Catholic school parents confront the challenge of online instruction for their children

Friday, May. 01, 2020

UTAH — Utah Catholic Schools have been providing remote education since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in Utah, and will continue to do so until the end of the school year.

From languages and the arts, math, social studies, to choir and physical education, students at the 16 Utah Catholic Schools have been engaging with their teachers through numerous online platforms and apps.

“This has been a time of great transition for our family,” said Mary Ardnt, whose three sons attend St. John the Baptist Catholic School.

Ardnt said that her family has felt the support from the school’s principal, Nikki Ward. 

“She continues to emphasize the importance of meeting the specific needs of families, and the teachers have been responsive to our needs,” said Ardnt, who is herself a teacher. She acknowledges the extreme amount of stress and diligent preparation teachers and administrators have experienced in order to switch instruction to an online platform.

“The teachers [at the Catholic schools] have quickly provided more than enough content,” she said. “However, solid content may not always be what our family needs at this time and that is no fault of our excellent educators.”

Schools play a critical role in supporting both a child’s academic development and social-emotional development, Ardnt added. Citing recent academic studies, she said, “research has shown that children are not able to retain knowledge when their social and emotional health is fostered inadequately.”

Christine Floyd-Green echoed Ardnt’s feelings. Floyd-Green’s five children attend Blessed Sacrament Catholic School, Juan Diego Catholic High School and a public school in the Canyons School District. She said that schooling at home has been a challenge.

“I can say with certainty that schooling at home is not going to be in my plans for the future,” she said emphatically. “It’s stressful keeping track of my high schooler and middle schooler and making sure they actually hand in their assignments on time.”

Despite the challenges, however, she was pleased with the implementation of online learning by some of the schools.

“Blessed [Sacrament] seemed to have a plan right away,” she said. “When kids came home on a Thursday (back in March) with all of their books and the middle schooler had her school’s laptop, I knew there was some serious changes about to happen. Canyons School District didn’t have a plan until about a week later, and by then my middle schooler already had a Zoom class for science.”

Her children have had different reactions to the remote learning experience, she said.

“I feel like the older kids have become more indifferent about what grades they get. I have to sit down with the second-grader and go through each assignment. Thank God I’m a stay-at-home mom. I can’t imagine when both parents work,” she said.

Her family life has some difficulties with the online learning experience.

“I think the absolute worst part about this was when my second-grader insisted on bringing her blanket to the table,” Floyd-Green said. “It knocked my charging cord off, which knocked a glass of water into the back of my laptop. I heard a pop and that was it. It wasn’t repairable. Then finding a laptop was hard because everyone was buying them up to work from home, so I had to get a more expensive laptop because it was the only thing available.”

For Ardnt, turning to her Catholic faith has been a lifesaver through these times.

“During this time of great uncertainty, we have been able to cope by turning to our faith,” she said. “This means that some days our children don’t focus solely on the learning content delivered from the schools. For example, last week, my youngest was unusually nervous about getting coronavirus. Instead doing his school work, we decided to read a Bible story and play in the garden.” 

The Catholic schools have played a unique role at this time, she said.

“[They] have been bringing us together and lifting up the prayers and needs of our families and others. Our number one priority should not be centered around whether or not our children ‘meet the grades,’ but rather on whether or not their spiritual, physical and emotional well-being stays intact,” she said.

She is grateful that St. John the Baptist School invites children to log on and pray together with the principal on a daily basis. 

“My son’s third-grade teacher, Mrs. Stephanie Molloy, recognized the need to foster joy in the curriculum last week, and had the children attend a virtual field trip to Disneyland,” Ardnt said. 

“While Mrs. Molloy provides a great amount of academic instruction virtually, she found that her students needed to come together and participate in an online activity which was centered around joy.”

In his April 24 messages to students and parents of the Utah Catholic Schools, Bishop Oscar A. Solis recognized the need for faith.

“Our faith is what sustains us during difficult times,” the bishop said. “We find ourselves being tested in new and unusual ways. However, we know that we walk by faith and not by sight. We know that we are always in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that he walks beside us on this journey. I have found in my own life that it is through times such as these that my faith and trust in Jesus Christ flourishes.

“Let us seek God’s blessing and pray to Our Lady for her protection, guidance and strength during these difficult times,” Bishop Solis said.