A School Without Walls: Two Virtual Learning Programs Will Start in September

 

School Chancellor David Banks said parents have expressed an interest in fully remote learning.

Matthew McDermott

For all those people in New York City who have been in a coma for two years, I have unsurprising news. The NYC Department of Education is going to continue the virtual and hybrid learning programs that all students have had since schools closed in March 2020.

All others, here is the breaking news: After issuing more than 100 Executive Orders establishing the new terms of employment of all public workers in the City that employees either get vaccinated or terminated leaving almost 1000 DOE educators on leave without pay or fired and thousands of students without certified teachers; after a citywide order by Chancellor Banks was issued in August 2021 that all students had to be in their schools without any remote options except children with special needs; and,  after parents' and students' protests to in-school only classes fell on deaf ears leading to a mass exodus from public schools in NYC, suddenly the NYC DOE announces a roll-out of two virtual learning programs for high schoolers, to "work for our young people in a way that [the education system] never has before".

No, this is not groundhog day. NYC is seeing the Mayor repeating what he said in 2020, over and over, in order to convince the public that this is a new idea, this virtual learning stuff.

What this is, friends, is a mea culpa from Mayor Adams, but not said exactly like clearly or anything.

Remote learning, virtual programs, and classroom programs are all good. We need to give kids a buffet of choices in order to excite them into exploring new paths for the future.

We knew that two years ago.

See also:

NYC Chancellor David Banks Will Start Two Virtual Schools

Betsy Combier

betsy.combier@gmail.com

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NYC rolling out 2 virtual learning programs with aim to turn them into fully remote schools by 2023

By Cayla Bamberger, NY POST, June 23, 2022

Remote learning could be here to stay.

New York City is rolling out two virtual learning programs for high schoolers — with the aim to turn them into full-blown remote schools by 2023.

The new initiative, called “A School Without Walls,” will offer hybrid and virtual learning for 200 rising ninth graders this fall.

“As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is abundantly clear that our education system needs to work for our young people in a way that it never has before,” said Mayor Eric Adams in a statement.

“This virtual academy is about giving our students the freedom in their learning to explore their interests, learn outside of the box, lean into their talents, and use our city’s incredible resources as their classroom.”

Officials described the program as moving “beyond the classroom,” giving students more freedom and flexibility to earn a high school diploma.

Students will also be officially enrolled in a traditional high school, while the DOE works with the state to turn the virtual academies into full-time schools that can grant diplomas.

“The pandemic underscored the importance of reimagining the student experience for our children, giving them the opportunity to freely pursue their interests and passions as part of their high school journey,” said Schools Chancellor David Banks.

“It is up to us as educators to meet students where they are with opportunities that empower them in their learning,” he added.

Both programs will be housed within school facilities, where teachers will provide live and pre-recorded instruction using DOE equipment and classrooms.

Students will also have access to those facilities, for counseling services, in-person clubs, sports and electives. The DOE said it will also provide laptops, and families can visit the brick-and-mortar locations for technology support.

Hybrid students will attend school in person for half-days in Downtown Brooklyn, then finish their classes online.

Meanwhile, students who opt for the fully virtual model will sit for attendance and advisory in real-time, and take daily synchronous classes in the humanities, math and sciences.

This week’s announcement comes after months of Banks signaling interest in virtual learning since the start of his tenure as chancellor.

“I see it as a place of real innovation,” Banks said in an interview Wednesday with News 12. “We can really test out lots of different theories around technology and education.”

“For example, if someone is a great physics teacher, and your school does not have a physics teacher, why couldn’t we provide access to a physics teacher who’s on the other side of town for those students virtually?”

“There are people around the world who could be teachers in our schools virtually.”

The DOE also seemed poised to expand the programs to more students, if families are interested.

“I’m looking out for the response and the interest — when I find out how many parents are really interested in this,” Banks said.

The city’s virtual academies reflect a growing trend of more localities offering virtual options.

An analysis of the nation’s 20 largest school districts by the education nonprofit Chalkbeat found that almost all of them will offer remote classes this fall — and at least half are offering more full-time virtual options than they did pre-pandemic. Those include Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Diego, Philadelphia and the suburbs of Atlanta.

In New York City, officials said “A School Without Walls” was designed in collaboration with students and responds to the asks of them and their families.

The program ran as a pilot with the organization NYC Outward Bound Schools and included summer and fall internship opportunities to field-test potential projects and career opportunities. In the spring, student interns helped the design team shape the virtual academies, according to the DOE.

The deadline to apply is Wednesday, July 6. Students will be selected by lottery and notified of offers by mid-July.

NYC Mayor Eric Adams Refuses To Enforce City's Private Business Vaccine Mandate

 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams
tours a COVID-19 vaccination site servicing children from six months through five years of age in Times Square on
Wednesday, June 22, 2022. Photo credit Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

So, here is a fine mess for ya: Mayor Adams does away with the COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for baseball players, and Broadway performers, and he does not enforce private business vaccine mandates (see 1010 WINS article below).

He does, however, enforce the Vaccine Mandate for City employees, and fires any worker who dares to ask for an exemption for medical or religious reasons (which, by the way, is protected, supposedly, by the City, State, and United States' Constitutions).

What does it really mean when the NYC Department of Education fires almost 1,000 employees without hearing from them as to why they are not getting the vaccination, or finding their reasons "insincere" (religious beliefs) or "insufficient" (medical reasons)? Is this busting the unions?

Why is happens is anyone's guess, but the impact is severe:

1. Depressed, terrorized and angry children who now do not have their favorite teacher - or any teacher.

2. Huge liabilities for those terminated, with tenure or without, who will, I believe, win all their back pay and damages in Court.

How ridiculous.

If I were a politician, I would write and push a Bill in our State legislature to recall those in office who do not provide services to their constituents in a fair and equal manner.

Mayor Adams thinks his "Swag" is cute?

It's not.

Betsy Combier

betsy.combier@gmail.com

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Adams refuses to enforce private employer vaccine mandate

Curtis Brodner, 1010 WINS, June 22, 2022

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Mayor Eric Adams is refusing to enforce New York City’s private business vaccine mandate or carry out further inspections.

The mandate is supposed to require private employers to seek proof of vaccination for all employees and to keep staff out of the workplace if they fail to get the shot.

Businesses are supposed to receive $1,000 fines, ramping up to $2,000 and then $5,000 for each subsequent violation within a year.

At the end of his term, Bill de Blasio carried out the first and only check — and the results were not promising.

Of 3,025 businesses inspected at the end of December, only 31% were adhering to the order, the mayor’s office announced Tuesday.

Despite broad non-compliance, the Adams administration said Wednesday it doesn’t intend to ever enforce the mandate and won’t carry out further inspections.

Instead, the administration wants the mandate to serve as an “education” tool.

“We have been focused on prioritizing education instead of enforcement when it comes to the private sector mandate, which is how we’ve been able to get more than 87% of all New Yorkers with their first dose to date,” wrote the Mayor’s Office in an email to Newsday.

The lax approach to the private sector mandate is in contrast to Adams’ handling of the city’s vaccine rules for municipal workers.

Adams fired hundreds of city employees for refusing to get vaccinated and launched an investigation into fake vaccination cards proliferating among teachers, sanitation workers and cops.

Though a departure from similar COVID-19 policy, the decision to defang the mandate is in line with his ongoing project to reduce fines for businesses.

Teachers at William Cullen Bryant High School Report Administration Forces Them To Pass Undeserving Students

 

Teachers at William Cullen Bryant High School in Long Island City claim school administrators are pressuring them to pass undeserving students.Matthew McDermott

When educators lie about student grades (forced to do this by the Principal), they hurt everyone - themselves, and the parents and students who rely on these educators to give them the knowledge and ethics to succeed.

Do you think that New York City public schools have the reputation of excellence in education out there in the land of colleges? I have heard they no longer think NYC graduates the best and brightest, due to the fudging and secrecy going on.

And then there is the teacher shortage due to massive numbers of great teachers removed from the classroom for no reason, their fingerprints placed into the "problem code" database, and pushed into termination proceedings known as 3020-a arbitration.

Quite a mess, Mr. Carranza.

See this prior post:

Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir

Maspeth HS Principal Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir is Removed For Grade-Fixing and Other Charges of Academic Misconduct

Betsy Combier

betsy.combier@gmail.com

Editor, ADVOCATZ.com

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Editor, NYC Rubber Room Reporter
Editor, Parentadvocates.org
Editor, New York Court Corruption
Editor, National Public Voice
Editor, NYC Public Voice
Editor, Inside 3020-a Teacher Trials

Teachers say they’re pushed to pass students who skipped class all year

by Susan Edelman and Melissa Klein, June 18, 2022, NY POST

Administrators at a Queens high school are demanding that teachers pass undeserving students – including some they’ve never even seen, fed-up educators told The Post.

The teachers at William Cullen Bryant High School in Long Island City say the pressure comes as the school year is about to end and they are asked to promote students who have skipped classes and done little or no work.

“I have gotten numerous complaints from teachers that they feel forced to promote students they do not think should be promoted,” Georgia Lignou, a Bryant HS teacher and UFT chapter leader wrote last week in a letter to Principal Namita Dwarka and other faculty members. The Post obtained a copy.

“This happens when at this time of the year with less than a week of classes left, administration is reaching out to us sometimes about students we have never seen,” she wrote. “We do not feel that a student who was absent for most of the year and has failed previous marking periods can possibly achieve mastery at this time of the year.”

The issue of AWOL students getting a pass is not unique to Bryant High School, which has 2,100 students and boasts legendary singer Ethel Merman and ex-schools chancellor Joel Klein among alumni.

Schools justify the laxity under a city Department of Education policy which says students can’t be denied credit based on a lack of “seat time.”

Students must meet “academic expectations,” but it’s loosely up to each school to decide what’s expected.

“Administrators use that policy to push teachers to promote students who have been absent from class for the whole year,” a Bryant teacher said. “Failure is not an option.”

Among recent grade-fixing scandals, the Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools last year blasted Maspeth High School in Queens for creating fake classes, awarding bogus credits, and promoting truant or chronically absent students.

“I don’t care if a kid shows up at 7:44 and you dismiss at 7:45 — it’s your job to give that kid credit,” Maspeth principal Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir was quoted as telling a teacher. The DOE removed him as a principal, but will let him stay on the city payroll for seven years until he retires.

In a massive scheme at Dewey HS in Brooklyn, a 2015 probe confirmed complaints by teacher whistleblowers that hundreds of students who were given work “packets” or put in bogus classes without instruction by certified teachers received credits toward graduation. Kids called it “Easy Pass.”

The abuses at Maspeth and Dewey, while extreme, are mirrored throughout the city, with principals under pressure from DOE higher-ups to beef up graduation rates. Many high schools give minimal tasks for failing students in the final weeks to make-up for missing most of the class, The Post has reported.

In her letter, Lignou said, “Teachers are asked to ‘provide support,’” to failing students.

That means that the students can get a few last-ditch assignments and pass “with much less work than what the teacher required in class,” she wrote. 

Bryant’s UFT Chapter Leader Georgia Lignou reported to principal Namita Dwarka, pictured, that teachers have complained about being pressured to pass students.

Twitter

Teachers are “intimidated by the tone” of emails they receive from higher-ups, she added.

“What they hear is ‘We want you to pass this student,’ and they do” to avoid run-ins with the assistant principals who supervise them. “They do promote students who should not have been promoted,” Lignou wrote.

 “Please allow the teachers without pressure to be the judge as to which students ought to be promoted. As a school and as individual teachers, we have done everything to help. Some students did not respond, and they will benefit by going to summer school,” she concluded.

“Grade fraud is systemic,” said City Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens), who sparked investigations of Maspeth HS after hearing from whistleblower teachers. “It’s  inherent in  many schools, and everybody in the DOE administration looks the other way because it’s in their best interest.

“But they’re cheating our children out of a good education. Don’t show up in class? You pass. Everybody passes, and grades are meaningless. I think we need a federal monitor to come in and take over because nobody’s overseeing anything.” 

The DOE confirmed students cannot be failed or prevented from promotion based on attendance.

“Grading and promotion decisions are based on whether or not the student completes their work and demonstrates mastery,” said spokeswoman Nicole Brownstein. “Our educators and school leaders know their students best and are equipped to ensure students receive the grades they worked hard to earn.” 

Regarding the open letter to Bryant principal Dwarka, a spokesman added, “We take any allegation of misconduct seriously and we will look into this.”

Maspeth HS diplomas ‘not worth the paper’ they’re printed on

Susan Edelman, September 18, 2021, NY POST

Let them work at Taco Bell.

Maspeth High School created fake classes, awarded bogus credits, and fixed grades to push students to graduate — “even if the diploma was not worth the paper on which it was printed,” an explosive investigative report charges.

Principal Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir demanded that teachers pass students no matter how little they learned, says the 32-page report by the Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools, Anastasia Coleman.

“I don’t care if a kid shows up at 7:44 and you dismiss at 7:45 — it’s your job to give that kid credit,” the principal is quoted as telling a teacher.

Abdul-Mutakabbir told the teacher he would give the lagging student a diploma “not worth the paper on which it was printed” and let him “have fun working at Taco Bell,” the report says.

The teacher “felt threatened and changed each student’s failing grade to a passing one.”

The SCI report confirms a series of Post exposes in 2019 describing a culture of cheating in which students could skip classes and do little or no work, but still pass. 

Kids nicknamed the no-fail rule “the Maspeth Minimum.”

Chancellor Meisha Porter, who received the SCI report on June 4, removed Abdul-Mutakabbir from the 1,200-student school and city payroll in July pending a termination hearing set for next month.

But she left Maspeth assistant principals Stefan Singh and Jesse Pachter — the principal’s chief lieutenants — on the job.

Singh and Pachter executed the principal’s orders, informants said, and helped create classes to grant credits to students who didn’t have to show up — because the classes weren’t even held, according to the report. 

Abdul-Mutakabbir, Singh and Pachter all refused to answer questions by investigators, citing a right to remain silent, SCI says.

In addition, three teachers in the principal’s “clique” – a favored few who followed orders and got lucrative overtime assignments — also remain.

One of them, Danny Sepulveda, a wrestling coach, was caught on video slamming a skinny young teen onto a floor mat and putting him into a headlock. Witnesses called it bullying. SCI called it “aggressive” and dangerous.

In addition, Sepulveda “likely provided answers to students while proctoring a Regents exam,” the report says.

SCI obtained messages from a teacher to Sepulveda about a girl who did little in class but scored high on the test. “Giving that many answers to her was outrageous,” the teacher texted.

Sepulveda defended helping kids pass the exams, which were required to graduate. “She was smart enough to realize what was happening and took advantage lol. No other kid in that room got that many.”

Among a raft of other wrongdoing, SCI found the school did not properly voucher drugs and weapons in what whistleblowers called a contraband cover-up.

“This is more like an organized crime ring than a school administration,” said City Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens).

Holden first met with a group of fed-up Maspeth teachers — some who had left rather than be complicit in the corruption — in the summer of 2019. The whistleblowers turned over stacks of evidence.

But under Mayor de Blasio and ex-Chancellor Richard Carranza, the city Department of Education’s own investigation — a report it’s withholding — as well as SCI’s took two years while Abdul-Mutakabbir, Singh and Pachter continued to run the school.

But under Mayor de Blasio and ex-Chancellor Richard Carranza, the city Department of Education’s own investigation — a report it’s withholding — as well as SCI’s took two years while Abdul-Mutakabbir, Singh and Pachter continued to run the school.

Holden is outraged by the official foot-dragging. “If somebody refuses to be interviewed by an investigative body, they should be suspended immediately,” he said.

Among the SCI’s findings of academic fraud:

         Maspeth enrolled students in numerous classes scheduled during “zero (before school),           eighth, ninth and tenth periods — all of which were not actual class times.

• Students on the rosters “did not actually attend any classes or submit any work.”
• Singh set up 9th-period classes for about 20 juniors and 15 to 20 seniors in English, government and economics worth a total of four credits. The kids checked in but rarely met.
•  Maspeth repeatedly sought to have troubled students with attendance, behavioral or academic issues graduate early — sometimes as soon as the end of their junior year — “to get them out.”

Thomas Creighton, who spoke to investigators, told The Post he spent 11th and 12th grades drunk or stoned, rarely attended classes and did no homework his senior year. Finally, the school gave him “a few worksheets” to complete in a week. He had a pal fill them in, and received a diploma six months early.

Upset about his quick dismissal, Creighton’s parents asked to see his classwork. The school had nothing to show, but insisted he had earned a passing 65 in all classes.

“I was looking for some school authority to push back and let him know that there were consequences to his actions,” said his mother, Annmarie. “But nothing happened.”

Another student told SCI that Pachter or Sepulveda said it was too late to join a government class, and was put in a different one. A week later, the teen was told “there was no need for him to stay and he could complete his assignments at home.” The boy felt he was “probably pushed out” after being accused of selling drugs in school. He was offered an early diploma.

A girl said she was told to report to the office for one period a week to fulfill a class requirement. 

Another girl said she was told “it was fine” if she didn’t come to class:  “I kind of got princess treatment there.” She received “a list of assignments with little structure and no deadlines.”

In other cases, Sepulveda told colleagues that several students “cut a deal” with Singh and Pachter to come to school once a month to pick up “a packet of work.” The students were all chronically absent, yet graduated in summer 2019.

Pachter handed one staffer a list of problem students at risk of not graduating, asking to ensure they got enough credits “so they would no longer have to be dealt with.”

The DOE’s own Office of Special Investigations conducted a separate probe of Maspeth, but refused to release its report pending a termination hearing for Abdul-Mutakabbir set for next month.

“We did not hesitate to take action at Maspeth High School as soon as the SCI report was completed. Our schools must uphold the highest ethical standards, and we’re taking action against any employee found to have engaged in misconduct,” DOE spokeswoman Katie O’Hanlon said.

Besides seeking to terminate Abdul-Mutakabbir, “we will be taking appropriate action” against Sepulveda, and additional disciplinary action may result from the OSI’s investigation, she said.

Singh, Pachter, and two other teachers named by SCI, Daniel Franchese and Christopher Grunert, have been “retrained,” attended meetings with district leaders, and “all of them have gotten a letter in their files.” 

Holden, who sent letters last week to the Queens District Attorney and the US Attorney’s Office, is renewing his call for a criminal probe of academic fraud  in Maspeth and other city schools.

“They took money and didn’t do the work,” Holden said.  “It’s stealing taxpayers’ dollars, and it’s stealing childrens’ education.”

Success Academy Removes Vaccine Protocols For Students

 

Success Academy's roughly 20,000 students will no longer have to be vaccinated or take
a weekly COVID-19 test.

If you are a parent or student who is serious about getting a good education, choose a charter school.

Comment from teacher Diane Pagen:

To the Editor,

Success Academy schools have beaten out the NYC Department of Education in making the realization that making students take the Covid19 vaccine is a terrible policy that parents and kids don't want. Huge credit for this policy victory goes to anti-mandate activists (many who were fired by the City for not getting vaccinated) who for the past six months have done outreach outside of both DOE and Success Academy schools at dismissal. These activists helped parents to connect to other parents and organize against the vaccine mandate and the relentless promotion of the vaccines to children during the school day. The vaccine mandate created an atmosphere in which unvaccinated parents and students were made to feel left out and bullied, while kids who got the vaccine were given prizes and free stuff and praise. I am so glad to know that at least at Success Academy, these mandates for kids are now a thing of the past. 

The Chancellor of NYC Schools and our Mayor now need to do the same, because as we all know, there is never any situation where bullying is okay. Eventually, too, all our children deserve an apology.

The next step is to cease the bullying and coercion campaign that we employees of all our schools, whether charter or DOE, have endured this whole school year and that continues now--the employee vaccine mandate, which the Mayor, the Commissioner of Health and the Chancellor have used as a justification to take our incomes, refuse to pay us Unemployment, slander us in the press, and ultimately to fire us, which the Chancellor and Mayor did with no legitimate cause, in February.

dianepagen@yahoo.com

Betsy Combier

betsy.combier@gmail.com

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Success Academy to lift student COVID-19 vaccine mandate

By 

Cayla Bamberger and

 

Susan Edelman, NY POST, June 20, 2022

New York City’s largest charter school network, Success Academy, is doing away with its pandemic protocols for students, The Post has learned.

Beginning in the fall, the network’s roughly 20,000 students will no longer have to be vaccinated or take weekly COVID-19 tests, and will be able to participate in most clubs regardless of their inoculation status.

“We remain steadfast in our overall goal of protesting the health and safety of our community while remaining open for in-person learning,” read a memo to families obtained by The Post.

The announcement came after more than 1,000 parents and guardians engaged in a months-long campaign of writing letters and signing petitions against the mandates, organizers said.

“I will highlight that we stay with SA because of the high quality of teaching and curriculum. The teachers and curriculum planners deserve recognition and complements. This is why we wanted our children to attend SA,” wrote one parent to school administrators.

“From an academic perspective our children have thrived. But from a social perspective, they have been bullied and mistreated by the administration,” the parent said of unvaccinated students.

Two thirds of the students, called “scholars,” are already at least partially vaccinated against COVID-19, according to school data.

But those who were not had to sit on the sidelines at some after-school activities.

Upper West Side dad Bill White said two of his three children, ages 7 and 9, who are students at Success Academy, were axed from their soccer and theater programs over the winter, when the mandate went into effect.

“They were upset, and missed doing those things tremendously. It was a difficult conversation that I had to have with them,” said White.  

“The most screwy thing of it all is they participated in electives that took place during school, but couldn’t participate in clubs after school,” he added. “But now they were very excited and looking forward to getting back into it.” 

Success Academy, which runs 47 schools in the New York-area, told The Post the network would still encourage vaccination and keep rapid tests in their schools. Staff are still required to get vaccinated against the virus.

School officials on Monday continued to tout the network’s health and safety record throughout the pandemic.

“For the sake of public health, Success Academy arranged for schools to offer Covid vaccinations when the city was slow to respond,” said Ann Powell, a spokesperson for the network. “We maintained a strong vaccination and test policy during the most urgent phase of the pandemic. “

“This past year SA was able to keep all our schools open, and our positivity rate consistently below the city’s, with no evidence of in-school transmission,” she added.

In non-charter public schools, more than 60% of students have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the most recent data.

But those figures can vary from school to school. Some of the most vaccinated student populations, predominantly in Manhattan, have upwards of 90% of children inoculated against the virus, a Post analysis of city data showed. But at some schools including several in Brooklyn, fewer than a quarter of students have gotten their first dose.

Teachers and staff employed by the Department of Education are required to be vaccinated with some exceptions. Unvaccinated employees are expected to have a shot later this summer at getting their jobs back — if they get the jab.

Other charter networks had not implemented a vaccination requirement for students this school year.

“We don’t have a requirement for students but we encourage all families and students eligible to become vaccinated,” said Barbara Martinez at Uncommon Schools, a charter network with locations in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

All teachers and staff are required to be vaccinated as a condition of employment at the network.

Achievement First, which operates charter schools in New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island, did not have a student vaccine mandate this school year. 

“The health and safety of our staff and scholars are paramount at Achievement First,” said Ezra Paganelli of the network’s chief of staff office. “In the current school year we had a vaccine requirement for all staff, and followed the state’s guidance for scholar vaccination.

“We are still in process of making our policies for the coming school year.”

Bloomberg invests $200M in NYC’s high-profile charter school networks