SAN ANTONIO — As the school year winds down, lots of students won’t be putting their backpacks away Thousands of students are already registered for summer school with Northside ISD in San Antonio. Parents like Naomi Copeland are sending their kids to summer school so they’ll be better prepared for the Fall semester.
“We decided to keep them home all the way up until April,” said Copeland.
She and her husband realized their two girls, Nylah and Nia, weren’t thriving the way they once did. They monitored the COVID cases at their children’s school, until they felt the cases were low enough to send the girls to in-person learning.
“Compared to some of the other schools, they are minimal. So are we doing more harm than good? Each parent has to make that decision for their own family,” said Copeland.
Nylah is in fourth grade, while Nia is just beginning her school career in Pre-K. Copeland stepped into the role of teacher at home, but realized she couldn’t fill a certain void.
“She[Nylah] thrives off of social interaction. So, it was very hard in the school year to keep her upbeat. She was like, ‘Ok, I’m not making any friends’,” said Copeland.
That’s why they chose to put Nylah in summer school.
“We understand that they lost some things doing virtual learning, that I want her to be caught up on and be prepared to start the fifth grade,” said Copeland.
Northside ISD already had 9,800 elementary school students registered for summer school. More than 2,000 middle schoolers, and 800-900 students at each high school in the district.
“If they offered summer school for my pre-schooler, she would be going too,” Copeland joked.
Northside ISD officials say that this summer, more students are participating in summer school than previous years.
“Never in a million years did I think I’d hear myself saying that. We know growing up, it was like no summer school, ugh,” Copeland said.
NISD said summer learning can help with possible learning loss.
“They’re amazing, resilient for sure, because I don’t know what I would have done,” said Copeland.
Copeland wants her daughters to look forward to going to school and hopes this will get them on the right path for continued success.
“Hopefully, we get back to normal. Somewhat. As normal as we can be,” said Copeland.
She yearns for some form of normalcy in a world that’s been turned upside down.