The NYC Department of Education approved Bronx River High School’s proposal to offer remote learning on select Fridays starting in the Spring 2025 semester. The next step requires students getting parental permission: To go forward, at least 70 percent of parents must sign up for the remote plan.
If the plan goes forward, students would receive remote instruction on Feb. 7, Feb. 28, March 7, March 14, April 4, April 25, May 9, May 23 and June 6. Students will be dismissed at 1 p.m.
History teacher Shivanie Ramnarine is excited about the plan because it allows her to connect with students in a different setting. “I get to see them at home,’ she said. “ I get to see a different side of them. And ideally, that’s one of the things I missed about teaching during COVID, because I got to see the kids in a different light.’’
To take part in remote Fridays, students will have to bring in permission slips from their parents. Students whose parents opt out of remote learning will attend school in person on those days.
Principal Greg Fucheck hopes the school-based virtual program will improve school attendance and teacher recruitment and retention, especially for staff who have long commutes.
“Chronic (student) absenteeism is the most significant challenge for our school,’’ Mr. Fucheck said. This is so, “even though Bronx River is a high-performing school with a class of 2024 graduation rate of 95 percent, class of ’23 at 100 percent, and the class of ‘22 at 95 percent,” he said. “We are still trending towards a yearly attendance rate of 88 to 89 percent.”
In NYC schools, any student with less than 90 percent attendance counts as being chronically absent. Mr. Fucheck hopes the remote option can address some of the reasons students with chronic absenteeism miss school. Some students have social anxiety about being in school, he said. Others are absent because they need to care for younger siblings or have medical appointments during the school day.
Jayden Sanchez, a senior at Bronx River, is looking forward to the plan. “It makes me happy because I don’t have to get up early for a bus that takes a long time to arrive, especially during the cold or when it rains but instead I can be on time for all my classes in the comfort of my own room,” he said.
Even so, some teachers worry about the remote option, especially those who saw the struggles some students faced with online learning during Covid. “Some may not have access to laptops, a working camera and internet,’’ said Charley Ruperto, a teacher who started his first year during the Covid lockdown.
“Student microphones not working when we were doing remote learning became a usual most days,’’ he said. “Some students say their microphone or camera doesn’t work. I can see that happening again, whether it be real or not, who knows.’’
Oscar Juarez, a senior at Bronx River, believes that having remote learning only one day a week will not negatively affect his learning because he will enter the building the other four days.
“I’m excited for this because it gives me a day to recharge myself and to focus on any missing work I have,’’ he said. “I could also more easily communicate with my teachers if I’m having a problem through an email, a private chat, or in breakout rooms.’’
