NYC Public Schools Scramble to Begin Online Learning

By: Robert Kotkin

When it was announced that NYC public schools will be closed until the end of April and now most likely the rest of the school year, the BOE had to scramble to set up this complex system

The new normal of remote learning has been set in place for the city’s more than 1 million public school students and their teachers during the coronavirus pandemic Classrooms are now via computers as the new remote policy went into effect on Monday, a week after closures due to the increase of virus cases citywide.

Training for about 80,000 teachers in the nation’s largest school system began Tuesday in preparation for internet-based lessons slated to start on Monday for most students, according to city Education Department officials as reported by the WSJ.

The city’s goal is to show public-school educators how to transform their curricula into virtual lessons and deliver them to students, city schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said in a news briefing Monday. He warned the task wouldn’t be easy.

“We have a vast array of educators that are prepared on different levels,” in terms of their understanding of remote learning, he said at the briefing. Delivering online classes for so many students, he said, is “just something you cannot do virtually right out of the gate”, Carranza told the press.

The WSJ also reported: many students require special lessons and others may have trouble accessing remote lessons from home without devices provided by the city, said Noliwe Rooks, director of American Studies at Cornell University.

“So while we have to implement online learning, given what’s going on, we need to be figuring out how to actually support those vulnerable students, or we’re going to end up with an academic kind of crisis.”

WSJ stated: School officials will begin to address some of those challenges by distributing 30,000 iPads to students who require them for remote lessons starting Thursday. Eventually, the city will provide 300,000 such tablets, according to Mr. Carranza, who said the city is also working to provide free internet service to students who need it.

This is a very complex process. Not all teachers are comfortable with this. As Rooks stated this can be an educational disaster for the most vulnerable students such as special needs children. This is a tall task and indeed a scramble, as by press online learning will have begun in NYC.

NYC has perhaps the most diverse student base in the country.

One must wonder if the teacher’s union who pushed for the schools to be closed as soon as possible regret it now, as this process will be more work than traditional teaching.

Teacher Jacob Stebel says he was depressed when he was told to develop a virtual learning plan for his high school students at the Cinema School in the Bronx. But now he says he’s optimistic after his first day of classes on Google Meet. Department of Education Chancellor Richard Carranza says that during this transition his best advice is flexibility and patience, News 12 reported.