NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- An expanded summer school with kids in classes will “absolutely” happen this year, schools Chancellor David Banks said Thursday, when he also revealed the city plans to create a “virtual academy” starting next school year that will allow students to learn remotely.
“We’re planning—you’re going to hear an announcement on that in the next few days—there’s going to be a very robust summer school, summer experiences, summer plan,” Banks told “Newsline with Brigitte Quinn” on 1010 WINS when asked about summer school.
“It won’t be summer school in an old, traditional sense,” he said. “We want it to be exciting, fun, engaging. We want kids to get out into the great outdoors and do things that are really relevant in their lives, and that’s what’s going to be different about this summer.”
Banks said teachers won’t be required to teach in the summer but that many have expressed interest in doing so.
“There are many teachers who absolutely need to take the summer off, be with their families,” he said. “Just as much as we talk about the students and what they suffered through this pandemic, our teachers have suffered just as well, and many of them are going to need a well-deserved break. But there are thousands of other teachers who are looking to work in the summer. And then we’ve got community-based organizations who are also going to be big partners with us in our summer planning.”
Asked about remote options for the future, Banks said the city is looking into it and plans to do a “virtual academy” where students can learn full-time remotely, regardless of any potential future COVID-19 surges.
“There’s some parents and families who’ve expressed to us that their child did very well working remotely and would actually like to go to school virtually, so we’re going to look at that in creating a virtual academy where all the teachers are trained in the best practices for teaching remotely and have all the students actually in a remote school experience,” Banks said.
The chancellor said the city was looking to open the virtual academy at the beginning of the next school year.
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