A quarter of public school students
have attended in-person classes
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNEL-DOMENECH
A little over 280,000 students have attended
school in person since the city began
its phased-in reopening plan in September,
Mayor de Blasio said on Oct. 26.
The announcement means that offi
cials reopened public schools for only
a quarter of the city’s 1.1 million public
school students. In August, de Blasio
predicted that nearly 700,000 public
school students would participate in
the city’s hybrid learning model where
students take classes two to three days
a week in person.
“This number is one that we have understood
to be a work in progress,” said
de Blasio. “It’s lower than what we had
pre-COVID. Some of that is understandable
because of the dislocation that’s occurred
but we need to get it back to the
number we had before.”
An email from the Department of Education
clarifi ed that 280,000 students
have stepped inside a school for class “at
least once so far.”
De Blasio and Schools Chancellor
Richard Carranza reported that the average
percentage of hybrid learning students
Giving Back, One Woman’s Journey of Survival and Gratitude Comes Full Circle
COURIER L 28 IFE, OCT. 30-NOV. 5, 2020
attending class every day is 85.3%
a signifi cant drop from last year’s attendance
rate of 92 %. The Offi cials added
that an average of 82.9% of students are
attending in-person classes while an average
of 85.5% of students are attending
remote classes.
Average attendance rates for both inperson
and remote classes have gone up
in the fi ve weeks since school reopened,
an email from department offi cials
claim.
Parents and teachers have long
claimed that the mayor and chancellor’s
representation of overall interest in
hybrid learning is inaccurate and that
both offi cials and the Department of
Education have misrepresented hybrid
and remote learning enrollment.
The department releases weekly updates
on hybrid and remote learning
enrollment which only includes the percentage
of students based on a city survey
and has never provided attendance
numbers. Unless a parent or guardian
chooses to opt their child into remote
learning the department assumes they
want their child to be enrolled in hybrid
learning.
Some remain skeptical of the numbers.
One Brooklyn high school teacher
said something that causes her to question
the data is the fact the city automatically
enrolled higher schoolers who have
essentially dropped out to work full-time,
referred to as “Long Term Absences,”
into hybrid learning.
“It’s just another slice of kids who are
not actually attending anything, but who
the mayor says are evidence of how much
families want in person,” said English
and ELA teacher at Franklin D. Roosevelt
High School Sarah Yorra.
Public school families will only have
one more opportunity to opt-in to hybrid
learning for the remainder of the year
which will begin Nov. 2 and end Nov. 15.
“Now that they’ve seen the schools
up and running for a month they have
gotten a chance to see how schools are
working and parents have gotten a lot
more information,” de Blasio said.
Roughly a quarter of city public school students have gone back to school. Getty Images
EDUCATION
In December 2000, a
young woman was preparing
for the birth of her first child
who was due in early March,
right before spring; a time of
new beginnings. Healthwise,
however, this mother was not
doing well. Her high-blood
pressure put both her and
her unborn child at risk of
serious health problems. The
doctors recommended an
immediate C-section. If she
chose against the C-section,
she was told that she would
have to choose between her
life and the life of her unborn
child. The woman decided
to go forward with the doctor’s
recommendation, but
also told them that if anything
should happen, that
they should choose the life of
her child over her own. On
December 15, three months
earlier than her scheduled
entrance into this world,
the doctor delivered a baby
girl. She weighed a mere
1.5 pounds and was not expected
to survive. Perhaps it
was for this reason, to imbue
her newborn daughter with
the will to survive, that she
named her Victoria, which is
Latin for victory.
While other babies spent
their first days and weeks
being held, swaddled and
stroked by their mothers,
Victoria was in an incubator
being poked, prodded,
and monitored. Her lungs
were underdeveloped and
she had trouble breathing.
After two months, she had
progressed enough to be released
under the watchful
care of her mother. In those
first years, Victoria suffered
life-threatening fevers and a
compromised immune system.
Her mother was also
told that she was at risk for
developing a learning disability.
But it would come to
past that Victoria would instead
embody the essence of
her name. She thrived. She
overcame stuttering, learned
English, which was not her
first language, and would go
onto be the first in her family
to attend college. In less than
a year, she will become her
family’s first college graduate
when she earns her associate
degree from Kingsborough
Community College
(KCC).
Like Victoria, many
KCC students have overcome
or continue to persevere
through many life
challenges. Many are firstgeneration
students who had
no path to follow. Others are
adult learners attempting
college for the first, or even
second, time. Others are
also adult learners who put
their families first, but who
now are putting themselves
first. There are those who
were told that college was not
for them even though they
knew that college is the path
that will guarantee them
economic security and social
mobility. Despite their varied
journeys to KCC, most of our
students share the common
dilemma of a lack of financial
resources to continue their academic
dreams. It is through
the support of our donors, the
financial support of those who
understand the power of a college
education, and those who
have walked this path before
and remember their journey,
that KCC students are able
to realize their dreams and
achieve their goals.
Such is the case with Victoria,
one of our many beneficiaries
of donor support.
While her dream began at
KCC, it will manifest itself
in a very real way as she continues
onto medical school
where she will study pediatric
medicine with a specialty
in neonatology. Victoria remembers
all too well her journey.
Her decision to pursue a
medical degree is a tribute to
her family, supporters and
all the medical professionals
that helped her to not only
survive, but thrive, as she
will do in the future for those
in her care.
In this, the season of giving,
may Victoria’s story and
the spirit of giving back inspire
us all to make a difference
for others.
Dr. Claudia V. Schrader
is president of Kingsborough
Community College (KCC),
a 72-acre academic oasis located
in beautiful Manhattan
Beach, Brooklyn. The College
is a participate in the annual
CUNYTuesday taking place
on Tuesday, December 1. To
make an impact on a student’s
life visit https://kingsborough.
cunytuesday.org/.
EDUCAT I O N PROFI LE
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/kingsborough
/kingsborough
/cunytuesday.org
