Private Schools Frictionlessly Transition into Hybrid Learning While Public Schools Fall Victim to Disaster

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“I’m in a homeroom—in the same seat, not moving at all—with no lunch break—for 4 hours straight on one Zoom call” said Frankie Perera, a student at the Clinton School, after finishing his first day back utterly disappointed after anticipating physical reopenings for months. Public school’s opening day of physical learning was originally scheduled for September 10th. However, when the United Federation of Teachers threatened to strike, Bill de Blasio moved the reopening to September 21st, and then once again to October 4th. October 4th would be Frankie’s and many other students’ first and last day of physical learning. 

Schools reopened just a few weeks ago, yet, in the words of Yair Zohar, another Clinton student who has already made the switch to remote learning, “this system needs to change drastically—it’s horrible.” 

At Clinton, students are broken into permanent groups of ten within four pods. Classrooms that once hosted thirty-five rambunctious students at a time are now empty and dead. Each student, 10 feet away from the next, logs into one Zoom with headphones and remains suspended in their chair for the rest of the day unless they must use the restroom. “We’re basically not moving at all so that takes away the social aspect of coming back,” said Perera.

There is no collaboration in classrooms that are now encapsulated by “awkward silence” as “students are extremely miserable while teachers act like they don’t wanna be there,” explained Perera. In fact, many were not supposed to be there at all. According to Micheal Mulgrew, President of the United Federations of Teachers, some classes are taught by “district-wide educators [who] cover schools that don’t have enough teachers to teach remotely.” Zoom classes taught by the actual teachers have up to 100 participants allowing no time for individual help. “It’s the exact same thing as school from home, except you’re in a classroom” said Emiliano Cruz-Marsted.

Amidst the reopening disaster at public schools, private schools, such as Grace Church, have frictionlessly transitioned into hybrid learning. Although it may not necessarily be a blast, at Grace, students move around the building, collaborate, and speak with teachers in real-time. 

Privately funded schools have the money for organizers, support teachers, COVID teams, one on one meetings, and much more. Meanwhile, the government can’t devote enough tax money to help reopen public schools. Unfortunately, the failed public school reopenings are not merely cases of poor organization, but reflections of the educational inequity that plagues our city and country. It is this inequity that prevents millions of brilliant students from attending top-level colleges; thereby likely perpetuating their positions in the socioeconomic hierarchy. Somehow, it has taken this pandemic to finally reveal these ruthless inequities in the American education system, and it will take a lot of hard work and devotion to properly address them. 

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