By Alexis Taylor
Special to the AFRO
Karen Shepherd has done better than some during the coronavirus pandemic.
She still has a job as an outreach specialist in a D.C. medical office. She still has a roof over her head, when many across the nation have lost their homes.
But she also has four school-aged children. With four different teachers and four unique sets of expectations for each of her four scholars. And a full eight hour work day.
“I am stressed out to the max,” said Shepherd, a single mother of children ages 13, 12, 8, and 5. “I have a friend helping, but she has kids herself. I can’t afford to pay anyone full-time.”
For Shepherd, distance learning is the safest option, but it leaves her with one question: “Who’s going to watch my four kids?”
It’s a very real concern for the parents of 35 million students expected by the National Center for Education Statistics to attend an elementary or middle school in the Fall 2020 semester.