The San Francisco Chronicle: “Distance learning for some kids at SF elementary school came with an extra challenge: No internet connection”

As learning transitioned to the remote world, many of our students were faced with issues around access to technology and the internet. This article from The San Francisco Chronicle examines some of those issues, and features one of the classes that we serve at Bret Harte Elementary in the Bayview-Hunters’ Point neighborhood. 

“‘It is absolutely criminal that in one of the wealthiest, tech-savvy cities ever, families are unable to access Wi-Fi,’ said Bita Nazarian, director of 826 Valencia, a San Francisco education nonprofit that serves 9,000 low-income students annually. Programming the nonprofit ordinarily offers has been disrupted by the pandemic, too, Nazarian says, and many of the students she works with are struggling to get online.”

Read on to learn more about how this access issue disproportionately impacts many of the communities we serve, how San Francisco Unified School District handled these issues, and what their plan is moving forward.