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Parents unhappy with school options assemble learning 'pods'

Photo: Tim Arterbury
Photo: Tim Arterbury

MIAMI (AP) — As the coronavirus pandemic has clouded hopes of reopening schools nationwide, parents who want more than remote instruction have been scrambling to hire tutors and private teachers for small groups of children.

The race to set up “learning pods” threatens to vastly deepen inequities in access to education.

In some cases, parents are paying thousands of dollars each to include their children in pods, promising teachers $40 to $100 an hour or more.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has called learning pods “luxuries” that are not an option for low-income parents.