“I spent much of the last month worried that a student could die in my classroom,” a special education teacher from Poly High School said about the LBUSD's lack of preparation for September's intense heat wave.
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On many school days, Maria Teresa Loeza said her elementary and middle school kids wave their Chromebooks around the house on Walnut Avenue and 15th Street in Long Beach, searching for a stronger internet connection.
Sometimes her 13-year-old stays up late at night to submit assignments, growing frustrated when the signal cuts off while documents upload.
Her 9-year-old’s grades, meanwhile, are dropping.
“It makes me sad; it makes me angry,” Loeza, 45, said in Spanish.
Gabriela Alvarez-Loeza, 13 left and her sister Daniela Alvarez-Loeza 9, sit outside their home while on their school Chromebooks in Long Beach Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.