Contributed Photo
Remote pre-K learning: Noél traces the letter X.
Jorgieliz Casanova continues to rise at 6 a.m. to begin her role in helping three generations set off to work and school in her Portsea Street household. But now not everybody is rushing out the door.
For Casanova’s 4‑year-old son Noél, for instance, “school” is now at home.
That means much of the time “work” for Casanova is also at home.
Mom Daisy, on the other hand, still has to get out the house. She works with people with disabilities in a group home. She can’t do that remotely.
Same with Casanova’s sister Naisha. She works an overnight shift at an Amazon warehouse, so people can get stuff they need now more than ever — another job the government deems essential.
Her brother Jorge lives in the house, too. He usually drives a bus for Kiducation collecting clothing and other donations left in bins; that job has been suspended during the pandemic.
The re-engineering of the Casanova household morning scramble is a case study in how families have had to adapt to life during the Covid-19 shutdown.
Jorgieliz Casanova.
Casanova described that re-engineered scramble during a (Zoomed) appearance on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven.”
“It’s new balancing it all,” she said. “You have to be able to navigate and be flexible. We had a pretty tight ship.”
Pre-Covid-19, that “ship” entailed Casanova putting up the oatmeal for Noél and her 4‑year-old niece Jordynn while adults took turns using the bathroom and arranging their home shifts. Casanova would walk Noél two blocks down the street to his preschool class at Hill Central Music Academy. Then she’d head downtown to her office at New Haven Promise, the college-scholarship and mentoring program where she works as a program assistant.
When the Covid-19 outbreak hit, the family, living so close together, took precautionary advice to heart. Everyone took off shoes and washed hands immediately upon coming home. Then they hit the shower. One person went to stores on the household’s behalf. They cleaned continually. “You folks have OCD,” friends said. So far, everyone has remained healthy.
Once schools shut down, Noél’s teacher gave daily assignments for the kids to fulfill at home. After some false starts involving the audio (she had to make sure her phone wasn’t on vibrate or silent), Casanova got used to the “Class Dojo” app on which the teacher posts a Google Doc detailing the assignments. Casanova found scissors for Noél to work with trace-outs for his colors and shapes and alphabet. She scrounged together oil, water, food coloring, and syrup for a science experiment on objects floating and sinking. Then she set him up for music and dance video lessons, math and reading, and writing.
Casanova is responsible for sending three photos a day to the teacher showing Noél doing the work. She also sends videos.
“I am deeply committed to Noél’s education. I want to make sure he doesn’t fall behind,” Casanova said.
Meanwhile, Casanova needs to get her own work done. She checks in daily with high school students navigating remote learning in their final months before graduation and, hopefully, heading to college with scholarships from New Haven Promise. She checks in with Promise-supported college students also trying to finish up the year through remote learning. She helps them set up group chats to share tips and figure out online programs.
Noél and Jordynn with an ice and salt experiment calling on senses of touch, sight and smell.
The adults take turns with the kids during the day. Noél’s cousin Jordynn works on Noél’s assignments with her. An older nephew and 1‑year-old niece also spend part of the day in the house, giving the kids playmates.
“Luckily we’re a really big family,” Casanova said. “But [Noél] misses his friends” at school.
Amid all this bustle, Casanova is getting some training for her own long-term career goal: becoming a bilingual educator.
The first person in her family to attend college, Casanova graduated magna cum laude from Albertus Magnus in 2013. New Haven Promise helped her pay the bills with scholarship money as well as a part-time job. She proved adept at helping other students in the program, so she was hired full-time after graduation. (Read more about her college and Promise experience here and here.) Like other first-generation college graduates supported by Promise, Casanova, who’s living in the house where she grew up, serves as a guide back home to connect family and neighbors to institutions and resources.
The key takeaway from the Covid-19 reshuffle also applies to the challenges that lie ahead for Casanova. “You have to navigate and be flexible,” she said, “in light of unforeseen circumstances.”
Click on the video below to watch the full episode of WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven” with Jorgieliz Casanova.