DOE stats ‘cover up’ awful attendance
The city Department of Education is hiding abysmal attendance in many schools on its Web site by omitting the numbers of students showing up, critics say.
Mayor de Blasio admitted last week that only 283,000 students — about a quarter of the 1 million enrolled — have set foot in classes “at least once” since schools reopened. He had earlier claimed about 500,000 children were coming in.
But DOE spokesmen refused to say how many students have shown up more than once or on a regular basis, raising doubts about de Blasio’s ability to deliver the classroom instruction he promised.
“Concealing the attendance data is a tacit admission that the administration has been unable to provide in-school instruction in a way that has garnered the confidence of families in NYC,” said Eric Nadelstern, a deputy chancellor of teaching and learning under ex-Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
The DOE did not reveal any attendance data for the first month after schools reopened.
Last week, under pressure from The Post and other media, the DOE started posting daily attendance rates at each of 1,600 schools — only percentages, not numbers.
The DOE claimed citywide average daily attendance up to 88 percent. Its Web site also listed widely varying rates of students attending classes in-person and online at each of the schools.
The DOE would not explain
Not a single student is getting instruction from their teacher live and in person. — Teacher Jordan Pincus
why it omitted the numbers.
In addition, the Web site listed as many as 421 city schools — a quarter of the system — without any attendance data.
Some teachers say the tallies at their schools have hit rock-bottom. At Forest Hills HS, which has 3,800 students, only 42 or so students showed up on Wednesday — about a third of those expected to attend, staffers said. “It feels like a ghost building,” social studies teacher Jordan Pincus told The Post.
Only a few students sat in some classrooms — all with windows open for ventilation — while dozens of classrooms stood empty. All the teens logged onto laptops to take classes led by teachers at home or elsewhere in the building.
“Not a single student is getting instruction from their teacher live and in person,” Pincus said. “Nobody.”
Pincus teaches social studies remotely four days a week. Once a week, he simply stands watch over kids taking classes online.
“I’m at home when I’m teaching. The only time I’m in school is when I’m not teaching,” he said.
On Friday, the DOE listed 94 percent of Forest Hills students attended remotely; 25.8 percent of kids due to attend in person showed up.
Lax grading will further mask the no-shows. The 2020-21 grading policy unveiled last week states “attendance will not be a factor in student grades.” An NX, “course in progress,” will replace a failing grade.
“We have kids who . . . participate more remotely on the days that they are supposed to be in school,” Mayor de Blasio told WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Friday. “We have school seats sitting [empty].