An article from the L.A. Times explained that about 15,000 students from the Los Angeles School District have been absent from their classes, and are failing to do school work all together. Teachers want students to check in daily, but more than 40,000 are not doing so.

Teachers had to change their ways of teaching nearly overnight, and transition into “distant learning” for half a million students, the L.A. Times noted.

At Oak Park High School, Assistant Principal Jason Meskis said that teachers are taking attendance by having students complete their work on time and attend Google Meets.

This was a drastic change for OPHS, and according to Meskis, teachers are doing what they can to make this easier.

“Teachers can contact students through posting assignments on Google Classroom, holding a class with Google Meets or Zoom, posting presentations, slides or lectures, utilizing StudentSquare or a combination of these ways which a lot of teachers are doing,” Meskis said.

Assistant Principal Natalie Smith sent an email out to all the teachers explaining the attendance protocol and what to do if a student does not check-in for an entire week.

“If a student does not check-in for an entire week, teachers should email or call parents,” Smith wrote to the Talon.

Teachers are also holding 7th periods at different times so students, if needed, can check in with their teachers for clarification.

This year OPHS went one to one with Chromebooks so students already had direct contact with their teachers. This helps a tremendous amount for students who don’t have another way to get online.

Principal Kevin Buchanan explained how much going one to one helped.

“We were in a very fortunate position when we had to transition to distance learning,” Buchanan said. “Not only does each student have a Chromebook, but each student and teacher has a Google account and access to district-wide applications and online teacher training modules in Alludo.”