The parents of two out of three students in New York's District 26 have opted for all-remote learning, a higher rate than any of the city's 31 other school districts, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
One reason behind the rate, educators and community leaders say, is that the district is roughly half Asian-American, with many immigrant families from East and Southeast Asia, reported the paper, quoting the the city's Department of Education (DoE) as saying that "Seven out of 10 Asian-American students have opted out of in-person classes citywide, a higher rate than any other ethnic group and almost twice the rate for white students."
"And more than half of Black and Latino students have also chosen all-remote education, underscoring the disproportionately severe toll the virus has taken on their communities," added the DoE.
Many District 26 parents said that they have older relatives living in their homes and fear that an infection brought from school could be deadly for them.
Others pointed to concerns that their children would never develop strong ties to their teachers if they were constantly switching between one in the classroom and another for virtual instruction, which is the education model required by the city as "hybrid."
A host of other worries, including the effectiveness of the city's coronavirus testing program and of hybrid instruction had convinced them that keeping their children out of school buildings was best, according to the Times.
"I am not surprised at all that a lot of people wanted to start with remote out of an abundance of caution," Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference in September. "We've said to parents, it's your choice."
Last week, just days after the city completed reopening all its school buildings, the city and state forced more than 160 to close down again because of high infection rates in the surrounding neighborhoods. The thousands of students in those schools are now required to study remotely for two weeks.
