#Virtual classrooms in 2020 means working parents won’t catch a break

If Ben Ramirez’s gourmet coffee store had opened as planned this year, he’d probably have customers lined up outside the door. The 39-year-old barista-in-waiting, and father of two, became famous last spring as he served free high-end coffee pour-overs to front-line workers from his kitchen window in San Francisco. He even used his son’s toy gorilla arm to hand out the java to maintain social distancing.

His antics earned him TV spots on CNN, ABC and “The Late Late Show With James Corden,” among others.

But Ramirez has had to put his coffee plans and supplies on the shelf, all because schools in San Francisco, like many across the country, are staying virtual only. “I can’t just sit my sons in their Zoom classrooms and go to work,” he said.

Together, he and his wife, Katelin Holloway, decided that she would go to work while he stays home with the kids, Luca, 6, and Juno, 2.

“So, I guess I’m now teacher’s assistant,” said Ramirez.

Holloway knows that the situation stinks.

“We had to make the call on whose career to support for this chapter, and my job won,” she said. “It’s such a bummer to lose the momentum he had, but the health and education of our family has to be prioritized,” she said.

Here in the New York area, public schools will begin on Sept. 16 online only until a delayed opening on Sept. 21, when schools will run a split schedule of virtual and in-classroom learning. This uncertainty and constantly shifting landscape is tough on parents, who are now busy talking to their employers, neighbors and community organizations to try and figure out how to support their children’s learning and earn a paycheck at the same time.

“This situation is truly unprecedented,” said Megan Neumann, a leader for the caregiving crisis at employee health-care and consultancy firm Mercer.

She said that workers who are parents suddenly have three roles at once — worker, child caretaker and education coach, whether they work at home or in the office.

“Parents are getting burned out,” said Caroline Fairchild, who covers the workplace for LinkedIn. What’s worse is that a survey conducted by LinkedIn and Censuswide reveals that 60 percent of employers have not allowed working parents to shift their schedules to accommodate all of those responsibilities.

The good news is that the remaining 40 percent of employers are working overtime to identify and provide options for their employees. But, it’s complicated. “There is no one-size-fits-all approach,” said Neumann.

The companies that Mercer is consulting with are looking at everything from bringing child care for school-age children on-site, to providing homework support, to helping workers pool their kids into pods and rotate which parent supervises the learning.

Some community organizations — like the YMCA in Montclair, NJ — are stepping in by facilitating online learning during school hours and providing Internet access and supervision by trained and certified staff, although there is a fee involved.

While that might be fine for some, Jackie (who withheld her last name fearing repercussions at work), a phlebotomist in Queens, can’t afford child care for her daughters, who are 6 and 9. “It costs almost as much as I make,” she said. “What’s the point?”

She is hoping she can work part-time, “if my supervisor agrees,” she said. And while that would mean bringing home a smaller paycheck, she might be able to handle it for a month until school hopefully resumes its normal schedule in October.

Karen Mangia, author of “Working From Home, Making the New Normal Work for You” (Wiley), acknowledges that it may be harder for some than for others. “People need to be willing to experiment as their particular situation evolves,” she said. “Never be afraid to make a decision and then change your mind.”

Employers can make small changes to make life easier. DailyPay, a financial technology company near Wall Street, takes it as a given that not everyone will be available for meetings during the workday, so they record them.

“Children from preschool to fourth grade have an attention span of one to three hours, so, of course, they are going to need their parents or a caretaker if they are not in school,” said Jeanniey Walden, chief innovation and marketing officer at the company.

Cameras on Zoom calls at DailyPay are also optional. “

Anything we can do to make things easier,” said Walden.

Vik Dua, chief operating officer at fintech company Ocrolus in the Financial District, is trusting his employees to organize their workloads and schedules around the best use of their time.

“Family comes first here,” he said, noting that the company’s philosophy hasn’t cost him anything in terms of quality or productivity, but it has provided him with a benefit. “It helps us get the best people in the door and keep them here,” he said.

Not every manager thinks that way, but that doesn’t always mean they don’t care. “This is their first pandemic, too,” said Neumann.

Communication is key. “You have to tell them what you need if they don’t ask you,” said Fairchild. “The best employers want parents to continue doing a good job at work. That can only happen if their children are cared for.”