What's changed and what's new
| Rockland / Westchester Journal News
The hope is that this summer will be a bridge from one and a half years of pandemic education to an autumn for everyone in school and a "normal" school year 2021-22.
The abrupt transition to distance learning in March 2020, followed by an autumn and winter of “hybrid” teaching and debates about synchronous vs. asynchronous learning, challenged students, parents and educators alike.
Lower Hudson Valley school districts tried to adhere to the state's sometimes ambiguous health and safety guidelines and county advice while feeling pressure from some parents to reopen schools.
The differences separating affluent suburban boroughs from needier, more diverse boroughs also became clearer than ever as boroughs take months to bring laptops and WiFi hotspots to all students.
News / lohud magazine took a step-by-step approach to the issues and challenges that families and schools face. Here are some recent articles on education in the area that will be updated over the summer:
Many students continue to study at home: Most school districts started bringing students back to school four or five days a week in March or April. In early May, tens of thousands of students in the region decided to stay at home to study remotely. Why?
Students reflect on pandemic in essays: After a year like no other, Lifting Up Westchester, a non-profit serving the needs, asked students to write essays about what they learned during the pandemic. The winning essays were honest and hopeful, and dealt with isolation, the importance of relationships, economic insecurity towards the less fortunate, and racism.
Time in school was key for students with disabilities: From autumn onwards, the school districts made it a priority to have as many pupils with significant disabilities as possible in school. Many of these students have done well. But many students with less severe disabilities struggled with hybrid teaching.
What was the presence of distance students like? We may never really know. When most districts began hybrid teaching in the fall, their data systems were unable to keep separate attendance lists for students at school and those studying remotely at home.
Students in different districts were more likely to have no internet: Over the fall, many more students in districts with high levels of Black and Hispanic enrollments lacked the technology and Internet service required for distance learning, a study found.
Federal aid and state aid increase profits for schools: Many districts in the Hudson Valley receive large federal subsidies from stimulus programs and / or significant increases in state aid. In April we put together grant and grant projections for each district. Some numbers will be changed in modest amounts.
Districts are now planning how federal grants will be spent: The state gave school districts until July 1 to publish their plans to issue federal grants from the US bailout plan. The districts work quickly to gather community input and plan when needed.
This is what 'Back to School II' looked like: In the spring, when many districts reopened schools for personal instruction, we went to a district to describe how things were going.
What happens to the Regents exams after COVID? For two years in a row, the pandemic prevented New York students from having to pass Regents exams to earn the coursework required for graduation. Some feel the exams should no longer be required, period. The state plans to review New York's graduation requirements soon.
Why Educational Justice Never Happened: News / lohud magazine has produced a series on systemic inequality in the northern suburbs. This section explains the story of racism, segregation, and funding inequality that has produced a region of neighboring school districts with vastly different resources and opportunities for students.
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