By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-20 23:26:07 | Updated at 2024-11-23 08:17:16
2 days ago
New York City students can forget about snow days.
The Department of Education will stick with its remote learning plan when wintry weather hits — despite a series of glitches that befell the system earlier this year.
“At least for this year, I can tell you that if you have a snow day, it will be a remote day,” Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said during an event in Manhattan Tuesday evening.
Aviles-Ramos, who took over as head of the largest public school district in the country in September, made the announcement in response to a hopeful parent who asked about the possibility of snow days making a comeback.
Close to 200 people, including students, parents, local leaders and DOE staff, attended the meeting at the High School of Graphic Communication Arts on West 49th Street — the launch of Aviles-Ramos’ planned “five borough listening tour.”
“I’m not going to give you false hope,” she told the packed room.
The news didn’t sit well with some parents, including a Queens mom who called remote learning “pointless.”
“We need a good old fashioned snow day,” said Keely Valk, whose children attend a school in Queens.
“I personally don’t agree with taking it away and making them remote instead. My children luckily weren’t at school during COVID but I find remote learning to be pointless.”
The department’s remote learning plan hit a snag in February, when a massive snowstorm forced schoolkids online.
At the time about 60% of parents who spoke to The Post said their kids had a hard time logging into the system from home — and some 40% said, while they could get in, they faced a slew of other issues.
Then-Schools Chancellor David Banks was quick to blame tech giant IBM — which handles authentication for the virtual platforms — but later conceded that the terms of the DOE’s contract with the company contributed to the snafu.
After the disastrous rollout, the DOE ran a remote-learning simulation in June to better prepare for an emergency — though some families said they felt guilt-tripped into joining.
Students and families were asked to voluntarily log into their school systems at a pre-scheduled time slot on June 6 to engage in the non-instructional activity.
Alina Adams, who has a daughter in a school on the Upper West side, told The Post that “very few people bothered with the June simulation.”
“Considering NYC, despite years of practice during COVID, has yet to come up with a viable remote learning system,” she said.
“It seems like the logical thing to do is give kids their snow day.”
The DOE hasn’t said how many people took part in the simulation, or whether any others had taken place since.
Aviles-Ramos said Tuesday her hands were tied when it came to bringing back snow days, citing state law requiring New York City’s 1,800 public schools to provide a minimum of 180 days of instruction for it’s over 1.1 million students.
“We would love to make everyone happy. We’re not able to do that. We do have to comply with state law and with regulations,” she said.
Aviles-Ramos took over to lead the department from ex-Chancellor David Banks following his resignation — part of a wave of officials in Mayor Eric Adams’ administration who stepped down amid federal inquiries.
Banks has not been accused of wrongdoing.
“I want to be seen as a partner in stability and continuity,” she told community members Tuesday, “And I mean that because having been an educator for nearly two decades, I’ve lived through a few transitions, and I know what it’s like when you’re worried about things shifting, and how that impacts your classroom and your children and your in your parents.”
