Teachers, Students & Parents Struggling With Remote Learning.
ACOSTA: As students across the U.S. returned to school, many are doing it remotely because of the pandemic and that's posing challenges to teachers, students and parents. CNN's Brian Todd has details. And Brian, remote learning may be safer during this health crisis, but for some families, it's just not working, isn't that right?</s>BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, for many, it's not working, you know, between technical challenges, and kids and teachers just not connecting academically or emotionally. The start of the school year for some families just isn't going smoothly.</s>TODD (voice-over): Atlanta's Mayor tweeting this week, "It's noon and I still haven't been able to get the twins logged in". Keisha Lance Bottoms feeling the frustration of some parents across the country as they grapple with the challenges of remote learning with schools getting back in session. This week, technical problems have been especially worrisome like in Gwinnett County, Georgia.</s>LYNETTA FORD, PARENT: I went to the website tried to log into the eClass portal and was getting an error message for the most part.</s>TODD (voice-over): With many students and parents unable to log in this week, the Gwinnett County District asked them to stagger their attempts to access the program. Meanwhile, the superintendent of schools in Humble, Texas said a cyberattack on their district server blocked some students from logging into their first day of online classes this week. This comes as the debate rages over whether remote or in-person learning will work best during the pandemic.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He just could really benefit --</s>TODD (voice-over): During a Zoom meeting with education specialists in recent days, one expert said a disadvantage of remote learning is that it doesn't always play to teacher strengths.</s>CHERI FANCSALI, RESEARCH ALLIANCE FOR NEW YORK CITY SCHOOLS: The teachers who are the most effective teachers and are what we've had so far face to face typical situations, they may not be the most effective in remote environment.</s>TODD (voice-over): And some parents of students with special needs say their kids just aren't being served as well online. Like one mother who's suing California's governor over virtual learning.</s>CHRISTINE RUIZ, SUING CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR OVER VIRTUAL LEARNING: I have three boys, two with a diagnosis of autism. Without that team to do that hands on learning, they're just languishing at home. There's no type of education going on. My children cannot sit in front of a computer screen and do Zoom meetings all day long. It's just regression, it's profound and detrimental.</s>TODD (voice-over): One education expert tells CNN almost no state has a specific effective plan to successfully teach online. But a clear advantage to remote learning is that it's simply safer. A parent in one Georgia county who sent her son to school for in-person classes told CNN, it didn't start well.</s>BRANDY HEATH, PARENT: The second day of school, my son said to me, Mom, I don't think it's safe. We're not social distancing, there's no precautions being taken to keep us safe.</s>TODD (voice-over): And sometimes it appears remote learning can keep some top teachers in the fold. One chemistry teacher in Arizona told CNN he was given no option but to teach in-person. So for his family safety, he resigned.</s>MATT CHICCI, TEACHER: A lot of us would have stayed if we had had that option or if we'd even had some kind of hybrid option to where we had smaller class sizes we would have had a lot of a stand (ph).</s>TODD: The issue is such a difficult one to resolve that it's pitted at least one school district against its own state government. The Hillsborough County Florida public school system first decided to offer four weeks of remote learning, to start the school year with four weeks of remote learning. But the district has now backtracked and is offering the option of in-person learning just one week after school starts back. That came after the Florida Department of Education warned Hillsborough County that money could be withheld in- person learning was not offered. Jim?</s>ACOSTA: All right, CNN's Brian Todd, an important story. A lot of parents are watching. Thank you. Breaking news next, the U.S. Postal Service warns it may not meet some mail-in ballot deadlines as President Trump opposes new funding and attacks mail-in voting.