This is the April 26, 2021, edition of the 8 to 3 newsletter about school, kids and parenting. Like what you’re reading?Last week,, who entered the classroom for the first time this month in a quantum leap forward. Now, I want to turn to the opposite end of the K-12 spectrum — high school seniors. If kindergartners were hurtling into the future, these soon-to-be graduates may feel more like they’ve entered the Twilight Zone.
“We had many cases where a single mom got laid off from work, so the student steps in saying, ‘I gotta do something or we’ll lose our apartment,’” said Ricardo Mireles, principal ofin Highland Park. “There’s even anecdotes of students who got sick at work, went home, and got their family sick.” “At first I didn’t say anything about my school,” said the Berkeley-bound 18-year-old, who asked me to identify her by her nickname because of her immigration status. “[Eventually] my manager helped me fix my schedule, once she understood I’m still a student. Now I’m working just 35 hours.”The decision had been an intuitive one: Her mother lost work, their rent became unmanageable, and even after they’d moved, the bills were overwhelming.
Indeed, Fran said she was proud of everything she’s done this past year. Still, she was eager to get back to school. Some of the missing students attended private school, others were home-schooled, and still others may not have received formal schooling at all.