opinion-editorial
BY JONATHAN SOTO
As a public school parent of a
daughter who shares an overcrowded
building with three different schools
in the East Bronx, I am concerned by
the incoming chancellor’s troubling
statements about subjecting students
to a 6-day school week, longer class
hours and summer classes. It’s ironic
he makes these comments at a time
when corporations that care about
the mental health needs of their workers
move toward fl exible scheduling,
4-day work weeks, and permanent
work-from-home options. While it was
encouraging to read his recent comments
on remote options for parents,
the chancellor should work to provide
students, parents and teachers with
a real choice of both safe in-person
learning and a remote option for those
who want it.
Parents will reject any Amazonlike
model of high-stakes assessment
and long school hours that create negative
mental and physical health impacts
on our children. After all, our
kids are having trouble re-adjusting to
school in this COVID era as evidenced
by increased violence, bullying and
mental health challenges faced within
crowded DOE buildings. We can’t allow
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BRONX TIMES REPORTER, D 12 EC. 24-30, 2021
our public schools to turn our kids
into commodities for the corporate
workplace at a time when suicide rates
are skyrocketing and our youth mental
health is at its most fragile state in
history. This month, the U.S. surgeon
general warned that young people are
facing “devastating” mental health effects
due to challenges experienced by
their generation, including the coronavirus
pandemic.
I recently received an email from
our school’s administration about
a steep increase in COVID cases
among students and staff within the
school building. Parents continue to
ask for clear guidelines on what specifi
c parameters constitute grounds
for school closures as positive cases
continue to climb, yet little guidance
is given as parents continue to send
their kids into school with uncertainty
surrounding their safety. As
many of us predicted, our school community’s
physical and mental health
has been placed at risk by an indifferent
mayor and DOE administration
that packed students, teachers
and staff into crowded and under-resourced
schools. Change has to come
and the time for it is now.
My child has an ADHD learning
difference and my partner is immunocompromised,
yet the mayor has
ignored viable plans to signifi cantly
reduce class sizes by providing a remote
option for those who want it.
I’ve been in conversation with hundreds
of students, parents and teachers
in our community, and most would
like to have both an in-person and remote
learning option. Some teachers
reported improved student engagement
in smaller in-person class sizes
last year, possible only because many
parents chose a remote option and
staggered scheduling in some high
schools.
Common sense ideas like a remote
option for those who want it
can provide more safety through social
distancing for those who choose
in-person learning, yet our schools
are under a system of mayoral control
that denies our communities safe
choices for our children’s learning.
Parents should question why the DOE
can’t reduce class sizes at a time when
billions in additional dollars in federal
and state funds have been made
available to our schools. This is due in
large part to the top-down approach of
mayoral control of schools, a system
where money gets absorbed by education
consultants, highly paid bureaucrats
and mayoral donors seeking
to profi t from bloated contracts that
leave our kids with crumbs.
The pandemic taught us the need
to prioritize a culture of community
care that heals the harms our families
endured throughout this challenging
time. We want an education system
that humanizes and centers values of
interdependence, rest, care, health,
restoration and joy. This is why we are
calling for a remote option for those
who want it and let parents decide
when they’d like to send their kids to
in-person school and when they’d like
to keep them home. This will address
the main issue of overcrowded schools
and grant parents true control over
their children’s education and mental
health.
Jonathan Soto, who lives in Throggs
Neck, is a NYC public school parent of a
10-year-old daughter.
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A DIVISION OF
“Our school community’s physical and mental health has been placed at risk by an indifferent
mayor and DOE administration that packed students, teachers and staff into crowded
and under-resourced schools,” says Jonathan Soto. Photo via Getty Images
Mr. Chancellor: Families want
smaller class sizes and remote
options, not a 6-day school week
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