The following statement can be attributed to Ian Rosenblum, Executive Director of The Education Trust–New York:
“As state and school district leaders move forward with plans for reopening schools, New York only has two choices: to allow the pre-existing inequities in our education system to continue to widen, or to take deliberate action to address them. The state’s plan to issue guidance on July 13 and require school districts to submit plans by the end of month is an important step, and we believe the guidance should prioritize educational equity and set clear, consistent, and high expectations from the state about the services and supports that school districts are expected to provide all students and families.
“Our recent poll found that parent satisfaction with distance learning dropped from 57% of parents in March to 43% in June, driven primarily by increased dissatisfaction among parents from low-income backgrounds. Our survey also revealed enormous gaps between the supports that parents identified as important and what their schools were actually providing. The experience of students and parents this spring should directly inform state guidance and school district reopening plans.”