New York City Parents, Teachers Sound Off After In-Person Classes Postponed Again
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — New York City public schools wrap up the first week of remote learning Friday, but in-person classes have been postponed for most students once again.
“Real concerns have been raised by my colleagues,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday. “We are doing this to make sure that all the standards we’ve set can be achieved.”
“I think about how far we have come since March, and I think about that a lot,” added Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza.
Many parents wondered why in mid-September schools are still not ready.
“There’s no way you came up with a plan in a couple of days that you couldn’t get in five months. For five months we’ve been asking what are you going to do?” Brigette Brantley, who has a third grader, said.
This coming Monday, Sept. 21, 3-K and pre-K, as well as District 75, which serves special needs students citywide, will be the only ones returning to the classroom.
On Sept. 28, schools serving K-5 and K-8 students will come back. Then on Oct. 1, middle and high schools students will go in person.
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“It’s just one delay after another, and it’s got to stop,” New York State Sen. John Liu told CBS2. “There are millions of people who have to schedule their lives around this. The mayor every morning projects an air of confidence as if everything is on track, but clearly things were not on track.”
The mayor said the delay will help address a staffing shortage and to make sure buildings are safe. He’s adding 4,500 educators, but some teachers are not convinced.
“We’re still having pre-K teachers going in. They’re going into unsafe schools. The windows still don’t open, the thermometers don’t work,” said Alexis Neider.
United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew said the Department of Education should have been listening to teachers from the beginning.
“We have stood up in every single borough… Fighting for our school system and our children. Fighting for them to be safe, fighting for ourselves to be safe and fighting for all our families to be safe. We want to do our work. We need to be safe,” he said Thursday.
De Blasio said the decision came following an hours-long conversation with the principal and teachers unions.
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September 18, 2020 at 05:00PM
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