As remote learning grows, power outages become the new 'snow day'

FOX 2 - It was a rainy Tuesday first day of school.  But many students stayed home for remote learning online, because of the pandemic. 

"Remote learning has been a game-changer for all of us in public education," said Dr. Robert Shaner, Supt. Rochester Community School District.

 And the game-changer for canceling school once was snow, but not with online learning.

"Even if it were a snow day, it also offers some of us an opportunity to maintain those connections and to continue our learning," he said.

And that's because of online learning.  But now power outages present more of a problem.

"We actually experienced that today.  We had a power outage and an Internet failure," Shaner said.

It is something that the district really hadn't had to deal with until now, since so many people are online. Fortunately for Rochester Hills Community Schools, the IT department solved the problem.

"They were able to troubleshoot it with the power company and we were only down for a short period of time. But you can Imagine with the beginning of the year it causes a lot of anxiety for parents," Shaner said.

Rochester Community Schools has about 15,000 kids in the district and only a few hundred were affected. But, Detroit schools on the other hand have 51,000, and 80 percent of them are working online on the first day of school. So what will they do if there's a power outage?

"If there's a power failure there's nothing we can do. It's like a snow day. It's like the new version of the snow day," said LaWanda Marshall, a teacher at Carver STEM Academy.

When the school, the kids, and the parents are - mentally on line an, on line power failure is no big deal. 

"People are rolling with the punches and really doing what they need to do to have great outcomes for kids,"  said. Shaner.