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Photos by Christine Laughren
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Neill Penney, 7, follows along with the rest of his first grade class via Web cam from his home in Ypsilanti Township. Penney has acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow.
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The classroom is bustling with giggly first-graders. They are all refreshed after their snow-day the day before and they are ready to be back at school.
Twenty-two of them sit cross-legged on the carpet reviewing the date and month. But one sudent isn't there yet.
He has to wait for the Internet to bring him to school.
Sometime between the Pledge of Allegiance and spelling, Neill Penney pops onto the television in Mrs. Seaton's first-grade classroom. Neal appears at Childs Elementary School in Ypsilanti Township almost every day at approximately 9:10 via Web cam.
"Can you see us Neill," Debbie Seaton asks.
"Yeah," he answers as he crunches on a few pretzels.
"He's always eating," Seaton chuckles.
The class jumps into work right away with spelling practice and timed math.
Neill is confined to his home, down the block from his elementary school. The seven-year-old has acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. His third relapse saw him back at Motts Children's hospital earlier this winter for a bone marrow transplant. However, he is still highly sensitive to infection.
But Neill's health is improving and he works, as the rest of his classmates do, to complete his page of math problems in five minutes. Those who complete the problems with a good score move onto the next level.
"Mrs. Seaton, could you tell me how much time we have left?" Neill asks through his head set.
"About two minutes," Seaton says as she looks toward the television in the corner of the room.
Neill joins his classmates for about 20 hours a week using Skype, a free video conference software on the Internet. Seaton says she prepares all the assignments at least a week in advance so Neill can participate in projects with the rest of the classroom.
At the beginning of the school year, Neill attended class like every other student. But in the fall he had a relapse and his leukemia returned.
But Seaton was determined to have Neill finish the first grade. So she got together with Bob Wescott, a technology teacher at Lincoln, help set up the Web cam system.
"Occasionally (Skype) will freeze up on high traffic days," Wescott said during a presentation to the school board. "But it's a better alternative than nothing at all."
Seaton, who has worked for more than 20 years with first-graders, says preparing lessons in advance isn't what makes her job so difficult. However, she also has to go to Neill's house twice a week for 45 minutes to make sure he is counted by the State of Michigan as a regular student.
And although she says she loves to visit Neill, the extra expenses the school has to pay for her to visit him at home could be avoided if the state changed its outdated laws. Seaton, who lives in Taylor, also said that by the end of the school day she just wants to go home.
"He is very much a part of the classroom, but the state doesn't think so." Seaton says while looking over her troop of first-graders.
Indeed, Neill participates with the rest of the classroom for almost every activity. He participates in discussions, raises his hand and even asks to be excused from the class to use the restroom.
"The only time he leaves us is when we go to special," said Norma Vires, a paraprofessional, who works with the classroom.
This week, Neill and the rest of his classmates are learning about frogs but last week it was the solar system.
The students took turns discussing the planets that orbit our sun; they talked about Neal Armstrong and made rocket ships with paper streamers at the ends. All the while Neill was right there with the rest of the class.
"At first we would scream and stuff because we were all excited to see him," Neill's classmate, Cassidy Tolf said as she filled in strips of color on her rocket ship. "But now, it's like he's part of the class."
State Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith (D- Salem) is trying to ensure Neill is counted for his time on the Web as a regular fixture in the classroom as well.
She said Seaton should not have to visit Neill for an extra 45 minutes twice a week for him to be counted by the state.
"We are planning to introduce legislation to change the school code to allow virtual education to be added to the required contact hours," Smith said.
Seaton contacted Smith a few weeks ago to talk to the state representative. Smith plans to visit Seaton soon to get a first-hand look at the work the teacher is doing.
"I'm just glad she called the office and brought the shortcoming to the statute to our attention and we will move as quickly as we can to fix it," Smith said.
Neill's mother Elizabeth Penney says she is glad her son has the opportunity to socialize with other children in his classroom.
She said the current state law does not address a child's socialization needs and the Web cam is helping Neill get through the day.
The mother of two says both her children have to stay home with her so Neill does not catch an infection from his five-year-old brother Ian.
She said before Neill started school again, he would get frustrated because there was nothing to occupy him time.
"You can get cooped up around here," Elizabeth said as she relaxed on the coach in her living room while the boys ran around playing with space ships.
Elizabeth said Neill's attitude has been a lot better since he started school.
"He's been in a better mood," she said. "He doesn't get as angry or upset and he doesn't get bored as easily.
While the rest of Seaton's class is out to recess, Neill and his brother run around the house.
In their free time the pair keep busy with hundreds of Legos, piled on tables and in drawers in the basement.
Neill proudly displays his Lego city, complete with Star Wars Droids and pirate hideouts.
But recess is over for Neill and he has to go back to his desk and get to work with the rest of his classmates.
"Can you see us Neill?" Seaton asks.
"Yeah," he answers as he takes a sip from his cup of water.
About Acute lymphoblastic leukemia:
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a cancer of the white blood cells, the cells in the body that normally fight infections. There are two main types of white blood cells-lymphoid cells and myeloid cells. ALL affects lymphoid cells.
Leukemia cells are abnormal cells that cannot do what normal blood cells do. The abnormal cells are immature white blood cells that cannot help the body fight infections. For this reason, children with ALL often get infections and have fevers.
ALL is also called acute lymphocytic leukemia. It is the most common leukemia in children.
Information gathered from the National Cancer Institute
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