‘Who is standing up for us?’ – Black, rural students left behind as US schools go online

A first grade teacher conducting a virtual lesson in her empty classroom on the first day of classes. Before the pandemic, most schools did not know how many of their students lacked home Internet. Since then they have scrambled to connect as many as possible, but devices are backordered, funding is limited and time is running out. — The Times-Tribune via AP

WASHINGTON: With coronavirus sweeping through their rural district, the children of Francis Marion School in Perry County, Alabama, started school online this week. But for many, logging on for class was out of the question.

Only about half of the school’s 600-odd students have reliable Internet at home and one in five has no connection at all, said principal Cathy Trimble.