{"id":113313,"date":"2026-01-26T22:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T22:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/113313\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T22:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T22:31:10","slug":"nyc-public-schools-remote-snow-day-faces-minor-tech-glitches-parents-prefer-traditional-snow-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/113313\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC public schools\u2019 remote snow day faces minor tech glitches; parents prefer traditional snow day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"DSC_4736\"\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels<\/p>\n

Photo by Lloyd Mitchell<\/p>\n

NYC public schools pivoted to online learning on Monday in the aftermath of a major storm<\/a> that pummeled the Big Apple with more than a foot of snow in many neighborhoods, wreaking havoc on roads and transit<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Parents across the city told amNewYork that logging on to remote classes after the first major snowstorm of the winter season \u201cwent okay,\u201d with only some minor bumps along the way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLogistically, it\u2019s been pretty fine. There were some hiccups but we eventually got into the Google Meet and eventually got access to all the stuff,\u201d said Olivia Greer, a parent from the Upper West Side.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She added that the day would have been better spent if students had enjoyed some fresh air while playing in the fluffy white stuff.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cMy own view is that I don\u2019t understand why the Department of Education is so focused on snow days being remote school,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is unclear to me why children can\u2019t just have a day to play in the snow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"A young boy smiles as he is pulled through the snow.Photo by Dean Moses<\/p>\n

Wilmara Valentin Piece, also of the Upper West Side, said logging in was \u201ca bit annoying\u201d and the remote learning site was not working, at least at first. NYC public schools use a variety of online sites to support remote learning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the links were a mess, but once we figured it out, things started going smoothly,\u201d she said. \u201cI still wish it was just another snow day.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

However, a citywide Google Classroom outage at schools that use the system delayed access to the virtual learning space.\n<\/p>\n

Many parents received a notice from school officials alerting them that the system was not working. The notice also recommended users of Google Classroom refresh their pages or try logging in again.<\/p>\n

Schools have been working with Google leadership to resolve issues with the system, a Department of Education spokesperson told amNewYork.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

NYC Public Schools: \u2018Preparation matters\u2019<\/p>\n

But overall, remote learning experienced only \u201cminor hiccups\u201d on Monday morning.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cPreparation matters, and we are proud to share that we experienced only minor hiccups with remote logins this morning,\u201d the DOE spokesperson said. \u201cOur helpdesk has reported that the number of support requests is in line with a normal school day, and our students are logged in and engaging in virtual schoolwork.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A public school librarian told amNewYork that her students had a lot of fun during their remote session\u2014something she credits, at least in part, to her experience with virtual learning during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a librarian in my school, I had lots of kindergarten kids on with me,\u201d she said. \u201cWe had lots of fun. I was a pro at teaching remotely during the pandemic, but six years later, I was nervous. It worked out really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels announced that schools would go remote on Sunday morning, during the heaviest part of the weekend\u2019s snowfall. The mayor said he made the decision to move to remote learning on Monday out of safety for students, families and staff while still meeting the state\u2019s 180-day instructional requirement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs of 9:15 a.m. this morning, we have over 400,000 parent, student and staff logins,\u201d Mamdani said on Monday. The mayor noted that Jan. 26 was a previously scheduled day off for many middle and high school students whose teachers had professional development time. \u201cSo our decision to go remote impacts a portion of our school system.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in Staten Island, Borough President Vito Fossella agreed with Mamdani\u2019s decision on Sunday, but also said a traditional snow day would have been a better course of action.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would seem that a traditional snow day is the best option, but the city has declared that is not an option, in part due to the need to comply with the state law on the number of days kids must be in school,\u201d the beep said. \u201cIn the interest of keeping parents, children, and staff safe, and for keeping the roads clear for sanitation to clean the snow, we believe schools should be closed to in-person instruction on Monday, if a traditional snow day is not an option.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parents on Staten Island reported \u201cno issues\u201d with logging into classes from home this morning.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I have two kids in two different schools and it\u2019s been fine,\u201d John Dimiceli, a father in the borough, said. \u201cNo issues as of now.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Another parent in the borough reported her experience as having gone \u201csmoothly.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Charter and nonpublic schools made independent decisions regarding closures on Monday. However, charter schools co-located in NYC public school buildings were closed when the school system pivoted to remote instruction.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels Photo by Lloyd Mitchell NYC public schools pivoted to online learning on Monday in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[67,9,56,63,65,64,613,50454,133,50455],"class_list":["post-113313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-education","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-pm-newsletter","tag-remote-learning-in-nyc-public-schools","tag-weather","tag-winter-storm-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}