schooling looks like in 2021 and beyond, the combination of learning loss and trauma that children and families have experienced will require more educators, not less. The real value of live remote instruction, according to Dyer, is fl exibility. If there’s an Advanced Placement course that 10 students at one high school and 10 students at a separate high school hope to take, Dougherty County can now contract with Elevate K-12 for a single remote teacher who can be livestreamed into both schools simultaneously. There are also options to hire Elevate K-12 teachers to provide synchronous instruction for just three or four days a week, or just a few periods a day. Page 29 Some may worry about converting teaching into “gig work,” with educators going from being professional unionized employees to becoming independent contractors along the lines of Uber drivers. (Baranwal responded by saying that Elevate K-12 teachers, 83 percent of whom are women, “want the fl exibility to work at the hours that work best for them.”) And an even more fundamental concern is that even the best live remote instruction is a poor substitute for face-to-face teaching. On that, the Dougherty County superintendent agreed—to a point. everyone could have an eff ective teacher physically in the classroom at all times, we would certainly prefer that,” Dyer said. “But that’s not possible in every school system in the country.” (continued on page 30) “Stronger Together!” “If
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