NYC Council passes legislation on remote learning

Moses Kuwema

The New York City Council on Thursday passed legislation to require the Department of Education (DOE) to report on remote learning attendance data on its website monthly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The legislation will also require the DOE to report on metrics such as language access and support, internet enabled devices distributed to students and more.

Remote learning can occur synchronously with real-time teacher-to-student interaction and collaboration, or asynchronously, with self-paced learning activities that take place independently of the teacher.

The data would be disaggregated by school, school district, grade, ethnicity and a number of other factors.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams pushed for the bill saying,"tracking student attendance rates allows us to hold the DOE accountable for ensuring that our students have the ability to access all of their classes remotely."

The Council also enacted a "Just Cause" law that will prohibit fast food employers from terminating or cutting workers' hours without cause.

The law will in effect make it illegal to fire fast food workers who protests the lack of safety protections from COVID-19.

"This is a tremendous win for not only New York's fast food workers but also for all our essential workers, and for all Black and Brown workers who have been denied the dignity and respect they deserve for far too long," 32BJ Service Employees International Union (SEIU) president Kyle Bragg told the New York Times.

The union said the bills that have been passed are life changing for the 67,000 fast-food workers, primarily Black and Brown workers, from unfair firings and hour reductions.