Marcus Jackson spends his days making sure children in Oklahoma City have a safe place to land.
asserted
children → spend → place
He runs Urban Bridge, a nonprofit group that gives middle and high schoolers in a low-income part of northeast Oklahoma City somewhere to go after school: writing and storytelling sessions, math and reading challenges, music and culinary classes, and a financial literacy program where students earn currency for showing up and doing the work.
asserted
students → run → work
Marcus knows what it means for one door to open, because one opened for him.
asserted
one → know → him
Before he was recommended for a magnet school as a child, it hadn’t occurred to him that where he went to school was something he got to choose.
asserted
he → recommend → school
That’s part of why, when it came to his own four children, he and his wife didn’t settle for whatever was put in front of them.
asserted
whatever → ’ → them
They tried a mix of public school, magnet school, and virtual school, and let each child’s needs decide.
asserted
needs → try → school
At Urban Bridge, Marcus and his staff often catch what schools missed: a learning disability nobody diagnosed, a child who stopped showing up and couldn’t say why.
asserted
who → catch → disability
Increasingly, it’s virtual school.
asserted
it → ’ → ?
A few weeks ago, a student who had been suspended and was finishing his coursework online asked Marcus if the center could feed him.
uncertain
center → suspend → him
Marcus and his team went out and bought bread and lunch meat so he could eat.
uncertain
he → go → bread
It wasn’t that the boy didn’t qualify for free or reduced lunch.
asserted
boy → qualify → lunch
It’s that the moment his education moved online, the free lunch program stopped seeing him at all.
asserted
program → ’ → him
According to the December 2025 DLAC report “Don’t Let Online Students Go Hungry,” about 1 million students attend full-time virtual public schools, and at least half a million are eligible for free or reduced-price meals but are denied access because they lack a “congregate setting.”
uncertain
they → accord → setting
Because their virtual school has no cafeteria, they’re locked out of the National School Lunch Program — a program written decades before online schools existed.
asserted
schools → have → Program
Many parents tell us that nobody warned them about the exclusion.
asserted
nobody → tell → exclusion
A mother enrolls her son online because he is being bullied, managing a health concern, or facing learning differences that his school was not able to accommodate.
asserted
school → enroll → that
She is solving one crisis.
asserted
She → solve → crisis
She later learns that solving the education problem costs her family their free or reduced lunch benefits.
asserted
solving → learn → benefits
Shenell Ellerbe of Florida can tell you exactly what that costs.
asserted
that → tell → what
Her job in special education was eliminated, and in a single moment, she lost her income and the program her daughter attended.
asserted
daughter → eliminate → income
Housing went next.
asserted
Housing → go → ?
The family moved into hotels.
asserted
family → move → hotels
Her daughter, Subi, did not miss a beat.
asserted
daughter → miss → beat
She logged into her virtual public school from wherever they were staying, with the same teachers, the same classmates, and the same social worker.
asserted
they → log → teachers
“She could do her assignments, take her tests, and keep moving forward despite our struggle,” Shenell said.
uncertain
Shenell → do → struggle
During the COVID-19 pandemic, federal waivers let schools hand out meals through car windows and let parents pick up a week’s worth at a time.
asserted
parents → let → time
Millions of children ate.
asserted
Millions → eat → children
Once the waiver ended, so too did the ability to provide those meals legally to the same qualified and eligible students.
asserted
ability → end → students
Congress and the Department of Agriculture can make that permanent by allowing non-congregate meal distribution and supporting states in implementing it.
asserted
that → make → it
The DLAC report recommends options including parent pickup, location flexibility, and multiday meal pickup and delivery.
asserted
report → recommend → pickup
The goal is simple: focus on the needs of students, whether they are in a physical school building or not.
asserted
they → focus → building
None of that asks anyone to change their mind about how American education should be organized.
asserted
education → ask → mind
You don’t have to agree with us about anything else to agree that a hungry 8-year-old should eat.
asserted
old → have → anything
Marcus sees parents every day who skip meals or work multiple jobs to feed their child because they don’t have access to the resources they deserve.
asserted
they → see → resources
But they shouldn’t have to.
asserted
they → have → ?
Congress can fix this.
asserted
Congress → fix → this
The Aporia
