CHARLOTTE, N.C. — On a rainy Thursday afternoon in Charlotte, you’ll find six boys seated at three long tables. This learned pod, organized by the boys’ parents, has been more than a group of second graders coming together for tutor-led remote learning instruction, for Kerri McDowell’s seven-year-old son.
“It’s literally the one thing keeping him motivated with school,” she said. “He asks ‘when is pod day when is pod day?’”
In a non-unanimous vote, Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board members announced Wednesday that the school district will begin phasing in students for in-person instruction. The plan brings back the exceptional learners at the end of September and introduces children by grade level starting in mid-October.
RELATED: CMS Board of Education approves phased-in plan approach for returning to in-person instruction
The schedule is a staggered approach, with children cohort into groups that are in-person for one week, and then remote for two weeks.
“It’s exciting that they’re gonna start moving into school in November,” McDowell said. “The downside is that it’s in groups.”
All of the boys in their pod will go back on the same schedule, except one: their son.
“He’s the one that is not in the same group as the rest of the pod,” McDowell said.
Bad news for the band of buddies about to be broken up, but even worse news for the McDowells’ budget.
The family had figured out a way to make the $50 an hour tutor affordable when it was split six ways.
Now faced with solo sessions.
“It’s just not financially feasible for us to pay that hourly fee,” McDowell said.
The return-to-school plan inadvertently breaking up countless learning pods and shared child care arrangements across the county.
“You feel like you’re back to square one,” McDowell said. “So now we’re in phase two of scramble.”
Jack McDowell echoed his wife’s concern. “Now we’re gonna have to break this whole situation up,” he said. “We’re hoping that the school can help us out, you’re not just helping one you’re helping a whole group of kids.”
So far, requests the McDowells made for their son’s group to be changed have been denied.
Kerrie McDowell said she is aware there are many families in the same boat, or potentially falling on even harder times.
“I know how fortunate we are, despite all of this,” she said.
Nonetheless, when she looks at her son with his new group of makeshift classmates, she knows he thrives in that kind of environment.
He has a 504 plan for students with special needs. One of the things that is important for his success is socialization. McDowell now worries about what will happen during the long stretches if he doesn’t have his pod anymore.
“Socially, it’s quite a nightmare thinking of him being alone all day at seven-years-old,” she said.