School is in

Monday was an untested experiment for more than a million kids enrolled in the city public schools, with the start of remote learning necessitated by the coronavirus crisis. The learning wasn’t just for the students; teachers, principals and parents themselves had to figure out what online instruction really means.

We plead patience all around. Despite all the best efforts of Chancellor Richard Carranza and his staff, there will be brilliant teachers who just can’t get the computer thing down, and there will be pupils — especially disadvantaged kids, who tend to be furthest behind academically — without access to desktops or laptops or tablets or smartphones who can’t connect (although 175,000 devices have already been distributed and internet providers are stepping up).

Glitches are guaranteed, but everyone is making a goodwill go of it.

Kindergarteners got assignments and, aided by mom and dad, had to print them out and post via Google Classroom. If you don’t have a working printer, improvise. High schoolers on Zoom participated in history and science classes of 20 minutes instead of the normal 45. Get used to the computer; in May, the Advanced Placement tests for college-level work will be online.

We will see how this patchwork works for the next two-and-a-half weeks before the regularly scheduled spring vacation. The key is that the people in charge, from the chancellor to principals to teachers, adapt as they navigate this new frontier. If at first you don’t succeed…