A software meltdown left over one million students and teachers offline Tuesday morning in the first real test of Democratic Mayor Eric Adam’s no-snow day strategy, according to Politico.
New York City was hit with a snowstorm early Tuesday morning and Adams had previously demanded schools continue online, claiming that the computers would go live for a “synchronous” school day, according to Politico. Both students and teachers, however, were unable to log on to their virtual classrooms, leaving over one million students in limbo for the first half of the day and sparking criticism of the mayor’s continued push for remote learning. (RELATED: 35 Million People Under Winter Weather Warning As Heavy Snow Heads Stateside)
“Every piece of this is another reason why this is incredibly stupid,” Micah Lasher, a state Assembly candidate in the Upper West Side of Manhattan and formerly a top aide to Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, told Politico.
UPDATE: The snow is over and we’re even seeing a little sun this afternoon, but please continue to stay off the roads as @NYCSanitation crews finish their cleanup work.
Schools will be open tomorrow.
Alternate side parking rules will be suspended for Ash Wednesday.
If you… pic.twitter.com/rH4Cx91VXp
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) February 13, 2024
Around 8 a.m. parents began complaining that they were receiving a “service unavailable” message when trying to get their kids online, according to Politico. The situation was resolved by Tuesday afternoon, but Adams blamed IBM, the technology giant responsible for part of the school’s program, arguing that “they should have been prepared.”
“It’s my responsibility to deliver the service that we are expecting … and part of that responsibility is to go back and revisit what IBM did wrong. If there’s something we can do better, we’re gonna do better as well,” Adams said in a press conference Tuesday.
A spokesperson for IBM told the Daily Caller News Foundation that they had been “working closely” with the city to resolve the situation and that the company regretted “the inconvenience to students and parents across the city.”
Former Mayor Bill De Blasio introduced the no-snow day policy in December 2020, arguing that remote learning brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic had made the practice irrelevant, according to the New York Daily News. The state has been struggling with significant learning loss since the pandemic, prompting Hochul to announce $100,000 million in funding for schools.
Adams was heavily criticized last month for forcing high school students at James Madison High School to go remote so illegal immigrants could sleep at the school.
Adam’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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