TIME

Why I said no to remote school

By Sarah Parcak

On April 8, we received an email from our son’s teacher about the start of online schooling. We wrote back that same day saying that for the sake of our mental health—mine, my husband’s, our child’s—he was done with first grade. “You’re a wonderful, caring, compassionate teacher,” we told her, “and our son was lucky to have you for as long as he did.”

Like other parents with the ability to work from home, my husband and I recently found ourselves in an untenable position: If you have a

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