‘People are Coming to School Positive’: Thousands of New York City Students Stage Walkout, Demand Remote Learning Options
;)
Education news and commentary, delivered right to your inbox.
Sign up for 蜜桃影视 newsletter.
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for 蜜桃影视 Newsletter
鈥淧eople are coming to school positive.鈥�
鈥淚 think the school experience is gone. People aren’t even showing up.鈥�
鈥淚 avoid the cafeteria now.鈥�
NYC students explain why they walked out of class.
Thousands of students from more than 29 New York City public schools abandoned their classes Tuesday walking out into frigid weather, demanding a remote learning option as Omicron surges and they feel unsafe at school.
As COVID cases rise and attendance remains unpredictable, New York City parents, students and teachers uncomfortable with in-person learning took to social media.
From coast to coast, Oakland and Boston students will soon stage their own walkouts.
One student鈥檚 reddit post last week described being in school as 鈥渂eyond control,鈥� detailing a day of absent teachers and 鈥渇unctionally no learning.鈥� Study halls became 鈥渟uperspreader events.鈥� Bathrooms were full of students taking COVID tests.
Teachers abandoned their classes when notified they had tested positive. Skipping class became 鈥渞idiculously easy,鈥� the student wrote.
An anonymous student that their parents are forcing her to go to school despite testing positive for COVID.
Despite last week鈥檚 low attendance and 2022 first major snowstorm, Mayor Eric Adams has consistently opposed closing schools or offering a remote learning option.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have any more days to waste and the long-term impact of leaving our children home is going to impact us for years to come,鈥� Adams said, stressing schools are 鈥渟anctuaries.鈥�
Students left the conditions they called unsafe in hopes of garnering attention from 鈥減olicy-makers that can help close down schools temporarily,鈥� organizers said in .
Cruz Warshaw, a Stuyvesant High School Junior behind the walkout, charged it was 鈥渋gnorant and inconsiderate to put people鈥檚 lives at risk for without reason.鈥�
Three more juniors and seniors from Brooklyn Technical and Stuyvesant High Schools created social media accounts to share walkout plans and information on what they鈥檙e asking for 鈥� and why:
Before long, students from more than two dozen of the city鈥檚 schools said they would join in. The plan: Leave school at 11:52 a.m. 鈥� right before sixth period, around lunchtime for many 鈥� and head straight home.
Right on time and one after the other, Brooklyn Technical High School students did just that.
By lunchtime, the cafeteria in New York鈥檚 largest school 鈥� by enrollment 鈥� looked like this:
Their exit was met with backlash, accusations they simply wanted the day off 鈥� and that they were probably all going to hang out.
This Brooklyn student insisted that wasn鈥檛 the case:
However, some participants faced more than online anger. A redacted email from a Brooklyn school official threatened students with mandatory detentions upon their return.
鈥淭here are so many people sick and our mayor is not doing enough to protect us 鈥� We want the choice to keep our bodies safe,鈥� Felicia, a junior at Bronx High School of Science told The Riverdale Press reporter Sarah Belle Lin during Tuesday鈥檚 walkout.
Some of the city鈥檚 youngest learners, alongside parents, also joined the .
Many students and parents disagree with offering a remote option and point to its shortcomings, including that .
While attendance is , it is up 9 percent .
A few hours after the walkout, New York Schools Chancellor David Banks responded to the protests, asking student leaders to meet with him to work together for safe and open schools.
Did you use this article in your work?
We鈥檇 love to hear how 蜜桃影视鈥檚 reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers.
Marianna McMurdock was a reporter at 蜜桃影视 from 2021-2025.
[email protected]
Meghan Gallagher is a producer at 蜜桃影视.
[email protected]