Harriet Stein of New York City and Lynn Schmeidler of Dobbs Ferry shared the same concerns about the impact of COVID on education for vulnerable students. They knew that virtual schooling would expand the existing educational inequities in local schools. As a result, they created a remote tutoring initiative to serve FSW’s students in need.
“I have found that some days when it’s harder to motivate Tina, we’ll just talk for a while about how school is, and how her friends are, and how just life in general is.” – Volunteer Tutor
Harriet is a literacy advocate, nonprofit program director and a former high school English teacher who lived in Hastings on Hudson. Lynn is a fiction writer, poet, writing teacher and former middle school educator. They did some research and identified FSW as an organization that serves a large population of vulnerable youth.
They recruited a group of more than twelve volunteer tutors aged 14- 70. The tutors help one or two students once or twice a week. The virtual platform has given them a lot of flexiblity, allowing them to draw tutors from Westchester and other states like Maine and Pennsylvania.
There was need for help in all subjects, the most common being Reading/English in elementary school and Math/Science at the high school level.
Through their incredible dedication, Harriet and Lynn’s program was able to help 18 of FSW’s youth throughout this school year.
“The good news is that I contacted Kevin’s math teacher. He was able to catch up in one session with what her class was doing all week. There are definite advantages to one-on-one instruction with a bright student.” – Volunteer Tutor
FSW has many school-age children in need of virtual tutoring. These are children that are struggling with academics and do not have the luxury of hiring a tutor. There is an achievement gap that leaves at-risk students with many academic challenges.
Student names have been changed to protect their privacy.