Walking the walk: Bronx students leave
BY SARAH BELLE LIN
Abdul Gill stood alone outside of his
school in the frigid cold. Gill, a junior at
the Bronx High School of Science, was
waiting for students like him, who had
decided last Tuesday, Jan. 11, to protest
against inadequate COVID-19 protection
measures by leaving their classes.
“It’s like they’re taking away the
choice to be remote,” Gill said. “For me,
remote instruction wasn’t good. I disliked
it. But regardless, just because I
would probably still continue to come
in-person doesn’t mean students who do
have (pre-existing) conditions shouldn’t
have the choice.”
When the bell rang, eight students
left their fi fth periods and huddled
around the school’s fl agpole outside.
The BXSCI student walkout, organized
by junior Felicia Jennings-Brown, commenced.
“I organized this because our school
conditions are not safe right now because
no one else is doing it for us,” Jennings
Brown said. “There are so many
people sick and our mayor is not doing
enough to protect all the millions of
kids in the school system.”
That day, the Bronx High School of
Science students — who agreed to accept
“tardies” instead of “cuts” — were
joined by hundreds of students across
the city, including Bronx schools like
Mott Hall V, X264 Bronx Academy for
Software Engineering (BASE), X434
Belmont Preparatory High School and
the Young Women’s Leadership School.
The students, all either sophomores
or juniors, took turns sharing their experiences
returning to school amid an
omicron surge: auditoriums packed
with students due to teacher absences;
substitute teachers from mismatched
subjects fi lling in; lack of physical distancing
in classrooms and other shared
spaces; and daily health screenings
where “you’re allowed in no matter
what answer you put.”
They universally agreed on one demand
— the option for students to “go
remote” and stay home with virtual
instruction if they don’t want to be in
schools, whether they have pre-existing
conditions or it’s simply not within
their comfort zones.
New York City public high schools
“may choose to offer online and blended
learning experiences and may incorporate
these online courses into their
academic programs,” according to the
Department of Education’s (DOE) high
school academic policy guide published
September 2021.
The city’s DOE published these
guidelines last year around the time
3,700 new COVID-19 cases in New York
City were reported on Sept. 5. It seemed
these guidelines would be followed if the
situation worsened. But the following
year, 38,000 new cases were reported on
Jan. 3. — the same day the city decided
to keep its public schools open.
Anywhere from 20%-30% of teachers
Students from the Bronx High School of Science
walkout from their classes to join a
larger citywide movement demanding safer
school environments in New York City on
Jan. 11, 2021. Photo | Sarah Belle Lin
were absent during the fi rst week
back to school, said some Bronx public
school teachers. The student attendance
rates at New York City’s public schools
were as low as 44% on Jan. 7 to as high
as nearly 82% on Jan. 18.
Bronx schools, as a whole, continue
to have the highest COVID-19 positivity
rate compared to other boroughs’ (while
keeping in mind there is missing data).
Seniors Amayel Ka and Bonnie
Huang are entering their fi nal year at
the Bronx High School of Science. They
didn’t walk out partly because they
were concerned about being marked
as “cuts” when their principal, Rachel
Hoyle, sent emails to students the morning
of the walk-out reminding students
of the attendance policy: “students must
be in class when they have assigned
classes” and “not being in class will result
in a cut.”
“There’s a lot of misconceptions
about wanting to be fully remote so
that we can slack off,” Huang said. “If
we wanted to slack off, we could have
stayed home from the beginning.”
While Ka didn’t benefi t from a fully
remote education — “remote learning
works for who it works for” — she
understands the anxiety amongst students
about being in school “a little bit
too early.”
“Remote learning has a lot of challenges,
like mental health and insecurity
when parents have to work, you
know, I personally can attest to that,”
said Shafakat Sahil, a sophomore who
participated in the walkout. “However,
for the safety of parents and students
around the city, we need a temporary
remote option and an option for students
to go remote so we can create a
safer environment for all students to
learn.”
There is speculation, however, that
the omicron surge is starting to fl atline
in New York City. Still, some parents
are choosing to play
it safe.
On the fi rst day back to
school on Jan. 3, all four
of Shariea “MC Heavyn”
Perry’s children stayed
home. Perry made the
executive decision even
though she’d rather her
children be at their Bronx
and Manhattan schools
learning alongside their
peers.
“If there’s a surge and
it’s not safe to be in there,
home is gonna be the safest
place to be,” said Perry,
who added that she also
understands the challenges
many parents face
with fully remote instruction.
In a way, Perry’s
children, Jasper, Jasria,
Janala and Jania, are learning
through hybrid instruction. There are
days Perry feels it’s safe enough — she
bases this off of emails from their respective
schools — to send her children
to their schools. Then there are
other days where Perry doesn’t want
her children to get caught up in a
spread.
“I say, ‘Okay guys, we’re not gonna
go in today, let them sanitize the room
or do what they’re gonna do with the
situation room,” said Perry, who is
the PTA president of the Bronx High
School for the Visual Arts, where two
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J 8 JAN. 28-FEB. 3, 2022 BTR
While Shariea Perry prefers that her four children be inperson
at school, she has found remote learning can work
temporarily.