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– I wish I could see what’s in the real school, says five-year-old Charlotte Stone.
NRK meets her at her home in Maryland, where she has spent the past six months. She was looking forward to starting kindergarten, which is the first school year in America, but the beginning of school was completely different than expected.
All teaching takes place through the Zoom online video program and her parents have been informed that their school will not open this semester.
– Four hours a day in front of a PC is a lot to ask of a five year old. School is not meant to take place in Zoom, says mother Alexis.
At the same time, it emphasizes that both the school and the teachers do the best they can.
PRIVILEGED: Parents try to combine the responsibility of a newborn baby, a start to school, and two jobs where they both work 60 hours a week. They know that they are privileged, that they have kept their jobs and can work from home.
Photo: Lars Os / Lars Os
I barely left home since March
Like many other American families, the Stone family has chosen to virtually isolate themselves since the corona pandemic broke out in March. Many Americans fear the virus – and leave their homes.
– They give us our food or we collect it. But nothing happens inside. Everything we do, we do online, explains Alexis. She says her daughter has had a doctor’s appointment, but they weren’t sure if they should go for the annual checkup.
– They said it was recommended, but if we wanted to postpone it, they fully understood it, says the mother.
Infection rates in the United States are still high. Data from Johns Hopkins University shows that more than 6.5 million Americans have been diagnosed with the coronavirus and that the country is approaching 200,000 deaths. In the last month alone, more than 40,000 new infections have been recorded over several days, more than in April, when many thought the peak had been reached.
Central part of the electoral campaign
In the United States, opening schools has become a hot political issue. President Donald Trump has long called for schools to reopen and has threatened to cut funding for schools.
But it is the states and the school districts themselves that decide. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden accuses Trump of not having a plan to reassure teachers to return to the classroom. He calls it a national crisis.
– American families across the country pay the price for their mistakes, Biden believes.
His wife, Jilll Biden, is a teacher. She is currently concluding a two-week tour of the United States where she has visited cities that experience the situation differently.
Schools have been opened in various places in the United States. The state of New York City is among the places that are now opening schools with strict infection control measures.
– It is not a political problem
The Stone family in Maryland would also send the five-year-old back to school if it opened now.
– For us, this is not a political issue at all, says Dad Kevan Stone, and he laughs a bit because both parents sympathize with their respective political parties.
Because Charlotte needs school. Learning to read and write online is not easy.
– If the school had opened tomorrow, I would have gone there, says Kevan.
LOST FRIENDS: Charlotte wishes she could start in the right school, because she wants to play with other kids.
Photo: Lars Os / Lars Os
To start school, the isolation of the home is beginning to erode. Parents cannot be everywhere all the time. It’s been a long time since Charlotte went to the hair salon and she recently got a cut. The birthday was celebrated at Zoom. Friends also sit at home alone.
– She hasn’t left the house. You have been in this house or in the garden for the past six months. I think she was sitting in the car seat when we went to McDonald’s to buy food or pizza, but she hasn’t set foot on anyone else’s property since March, says the father.
The hope now is that schools will reopen after Christmas with a hybrid solution. Maybe Charlotte can go there a few days a week so she can meet new classmates and her teacher. Not just about Zoom.
