EDUCATION
No remote option for public school students in Sept.
Success Academy Queens students get a permanent middle school
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | MAY 28-JUNE 3, 2021 25
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
After four years of advocacy
and rallying, Success
Academy Queens families
have finally got what they
have been asking for: A
suitable permanent middle
school so that their children
can continue their education.
Eva Moskowitz, founder
and CEO of Success Academy,
said they’re grateful to
Mayor Bill de Blasio for “doing
the right thing” by kids
and their families.
“Success Academy families
were tenacious in their
advocacy, and we appreciate
the support of Congressman
Gregory Meeks and
the Queens delegation in securing
this new educational
home,” Moskowitz said.
In August, Success Academy
Ozone Park Middle
School located at 109-55 128th
St., will open its doors to 250
fifth- and sixth-graders, who
had previously been temporarily
co-located with I.S. 238
Susan B. Anthony Academy
in Hollis.
The school opened in 2020
as Success Academy Hollis
Middle School, but due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, students
were learning remotely and
never entered the building,
according to Moskowitz. The
new space will be in a private,
standalone building with
a gymnasium/auditorium
and cafeteria, and is large
enough to accommodate all
middle school students from
SA Rosedale and SA South Jamaica
when fully enrolled.
Success Academy operates
47 schools in Brooklyn,
the Bronx, Manhattan and
Queens and enrolls about
20,000 students — primarily
children of color from lowincome
households in disadvantaged
neighborhoods.
In Queens, parents of 2,200
Success Academy students
have been pleading with the
city for years for an additional
permanent middle school
site. Since 2017, parents have
sent thousands of emails,
secured thousands of signatures
on petitions, and met
with many Queens elected officials
— all in an attempt to
get the mayor to be accountable
to their children.
In March, Moskowitz
joined parents and students
from SA Hollis Middle School
in a Zoom conference call demanding
that the mayor find
a permanent home for the students
whom they said would
be evicted from the one-year
temporary co-location at I.S.
238. Parents had voiced their
frustrations and concerns
during the conference, questioning
why they couldn’t get
the space they need for their
children to learn.
In 2020, 100 percent of
Success Academy’s third and
largest class of 99 graduating
seniors were accepted to college,
with 69 percent accepted
to selective institutions with
robust financial aid packages;
82 percent of the class will
be the first in their families
to attend college.
BY ALEJANDRA O'CONNELLDOMENECH
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced
on May 24 that New
York City public schools will
reopen on Sept. 13 without a remote
option — backtracking on
earlier commitments to offer
families worried about sending
their children back into
classrooms with fully online
classes.
“I am very pleased to announce
that New York City public
schools will fully reopen in
September. Every single child
will be back in classrooms,”
de Blasio said. “We are going
to have so many protections in
place as we proved even during
the toughest months of COVID
that we could keep kids and
staff safe with a gold standard
of health and safety measures.”
In March, de Blasio said he
planned on scrapping hybrid
learning this fall and would
instead work to bring back
all public school students into
schools for five-day-a-week live
instruction while also offering
a fully remote option for families
that might still be afraid to
send their children back into
school buildings in September.
On May 24, when asked by
reporters why he chose to reimagine
his previous vision on
how classes would look this
fall, the mayor cited the efficacy
of the COVID-19 vaccines
and the CDC relaxing of some
health and safety guidelines as
reasons for the change.
“We got to understand, we
are leaving COVID behind. We
can’t live in the grip of COVID
forever,” de Blasio said. Some
health and safety guidelines
rolled out during the pandemic
will be lifted once students return
to classrooms this fall.
Schools will return to pre-pandemic
rules in terms of student
illness.
In a letter sent to families,
Schools Chancellor Meisha
Ross Porter assured parents
that masks will still be required
in all school buildings
and those with COVID-19
symptoms will continue to be
asked to stay home. In addition,
this fall, students, teachers and
staff will continue to take daily
health screeners at home and
COVID-19 testing will still take
place in school buildings as
long as the CDC sees fit.
The city’s teacher union, the
United Federation of Teachers,
which has increasingly supported
expanding in-person
learning, expressed concerns
over how a full return to school
would impact the city’s small
number of students with severe
medical challenges.
“For that small group of
students, a remote option may
still be necessary,” said UFT
President Michael Mulgrew in
a statement.
The issue of whether schools
can accommodate all students
while still abiding by the CDC’s
social distancing requirements
came under question again on
Monday. Currently, the CDC
recommends students in K-12
schools sit or stand three feet
apart regardless of the virus’s
transmission rate in the school’s
surrounding community.
According to de Blasio, city
public schools “have a lot of
classrooms” that could allow
for students to maintain three
feet of social distance, and for
those that can’t, the Department
of Education plans on using
alternative space to accommodate
students or make other
adjustments.
“But I don’t see that,” de Blasio
added. “So we’ll have a plan
A, plan B as always, but I have
no doubt we’ll be able to accommodate
our kids.”
The majority of the city’s
1 million public students —
about 65 percent — are enrolled
in fully remote learning, which
raises questions as to how comfortable
families will feel sending
their children back into
schools this fall. A recent survey
showed about 65 percent of
families with students enrolled
in fully remote learning would
most likely send their children
back into schools while
the remaining 35 percent are
unsure.
Success Academy scholars, parents and teachers march in 2019. File photo by Carlotta Mohamed
/QNS.COM
