Special Report: U.S. school closures dramatically shrinking public education, Reuters finds

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Jennifer Panditaratne’s third-grade daughter had been seeing a reading specialist once a week before her Florida school closed abruptly in March due to the novel coronavirus.

Jennifer Panditaratne helps Hazeline with her reading assignments as she is homeschooling in Broward County, Florida, U.S. May 29, 2020. REUTERS/Maria Alejandra Cardona

Since then, her child has had no contact with the specialist. Panditaratne is left to download her daughter’s special education material and sit with her as she does her school work—in between her own calls as a maritime lawyer in South Florida.

“Is it the same material? Sure,” she said. “But is it being administered by a professional who knows what they are doing? No.”

More than two months after schools across the United States began closing in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the shutdown is taking a profound toll on the nation’s system of education, Reuters found by surveying nearly 60 school districts serving some 2.8 million students.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-schools-specia/special-report-u-s-school-closures-dramatically-shrinking-public-education-reuters-finds-idUSKBN2391OT