After joining a pod with her best friend and another neighbor, Ginny Vitiello’s fourth-grade daughter began acting out during class, distracting the other girls with goofy faces and turning off her video chat. As a result, Dr. Vitiello, a research assistant professor of education at the University of Virginia, has regularly checked in with the other parents in the pod – “trying to keep the lines of communication open” when things go amiss, she said.