BY ALEJANDRA
O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
Schools Chancellor Richard
Carranza hinted again
that public school parents may
be given a second opt-in period
for blended learning during a
meeting with Bronx parents
Monday night.
At the moment, parents
interested in enrolling their
children in the city’s blended
learning model–in which students
take classes at school
one to three days a week–have
until Sunday, Nov. 15 to fi ll out
an application on the Department
of Education’s website.
Throughout the summer
and beginning of the fall
school year, DOE offi cials repeatedly
told parents choosing
to enroll their children
in fully remote learning that
they would have multiple opportunities
throughout the
year to opt-into blended if they
wished to do so.
But late last month, Mayor
Bill de Blasio and Chancellor
Carranza suddenly changed
the opt-in policy announcing
that parents would only
be given one chance, causing
panic among some parents.
Carranza told members
of the Community Education
Council 8, which covers the
southeast Bronx, that he would
always be fl exible in “how the
circumstances were rolling
out” in response to a question
from CEC member Fabian
Wander on the possibility of
more opt-in dates. But in order
for there to be more opt-in opportunities,
the DOE needs to
have a better idea of how many
families are actually “in” for
in-person learning.
A fraction of the number of
students enrolled in blended
learning are showing up to
school for in-person classes
making it diffi cult for the department
to properly staff
NYC Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza speaks with CEC 8 parents in the Bronx on Monday night. Screenshot
schools and equip them with
suffi cient personal protective
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,8 NOVEMBER 13-19, 2020 BTR
equipment, according to
Carranza. In fact, only about
a quarter of the city’s 1.1 million
public school students
are showing up for in-person
classes and the attendance rate
for in-person classes among
students enrolled in blended
learning is 83%, according
to the DOE’s most recent
data. But principals are apprehensive
to reassign teachers
or consolidate students
out of concern over throwing
off the current model, the
chancellor said.
“Principals say to me, almost
without exception, I can’t
do that because what if those
students actually show up,”
Carranza told parents. “Once
we have our hands around who
is truly in and who is waiting
in remote then we can actually
look at the circumstances
as we go forward around now
that we know, is there the possibility
of having another optin
period perhaps in February,
perhaps in March.”
Read more at bxtimes.com.
Kids may get more
blended learning
Carranza hints at more opt-in dates at
virtual meeting with Bronx parents
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