Parents and children gather in front of City Hall to protest the closing of NYC schools on Nov. 19. [photo:Mark Lennihan/AP]
We are for school choice. Public school is not the best learning environment for all young minds. See what is happening to gifted children. They are being punished. The test for the SHSAT, the Specialized High Schools, has not been scheduled yet by the Department of Education, an agency that has shown very little support or respect for any young person learning far above the average student.
Mayor Bill de Blasio's remote learning for some, then all, then some, then none, then only special needs children and elementary grade kids, doesn't work.
Many teachers have been given their accommodations until the summer, so there is a very large number of schools that simply do not have the staff and teachers to give in-person education. Many homeless children do not have the internet. No one really knows how many.
Meanwhile, many charters and religious schools have remained, and continue to remain, open, with appropriate precautions. Others have stayed closed through at least January, with all staff on board.
We need good management and Chancellor Carranza is just not giving this to us. It will be another year before we can vote de Blasio out.
Let's get politicians removed from public education by removing Mr. Carranza and Mayoral control and putting in an educator with a successful business background, as Chancellor.
Betsy Combier, betsy.combier@gmail.com
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Battle brewing over COVID-19 testing requirements in NYC schools
Selim Algar, NY POST, December 4, 2020
City principals are set to clash with parents who haven’t submitted COVID-19 testing consent forms but still want their kids in class when schools reopen Monday.
The Department of Education has stressed that students who lack the document can’t participate in building instruction.
“In order to come to school in person, students need to have a consent form on file — there is no grace period for this rule,” DOE spokesperson Nathaniel Styer told The Post.
Parents who oppose the DOE’s in-school testing format are refusing to submit the forms and threatening lawsuits if their kids are barred from buildings.
“The decision by the Mayor and the DOE to force parents to consent to have their school-age children tested for the Covid Virus as a condition of attending school is outrageous, immoral and a violation of their constitutional rights,” read a statement from a group called Parents Opposed to Mandatory Testing.
Citing the need to limit building traffic, the agency has barred parents from being present for coronavirus screenings.
They’ve also disallowed families from providing results from private doctors, asserting that kids need to be tested at the same time on school grounds to establish representative samples.
Debates over the consent forms have erupted on social media, with some parents arguing that the tests are harmless and necessary to curb outbreaks while others counter that their children should not undergo the procedure in their absence.
City principals have been calling families in recent days to remind them of the requirement.
“If a student arrives on their first day of in-person without a consent form in hand or submitted online, you must call their parent or guardian that day to collect consent immediately,” according to guidance provided to principals by the DOE.
City Hall has not provided updated consent form data for several weeks and Mayor Bill de Blasio said this week that he did not have current figures on hand.
As of mid-November, the DOE had collected 117,000 forms from 335,000 kids enrolled in the city’s blended learning model.
Since the reopening of schools is occurring in phases, only 190,000 kids are eligible to return to their school buildings next week.
It remains unclear how many of them have yet to submit the consent forms and intend to arrive at school buildings Monday.
The DOE asserts that random weekly testing of students is critical for the successful reopening of schools — especially amid rising citywide infection rates.
“Testing is quick, safe, and necessary to keep schools open and we will follow up with families to make sure they fill out the form in order to return to buildings,” Styer said.
De Blasio said Wednesday that he expected a rush of consent forms to be submitted this coming week.