E-learning comes at a price for some IPS parents

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis Public Schools board members voted unanimously Thursday to spend the first two months of the school year out of the classroom. The decision left some families in a tough spot as they scramble to find ways to make arrangements for at-home learning.

Ashley Robertson is a single mom with a 1st and a 2nd grader; plus she has a full time job running a day care out of her home. Robertson made the choice to not stress over how she would get e-learning accomplished, but said that choice came with a pay cut.

“I’ve made the choice to not be stressed about it and be stressed about money instead. I mean that’s what I’ve done. So I went from a 23-family case load in February to a 6-family case load now.”

She said her decision also put many other families in a bad situation because some were relying on her to help out when school starts. It also impacted plans she had for her family this year.

“So this is something I’m going do for them as a single mom. I’m gonna save really carefully all year and then we’re going to go on vacations and I’m going to give them this experience they couldn’t have when we were married and that is not going to be the case for a while,” she said.

She believes staying home is for the best for now, but said she has concerns about the lack of social interaction her kids and others will have over the next couple months.

“We all think our babies are special pumpkins and they’re not. Eventually they go out into the big wide world and they have to know how to be part of a group.”

IPS officials hope to have some version of in-person learning by Oct. 2, as long as the city is seeing improvement in coronavirus cases.