WPTV highlighted Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County’s efforts to help Club members and all Palm Beach County students with obstacles created by distance learning. Since the Palm Beach County Schools District is likely to announce the 2020/21 school year will start with distance learning, WPTV’s Ryan Hughes looked at the issues students will face and how the Clubs are working to mitigate those problems that disproportionately impact Club members.
A recent school district study discovered 19.4% of families do not have enough devices for all children in the household. That is a major obstacle for students attempting to do a full days worth of school work while sharing a computer with siblings. At the start of the pandemic, BGCPBC also surveyed Club parents and discovered 10% of families did not have a home computer.
Youth of the Year and Junior Staff Alivia Latimore is preparing for a virtual senior year in high school. She told WPTV that distance learning does not provide the same quality education as traditional in-school lessons. She described having to teach herself due to the lack of access to teachers while distance learning.
As part of BGCPBC’s efforts to reduce the achievement gap caused by distance learning, nearly 60 certified teachers are employed by the Clubs. Those teachers are part of the frontline effort to make sure students don’t fall behind because of digital disadvantages.
BGCPBC is now preparing to help students as the school year will likely once again start from home. Programming and increased Club hours are being discussed as a way to further help struggling Club members across Palm Beach County.
