New York City public school students returned to class on Thursday, hoping for a more stable year as the nation’s largest school system relaxes coronavirus restrictions and continues a lengthy process. recover learning losses due to the pandemic.
Crucial to the Department of Education for a relatively smooth school year: Families have left the system over the past five years, an exodus that has accelerated during the pandemic.
At the same time, parents and educators are fighting Mayor Eric Adams over budget cuts that they say will hurt schools’ efforts to help students recover from the pandemic.
Attempts to segregate schools in the city continue to cause a stir, especially as the city has made an effort extend gifted and talented program instead of ending it, and a new lottery system for high schools has meant that many incoming high school students did not receive their first slot or even their 12th pick.
“There is hope that we will return to whatever is new normal,” said Mark Cannizzaro, president of the Board of Supervisors and Administrators, an association of principals. “On the other hand, we have lost a significant number of students. We need to make up for that as quickly and as best we can.”
He added: “We need to show them: We’re back.”
When students were welcomed back with “Happy First Day” signs on the school gates, both clearly showed their affection. Happy parents expressed feeling more confident after three years of school hiatus during the pandemic, but many remained deeply concerned about the important challenges ahead.
The school year will begin as some families, school staff and health professionals remain concerned about Covid-19 and the spread of other viruses.
Ministry of Education announced in August that it would end many pandemic rules for the 2022-23 school year. Masks should be worn but not required, except for students who are returning to school after testing positive for Covid. Families no longer have to fill out a daily wellness check, and schools will no longer offer PCR testing.
At PS 161 Juan Ponce De Leon in the South Bronx on Thursday, the mayor said a return to fewer restrictions represents an important step in New York’s recovery. “This is an important moment for us,” he said.
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Many children and parents welcomed the changes and shared their relief as the morning began. In the Bronx, 11-year-old Knowledge Ramos-Smith was thrilled to start fifth grade without the “nasty” Covid testing and concealment policies.
His mother, Destiny Ramos, is delighted that her son can finally “see what everyone’s faces look like” in class – and hopes the relaxed rules will mean “real time” more practice” with the teacher.
After a wave in early summer, new coronavirus infections in New York City decrease throughout August. The risk of polio for most students in New York City is low and school attendance is also incapable of putting students at risk exposure to smallpox in monkeys.
“Last year was very trying and difficult to try to navigate. Natasha Coles, a teacher and parent at PS 118 Lorraine Hansberry in Queens. Looking at her fifth-grade son, PJ, and first-grader daughter, Ari, she added, “They’re excited about freedom.”
Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said the main focus this school year will be on learning. “The last few years have been about keeping our school system open and safe,” he said. “Now, it’s really about where we want to put our school system in education, and what are the things we want to really fight for.”
For many families and educators, one of the top concerns is whether schools are equipped to deal with the loss of learning and student well-being after the coronavirus pandemic made work difficult. school in turmoil or not.
Data on how New York City students are doing is scarce. The state has yet to release test results for the past school year, and the city has not released data on student performance on the tests the city administered during the school year.
But a survey of more than 100 teachers in New York City found that the vast majority believe students are falling behind academically compared to how they fared before the pandemic. And National test results announced on September 1 found that the 9-year-old students fared better than the students who took the test in previous years.
“What I saw was amazing,” said Aaron Worley, a social worker at PS 243 and PS 262 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. “Fifth grade kids are having a hard time reading, writing, understanding their sentences – it’s alarming.”
The school principal, David C. Banks, joined the mayor on Thursday at PS 161, the site of one of the the city’s new dyslexia programs. He describes the issue as a central part of a larger challenge: “the fundamental way we teach our children to read.”
The city will begin to move on to “a really different approach to teaching reading,” he said, moving away from the so-called balanced literacy method – and emphasize the phonetic approach.
However, teachers and families still argue that schools need more resources to help students regain lost grades. However, while millions of dollars in federal pandemic relief have poured into the city, the money will dry up by fiscal year 2025 – the reason the Adams administration says School budget cuts over $200 million this year.
Principals say the cuts force them to cut back on the teaching positions and refresher programs they need to help students recover from what was supposed to be a school year finally going back to normal after much. year of pandemic disruption.
Many families worried on Thursday about what the cuts might mean for their children. Some fear that after-school programs and tutoring may be delayed, while others are unsure how classes will be affected after hundreds of teaching positions have been cut from schools prior to the school year.
Kim Naci, 14-year-old daughter Ava Ayşe Young, who started her freshman year at Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, said: “In this economy, in this recession, in this pandemic, they’ve start at a disadvantage. this week.
“By cutting funding for public schools, this is not a tough climb – no stairs,” she said.
The administration said it proposed the cuts because of falling enrollment. About 120,000 families have left the school system in the past five years. The drop in students at traditional district schools contrasts with the roughly 7 percent increase over the past two years at the city’s charter schools, about 60% of them have already started their first day of school last month.
On Thursday, Alexia Mayes, a parent at PS 73 in the Bronx’s Highbridge, said that this will be her 10-year-old daughter Khloe’s final year at a traditional public school. Ms. Mayes, 29. “I went to a charter school and it was a much better environment.
The budget war is able to continue into the school year. After adopting the city’s master budget in June, the City Council adopted a symbolic solution This week called on the mayor to restore millions of dollars in funding for education. Arguing in a case challenging the school budget process is scheduled for September 29.
The mayor on Thursday insisted that the system “must be financially smart”.
“This is a historic moment: that the council is going against the budget they approved,” he said. “We will make sure that every child in every school gets the resources they need.”
The cuts come as the school system is welcoming hundreds of immigrant families. Last month, Chancellor Banks announced an initiative to support immigrant children; it will include enrollment support as well as language and social and emotional support.
Chancellor Banks, who gave young students applause and pats on the head as they ran into his school on Thursday, said at a news conference this week that he hopes for “what year This study will show”.
However, some parents still worry about their children’s safety.
Will Estrada, parent of a 4th grader at PS 73 in the Bronx, said: “It’s not that the school is bad. “But crime has increased in the last two years – and I’m worried for her.”
To address those concerns, Chancellor Banks has announced that 200 new school safety officers – uniformed officers don’t carry guns – will begin at schools on Thursday. About 650 more will be added during the year. Officials are also looking at options for locking down schools after children arrive at school for the day, he said.
“My back-to-school message to students and families is that we take their physical and emotional safety seriously,” he said.
Nate Schweber, Sadef Ali Kully, Sasha von Oldershausen and Sean Piccoli contribution report.
