This is no way to ‘cram’ for a test in NYC!
Parent outrage as remote-learning class bunches124 kids together
There’s no way [kids] can develop a relationship with their teacher. — Advocate Leonie Haimson
The size of remote classes at some schools has swelled to eyepopping proportions — with up to 124 kids grouped together by one Upper West Side middle school.
“It’s unconscionable,” said Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters, of the mass groupings. “There’s no way children can develop a real relationship with their teachers, stay engaged and get near enough feedback to receive an adequate education.”
At Mott Hall II on West 109th Street, all students in sixth through eighth grade — whether socially distant inside the school or logged on at home — are set to attend livestreamed classes together in one huge group. “The whole seventh grade will be in the same Google Meet,” said Jennifer Roesch, whose son, Dylan, 11, will be learning remotely. “We’re all doing the same thing at the same time.”
Each class will have just one general-ed subject teacher and one special-ed teacher, Roesch told The Post.
The seventh-grade schedule includes seven 40-minute periods, from 8:20 a.m. to 1:49 p.m. The back-to-back classes — with no break for lunch, which is eaten during instruction — include English, math, social studies, science, Latin and one period alternating between technology, music, art, phys-ed and study hall. The last period is homeroom.
Each period will start with a 20minute lesson livestreamed to all. The teacher will speak into a camera, broadcasting to both the students sitting in the same classroom all day and to the rest at home, Roesch learned.
That will be followed by 20 minutes for independent work, small group discussions and extra help for kids who need it.
But Roesch doubts her son will get much individual attention because he tends not to pipe up.
“If you’re not asking for help, you could just slip through the cracks,” she said, adding that kids who don’t complete an assignment in that 20 minutes have to finish it as homework.
“With more than 100 students competing, my concern is that the high achievers can fly through the work and get a break, where a child who is struggling can’t get help.”
She stressed, “I do not blame the principal or the teachers, who are doing the best they can. I blame the mayor and the chancellor.”
Roesch was stunned when she confirmed the schedule with Principal Merlon Lowe, but believes he came up with the most equitable plan given the school’s staffing. Mayor de Blasio announced last week that students in blended learning — a mix of inperson and remote — would not be guaranteed any live instruction. But Mott Hall II students will get it.
“Every student at Mott Hall will have five days of rigorous, live instruction every day in every subject,” said DOE spokeswoman Danielle Filson.
Haimson has sounded the alarm on an agreement between the city Department of Education and the teachers’ union that permits remote classes to increase in size to 64 in elementary schools and 68
in high schools.
Under the agreement, the DOE instructed schools to assign different teachers for in-person and remote classes.
But the principals’ union argued the deal multiplied the number of teachers needed, creating a citywide shortage of 10,000 educators.
That outcry led the mayor and Chancellor Richard Carranza to delay the school reopening for the second time — to Sept. 29 for K-5 and K-8 schools, and Oct. 1 for middle and high schools. Only 3-K, pre-K and special-ed District 75 classes are set to start in-person Monday.
De Blasio and Carranza said they’re aiming to add 4,500 teachers, including 2,000 nonclassroom staffers with teaching licenses, plus 2,500 substitutes and grad students.
Meanwhile, Roesch, who is working toward a master’s degree in education, received a written invitation to work as a sub last week. She won’t sign up, she said, because she is staying home with Dylan while his father works 12hour shifts as a pediatric ER nurse in The Bronx.
Calling it “the cherry on top,” Roesch said, parents were informed yesterday that Mott Hall II had its first COVID case, a teacher who tested positive. An unspecified number of exposed teachers who worked in the building last week now have to quarantine for 14 days.