started ROTC, I never thought that I would earn it, but it became something I looked forward to,” said Hayes.

Even though she is not getting those in person ceremonies, she said that Durant is working on rescheduling events like prom and graduation for the summer, much like the rest of the world.