ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Kids are off for the summer, but Albuquerque Public Schools is seeing a record number of students enrolled for summer school. Throughout high school, Daniel Candelaria says he’s consistently been a solid student.

That was until his junior year with COVID-19 in full swing and schools restricted to rely on remote learning. “I thought it was going to be pretty easy and I started off pretty good and then it just went down from there,” said Daniel.

As the year went on and teens continued to learn through a screen, Daniel fell behind. “His motivation really went downhill because he wasn’t able to play sports, he wasn’t able to be on a timely schedule, he wasn’t able to get up in the morning and go to class,” said Daniel’s father Carlos Candelaria.

At-home learning was hit or miss for a lot of students in the district. “My younger daughter is in elementary and she did somewhat okay with it,” said Carlos.

Now ahead of his senior year, Daniel’s slip-up has him stuck in summer school. “I need to take just math and US history both semesters,” said Daniel.

Right when he knew he failed, Daniel got with his counselor and signed up for the classes before the rush. Daniel got what he needed but not every student was so lucky.

“It would have been really hard. We would have had to look at the options if it would have meant an extra workload through his senior year then that would have been the direction,” said Carlos.

With things opening back up, so is Daniel’s motivation. “I couldn’t play sports because of it so that was another big factor,” said

Although the past year just wasn’t a good match for his learning style, he’s still learning his lesson. “If he had stayed up with his studies throughout the year he wouldn’t have such a summer where he has to do all this work,” said Carlos.

APS says both summer terms are now full, which is the fastest it’s ever happened.

 

 

Source:https://www.krqe.com/