NYC schools are reopening. How is it affecting our students and teachers?
Schools in New York City closed in the spring semester of the 2020 school year due to the global pandemic. New York City shut down, and life came to a stop. As people were ordered to stay home, classes shifted their curriculums to a virtual platform. The summer is now coming to an end and our leaders in government are starting to talk about a reopening — allowing people to go back to work and children to go back to school, despite the threat of a surge in cases.
The Department of Education has given families two options, either full remote learning or hybrid learning where students come in-person for some days, and do remote learning for the remaining days. The reopening of schools has sparked many discussions about safety and the quality of education for the students. Kristal Torres, a Pre-K teacher at PS 277 at the South Bronx, speaks about the difficulties she had last semester and the ones that are to come this following year. “It really felt like I was in year one, teaching them remote because I really didn’t know what I was doing. It was also hard thinking about how to adapt what I do because I teach such young kids. I teach three year olds. And it’s really hard to think about how to adapt the curriculum … but I feel like I need to go back because my students just learn better in person. It’s just the kind of age…
