Letters to the Editor: Offer summer school to every student in L.A. Unified

To the editor: As a former teacher and school administrator, as well as a current elementary school volunteer, I believe the Los Angeles Unified School District should address the spike in chronic absences by offering summer school to every student.

In the second-grade classroom where I volunteer, the teacher has students who went on Zoom starting in kindergarten and continued online into April 2021.

The gaps are tremendous and the learning is so very difficult for these kids. The teachers are beyond stressed and cannot keep up with the demand of each and every student.

Nancy Feigelson, Chatsworth

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To the editor: After 32 years as a public educator, I continue to be stunned by where education has gone.

One teacher asks, “What grade do you give a student who hasn’t shown up?” This was an easy question to answer at a time we no longer remember. If the student might have hypothetically passed if he or she were present, perhaps we should give him or her, say, a B. Who knows? The possibilities are endless.

Some campuses will not return to normal after the pandemic, and chronic absenteeism will continue to damage the overall quality of schools.

And teachers will continue to ask, “What grade do you give a student who has not shown up?”

Stan Brown, Victorville