Back to school?
They want the state and school districts to pick up the pace
Fed up with remote-only classes, local parents and students rally at Capitol.
Some Albany parents are frustrated with the city school district’s slow pace in getting secondary students back into classrooms.
The Biden administration has made reopening schools a priority, citing data that indicates COVID -19 is rarely transmitted in schools. The Albany district’s own in-school coronavirus testing program has screened hundreds of asymptomatic on-site students and staff for the virus this year and has turned up zero positives.
Despite these positive signs, most students in grades 7-12 have not set foot in a classroom since last March, when the COVID -19 pandemic forced schools to abruptly close and move instruction online.
On Monday, Albany parents and students joined a rally outside the Capitol, across from the state Department of Education headquarters, in an effort to drive up the pressure to reopen schools in the city.
The event was organized by the Hudson Valley-based Bring Students Back NY, a statewide coalition formed to press state leaders to create uniform statewide reopening standards and allocate money in the state budget to reopening efforts.
Three seventh-graders from Hackett Middle School who attended the rally with their parents said they feel disconnected from their teachers and their peers; they say online lessons are just not stimulating.
“It’s hard to be motivated to wake up in the morning,” said Payton Fitzpatrick, 13.