This week we’re featuring a staff member’s personal story from the first weeks of school in Georgia. A family she knows has been navigating the path back to school, and it has been difficult. One mother has wrestled with wait lists, translators, and ultimately what feels like no options as she juggles her fear and her necessity. Meet Cindy.

Cindy is completely at a loss of what to do about school. She knew in June that her children could choose to enroll virtually for the fall. But considering that sending her children in person would help her continue to work, she opted not to choose virtual school. It was her belief that if school was open, it would probably be safe to attend. However, the past weeks, Cindy’s uncle caught COVID and is in critical condition on a ventilator. Despite the deadlines she first agreed to, her feelings have completely changed about the safety of school.

Thankfully, Cindy works for an educator who understands her situation. Her employer has said she would be more than happy to allow Cindy’s two children to do virtual schoolwork at her house while Cindy works. But she has tried contacting her school administration to explain her concerns, and communication with administration keeps stalling when Cindy calls because she must wait on the line for a translator. Cindy does not speak a lot of English, but she is trying her best to advocate for her children. Finally, after calling several times, she is connected with a translator who helps her explain why she would like to change her children to virtual enrollment.

Whoever she is speaking with at this point tells Cindy there is a waiting list for virtual enrollment, and she has two choices - 1) to homeschool her kids herself or 2) to send them to school. Cindy, exasperated, un-enrolls her children, but she has no homeschooling curriculum or plan - just the knowledge that she doesn’t feel like school is safe.

But when Cindy goes back to her employer and explains everything that happened, her employer (an educator) points out that Cindy probably doesn’t want the responsibility of creating a homeschool curriculum for her kids while also working. The teacher offers to call the school district for Cindy This time, it is communicated that there is still a waiting list, but there is only one other child on it. With her employer acting as her translator, they get Cindy’s children re-enrolled as virtual students. Though they are still on a waiting list, they will begin receiving virtual instruction eventually. Cindy feels relief even though her children have already missed a week of the school year.

Cindy's situation is far from easy, but she had an advocate and a flexible working situation. Many families in similar circumstances have no such thing. Cindy’s story is a glimpse into the situation many families are facing as they juggle fear, necessity, and a desire to do what’s best for their children.

Postscript: After a week of school, three schools in the area have quarantined classrooms (hundreds of students), and the Monday following the first week of school, the superintendent has resigned. Don’t you wish Cindy had other options? We do too.