{"id":1160,"date":"2020-11-22T17:53:45","date_gmt":"2020-11-22T17:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.highlandscouncilpta.org\/?p=1160"},"modified":"2020-11-22T17:59:39","modified_gmt":"2020-11-22T17:59:39","slug":"how-kusema-thomas-missed-six-weeks-of-distance-learning-in-la-unified-middle-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highlandscouncilpta.org\/?p=1160","title":{"rendered":"How Kusema Thomas missed six weeks of distance learning in LA Unified middle school"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Technology and communication problems left him out of virtual classes and chronically&nbsp;absent.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">NOVEMBER 19, 2020 by John Fensterwald, EdSource<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"nv-iframe-embed\"><iframe title=\"How one Los Angeles student missed six weeks of virtual school\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PtKmqCU9yXQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kusema Thomas II got Fs on his first two sixth-grade report cards at a Los Angeles Unified middle school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His homeroom teacher marked him absent for 38 days over 10 weeks. His English teacher warned that he was in danger of not meeting standards for promotion. His math teacher wrote, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Truancies\/tardies are affecting class work.\u00e2\u20ac\u009dThis is part of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/edsource.org\/topic\/education-during-covid\">a continuing series<\/a>&nbsp;on how California families are confronting the learning challenges created by the Covid-19 crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The grades hardly came as a shock. Kusema hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t attended classes for most of the first six weeks of school at the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/whitems-lausd-ca.schoolloop.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Stephen M. White Middle School<\/a>&nbsp;STEAM Magnet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But not for lack of interest or for lack of trying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First, there was a lost school application, delaying enrollment a week past the Aug. 18 first day. Then there were problems with a deactivated school email. A password problem kept him out of the district\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s distance learning platform, Schoology. Then a malfunction of the district-loaned computer. Then the password problem again. For reasons yet to be explained, Kusema sat in Zoom\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s entry room for seven days, waiting to no avail for teachers to let him into class, said his father, Kusema Thomas. When his son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Chromebook locked up, he bought him one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/edsource.org\/2020\/disappointing-grades-technology-glitches-and-glimpses-of-learning-fun\/641615\">Disappointing Grades, Technology Glitches And Glimpses Of Learning Fun<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No one at the school reached out to him after repeated voice messages and emails during this time, said Thomas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In retrospect, he said, perhaps he could have pressed harder by visiting the school in person sooner, beside leaving multiple unanswered voicemails with the school and district for technology help. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s possible that I could have gone to the school earlier; but every time I go to school, I have to take a day off work,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Frustrated, on Oct. 1, he did miss work to go to the school where he appealed for help from the principal and the technology specialist, who reset his son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s password. Since then, Kusema has been in class. (He ended up taking three days off for other attempts to resolve this issue.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But, now, nearly three months into the school year, the father said that he is distressed that the school and that most of his teachers haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t acknowledged what the family\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gone through or provided help so the boy can catch up. He is worried that his son has fallen behind through no fault of his own at a critical time in his education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You would think that there would be a plan in place for kids who are not attending or having issues in the classroom,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Chronic absences undetected<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among the requirements that the Legislature set for distance learning in the 2020-21 state budget, school districts must create a plan to reach students who miss more than three out of five days each week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Michael Romero, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Local District South, offered no explanation for why Kusema Thomas said he was not contacted although his son was clearly chronically absent. Since August, nearly 100 attendance counselors have been assigned to the 150 schools he administers, including Stephen White Middle School, to connect with students who are not showing up in class. They have been reaching out \u00e2\u20ac\u0153by letters, emails, texts, phone calls. And then just recently we started knocking on doors,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Romero said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Romero said the district is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153still reaching out and investigating what might\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gone wrong\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for Kusema. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re taking it right now as an opportunity just to refine and review (the process) using this family as an example.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s difficult to know whether other students have fallen through the cracks in Los Angeles Unified this fall as Kusema did or whether his situation was a unique combination of technology glitches, communication gaps and a school that was unresponsive to his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There are times when families and kids struggle. The good thing is it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a prominent number, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not saying it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t happen,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Romero said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Romero and other school and district officials declined to address the problems Kusema faced, citing privacy concerns, despite receiving an email from the boy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father giving them permission to discuss the case with EdSource.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/edsource.org\/2020\/high-school-seniors-lament-what-they-are-missing-as-they-plan-for-the-future\/642312\">High School Seniors Lament What They Are Missing As They Plan For The Future<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a phone call with EdSource in mid-September, Stephen White Principal Marva Woods said students struggling after the first report card can get help and in-person intervention classes after school. After the second report, at 10 weeks, there are interventions for students needing more intensive help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Romero confirmed that Stephen White Middle School offers tutoring two days each week. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A dozen teachers have volunteered for any kid who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s struggling. And a lot of the kids at the school have taken advantage of it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Romero said he felt the school \u00e2\u20ac\u0153did a great job of publicizing the opportunities.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Parents who went on the parent portal of Schoology could click a button to inform the school they were interested. Woods announced the extra help in her automated weekly phone message, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The school\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s assistance no doubt happened for some students, but as of Nov. 15, Thomas said he had not received any offer for intervention or information about tutoring. Thomas said he had trouble navigating the Schoology site and didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know he could sign up for help through the portal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said Woods and Assistant Principal Michael Tarango never mentioned it in emails or in conversations with him. In October, after Tarango twice emailed Kusema\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s teachers, asking them to contact Thomas about assignments and technology problems, two responded, Thomas said. One sent an email with links to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/achieve.lausd.net\/site\/handlers\/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=38463&amp;dataid=61073&amp;FileName=PLS%20LD%20Central%20Title%201%20Mtg%201.18.18.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Schoology tutorials<\/a>. (Thomas showed an EdSource reporter one of Tarango\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s emails.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m hoping that there will be some communication,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Thomas said in late October. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gotten none of that, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really hard on a parent.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Missed calls, marked absences<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While there were many attempts by both Thomas and the district to contact each other, none of them seemed to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the weeks from late August through early October that Kusema couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sign on to Schoology or get into his Zoom classes, Thomas received automated messages from school, without contact information, that his son was absent or not turning in homework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Irritated that the school hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t responded to his own voicemail and email requests for technical help, he said he stopped listening to the school\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s automated messages. If some of those were from the principal announcing after-school tutorials, he missed them. And if there were signups for tutorials through Schoology, he was unaware of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before school started and on the first two days of school, Los Angeles Unified ran \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Smart Start\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with webinars to familiarize parents and students with scheduling, signing on Zoom and navigating Schoology. Although teachers and the school have parents\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and guardians\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 emails and phone numbers, the district encourages parents to communicate through the parent portal for Schoology, which can be linked to a parent\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cell phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Thomas missed the smart-start training sessions, because he hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t discovered until shortly before school started that the district did not have his son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s school registration form which he said he had submitted. By the time he was able to go through the school selection process and re-enroll, it was the last week in August. Classes started on Aug. 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A series of technical issues<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After enrolling late, there was a problem reactivating Kusema\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s email address and password, Thomas said. Kusema\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first day for signing on to the system was Sept. 8. From then until Oct. 1, when Thomas visited the school and the principal intervened and Kusema was back in class, there were a series of problems with the Schoology password that would have enabled him to get the links for classes on Zoom. Thomas said he left numerous voice messages for the school\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s technology specialist who referred him to the district\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Schoology team. Days turned into weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Assistant Principal Tarango did arrange for a one-on-one Schoology tutorial for Thomas at school; that was in late October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stephen White Middle School has 1,700 students. In the September interview with EdSource, Woods, the principal, acknowledged the school\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s communications systems weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t perfect. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There will be human error; there may be misunderstanding between the attendance team and the teacher,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We are a school; we have flaws.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thomas said he sensed that officials just didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe that he had been trying to get his son into the virtual classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They never explained to me why the teachers didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let him in. It was more kind of like, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcOh, that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t happen. The teachers would let him in, and we monitor this,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Thomas said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was kind of like the hard LAUSD line to cover themselves, but this is what was happening. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not going to let my kid sit at home all day and do absolutely nothing for months. That just doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help him out in the long run.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thomas said that if the school had reached out to him, as it should have, the computer issues would have been resolved three weeks earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>An involved parent<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thomas considers himself an involved parent. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s motivated, he said, to be the father he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have growing up in Los Angeles. Before Covid, he responded when needed at his son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s elementary schools, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s education is very important to me and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stopped\u00e2\u20ac\u009d trying to resolve the mix-ups this year, he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You know, it could have been easy just to kind of give up, but when he grows up, I want him to remember that his dad fought for him in every sense and aspect of his life when it comes to making sure that he gets what he deserves.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thomas, 45, lives with sons 11-year-old Kusema, 4-year-old Kadin and his fianc\u00c3\u00a9e in Carson, which lies between Long Beach and Los Angeles. He works two counseling jobs, at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/sccc-la.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Southern California Counseling<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.projectfatherhood.org\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Project Fatherhood<\/a>, where he leads sessions for men confronting domestic violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A gang leader in his teens and early 20s, Thomas was working as a cook through&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/homeboyindustries.org\/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAqdP9BRDVARIsAGSZ8AlE8IckjZbwXqXPNds18Qmj80gNLGg_zpAO-uZtE8hYyCGS0UYKtOcaApTBEALw_wcB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Homeboy Industries<\/a>, the nonprofit that provides support and training for former gang members, when his manager picked up on his people skills and steered him to a course on counseling. After he had kids of his own, he returned to school for a bachelor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s degree in early childhood education at CSU Dominguez Hills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My children saved my life,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I decided I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want them to experience the stuff I faced.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every school day, Thomas takes both sons to his mother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s apartment in South Central Los Angeles, where she has turned her living room into a classroom for remote learning for Kusema and his four cousins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For six weeks, Kusema has been back in class, and things have gone relatively smoothly. He has had a hard time making friends, and Thomas said he was disappointed that his teachers didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t introduce him to his classmates to make him feel at home as the new kid in class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It feels weird because I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know nobody,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Kusema told EdSource in mid-October. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153So I need to keep everything to myself.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thomas said he is still dealing with some technical problems, accessing and uploading homework \u00e2\u20ac\u201d a concern since Kusema needs to raise his grades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two bigger issues remain unresolved. Thomas wants the tutoring that the district and the school says is offered to students who have fallen behind. And he wants the school not to count Kusema\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first two report cards. If those report cards stand, Kusema will be unfairly penalized, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So far, he hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t gotten an answer from the school on his requests, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I would like the school to treat him as just like a kid coming in past the period of grading, because most of that \u00e2\u20ac\u201d all of that \u00e2\u20ac\u201d was their issue,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still trying to get some clarity around his report card and stuff, because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m concerned about that. \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sixth grade and I just really want him to be able to thrive.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Technology and communication problems left him out of virtual classes and chronically&nbsp;absent. NOVEMBER 19, 2020 by John Fensterwald, EdSource Kusema Thomas II got Fs on his first two sixth-grade report cards at a Los Angeles Unified middle school. His homeroom teacher marked him absent for 38 days over 10 weeks. His English teacher warned that&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/highlandscouncilpta.org\/?p=1160\" class=\"\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">How Kusema Thomas missed six weeks of distance learning in LA Unified middle school<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1163,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-announcement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highlandscouncilpta.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highlandscouncilpta.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highlandscouncilpta.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highlandscouncilpta.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highlandscouncilpta.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/highlandscouncilpta.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highlandscouncilpta.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highlandscouncilpta.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highlandscouncilpta.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highlandscouncilpta.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}