PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Back to school can be challenging for many families. One family from Pittsford with 10 children is speaking out about the back to school effort.

The Dougherty family includes children between the ages of 2 and 14. Harlee, Bodhi, Jordan, Jason, Dash, Zoey, Bree, Patrick, James, and Alex are all a part of this big family. They also have a dog and some chickens.

During a visit on a school morning, Spectrum News got a glimpse into how the family manages back to school.

Some go in person full time; some go to school part of the time with the hybrid model; and others are participating in fully remote learning.

“I literally chug coffee by the gallons," says mom of the children, Alicia Dougherty, at 5 a.m.

At that time, the day is already underway for Alicia and her husband, and dad of the brood, Josh Dougherty. He's already been out for a jog and she's preparing breakfast and lunch for a dozen.

“So I gotta feed 10 kids. I often forget to feed myself. So I try and just make a ton of food, and they get up kind of in shifts on school days, because the older kids start sooner. I try and get them done and out the door or on their zooms before the little kids trickle in," said Alicia.

Alicia does as much as she can the night before.

“Like, I prepacked their snacks for school, pre-did their meds,” she said.

Alicia lays out clothes for the younger kids. Each child has their own hook for their coat and backpack, and a bin for other items. Alicia even plans ahead to make sure everyone brushes their teeth.

“Pre-toothpasted their toothbrushes," she said, "because then if we get to about 10 in the morning and there’s still toothpaste on someone’s toothbrush, I know they didn’t brush their teeth.”

As the children wake up, this mom makes sure each one eats, is dressed, their hair is fixed, and they are each ready for the school day. The first one out the door, shortly after 7 a.m., is 12-year-old Patrick, a sixth grader who takes the bus.

On his way out, he says, “I love going to school.”

Alex, 14, is a ninth grader ,and James, 13, an eighth grader, log into their Zoom classes at 7:35 a.m.

Next to get on the bus is 9-year-old Bree, who is in fourth grade. The others begin their Zoom sessions shortly after. The effort to sign everyone in and the hope that the wireless internet does not quit begins. Alicia describes her use of a white board to help her keep track of all the Zoom sessions, passwords, and other daily reminders.

"This is to remind me to fill out the COVID screens for Bree and Patrick and the kids like to know what’s for dinner. And the teenagers are in charge of themselves, they have their own schedules upstairs. The little ones’ Zoom schedules are here. In between Zooms, they have work from their teacher that they have to do and submit online,” said Alicia.

As hectic as it may sound, Josh says, “Every day is just a day. I mean, we’re just used to it. And then people ask us how we deal with the craziness. It’s just our life and we’re just used to it.”

"Every day I wake up, I’m like, this is just a phase, we can do this. It’s just a phase in our life," said Alicia.

As if the Dougherty plate isn’t full enough, there’s more. Nine of the 10 children are diagnosed with disabilities, making remote learning more challenging.

"Nine of the kids have ADHD; the three oldest have bipolar disorder; the 3-year-old has autism," said Alicia as she listed the serieis of disabilities her six adopted and four biological children are dealing with.

Among them, 9-year-old Bree, who has a chromosomal disorder that presents as autism.

“I want my hair to be up in a high bun," Bree asks her mom.

Bree is also one of the six adopted children born with some form of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and/or drug and cigarette use in utero.

The family is used to some media attention, as the Doughertys were featured in a recent issue of People Magazine. The focus of the article is fetal alcohol syndrome.

“We’re an open book," said Alicia.

"We want to advocate for adoption and foster care and we don’t want to just talk about it. We want to act on it and do something about it.  And so, rather than doing nothing, or just doing lip service, we want to make a difference. And that’s why we adopted, and why we’ll probably continue to adopt and continue to try to make a positive difference in the world, rather than just complain about it," said Josh Dougherty.

Bree is able to attend her school program in person.

"You can take a mask break for five minutes," she said.

Some of the other siblings attend school some of the time with the hybrid model. But the younger ones cannot.

"Basically you’re forcing children with special needs to remote learn because they can’t follow the protocols of the coronavirus guidelines," said Alicia.

For example, the twins, Jordan and Jason, will not keep a mask on in school because of their disabilities. But those same disabilities also prevent these children from learning through a screen.

Alicia says her children are in front of the screen even longer than general-education students, because all of their special education services are now also via Zoom. 

Alicia believes there should be in-school full time education.

"Oh yeah, without a mask, yeah, yeah," she said. I think it should be, and I’m going to have a lot of people that don’t agree with me, but run school normal, and people who don’t feel comfortable with that, you can choose remote. But I’m forced to choose remote because of their issues.”

Ironically, both Alicia and Josh are special education teachers. Josh works at Thornell Elementary School in Pittsford. Alicia is taking time away from teaching to manage the household, but is still working a part-time job.

Despite their expertise with children with special needs, this is a particularly challenging time for them.

“We should be able to do this, but we’re also trying to run a house and work jobs," said Alicia, “When we took on this journey of parenting kids with special needs, we also had the support systems in place to be able to manage it, and one of those major support systems was their in school, in person services of special education ... here we are on day 193 at home, trying to maintain their education, and their health, and their sanity."