Remote learning complaints in SLC get national attention

A rally by Salt Lake City students asking to go back to class in-person rather than continue remote learning is getting national attention. The students say they are failing their classes and must be given the choice to have safe, in-person learning.

NBC’s Today Show on Tuesday morning featured some video from KSL TV and KSL NewsRadio’s coverage of the rally.

The struggles in Salt Lake City are echoed across the nation.

The other side of the story: In-person learning a challenge for some teachers, students

CBS News spoke with the executive director of the American Association of School Administrators. He pointed out that new academic performance numbers suggest remote learning is taking a heavy toll on many students.

“We know that there has been a significant loss of learning, but I’ll tell you, we’re less concerned about that than we are about the social and emotional factors,” Dan Domenech said on CBS.

Their article said Wilson County, North Carolina, 46% of students in grades 3-12 failed a class this fall while learning virtually. That is more than double from the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports in New Mexico, more than 40% of middle and high school students were failing at least one class as of late October. In Houston, 42% of students received at least one F in the first grading period of the year. Nearly 40% of grades for high school students in St. Paul, Minnesota, were Fs, double the amount in a typical year.

And as was reported this week, 600% more secondary students in Salt Lake School District received notices that they may fail all their classes in the first term than in previous years. And 4,057 junior high and high school students received at least one F or incomplete grade during the first quarter of school — up from 1,506 in 2019. The district did not have elementary school data yet.

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