Class of COVID-19

By the time Lilia Francois gets behind the wheel, a school has tried everything else to locate the child missing from class.

Throughout history, each generation has wanted better opportunities for the next. And for many migrant farmworkers, getting a better education for their children is a key value. But economic hardships often force teenage migrants to leave school early and go to work.

Students at historically Black colleges and universities in Florida are finding different ways to cope with illness, grief, family obligations and uncertainty. For the multiethnic Black community, COVID-19 has been an added stressor atop another centuries-long pandemic: racial injustice.

WUSF's Kerry Sheridan and project editor Jessica Bakeman talk about the series of education stories and how vulnerable populations of students are facing the educational challenges exacerbated by the pandemic.

These women search for farmworkers’ children, to help educate them. COVID-19 made their jobs harder.