The number of students in the city’s public schools, the nation’s largest school district, dropped from 1.1 million to 960,000.
That is, about 43,000 fewer enrollments, compared to last year, according to figures from the Department of Education.
Nora Haeringer Nadal, who moved to the sixth grade, no longer goes to public school since September.
The minor says that online classes do not motivate her to study: “Well, I fell asleep during Zoom. Well, I tried hard not to fall asleep but, in the end, I fell asleep a little.
Sixth and seventh grade enrollment at these public schools decreased 8%.
But, the greatest reduction in students has been seen in the grades of early childhood education. Enrollment in pre-kindergarten was reduced by 13%.
Municipal data do not indicate what might have happened to public school students.
But, according to the Diocese of Brooklyn, 40% of its Catholic schools in Brooklyn and Queens have seen an increase in student enrollment.
Nora is from one of those students and now attends San José El Trabajador Catholic School in South Slope, Brooklyn.
This institution has registered 145 students who have come from public schools, according to the school’s management.
The increase has caused the number of teachers to double.
This is how the teacher Emely Espinal explains it: “A new student came to me in January, more students are still coming to me. I think I have the limit.”
Anna Nadal Burguez, Nora’s mother, explains that she decided to change her daughter’s schools because she was concerned that she would not receive adequate instruction.
“So I complain that there were not four hours of Zoom, five hours of zoom,” says this mother.
For her part, Stephanie Ann Germann, director of the school, believes that the schedule is another reason to change schools: “Most families are working, whether they work from home or in a building, they don’t have the capacity to support their children. “
However, the Diocese of Brooklyn admits that in part due to economic hardship they have seen enrollment decline of less than 1% in grades K-8.
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