As Fresno schools suspend classes, students face a different struggle beyond coronavirus

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As the state urges isolation and colleges and school districts throughout the country suspend classes in an attempt to stop the coronavirus from spreading, students and teachers worry it could hinder learning, instruction and even graduation.

Fresno Unified, the third-largest school district in California, announced its closure until April 13, following in the footsteps of two more of the state’s largest districts, Los Angeles and San Diego. Shortly after, most other districts in the Fresno area did the same.

Is online learning viable?

Some school districts have indicated that distance learning may be an option during the suspensions, and some organizations, such as Valley PBS, are offering instructional programming and digital content for California youth and teachers affected by closures.

But what could a move to online learning mean for students in California’s central San Joaquin Valley?

Issues of access and equity remain a huge challenge in a district with the highest rate of poverty among the largest districts in California. More than one-third of elementary and high school students in Fresno come from low income families.

Whether to try online learning is a debate that schools across the state are facing amid coronavirus closures. As of Monday, Fresno Unified is still working on a distance learning plan that it’s calling “optional” for students.

Superintendent Bob Nelson said Friday that it would be difficult to make students do schoolwork online who don’t have access to resources.

Clovis Unified faces many of the same challenges, but online learning plans are in place, according to district spokesperson Kelly Avants.

“We have the model for online learning already in the district through our Clovis Online School and through numerous internet-based lessons that our teachers already deliver to students,” she said in a statement to The Bee. “At the same time, we are greatly aware of the complexities and challenges that our community faces around the equity of access to technology and any move to online learning would also include a way to address that need as well.”

Schools are also looking at sending home packets of work for students.

Higher education’s obstacles

Fresno State and State Center Community College District, which includes Fresno City College, are suspending in-person classes for a week before they will transition most courses online until at least April 27. West Hills College and Fresno Pacific University are taking a similar route.

College officials say they are working with local health departments and campuses will remain open and available to students, including dorms and dining services. Classes with labs, technical education courses and nursing and child development practicum classes will go on as scheduled.

Classes are expected to resume in mid-April, and as of Monday, officials don’t expect commencement ceremonies will be affected.

Studies have shown that students fare worse in online classes, despite the same instructors, curriculum and the notion that young people are well equipped to work with technology.

According to data from Fresno City College, distance education has “relatively lower retention and success rates” than face-to-face learning.

After the announcement on Thursday, Fresno City student Joseph Pucket was still trying to figure out if his Computer-Aided Drafting and Design program will remain in-person.

“Either way, I prefer an in-person class so that if I am stuck on a drawing or part that I’m supposed to be creating, my professor can come to my desk and observe what I am doing wrong,” he said.

He also said he’s worried that if his courses become unmanageable, he won’t graduate on time.

“If I don’t pass (my class) this semester, that would push back my completion of the program to a whole ‘nother year.”

Pucket, who lives in Dunlap, a remote area outside Sequoia National Park, said although he has access to a computer and the internet, he knows there are others who don’t.

And he wonders if others are forced to go to computer labs and coffee shops to work, “that may defeat the whole purpose of social isolation.”

The move to online has also created some pushback from faculty at Fresno State, as some have never taught an online course.

“It is also important to recognize that shifting a face-to-face class to online or some other modality is no small task,”said Diane Blair, the Fresno State chapter president for the California Faculty Association.

Some instructors will require access to training and will also need time to make that shift happen.

“As things evolve we think it is very important that faculty be included in the administration’s decisionmaking process,” Blair said. “We need to be flexible and recognize that a one-size-fits-all response is not really an option.”

She added: “My sense from faculty is that we are willing to do what is necessary in response to this fluid and evolving health issue.”

This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 12:01 PM.