BORODIANKA, UKRAINE – APRIL 05: View of destroyed residential building after shell fire on April 5, 2022 in Borodyanka, Ukraine. The Russian retreat from Borodianka and other towns near kyiv revealed the extent of the devastation caused by that country’s failed attempt to seize the Ukrainian capital. The Ukrainian government is expecting a new battle in the east, after Russia largely withdrew its forces from around kyiv. (Photo by Anastasia Vlasova/Getty Images)

(Photo by Anastasia Vlasova/Getty Images)

PHOENIX – Educators are trained to handle various situations that can arise, but one thing there is no playbook for is teaching children in a war zone. This is the task an ASU Prep Digital teacher faces with the current crisis in Ukraine.

“We’re trained to deal with active shooters, we’re trained to evacuate everyone in a fire,” Samantha Parker said. KTAR News 92.3 FM. “No one trained us to deal with war.”

The online school teaches children from all over the world, including 70 children in Ukraine who can obtain a double degree in both countries.

Parker said many of his Ukrainian students have been displaced from their homes.

“I don’t know where they are, I don’t know if they are in Ukraine,” Parker said. “I don’t know if they are in Europe. I don’t know if they have traveled anywhere else at this point.

Despite the chaos of war, she says, students recognize the opportunity that education brings and try to connect to classes when they can.

Parker said she lost communication with many of her Ukrainian students, but every once in a while she got a glimpse of hope.

“When I go into my learning system and see that a student has logged in on Sunday night, I mean, I’m really really happy, because I know that at that time they were in enough safe to enter their classroom,” she said. noted.