New York mom reveals benefits of moving her kids to Catholic school amid COVID lockdowns

A New York mom appeared on "Fox & Friends" to explain the benefits her kids have experienced ever since she switched them to a Catholic school during the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns. 

Laura Camisa, a mother of two daughters now in first and third grade, said she was motivated to remove her girls from their public schools after those schools remained closed to in-person learning at the start of the 2020-2021 school year.

Virtual learning, Camisa said to "Fox & Friends" cohost Ainsley Earhardt, made her then-first grader "sad" and "lonely" — and the child became increasingly withdrawn, she said. 

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Camisa said her older daughter's learning was "stunted," and that despite attending all virtual school sessions, the child remained largely at the same place academically as she had been when her school first closed. 

"She was stuck where she was in March of 2020," said Camisa. "She wasn't progressing from a math perspective, from a reading perspective." 

Online school "wasn't working for us," she said.

This prompted the mom to look into alternatives for her daughters. 

The local Catholic school, St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Academy in Brooklyn, was open for in-person learning five days a week. 

In October, Camisa reached out and inquired if the school had an opening for her eldest daughter. 

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"I was praying they would have a spot, and luckily they had a spot for both my older and my younger daughter," she said, noting that her younger girl was then in pre-K. 

Camisa asked her eldest daughter if she would be OK in switching to a new school where she did not know anyone. 

After confirming to her that the school was "open" and she could "actually go there," her daughter eagerly agreed. 

Online school "wasn't working for us," said the mom. 

"She said, ‘Can I go now?’ and I said ‘No, it’s 4 p.m., but we can go tomorrow,'" explained Camisa. 

Her older daughter switched schools immediately, Camisa said, and her youngest enrolled a few weeks later. 

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Camisa's daughters have been attending the Catholic school now for the past two years. 

Earhardt noted that when Camisa's older daughter started at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Academy, she was far behind her classmates, scoring only a 60 on her first test. 

"But then, you started seeing massive improvements," said Earhardt.

"Now, she's in the 90th percentile." 

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Camisa said that when her daughter first arrived at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Academy, her classmates were learning subtraction from 20, whereas she was only learning how to add up to 10.

"She was seeing things that she had not been exposed to yet, because she was so far behind having to learn virtually for so long," she said.

She added that the teachers at her daughters' school "truly care" and are "just outstanding." 

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Earhardt pointed out that the recent Nation's Report Card showed that fourth grade public school students scored 11 points lower in math than fourth grade Catholic school students. 

Two of the Nation's Report Card studies involve testing fourth and eighth grade students in math and reading.  

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"I think it's because they weren't in the classroom," said Camisa. 

"The younger kids — they really need to learn those foundations, and it's impossible to learn that on Zoom."