VIRTUAL LEARNING SITES SPROUT UP TO HELP WORKING PARENTS

A dance studio in Florida. A martial arts center in Missouri. Libraries in San Francisco. These and other places are taking on a somewhat unlikely new role this fall — welcoming children for supervised distance learning while their parents go to work.

With many schools still closed by the coronavirus pandemic, public and private alternatives are sprouting up across the nation to watch over children as they study.

The sites provide a lifeline for families that struggled through virtual learning last spring, but organizers acknowledge they are a poor substitute for