Use that in-person school desk — or lose it.
That’s Mayor de Blasio’s stern message to city families signed up to return to in-person classes when some city schools reopen next week.
“You have to show up in the course of this week or have a legitimate excuse or communicate with your school what’s going on,” Hizzoner said in a Wednesday morning press conference. “If you don’t, your school is going to let you know your child is going to be moved to all remote.”
City officials say the strict line in the sand is meant to help schools get a final number for in-person students for the remainder of the year so they can quickly begin expanding the number of school days for kids enrolled in in-person classes.
“These seats are precious…a seat should not go unutilized,” de Blasio warned.
The strict attendance rules come on top of a decision in late October to limit the number of opportunities families have to switch from remote to in-person school — a move officials said was necessary to stabilize enrollment numbers.
Despite officials’ assurances that schools are moving towards five days a week of in-person classes, some students are still scheduled for just one day a week of in-person class. That raises the possibility that a student could lose an in-person spot for the rest of the year for missing just one day of class without explanation.
“This is Gracie Mansion-level chutzpah,” City Council Member Mark Treyger (D-Brooklyn) said of the attendance policy. “He [Mayor de Blasio] is in no position to lecture parents about making timely and informed decisions when he has failed to do that himself.”
Treyger, who has been critical of the city’s reopening plans, is calling on the city to reopen the application to enroll in in-person classes and to utilize empty high school space to provide more in-person time to vulnerable kids.
An Education Department spokeswoman said the city has publicized the one-week attendance window for more than a month, and said absences for reasons including “quarantining … looking after a sick relative, or caring for a sibling … are not reasons to move a student to remote.”
Roughly 190,000 students are expected to return to school buildings next week when preschools, elementary schools, and District 75 schools for students with complex disabilities reopen.
Another estimated 145,000 middle and high school students are signed up to return to in-person school, but de Blasio has said middle and high schools won’t open until January at the earliest.
The mayor doubled down Wednesday on his assertion that a “substantial number” of schools will offer five days a week of in-person classes as early as next week, but declined to provide concrete numbers.
The city’s pledge to move towards full-time, in-person learning in as many schools as possible when the system partially reopens next week has created confusion and concern for some families and educators whose schools can’t make the staffing or space arrangements work.
“Families are understandably confused,” said a Brooklyn elementary school principal who asked to remain anonymous. “We don’t have the space or teachers to make changes.”
City rules requiring reduced capacity in classrooms in order to maintain social distancing are still in effect — making it impossible for schools with large numbers of kids signed up for in-person classes to switch from a schedule where students alternate days in the school building in from one where all students attend in-person classes full-time.
City officials have said that schools that can’t expand in-person learning for all students should prioritize five days in school buildings for students who have disabilities, are homeless, or are learning English.
City principals union chief Mark Cannizzaro said the effort to expand in-person learning time for kids whose families have chosen it is “worthwhile,” and he noted some schools are already offering five days a week of in-person classes for some or all their students, though didn’t have a specific number.
But Cannizzaro said “expectations should’ve been managed a little better” about the number of schools that would be able to move to five days a week, and the speed with which they’d be able to make the shift.
“I think what we do sometimes is we over-promise and then there’s disappointment out there,” he said.
Those unrealistic expectations have ratcheted up the pressure on principals who don’t have the staffing or space capacity to expand in-person classes, he said.
“They feel as if there’s this expectation or policy going out and they’re not able to meet it,” Cannizzaro said.
Even if schools do have the space and staffing numbers to increase in-person learning days, there are other complications to sort through, including rescheduling visits from outside therapists for students with disabilities, and potentially switching teaching assignments as classes get combined and reshuffled.
“Parents have to be on board here,” he said. “There are going to potentially be changes for teachers in children. That’s something parents have to be aware of and buy into.”
