NYC public schools likely to go with remote learning on Monday, hopeful there's no repeat of last time
No matter how much snow New York City gets during the impending storm, Monday won't be a snow day for public school students.
Instead, there likely will a system-wide pivot to remote learning. Just keep in mind, the last time this happened the system crashed.
"Once we make a final decision as to what it will look like on Monday, we will communicate that clearly and directly to families and to students, themselves," Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.
"Traditional snow days are gone"
First grader Harper Brinkman told CBS News New York what she would normally do during the winter if school is ever closed due to snow.
"I would like to build a snowman, sled, and drink hot cocoa," she said.
Unfortunately for her, the perfect snow day seems to be a thing of the past for the city's public school students.
"Because of the number of holidays that New York City has in its school year, which is the most of any school system, we are very tight on our schedule, so we have to pivot to remote. So the traditional snow days are gone," said Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers.
Mulgrew said teachers are trained in remote learning before each school year, adding if Monday's snow requires a pivot to it, it's not human error he's concerned about. It's the tech, because in February of 2024, last time the school system went fully remote for a snowstorm, the amount of students logging in at once crashed the system.
Parents were forced to try and help that time. They say they'd rather not do it again.
"Now that we have a child in middle school and one in elementary, we're gonna be dealing with it on two levels, at two schools, while we're both trying to do our day jobs," Carli Brinkman said.
First big moment for new School Chancellor Kamar Samuels
Remote learning on Monday would provide a big first test for new city Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels, who seems confident the system will hold up better than last time.
"We're going to make that decision with enough time for families to plan for the next day," Samuels said. "I think we've done several tests of the system since then. But also, most importantly, when we think about doing this, the idea of staggering the start time is really important."
According to the department's website, Monday was already scheduled to be a professional development day, meaning only high schools and schools grades 6-12 are closed.
So a true test of remote learning at full system capacity may have to wait.
