Jade’s story highlights the disconnect between schools' claims of support and the reality students face. While most teachers were supportive, the school overall—and one teacher in particular—continued the ineffective practices from virtual learning, offering little real help. 

Jade, who struggled with mental health and was hospitalized during her senior year, received failing grades despite having medical documentation for her absences. When she and others were required to quarantine after COVID-19 exposures, the school had no structured plan to support them, showing a lack of preparedness and understanding.

Part of Jade’s frustration stemmed from her school’s decision to double down on virtual assignments and digital learning platforms like Cognity to help students catch up, despite clear evidence that these methods failed students during virtual learning.

The reliance on ineffective virtual assignments for students already struggling from gaps caused by remote learning was exacerbated in Jade’s situation because of limited access to WiFi and technology, which are now critical for completing assignments. Although most of her teachers accommodated her with paper copies of assignments, others refused, highlighting the disconnect between school policies and the realities faced by students without reliable internet access.

Jade’s experience reflects the struggles of many students, revealing the lack of coordinated responses from schools, inadequate mental health support, and unrealistic expectations placed on those facing disruptions.

Edited Transcript:

Jade (Black Female): I'm waiting to find out if I am going to pass (senior year) because of math. I was hospitalized in October till around November. I was back in school for like a week and ended up back in the hospital and the day I was being evaluated, I woke up and my mother was gone. That was two days before Thanksgiving. I was put in foster care. I go back to school, dealing with foster care stuff, dealing with the challenges of already being behind. And a lot of my teachers really helped me get past it. But when I came back, it wasn't even a week when my classmate got COVID. We had contact tracing, so I had to go home for 10 days after I had just come back to school. 

They say go home and do your work. But I had just come back to school and there was literally nothing from my math teacher. And as soon as the quarantine ended, our school’s heat broke and our last few days before winter break were virtual. And then for weeks following the day we were supposed to come back to school the school had no heat. So we were virtual again.

I had medical leave with all of the documents needed. 

And what people forget, last year, you're learning online. Me and my friends had weekly sessions on Google meets where we would work on math together. Did we actually learn? Not really. A big thing of last year is we didn't learn anything. We just forced ourselves to go. 

Now I did work hard and I’m going to Towson university in the fall. But much of this school year I did not have access to wifi. And a lot of my teachers were understanding and worked with me or gave me paper assignments. My math teacher is like, well, you need to do your Cognity practices. Cognity is a website that we use for math. It's supposed to help you learn and understand things. But I'm going to say this right now. It doesn't help. They just give you Cognity assignments, expect you to do them. And it doesn't help you understand things. Like if a person is trying to understand something and you say, oh, well go do Cognity work or read the sections of Cognity and you'll understand, there's a really good chance that you won't.

My class has been through so much. We've lost two students to suicide. We have a sexual assault problem at the school. The reality is when you try to address things, things aren't addressed. When you ask for help, you don't get it. And now I sit here and wait till I find out whether I pass for the year, while also thinking about, why are these things out of my control. 

Jenni Berg: So what happens if you fail?

Jade: I’d go to summer school. When you go to summer school, you don't get to walk with your class. And you feel the embarrassment because it's not something that people aren't going to notice. It's not something small that people are going to ignore. People are going to be like, why isn't this person here? 

Jenni Berg: but you're still gonna be able to go to Towson next year.

Jade: I should be fine, but it's the stress of not knowing, and also the stress of knowing that you tried and it really feels like it was for nothing. 

Jade:  A lot of my classes teachers actually put in the effort. So you can try to learn. They'll give you examples, they’ll take their time, be there to answer questions. Then there's teachers who just don't try. And it's just, it's not, 

Jenni Berg: it's not fair. 

Jade: It's not fair. And some people would say, oh, that's life. And yes, we're not going to get everything that we want. And yes, life is not going to be easy. 

Jenni Berg: but it’s high school, not a PHD. After a year and a half of virtual school. I just don't get it. There's a lot of kids not passing math right now.

Jade: We have group chats and we're crying and we're just trying to see if even if we have to go to summer school, will you let us walk. So we don't have to face the embarrassment.

Jenni Berg: So you would be happy if you could walk and take the class in August? 

Jade: My thing is I can graduate in summer school. I can officially graduate in August. But I can never take back the experience of not being able to walk with my class. I can never take back the experience of being able to say, congratulations, you graduated, you did it. At this point it feels like all of the work that I've put in is for nothing. 

Jade did not pass math. She did not walk with her class and when she showed up to prom, despite the school taking her money to attend prom, she was escorted out. 

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