Heard On Sundial: Miami-Dade Superintendent, Homeschooling And Protecting Homeless During COVID-19
Originally published by WLRN – May 5th, 2020
On this Tuesday, May 5, episode of Sundial:
Will students return to school in the fall?
Miami-Dade County Public Schools is developing plans for graduation, summer school and the new school year starting in the fall.
In last week’s school board meeting, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho discussed his biggest concern about distant learning: the summer slide.
“Across the country we will experience an unprecedented slide,” he says. Carvalho is referring to kids who will lose what they learned this year during the down time of the summer.
Some of the plans Carvalho is preparing for the new school year include, turning gyms into classrooms to better stagger students, fewer students on buses, single-direction hallways, mandatory washing of hands, measuring of temperatures and hiring a chief health officer. He explained all of this and how the school district is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic on Sundial.
Homeschooling experts share advice about remote learning.
Many of our listeners have been struggling to get their children’s assignments done during online learning. The Sundial team was curious: Could parents learn something from the people who’ve been doing homeschooling for a while?
According to the U.S. Department of Education, about 3 percent of children across the United States are homeschooled.
“With the COVID crisis, homeschooling became a mainstream question and parents are asking if homeschooling is for them,” says John Edelson, the Founder and CEO of Time4Learning, a Fort Lauderdale-based online platform for homeschooling.
Edelson started the company 17 years ago and joined host Luis Hernandez on Sundial to explain lessons learned and the surge his company has had since the coronavirus pandemic.
Are the homeless getting tested and treated during the pandemic?
Homeless shelters across South Florida continue to serve some of the most vulnerable during the coronavirus pandemic.
With stay-at-home orders and social-distancing guidelines in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach still in effect, many in the homeless community have no place to go.
“Some of the people who are living in the streets don’t have what everyone else has. They don’t have hand sanitizers. They don’t have the masks,”says Antonio Villasuso, Director of the Miami Rescue Mission.
Hilda Fernandez, CEO of Camillus House in Miami, says her shelter is at capacity but continues to provide breakfast, lunch and dinner to all of their clients. She discussed services and COVID-19 testing for the homeless on Sundial.
