New York Public School Students Feel They Have Been ‘Forgotten’ By Officials

A student who is a senior at a public school in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City said that students have been deprived of resources to help them get into college during a rally at the City Hall Wednesday, video shows.

The student said that several of his friends have not been able to apply for college because they don’t have the help or leadership they need from guidance counselors and teachers, video shows. He added that several of his friends do not have recommendation letters and that they have not been able to take their required standardized tests because they were canceled due to COVID-19.

“I feel like they gave up on us, I feel like they just kind of looked at the public school kids and was like, you know what they’re not really that important. It really hurt because your senior year is your most important year,” a student said.

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The student said the last year has been difficult for him not to have live instruction or athletics, video shows. He added that school officials told the students that if they worked hard, socially distanced and stayed safe then they would likely get a season, though it never happened and officials continue to back away from the possibility.

“You wake up in the morning, you just look at a screen from the morning until three o’clock and that’s basically school,” the student said. “I feel like that’s not enough, virtual school is not real school.”

Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio initially shut down 1,800 public schools in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, The New York Times reported. The closures impacted 1.1 million students and around 75,000 teachers.

De Blasio said that public schools will reopen at “full strength” in September, the Gothamist reported Jan. 26.

De Blasio did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.