Remote possibility
Mayor Adams and Chancellor David Banks are negotiating a remote-learning option for publicschool students as the Department of Education continues to grapple with low attendance.
Banks told members of the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council on Thursday that “political pressure” and other concerns have spurred a reconsideration of remote learning.
Adams just this week told lawmakers that a remote option would likely not be tenable before the end of the school year — but softened that position on Thursday.
“We do have to be honest that we have a substantial number of students for, whatever reason, parents are not bringing them to school,”
Adams said at an unrelated event. “But I want to sit down with the UFT to see if there is a way to do a temporary remote option.”
Banks said Thursday that the remote timetable has been moved up and that he wants to create a distance-learning format that will “take us at the very least to the end of the school year.”
High absenteeism
Teachers-union chief Michael Mulgrew told Fox 5’s “Good Day New York” on Thursday that Adams was considering remote learning for the current academic year due to ongoing student absenteeism.
“We’ve called for a remote-learning program since September, and we believe we need to do this,” Mulgrew said. “I think Mayor Adams
is really thinking it through, because it is just the fact there’s over 200,000 children who haven’t been in school for over two weeks.”
Student attendance in the nation’s largest school system has plunged in recent weeks with daily absentee rates of more than 20 percent.
Mulgrew said the sheer number of missing kids could shift the mayor’s position on a remote-learning option.
“We have to make sure we are getting to all of the children because the learning loss we’ve seen already because of this pandemic is quite large,” Mulgrew said. “And that’s why we want our children there.”
Adams had staunchly opposed remote learning, repeatedly arguing that schools are safe and that kids suffer when not in classrooms for extended periods.
Banks told The Post last week that he expected attendance to normalize in the coming weeks once the coronavirus spike peaks.
Mulgrew added that parents should not necessarily rely on a remote option if it does emerge and that classroom learning remains preferable.
“So, for parents, I’m going to ask again, please, if we have this option, use it judiciously,” he said.
The UFT is pushing the city to centralize remote-learning options rather than allow each school to devise its own format.
The mass absences coincide with increasing student COVID-19 cases in city schools. Roughly 6,500 students tested positive on Wednesday, according to the DOE.