NYC Families Unable to Have Kids Log into Online Classes Fear Being Reported to Child Services for Truancy

Some New York City students who’ve missed too many remote classes because of faulty devices and unreliable internet are being threatened with having child services notified, parents and advocates told the Daily News. At least two parents say their children are being unfairly targeted for virtual absences stemming from circumstances outside their control, including malfunctioning city-issued iPads and spotty internet in city homeless shelters. South Bronx mom Regina Alston’s two Education Department iPads have been on the fritz with a repair request pending for months, forcing her two elementary school kids to share a single laptop and miss classes when the siblings' schedules overlap. But she said that even after she alerted officials at Grant Ave. Elementary school about the issue, an administrator this week warned Alston’s 9-year-old daughter the school would have to alert child services if her virtual absences continued, the furious mother said. “I’m angry,” Alston fumed. “I think the DOE is trying to put the fault on the parents, but it’s not. This whole remote learning is an epic failure.”