Mamdani’s too-fast school reopening put my students — and me — at risk

Andrew Schwartz / SplashNews.com

Like many New Yorkers, I embraced Monday’s snow day after Mayor Zohran Mamdani set travel restrictions and closed city schools in the face of a historic blizzard. 

Instead of commuting to the Brooklyn middle school where I teach, I slept in, visited a nearby park to marvel at the huge drifts and dabbled with amateur snow-cone-making.

Then I sat glued to the TV to hear the mayor’s verdict for Tuesday. 

Surely, we’ll have a remote day of instruction, I thought. After all, with snowfall totals topping 20 inches, we’ll need at least a day to dig out.

To my surprise, the mayor and chancellor ordered a regular day of learning.

But there was nothing regular about this Tuesday, once I finally arrived at our building.

Close to half of our students, 45% of them, did not come to school at all due to the treacherous travel conditions in our neighborhood a short distance from Crown Heights, which measured 21 inches of snow on the ground.   

More than 20% of our teachers, too, were unable to make it — with limited public transportation and even less available parking, my colleagues who live far from the school had no chance.

And with absolutely no substitutes available, we had to scramble all day, combining classes to keep our 6th, 7th and 8th graders properly supervised.

Most staffers had to travel on foot, slipping and sliding on the icy sidewalks.

One co-worker told me it took him more than two hours to manage the trip.   

The dedication of all my colleagues warms my heart.

Our assistant principal was here at 7:00 am, ready to greet us with coffee and donuts to reward our travel efforts.

And I feel for the custodians who were forced to work around the clock to ensure that city schools were up and running as the mayor required.

But it is incredibly unsafe to make anyone, students and staff alike, travel in icy conditions if there’s a viable alternative.

And today, there is one: Remote learning was created for just such an emergency as this. 

Google classrooms are set up in every city school, students are familiar with the procedures, and I can attest that learning does in fact take place when schools operate virtually. 

Mamdani’s cited reason for mandating in-person instruction on Tuesday — that he believed students did not have their devices at home due to last week’s winter break — was frankly ridiculous.

Even in low-income schools like mine, the vast majority of our students have access to devices, and we work diligently to make sure they are always prepared for remote days, especially at this time of year.

Yes, some students will always have difficulty logging on, but those who can and do far outnumber them. 

I have no doubt that my school would have seen fewer absences Tuesday if our kids had been able to attend their classes online.

When safety is at stake, why wouldn’t we lean on the side of caution?

Other local learning institutions made different choices: Parochial schools in Brooklyn and Queens held remote classes on Tuesday, and those in Staten Island were closed entirely.

CUNY colleges went remote as well.

If private schools and universities are closed due to dangerous conditions, our public schools should follow their example.    

Thousands of New Yorkers feel the same: More than 172,000 of us signed a Change.org petition asking the mayor to let kids learn remotely on Tuesday, to “help our city avoid preventable risks.”

I understand we have a new administration in City Hall, and I’m personally excited about the changes and ideas this mayor will bring to fruition.

But it’s clear that Mayor Mamdani does not appreciate just how much pressure and stress staff and students must endure to get to school in these conditions. 

What the heck is remote learning for if not for days like these?

After spending Tuesday covering colleagues’ classes and dodging black ice, I am concerned — about my students’ safety, about my own, and about the mayor’s priorities.

The students here in school are learning lessons that will have to be reviewed for those who could not safely attend — or those who were absent will simply miss out on a full day of instruction.

If we had gone remote, we all could be learning safely, together.

Remote learning, invented in a crisis, got off to a bumpy start in 2020, but it has grown and developed since then. 

Will our mayor do the same?

Elana Rabinowitz is a New York City public school teacher.