NYC finds racial disparities in school attendance and remote learning

NEW YORK - New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza answered questions Friday on information subpoenaed by the City Council on remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The council says that data shows that black and Latino students had lower engagement remotely as opposed to white students citywide. 

“There’s a direct correlation to access to resources, technology, internet service, even to this day we have been arguing that there are many children in need of technology and internet,” said Mark Treyger, a City Council member from Brooklyn.

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“We engage the schools to determine and better understand, which is a device that is needed in the hands of a student and which is the device that is being requested to replenish supply and it’s not uniform across the entire DoE,” Carranza said.

Friday’s hearing also discussed the status of schools that closed from being in state-designated hot zones due to COVID-19 spikes.

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Both city and state officials are continuing to push for increased testing in hot spot areas, including school families, and the testing that now appears to be mandatory for in-person instruction.

The Department of Education says that it will begin distributing more iPads and tablets to children needing them by the first of next month.