"It's a lot easier for high school kids to kind of get online and keep up, but for younger children we have to have some pretty creative solutions," Anderson said.
Most important, she said, teachers are acting as "ministers" by praying with the students, even in this extraordinary time.
"I think it's important that they're incorporating Catholic identity through this, that teachers are doing prayer with kids, keeping the faith up, giving the families alternatives, prayer services as alternatives to Mass," she said. "We're not going to lose sight of our mission through this."
High schools were "pretty quick" to transition to digital learning, Anderson said, but with the elementary schools "we don't assume that all children will have access to the internet."
A "majority" of the archdiocesan schools are utilizing digital learning, she said, with platforms such as Google Classroom.
"The schools are closed, and we're not trying to say we're open completely for academics, but all of our schools are offering things to keep kids busy and up-to-date on their studies as much as possible," she said.
In the case of Don Bosco Cristo Rey high school in Takoma Park, Maryland, students are also enrolled in work-study programs, so they are learning to work remotely as well.
In the Diocese of Brooklyn, there was "anxiety" about having to make mass changes in the pandemic, district superintendent Michael LaForgia told CNA.
However, he said the feedback so far has been "extremely positive" as "faculty and principals have gotten together" and "rolled up their sleeves."
"We have a very diverse diocese," LaForgia said, with both affluent and poor sections, and the diocese wanted to ensure schools would receive an equitable distribution of resources and attention.
One school in Queens has a large immigrant population with English as a second language, he said, so the school principal hosted families last week for an interactive presentation about using the app Zoom so their children could learn electronically.
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The diocesean communications and technology arm, DeSales Media, had already begun partnering with schools to provide them devices for remote learning before the coronavirus became an issue, LaForgia said.
Some parents do worry that an extended break from in-person classroom settings could mean that their child falls behind in grades or certifications. It is a concern, LaForgia said, but one shared by parents of students at both public and Catholic schools, and one which will be confronted as a community "as the days turn into weeks."
"What we're finding is, everybody is collaborating, and everybody is working for the same goal," he said.
Meanwhile, many parents now working from home face the additional challenge of ensuring their children are still learning.
Two homeschooling mothers-Elizabeth Foss, a Catholic mother of nine children, and Stephanie Weinert, a mother of four children-who are both bloggers and active on Instagram, co-hosted a virtual discussion on Sunday night for mothers whose children will be transitioning from school to learning at home.
"This is qualitatively different from homeschooling," Foss said of the current situation.