Minority of families choose in-person learning

With few takers for the Education Department’s last-chance offer to sign up for in-person classes, it’s likely the majority of city students will stay remote through June, new data from the department show.

Roughly 35,000 new families signed up for in-person classes during the city’s “opt-in” window, according to the data.

Education Department officials estimate the number of students registered for in-person classes stands at 335,000 — a minority of the sprawling public school system.

Enrollment in city public schools was about 1 million last year. Officials haven’t disclosed a total enrollment figure this school year.

City officials decided late last month to give families just one additional opportunity to switch to in-person classes; multiple chances for that option were originally promised.

But officials said they needed to lock down a maximum in-person number to plan around.

Families can switch from in-person to remote at any time.

About 32,000 of the new in-person signups had previously filled out a survey saying they wanted remote learning, while 3,000 never filled out a survey.

Another 6,000 families switched from in-person to remote during the opt-in window, the data show.

Officials say with the new numbers locked in place — and no big influx of in-person students — some schools may be able to offer more frequent in-person classes.